Regular readers might remember that Paul McCartney’s wife, Linda, actively campaigned for animal rights only to turn to animal tested and approved treatments for the breast cancer that ultimately claimed her life. McCartney’s new wife, Heather Mills McCartney, also describes herself as an animal rights activists except when it is inconvenient to her pet projects.
Heather Mills McCartney recently appeared at the University of California Irvine to talk about the horrors of landmines. The student newspaper at UCI, New University, carried the following account of McCartney’s presentation,
Another audience member expressed concern for the welfare of the dogs that were used to sniff for plastic bombs. She answered that even though she was an animal-rights activist herself, after researching the matter she found out that landmines kill 47,000 animals, and that only four detection dogs have been killed in the process of sniffing out potential hazards. After weighing the numbers, she concluded that it was a necessary sacrifice in order to save the lives of many others.
That is just a fascinating comment on so many levels. First, of course, Heather apparently gets to make these sort of judgments while lending her name and image to groups like People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals which argues that no one has the right to make these sorts of judgments.
Second, Heather has quickly fallen into the animal rights ideology of ignoring the human suffering that is alleviated through animal use. She could have responded that each year thousands of people — 30 to 40 percent children — are killed by landmines around the world, making the small number of deaths of dogs more than acceptable. But, of course, she didn’t. Instead she fell back on the claim that thousands of animals are also killed by landmines which makes it okay to use other animals to sniff them out. If animals weren’t killed regularly by landmines, would this render using dogs ethically questionable?
Finally, Heather has adopted another animal rights characteristic — she is grossly inaccurate. For someone who is famous in part for her anti-landmine efforts, you’d think she would know better than to make the ridiculous claim that only 4 dogs have been killed in anti-landmine efforts. The number is, in fact, much higher. This article from Institute for War and Peace Reporting notes that in Afghanistan alone, 7 dogs were killed in landmine clearing operations between 1989-2002.
Sources:
McCartney Honored for Humanitarian Work. New University (UC Irvine), Irene Wang, May 3, 2004.
Sniffing out landmine danger. Institute for War and Peace Reporting, Danish Karokhel, December 20, 2002.
This is such garbage!! Have you ever worked in research? Have you ever critically reviewed results from animal work? Have you ever served on an IACUC?
I have.
http://www.thedailypage.com/isthmus/article.php?article=31607
There are veterinarians all over the world aghast at what they see every day. Only the need for income, and a desire to alleviate some of the suffering, keeps these folks clocking in. No, there is no government oversight. That, too, is a complete falsehood perpetuated by the biotech industrial lobby.
I urge any DVM reading this to take a moment, and remember why you went to school. Animal research is not saving lifes – it is taking resources away from providing health care to American citizens. It is just that simple.