It sounds like the poultry industry may need to start keeping acetone on hand.
Acetone, commonly sold as nail polish remover, is a solvent for Super Glue. The fixture in dad’s toolbox is turning into a new chemical weapon in animal activist groups' forever war on animal agriculture.
Protest tactic
At the 2022 Animal Agriculture Alliance Stakeholder Summit, speakers covered the recent activities of extremist activist groups Direction Action Everywhere (quizzically known as DXE) and People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) involving Super Glue.
In April 2022, DXE Protestor Alicia Santurio glued herself to the court of a National Basketball Association playoff game between the Minnesota Timberwolves and Los Angeles Clippers briefly interrupting the game. According to the Sporting News, Santurio was ostensibly protesting the Timberwolves’ part-owner Glen Taylor’s ownership of top U.S. egg company Rembrandt Enterprises and its use of ventilation shutdown depopulation.
This politically charged court storming echoed a high profile pitch invasion in the United Kingdom, where a climate protestor briefly zip-tied himself to a goal post during a Premier League match between Everton and Newcastle United. Also in April 2022, members of a climate focused group called Extinction Rebellion Super Glued themselves to buildings in London.
In May 2022, actor James Cromwell gained international attention by gluing his hand to a counter in a New York City Starbucks in a PETA-backed protest of the coffee giant’s policy of up-charging for vegan products.
Speakers at the Summit said this tactic is going small, too. Protestors apply Super Glue to their hands and grab onto lecterns at local meetings to call attention to their causes.
A quart of prevention
If 2022 is the year of the Super Glue attack, I recommend poultry producers and processors – and anyone else who could be in the crosshairs during the spring and summer months of the year when outdoor stunts may go down – keep a bottle or can of liquid acetone on hand in case they are targeted by glue-wielding protestors.
Acetone dissolves the bond between cyanoacrylate, the active ingredient in Super Glue, Krazy Glue and similar products that instantly dry and harden upon use, and whatever substance to which its adhered. Apply the strong smelling liquid to a cotton ball, or a cloth, and rub it on the glue to dissolve the bond.
Activists want to create a stink and draw attention to their cause. The quicker the protest can be broken up, the smaller the disruption will be.
