Who'S the Bully?

Wild Abundance to Kill Another Sheep in Retaliation?

WILD ABUNDANCE IS THREATENING TO KILL ANOTHER SHEEP TO RETALIATE AGAINST US

This page is designed to directly address some of the claims against us from Wild Abundance. Before we begin with their petition, we want to let everyone know that Natalie Bogwalker, the owner of Wild Abundance, who they sympathetically portray as the "new mom" we've been harassing, wrote this to us by email on November 14th.

THEY/NATALIE SAID -->   "By the way, enrollment for our humane slaughtering class has gone up (maybe thanks to you, honestly) and we will be taking the life of an additional sheep to make sure that all our students get enough hands on experience. We will now be humanely SLAUGHTERING AT LEAST 2 SHEEP for or class." (emphasis added)

WE SAY -->   This is the ULTIMATE IN BULLYING. We hope Wild Abundance does not take another innocent life to punish us. We do hope this helps their supporters, the media, and the public see for themselves the hollowness of their "sacred" and "honoring" messaging around animals. The idea of ethical slaughter and butchering is good for sales these days, but how would even the threat of it fit in any possible ethical model? If you are giving them the benefit of the doubt, know that their standard policy on their website was that the classes are limited in size and they had recently said the class was filled.

EXCERPT from The Wild Abundance Petition Against Us WITH OUR REPLIES

THEY SAY -->   Stop Misguided Vegans from Attacking Wild Abundance! Wild Abundance, a primitive skills and permaculture school near Asheville, NC, has recently come under attack and is facing a fierce campaign of harassment from a well-intentioned but misguided extremist vegan animal rights organization. The professional activist non-profit corporation that is attacking them is called One Protest, and this is a sad example of how a large national organization can pull together lots of resources to mislead the public in an attempt to “make an example” out of a small-scale, local educational business. 

WE SAY -->   The Let Live Coalition is not an extremist group. Please read through our website and see our petition to compare our tone, accuracy, and ideas compared to the intentionally misleading "counter campaign" against us. While we do sometimes use descriptive wording and photos that are graphic in nature, they are the reality of what Wild Abundance and other "ethical" butchers are actually doing to innocent animals. Those who "honor" animals by killing them are the bullies, not the social justice activists who try to stop them and otherwise raise awareness to dispute their claims that their "ethical" meat is better for helping animals than consuming no animal products.

THEY SAY -->   One Protest is not a grassroots organization (they are a professional organization that does “protest and graphic design consulting”), and they have been bullying a mother (Natalie Bogwalker) with a 3-week old newborn baby to cancel her Cycles of Life Class on Humane Slaughtering & Butchering. They have been organizing people to aggressively call Natalie during all hours of the day while she attempts to rest with her newborn baby.

WE SAY -->   OneProtest is indeed a professional consulting organization brought on to help the Let Live Coalition run an effective and proper campaign. We have all been very clear to be respectful and peaceful. We did not know about the baby until after the launch of the campaign. They know the timing was unintentional, but they deceptively use their own newborn child as a weapon against us. We provided only the company phone numbers and emails as listed publicly on their websites. We did NOT provide any personal information. It's intentionally misleading for them to claim that the "new mom" wasn't being allowed to rest.

THEY SAY -->   One angry vegan activist from the UK even threatened to slit the throat of a Wild Abundance instructor.

WE SAY -->   We have condemned at the highest level the use of inappropriate or otherwise threatening messages from people who receive our messages. We regret that we can't control all the messaging and that some people will say deplorable things. However, those messages are NOT from the Let Live Coalition or OneProtest. We are very clear and explicit that we encourage polite and respectful communication, yet Wild Abundance keeps framing the messages as if they are from us. We also receive highly-charged and inappropriate (some even death-threat level) messages from their overzealous supporters.

THEY SAY -->   The organization has made vague threats about having “a multi-pronged outreach and protest campaign” and it is concerning that they might attempt to organize people to show up and harass our community and class programs.  

WE SAY -->   We have not made "threats." We are being as transparent as is reasonable to let Wild Abundance, the media, and the public know our plans. We have been very clear that this is a lawful, PEACEFUL protest. This was never a secret protest and we have gone out of our way to assure everyone that our plans are peaceful (disruptive, yes), but within the bounds of legitimate nonviolent protest. Yes, we are using a multi-pronged approach that includes a combination of media exposure, online outreach, email and call requests, in-person leafleting, the use of large signs, and a silent vigil in the city, not near their property (as they know explicitly as of 11/16).

THEY SAY -->   On the website that they have created to attack Wild Abundance they make false claims, putting words in our mouths, attempting to use our statements to illustrate pro-vegan arguments. Their tactics are dishonest and bullying!

WE SAY -->   Please look through our website, read about our concerns, and judge for yourself. This website and campaign were specifically designed to shed light on their claims to be "ethical," yet their actions are not ethical. Not only in the needless killing of animals and teaching for-profit, do-it-yourself classes to slaughter amateurs, but also in their "education" materials that say that learning how to kill animals in their "sacred" way is "honoring" the animals, and actually helps animals more than not eating them.

WE SAY -->   Our tactics are transparent and honest. Yes, we do use their own words. What better way to show their hypocrisy? We show some ways in which the issues can be reframed to make our point that needlessly killing animals is not ethical. This is not dishonest or bullying. To the contrary, it is us highlighting the reality of their work. This is how social justice campaigns work.

THEY SAY -->   We are not interested in arguing matters of dietary preference or personal opinion with them. This is not how we create a more sustainable and just future!

WE SAY -->   When you build your business, celebrity, and brand on ethical diets, it is your responsibility to engage in these issues. Discussion is a highly appropriate and effective way to create a more sustainable and just future. We want a discussion on the merits of each position. While the popularity of eating meat is in their favor. The facts and the ethics are in our favor.

THEY SAY -->   <<We cut some material here for time and content - if you still want more, here is their petition.>>

WE SAY -->   We provided the link to their petition (most of which is directly pasted here so that we could respond to their claims), so you can read first-hand what they are saying and how they say it. Note that we often give their website because it strengthens our case. We have yet to see them give out our website, not even in their petition against us where they reference it.

THEY SAY --> Please sign this petition asking One Protest (and their front group: Let Live) to develop a more mature and progressive protest focus.

WE SAY -->   Please look at the things Wild Abundance claims. Not only are they often fabrications, they aren't even logical. Why would OneProtest spend their resources on a campaign like this? They are a consultation organization that helps other groups with their causes. The Let Live Coalition pooled our resources so we could enlist their help to make this campaign effective and proper. The dig at us not being "mature" is quite immature. If you compare their "counter campaign" (which is a misleading, retaliation against us) to our legitimate and well-considered campaign against their actual deeds, there is no comparison. As a side note, we recommend they decide if they are going to portray us as too professional or too amateurish. Can't have it both ways.

THEY SAY -->   We appreciate their campaigns to address exotic trophy hunting and industrial animal abuse and we are calling on them to stop harassing Wild Abundance and instead redirect their resources to a more serious cause like Black Lives Matter, the Standing Rock Resistance to the DAPL, or one of the many great campaigns to Stop Factory Farming or Climate Change!

WE SAY -->   It is extremely bad form to use other social justice causes as ways to distract people from your own abuse of power. That is not how solidarity works. It is also misleading as we are a diverse, pro-intersectional coalition, many of whom support with actual time and resources every cause they list and many others they don't. It is also bad form to be in favor of protest campaigns, as long as it's not about them.

WE SAY -->   It is nonsensical for them to tell us to support the fight against climate change. Plant-based diets are far superior to any diet using animals in terms of greenhouse gas emissions. Sheep are particularly damaging -- second only to grass-fed cows in terms of the amount of emitting methane (an extremely powerful greenhouse gas). If trees are cleared for pasture, the impact is even greater as trees create photosynthesis which actually pulls carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

THEY SAY -->   Please contact them and let them know that their harassment needs to stop! 

WE SAY -->   Yes, please do contact us if you have questions/concerns. We may be delayed in our replies because this is a very busy time, but we welcome sharing more information about our perspective. We hope our website and this page in particular is helpful. This is an outreach campaign. Our email is in multiple locations, but here it is again save@let-live.org. Let's connect!