In addition to banners, megaphones and “sleeping dragon” devices, animal rights extremists have a new tool they’re using in their “disruptions” — superglue.

Over the past several weeks, Direct Action Everywhere activists have used the tactic of gluing themselves to surfaces during protests. The idea, similar to the sleeping dragon technique that I’ve written about previously, is to make themselves difficult to remove, allowing them to protest or disrupt events for longer in order to gain media attention for their cause.

On April 6, a DXE activist glued her hand to a table during a legislative hearing in California and refused to leave. Lawmakers and staff ended up moving to a different room so the hearing could continue, and paramedics used WD-40 to remove her hand from the table. The protest was to express DXE’s feeling of “betrayal” that the legislators who introduced AB 2764, initially a prohibition on new large-scale farms, were now changing it to instead call for a study on the impacts of animal agriculture.

On April 12, a different DXE activist managed to make her way onto the court at a Minnesota Timberwolves basketball game and glued her hand to the floor. She was promptly removed, though unfortunately the stunt attracted significant social media chatter about “Glue Girl” and met DXE’s objective of getting media attention. This time, the target of the protest was the team’s owner, who is affiliated with an egg farm that DXE is targeting with a campaign due to depopulation as a result of an avian influenza outbreak (as predicted).

The takeaway for farms and plants? Be on alert for activist activity as always, and keep the WD40 handy in case you’re targeted with a similar tactic.

Activists break out the arts and crafts supplies for latest stunts

Join for free* to continue reading.