Picture: Cliff Donaldson
By policy officer, David McClure.
Activist incursions on Northern Ireland (NI) farms have historically taken place during the summer months. Following lengthy engagement between the PSNI and the Ulster Farmers’ Union (UFU), prosecutions were successfully made from previous incursions. Thankfully, there have been no reported incidents since these prosecutions were made. However, it remains important for members to keep at the forefront of their minds, the possibility of an incursion occurring at any time. Such events cause great distress and concern for all farmers.
From our experience to date, typically, these extremists will survey potential targets for weeks or months in advance of an incursion. Once they have gathered enough information, they arrange an incursion. Alternatively, it is possible that activists will visit a site during the cover of darkness and position a surveillance camera which is collected later.
Typically, activists tend to have access to social media accounts with a large collective following and funding for their activities. As such, they can by-pass traditional media outlets and stream their footage live to an unlimited audience around the world.
Given the intent of the individuals involved, the most obvious first step is making sure your own farm is in order. It is impossible to defend the indefensible and farmers need to ensure they are complying with all legal requirements and assurance scheme standards at all times.
During the incursion, activists tend to selectively film sick or injured animals and fallen stock as this generates the most emotive content. Farmers should therefore carefully consider the image of any sick or injured animals on farm and how this could be portrayed if photographed. Sick animals should be housed in a well bedded hospital pen. With regard to fallen stock, it is advised that any deceased stock are moved immediately to a locked bin or house until they can be collected. It is also advisable to mark fallen stock with a spray marker before placing in the locked storage area. Marking animals removes the ability for an activist to recover the deceased animal from a storage area and present the fallen stock from within the house as if it had been left there for some time.
One of the aspects of these break-ins that trouble farmers the most, is the biosecurity risk and sense of violation caused by strangers descending on their property. In order to mitigate this, each farmer should review their site security and consider if it is sufficient to their needs or should it be tighter. Appropriate signage should be displayed, and although this is unlikely to prevent the intended actions of protestors, it could assist with their timely removal from the farm which often requires assistance from PSNI.
Typically, break-ins of this nature are treated as ‘trespass’ which is a civil tort. If forcible entry has been used by the activists to gain access, prosecution will be more easily achieved. With that in mind, farmers are encouraged to lock buildings and remove keys at night. Where protestors have entered your property and are intentionally preventing you from carrying out your daily routine of feeding and caring for animals, this ‘trespass’ can be elevated to ‘aggravated trespass’ which is a criminal offence. In these instances, police officers can order individuals to leave the premises and if they refuse or return this is an additional offence.
If you do come across these extremists on your farm, calmly and politely ask them to leave before calling the police. Do not permit access to the press as additional publicity will be ideal for activists. You should consider gathering your own photo or video evidence of car registrations, and any damage caused (this will be useful if you wish to attempt to prosecute). It would be prudent to check the site for hidden cameras. Do not permit any intruders to take any livestock with them when leaving the site. In the absence of permission, any livestock removed can be treated as theft and will warrant further prosecution.
