Online social justice warrior trolls succeed in closing down nonprofit horse rescue shelter

According to WBZ-TV, a nonprofit horse rescue shelter is shutting down after social justice warriors succeeded in getting the shelter's Facebook page shut down, thus cutting off their primary avenue for fundraising.

Blue Star Farm in West Brookfield, Massachusetts opened years ago as a shelter for abused horses. They currently house over 25 horses that have been rescued from situations in which they were being abused and neglected.

According to Blue Star Farm's operators, many of the horses that were rescued were previously working horses, and so in order to provide a sense of stability for the horses, those horses were given tasks to perform in humane conditions.

This wasn't acceptable to some social justice warriors who felt that the animals should just be left free to wander in the fields, and complained to social media giant Facebook. As a result, Facebook yanked down the farm's page, and with it, the nonprofit organization's primary fundraising tool vanished.

According to WGGB-TV, farm landowner Darcie Confar says, "There are people who believe that animals shouldn't work, that it's the worst thing for them, that it's cruel, that it's abusive and that's absolutely not the case."

Confar told WGGB that as a result of uninformed criticism from animal rights activists, the site's Facebook page was shut down just before Thanksgiving, and they have as yet been unsuccessful in persuading Facebook to reopen it. Without those donations during the main charitable giving season, the farm will be unable to pay its bills and will be forced to close, according to Confar.

"We have over 26,000 followers, and it was going into the biggest giving season of the year and Blue Star completely lost its platform to ask for donations, to see us through the winter."

As the charity's last act, Blue Star Farm plans to load up a carriage with presents for some local children, and have some of its horses drive around the streets of Springfield, Mass., delivering presents to local children in need.

Blue Star director Pamela Rickenbach said, "We're hoping to create a memory that they'll hold onto forever. That they are loved, and that we do care, and that we have a world of beauty for them to know still. And you know, that's the message I think the horses bring to all of us."