The British Union for the Abolition of Vivisection recently produced the usual edited undercover videos of a primate research facility in Great Britain. Cambridge University is taking the charges seriously and has started an investigation, but BUAV has a track record of crying wolf (in fact, BUAV itself once used British laws to prevent the release of a government investigation into its charges).
Primate activist Rick Bogle weighed in on an animal rights mailing list, comparing the BUAV’s charges to the recent sex scandals that have rocked the Roman Catholic Church. Bogle wrote,
I was struck by the similarities between the situation in Cambridge, the U.S. primate labs, and the Catholic church.
In all three cases, those with power over others make public claims about the respect they have for those in their power, the self-policing they engage in, and the importance of their work.
. . .
It is worth noting that both groups are faith-based institutions that seek to shield their own behavior from public scrutiny by claiming that they are able to, and in fact do, self-police and act with integrity and morality in the public interest.
Of course, what struck this author was how similar Bogle’s rantings were to the rush to cast blame on Gary Condit for the disappearance of Chandra Levy.
Cambridge is in good company, however. Just a couple weeks ago, Bogle favored this writer with the best compliment he has yet received for his work highlighting the animal rights movement when Bogle posted to an e-mail list that one day,
The Carnells will be mentioned en masses as the quislings of the vivisection industry, the traitors of compassion.
Somebody seems to have a bit of the drama queen running in his veins.
Source:
Re: primfocus: University probe into monkey lab claims. Rick Bogle, e-mail post, May 2002.