Vegans’ beef over Bellevue butcher shop turns vitriolic

A Bellevue butcher had no idea what was coming when he built a new Facebook page.

Golden Steer Choice Meats’ page had a five-star rating and about 77 “likes” when owner John Dick went to bed. The next morning, the store’s rating was down and some stark criticism soon followed.

Dick became the target of who he believes to be animal activists, hiding behind vegan lifestyles, he told KIRO Radio’s Dori Monson. The reviews left on the Facebook page were far more than a few unhappy customers. Those who were posting the one-star reviews weren’t even from Washington state, he explained.

Related: The Seattle Public Library is on a mission of its own

So these “vegan activists” were just searching for butchers’ pages to post fake reviews?

“It would appear so,” Dick said. He told Dori the activists “basically started an attack on us.”

Though a few bad reviews might not elicit more than a quick glance, Golden Steer was physically targeted by activists in the 1990s, Dick explained to Dori. A resurgence of anti-butcher speech, then, may have caused a little more worry for the Bellevue business. However, the vegans did nothing more than start an all-out Facebook war on the business’s page that has only boosted its reputation.

People from well outside Bellevue have commented on the page, many in support of the butcher shop. Since vegans began attacking the store a few weeks ago, it’s received hundreds of new “likes” and an outpouring of support from patrons.

So the campaign by the “Vegan activists” seems to have spoiled their own reputation. And it looks like mission accomplished for Dick, who just wanted to increase the web presence of his business and now has 2,388 “likes.”

It just goes to show that what they say about butchers is true: Trust your doctor and your butcher.