Day: November 30, 2002

Animal Liberation Front Steals 128 Dogs from Italian Research Facility

Animal Liberation Front activists broke into an Italian dog-breeding center on November 24, 2002 and stole 128 beagles. The dogs were to be used for medical research according to police.

Police estimated about 10 people broke into the farm and stole the animals as well as spray painting animal rights slogans such as “Murderers” and “ALF will free all” at the facility.

Despite that last slogan, the ALF activists left behind the 800+ remaining dogs at the breeding center.

Source:

‘Terrorists’ steal 128 beagles. The Herald Sun (UK), November 24, 2002.

Ah, the Advantages of Objective Media

Over the past few weeks it seemed like Roger Ailes memo to George W. Bush was getting as much attention on CNN as the DC sniper’s tarot card did. As far as I’m concerned, all broadcast news is nothing but entertainment and should be treated as such, but CNN set out a clear standard of objectivity in its relentless reporting and criticism of Ailes’ memo.

So how come I wake up this morning and see this running across their news ticker,

Woman who wrote riot-inciting Miss World story resigns

So even CNN thinks the Nigerian riots were all the fault of some uppity woman reporter who didn’t know her place. Presumably we will soon see headlines like, “Woman dressed in high skirt and low-cut top gets raped.”

Maybe if they’d grow a spine down in Atlanta, they might be able to stop the ass kicking they’re receiving from Fox.

Woodchucks Transplantation Model Developed

Researchers at University Hospital Essen in Essen, Germany, have developed a transplantation model in woodchucks that will allow researchers to better model how hepatitis B reinfection progresses in human beings.

After receiving a transplanted organ, patients are usually given an immunosuppressive drug such as cyclosporine. This helps reduce the risk of organ rejection but also makes recipients more susceptible to diseases such as hepatitis B.

This is especially the case with organ transplants such as the liver, where hepatitis B is a major cause of liver cancer and, hence, liver failure. Finding a way to reduce or eliminate the risk of hepatitis B reinfection would greatly enhance the outcomes of liver transplants.

Woodchucks contract a virus similar to hepatitis B called woodchuck hepatitis virus (WHV). The German researchers devised a way to perform liver transplants with woodchucks that closely models the procedure in human beings, including the administering of daily doses of cyclosporine.

Source:

Woodchucks allow doctors to study hepatitis B reinfection after transplantation. Sonia Bell-Nichols, Virus Weekly, September 10, 2002.

Gary Yourofsky — Killing Researchers Is Okay, But Don't Touch That Turkey!

One of the more absurd commentaries on dietary choices for Thanksgiving had to come from People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals’ Gary Yourofsky lecturing people about choosing tofu over turkey.

Yourofsky told about 30 students gathered at Midwestern State University,

I do not eat anything – or a product of anything – with a face, a mother or a bowl movement. . . . But I’m not an animal lover. Call me anything but an animal lover. . . . [I want] simple decency [for animals] . . .of all the exploited beings on earth, animals are the most terrorized.

Apparently Yourofsky has forgotten his advocacy of terrorizing anyone who dares disagree with him. As he told The Toledo Blade in the Summer of 2001, “we must be willing to do whatever it takes to gain their [animals] freedom and stop their torture.” When asked if this extended to killing “animal abusers” Yourofsky said, without missing a beat, “I would unequivocally support that, too.”

Yourofsky’s concern about simple decency and terrorism stops with his fellow human beings.

Source:

PETA rep pitches turkey-less holiday. Brye Butler, Times Record News (Texas), November 30, 2002.