Animal rights group steals chickens from farm to 'free' them

When four people asked to hold some chickens at a Colorado farm this week, an 8-year-old girl readily agreed to assist. She's proud of the birds she helps raise, and she loves to teach people about them. Sunday's event at the farm was no different, her mother said. The little girl had no idea the adults would tuck three of the birds under their arms and walk off the farm, where a group of some 40 animal rights activists wearing matching T-shirts waited."I'm really rattled and unnerved," said Kristin Ramey, who owns Long Shadow Farm in Berthoud, Colo., with her husband, Larry. "They walked right onto my property and grabbed the birds. I don't feel safe." Ramey said when she confronted members of animal rights group Denver Baby Animal Save and Direct Action Everywhere Colorado, they said, "We have taken your birds to a sanctuary, where they can be free." Aidan Cook, an animal rights activist, said he was at the farm Sunday and was one of the people who went on the property and removed birds.Cook said the group targeted Long Shadow Farm in part because it markets itself as a place where animals are treated humanely, given free range over pastures, fed appropriate diets and slaughtered away from large, so-called factory farms. "We seek out places that are selling what we call the 'humane myth' or 'humane lie,' " he said. "It's this idea that if you treat them the right way then there is an ethical way to exploit and kill animals. ... We want to show that no matter how well you treat someone during their life, that doesn't give you the right to kill them." After the group took the chickens, Ramey contacted the Larimer County (Colo.) Sheriff's Office, which is now investigating several felony allegations including trespassing, attempted theft of livestock and theft of livestock, said sheriff's office spokesman David Moore.