Animal "rescue" groups in New York are scoping out and stealing livestock in the name of activism, leaving the local farming community on edge.
"These are not advocates. These are criminals," New York State Senate Minority Leader Rob Ortt, R., said Saturday. "It's not advocacy when you're trespassing on people's personal property…"
Ortt, along with assemblyman Michael Norris are proposing legislation to impose stricter penalties for the crime that has made farmers extra vigilant.
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"It was 7:30 Sunday morning, April 16. I looked out my kitchen window… and there were two people, a man and a woman, over by my barns, by my cattle. They had cell phones out. They were videotaping the cattle, the barns, my security systems," Paul Strobel, owner of Strobel Farms, outside Buffalo, told Fox News' Ashley Strohmier on Thursday.
"I ran out the door. By the time I got out there, they had jumped in their car and taken off," he continued.
Strobel, who has yet to have any livestock physically taken from his property, pursued the would-be thieves but said they turned down a side road and he eventually lost track of them.
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He believes they returned later that day to complete their heist, but saw him working outside and left.
"I've definitely been targeted and it's created great concerns amongst me and my neighbors and my family," he said. "My children are very frightened… my 10-year-old son goes to sleep at night worrying that the ‘bad people’ are going to come and hurt his animals or his pets, so I'm afraid it's going to happen eventually."
He told Strohmier that thieves had gotten away with three baby chicks from a small local farm. The activists also protested a beekeeper in the area last week.
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Niagara County Sheriff Michael Filicetti, who also joined "Fox & Friends First" on Thursday, said the activists are teaching people how to research farms, follow through on a "rescue" step-by-step and how to win at trial.
"This is nothing more than teaching people how to go to farms and steal their property," he said, continuing after a moment, "It's a farming community here in Niagara County, and certainly, going onto people's property, taking their livestock, or attempting to take their livestock is a crime. It's not rescuing, it is a crime."
Filicetti put out a public alert to raise awareness about the activists' shady efforts and invite the community to be on the lookout for suspicious activity.
The goal, he said, is to prevent farmers' livelihoods from being stripped from them.
