LEHIGH ACRES, Fla. -- For the fourth time, protestors gathered at a series of farms in Lehigh Acres to speak out against animal cruelty they say has taken place there. Since the Animal Recovery Mission first released a video showing an individual on the farm slitting the throat of a goat, public support for the protestors has increased.
One of those protestors is Mary Rodriguez. She spends more time out by the farms than most. She told Four in Your Corner that she spends more time than most. She spends the week sitting outside the farm and occasionally get's glimpses of the cruelty she's seen in the video.
"I had to sit there and block my ears out sitting in my car. It was just heart-wrenching hearing those screams coming from that goat", she said.
Rodriguez says that she's formed relationships with people who have property around the farm, and they've told her they've seen animals being slaughtered on the property. One of those neighbors owns a fruit strand on the property next door. They told Rodriguez that animal bones have started showing up on their side of the fence next to the farm.
She and some of the other protesters have been at the farms every week, in hopes of getting authorities to step in. One of those other protestors is Medeleine Doran
"When I heard about the horrific abominable cruelty that’s going on in our own backyard, I was horrified."
Doran says the ultimate solution for her would be for the animals to be taken away, and released to a sanctuary.
Todays’ protest was different from the others. After a neighbor called Lee County Sheriff’s Deputies to complain about the demonstrators, those same demonstrators decided to ask the deputies why they hadn’t responded to the call they made about the farms.
The demonstrators told Four in Your Corner the deputies informed them their concerns should be taken to the State’s Attorney’s office; something the demonstrators say they are already doing. It's not the response the people who came out on Saturday, like Taylor Mills were expecting.
“It’s really frustrating because they’re just turning a blind eye”, shed said.
