THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA
An Online Journal of Political Commentary & Analysis
Volume VII, Issue # 144, July 7, 2005
Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr., Editor
Government Committed to & Acting in Accord with Conservative Principles
Ensures a Nation's Strength, Progress, & Prosperity
ANIMAL "RIGHTS" & ANIMAL NUTS
By Alan Caruba
THE NATIONAL MADNESS ABOUT ANIMALS: THE ISSUES INVOLVING ANIMAL "RIGHTS" CONTINUE TO WREAK HAVOC &
COST MILLIONS, THANKS TO RADICAL ENVIRONMENTALISTS & ANIMAL "RIGHTS" ACTIVISTS, WHO VALUE ANIMALS ABOVE
THEIR FELLOW HUMAN BEINGS
FULL STORY:
Other than the biblical injunction against inflicting unnecessary pain on animals, the beginning of our modern concept of humane
treatment, I do not believe animals have “rights.” Humans do, but animals are, well, animals. We grow, slaughter, and eat a lot of them.
Others become members of our family as pets and some serve mankind for the purpose of research to defeat the diseases that afflict
us.
An important trial began in New Jersey in early June. The defendants are the leaders and members of the U.S. chapter of Stop
Huntingdon Animal Cruelty (SHAC), persons described by Executive Assistant U.S. Attorney Charles McKenna as a group of
stalkers and criminal instigators who terrorized families through “a campaign of thuggery and intimidation.” Both in England and here,
Huntingdon, a company that undertakes animal-based research for pharmaceutical and other companies, has been targeted by SHAC.
The six “activists,” as one newspaper characterized them, are being prosecuted under the Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act.
“These defendants,” McKenna told the jury, “were going to drive this company out of business at any cost and there was no end to
what they were going to do.” The tactics they used involved all kinds of intimidation, such as making threatening phone calls, and
even included overturning cars belonging to Huntingdon executives and workers. Suffice it to say, most reasonable people would
conclude that their tactics went way beyond “advocacy” and, as their lawyer postulated, their right to free speech.
A mistrial was declared, due to the illness of one of the defendant’s attorney, and a new trial is expected later this year.
Back in March, the New Jersey Audubon Society asked the State of New Jersey to reduce the population of white-tailed deer. Seems
these deer, whose dead bodies are routinely seen by the side of most of the Garden State’s highways, have become an ecological
“stressor” for birds and other wildlife, so let’s get out our guns and shoot the danged critters. The Audubon folks are also thinking
about opening some of their own preserves to hunters. Let us pray they don’t inadvertently bump off some bird-watchers.
Okay, so let’s see what’s going on here; “Bad” SHAC people attacking Huntingdon executives versus “Good” Audubon people who
want deer hunted and killed before they destroy the New Jersey forest environment in ways that have already eliminated at least
fourteen bird species. And what can be said of the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection which, after decades of
deterring any hunting to reduce the State’s black bear population, has discovered they pose a real danger to people? After caving to
the animal rights advocates, they now are reluctantly advocating a hunt.
Then there’s the revelation by the Center for Consumer Freedom that People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) kills
thousands of animals every year at its Norfolk, Virginia, headquarters. The Center notes that, between 1998 and 2003, PETA put to
death more than 10,000 dogs, cats, and other creatures they dub “companion animals” and, get this, raked in nearly $29 million in
2004 from people who thought PETA wouldn’t ever harm any animal. In the years noted, PETA killed 78.3% of the animals they
received.
PETA has also waged war against laboratories that use animals for research purposes, using the most corrupt forms of propaganda
to target Covance of Vienna, Virginia. According to the FBI, PETA has donated thousands of dollars to animal rights groups, like the
Animal Liberation Front, which the FBI considers to be no less terrorist than Islamic fundamentalists. PETA consists of the same
people who don’t want you to wear real fur and who spend huge bucks on campaigns to scare little children who might be served
chicken in the school cafeteria or go fishing with dad. PETA wants all of us to become vegetarians. Hypocrites? The worst!
The national madness about animals seemingly has no end. In May, 2005, when a rare woodpecker specie was spotted in Arkansas,
the Secretaries of Interior and Agriculture could not wait to announce the proposed spending of more than $10 million to provide
habitat for its protection. That’s on top of the $10 million for research and habitat protection efforts already being spent by private
conservation groups. This particular bird, the ivory-billed woodpecker, has not been seen in 60 years. Let’s put this silly bird right
up there with the millions spent to “save” the California condor. There is something obscene about spending $10 million on yet
another soon-to-be extinct bird.
Back in 1998, the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service decided to reintroduce the Mexican Grey Wolf that used to range in Arizona and New
Mexico. Across the border in Mexico, of course, there were plenty of these wolves. They were only “rare” here. At some considerable
cost to U.S. taxpayers, some of these wolves were captured and released in the American Southwest -- wolves that showed their
gratitude by killing livestock, a far easier prey than chasing down a jackrabbit. In less than seven years, the same USF&W put the
word out. “Kill the Mexican Grey Wolf!” We can find money to waste on these and other animal-related projects, but we can’t find
the money when it comes to hiring more border guards to help stop the illegal immigrants streaming across the border every month.
Go figure.
Congress is discussing extending, once again, the Endangered Species Act. This law has had less than a one percent (1%) recovery
rate in its 30-year history, but it did have a devastating affect on the value of privately owned property designated as “critical habitat.”
Suffice it to say, this law has been a spectacular failure and needs to be sent to the great congressional shredding machine for really
bad laws.
The capacity of the U.S. national government to waste millions on the enforcement of bad “animal rights” laws, juxtaposed against a
new trial for allegedly criminal animal lovers, is a reminder that a little bit of common sense would go a long way when it comes to the
hysteria over “endangered species” and the fact that your local supermarket is filled with the remains of dead animals, all nicely
canned, frozen, or wrapped in clear cellophane so you can see how fresh it is!
LINKS TO RELATED TOPICS:
Policy Issues Relating to Energy, Environment,
& Natural Resources
Alan Caruba is a veteran business and science writer, a Public Relations Counselor, and Founder of the National Anxiety Center, a
clearinghouse for information about media-driven scare campaigns. Caruba writes a weekly commentary, "Warning Signs," posted
on the Internet website of the National Anxiety Center, which is located at
www.anxietycenter.com.
© Alan Caruba 2005
Published with Permission of Alan Caruba
ACaruba@AOL.Com
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