Campaign to spare sheep
This page contains the content of our initial protest campaign.
It is here for easy reference with links to related pages.
Below is what was originally the home page during the campaign as of 11/15/16.
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The Let Live Coalition is a group of animal protection organizations deeply disturbed by the do-it-yourself animal slaughter classes held at the Wild Abundance homesteading business outside Asheville, North Carolina.
Wild Abundance is now threatening to kill two sheep instead of one.
The Let Live Coalition formed as a response to and a critique of Wild Abundance and Meredith Leigh's "ethical" slaughtering and butchering classes.
Our coalition worked hard to pool funds and many volunteer hours to bring on OneProtest to help us be effective and proper in our messaging and strategies. We are also working with a social justice public relations organization to help us with media outreach.
Our focus begins with Natalie (of Wild Abundance) and Meredith in particular as they leverage their status as ex-vegans to increase their popularity and ultimately their sales.
Though framed in terms of justice, Meredith acknowledged the "business decision" aspect of her change from vegan to butcher, and Wild Abundance classes typically run from $350-$600 per weekend (with exceptions considered).
While factory farms are the most horrific, it's not enough to simply be better than the worst case scenario. The movement towards do-it-yourself, backyard, "humane/ethical" slaughter is not only reinforcing the narrative that it's okay to use our power to take innocent life, it goes further to make it seem like their meat is better for animals than no meat - and that their methods make killing a "sacred" way to "honor" animals.
Regardless of how the animals are raised -- or the language and rituals accompanying the killing process -- the needless taking of innocent lives is cruel and inhumane.
Proponents claim that familiarity and participation in slaughter instills sensitivity to the animals who are killed for food. But to the contrary, the normalizing of "hands-on" killing as natural and cause for celebration hardens kindness into callousness.
Wild Abundance has the opportunity to set an example of true sustainability, compassion, and justice by halting their classes that harm and kill animals.
Unfortunately, in response to our campaign to stop the slaughter of the sheep this weekend, Natalie claims that due to increased attendance they are now going to slaughter two sheep.
As they cap the classes and had recently said the class was full, we know this threat is a retaliation. This is direct example of how their professed concern for animals is about marketing.
Want to help? Sign on, share our petition, and/or join us on Facebook to save animals. See also our FAQ page.
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Other Campaign Pages
These pages were also part of the original campaign:
- Open Letter - our initial letter informing them of the campaign and our motivation
- Our Petition - we received more than 10,000 signatures of support in just over one week
- Our Vigil - location details
- Bully? - our response to their counter-petition
- Media - the media contact page
11/24 Update:
We regret to confirm that Wild Abundance slaughtered and butchered two sheep last weekend.