Jack Lessenberry, the Ombudsman for the Toledo Blade, wrote a fascinating profile of Michigan animal rights activist Gary Yourofsky for that newspaper. After reading some of the quotes from Yourofsky, its scary that anyone takes him seriously (but people do).
Yourofsky has spent quite a bit of time in jail for various animal liberation acts, including two months in a Canadian prison for releasing mink from a Canadian farm. Yourofsky tells Lessenberry that he is $30,000 in debt and lives mostly off of donations. “[I’m] an activist 24/7,” Yourofsky said. “This is what I do.”
It gets better. According to Lessenberry, Yourofsky supports a large tattoo of himself wearing a hood and “displaying the symbols of the ALF, the Animal Liberation Front” on one of his arms. In addition Yourofsky has an exaggerated sense of self-importance, telling Lessenberry that he doubts he will live to see the animal rights movement succeed because, “I really think I will be assassinated.”
Not that Yourofsky particularly thinks violence is a bad thing. “…we must be willing to do whatever it takes to gain their [animals] freedom and stop their torture,” Yourofsky said.
Would it be okay if an activist killed an “animal abuser”? “I would unequivocally support that, too,” Yourofsky said.
All in order to achieve Yourofsky’s ideal. “What we must do is start viewing every cow, pig, chicken, monkey, rabbit, mouse, and pigeon as our family members.”
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals loves Yourofsky — they gave him $10,000 for an anti-fur ad which aired in the Detroit area dozens of times.
As I mentioned at the beginning, the scary part is that Yourofsky is taken seriously, especially in some of the public schools here in Michigan. As Lessenberry notes, “he is increasing demands on the classroom and lecture circuit.”
Source:
Activist devotes life to animal rights. Jack Lessenberry, Toldeo Blade, June 24, 2001.