Unlimited Digital Access / Get £25 off your Annual Digital Subscription! Use code 25OFF
GET STARTEDMore on KentOnline
Unlimited Digital Access / Get £25 off your Annual Digital Subscription! Use code 25OFF
GET STARTEDMore on KentOnline
Pressure is growing on a Government quango to take action and close a farm where animal rights protesters allege the livestock is abused.
An online petition calling for Oaks Farm in Clarke's Lane, Halstead, near Sevenoaks, to be shut has now garnered more than 57,000 signatures.
The petition has been organised by Kia Lee.
Kent Animal Defenders have been keeping a close watch on the farm run by Craig Sargent for many years.
They have called police and the RSPCA many times when concerned that animals had been left without food and water, or in the case of one bull, with its leg stuck in a fence.
The Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) is the Government body responsible for animal welfare on farms. It has visited Oaks Farm on 17 occasions in the past 13 month, but no prosecutions have been forthcoming.
The agency said it would not comment on individual cases.
Farmer Craig Sargent has always maintained his animals are well cared for.
He said: "The Animal and Plant Health Agency get bombarded by these people and then have to come out and visit.
"But they don't find anything wrong.
"Show me the evidence of neglect or abuse - there isn't any."
Mr Sargent was dismissive of the online petition.
He said: "There haven't been 57,000 people come out to visit my farm.
"These people are just signing without any real understanding.
"Some of the claims people are making on social media are just outrageous and a lot stem from ignorance."
On their Faceboook page, Kent Animal Defenders make it clear they are not concerned just about animal welfare.
Their post reads: "If you are disgusted by the recent events at Oaks Farm, please extend your compassion to all animals.
"We are an abolitionist animal rights group. We don't campaign for better welfare or bigger cages, welfare is a lie.
"We campaign for animals to have the rights to their own bodies, to not be used and abused by humans, for our own selfish wants.
"We don't rescue animals, for you to eat them. Please, make a stand against suffering by not funding the industries that cause it."
The group said: "Veganism is a moral baseline."
