Author: Brian Carnell

PETA on Flood Victims

More than a dozen people died in Texas in early June after flood waters inundated the state. People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals is more concerned, however, with the non-human victims of the flood — 30,000 laboratory animals who died as a result of flooding at Baylor College of Medicine and the University of Texas Medical School at Houston.

In a press release, PETA said,

Apparently, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) allows research institutions in flood-prone regions to warehouse animals in basements without providing a plan for their evacuation in the event of flooding. NIH also consistently promises to reimburse such institutions for “losses,” thereby removing any incentive for properly caring for the tens of thousands of animals in the researchers’ possession.

I’m not certain how exactly 30,000 lab animals would be evacuated, but PETA is being extremely hypocritical when it goes on to argue that the NIH should require that no animals are stored on basement levels in flood-prone area, and adds, “No one can reasonably argue that with an annual budget of $310 million and $60 million, respectively, Baylor College of Medicine and the University of Texas Medical School at Houston couldn’t afford a security guard!”

Of course beginning the mid-1980s, such facilities have had to dramatically increase their expenditures for security systems and personnel to prevent animal rights terrorism, which PETA itself endorses. Maybe if they didn’t have to spend so much time and money trying to keep PETA’s Animal Liberation Front friends from getting in, they might have a bit more left over for plans to get animals out in case of flooding.

Source:

Texas Floods Drown 30,000 Caged Animals. People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, Press Release, June 2001.

Great Britain to Prosecute Farmer for Foot-And-Mouth Related Offenses

With speculation still running rampant about the source of the Foot and Mouth Disease epidemic in Great Britain, the Northumberland County Council recently confirmed to the BBC that it plans to prosecute pig farmer Bobby Waugh for his alleged role in the outbreak.

The Ministry of Agriculture has identified Waugh’s farm as the likely source of the outbreak. Waugh is being charged with “failure to notify the existence of disease in pigs between its occurrence and discovery by Maff” as well as “feeding unprocessed catering waste to pigs.”

Six hundred pigs at Waugh’s farm were destroyed in March in an attempt to control the spread of the disease.

Waugh denies the allegations and claims that the government is trying to turn him into a scapegoat for the epidemic.

“They are just clutching at straws,” Waugh told the BBC. “I can disprove all these charges. They are determined to make me responsible for the foot-and mouth crisis.”

Source:

Pig farmer faces prosecution. The BBC, June 1, 2001.

Wendy McElroy on Outrageous “Rape” Case

Wendy McElroy has an excellent look at an outrageous example of administrators running roughshod over the rights of students accused of rape, How to Ruin a Man’s Life.

The Washington state Supreme Court recently upheld a $1.5 million judgment against Gonzanga University which committed one outrageous act after another to deny a teaching certificate to a student over an alleged rape. It didn’t help the university that the alleged rape victim testified that not only wasn’t she raped but that the university’s claims about her contained falsehoods and that a university official threatened her in an interview — when she refused to go along with the university’s claim that she had been raped, the alleged victim testified that one of the university interviewers asked her if she knew “where people who life go.”

Yet another unconscionable example of how little regard many universities have for things like due process (amazingly, the university conducted an investigation and decided not to award the alleged rapist a teaching certificate without once interviewing him.)

Source:

How to Ruin a Man’s Life. Wendy McElory, IFeminists.Com, June 12, 2001.

Animal Rights Activist Assaults Former Survivor Cast Member

The Associated Press is reporting that on June 12, an animal rights activist assaulted former Survivor cast member Michael Skupin with pepper spray while Skupin was making a public appearance in Columbia, Missouri. According to the AP, Skupin and several other people — including some children standing near him — were treated at the scene after they were hit by the chemical.

The assailant, David Cravens, 30, apparently handed Skupin a note saying he was not acting on behalf of any organized group, but readers will remember that People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals targeted Skupin and Survivor after Skupin slaughtered a pig during taping of the reality show.

Source:

‘Survivor’s’ Michael Skupin
Attacked With Pepper Spray. The Associated Press, June 13, 2001.

UK Banks Adopt Tough Anti-AR Stance

According to the Times (UK), the British Bankers Association recently adopted a new, strong policy against animal rights violence directed at their members.

Ananova reports that, “After the talks, Ian Mullen, the BBA’s chief executive, said that the big banks were determined to present a united front in the face of extremist protests.”

Animal rights protests directed at financial institutions in the United Kingdom led many of those to sever their ties with Huntingdon Life Sciences. Apparently the banks finally realize that trying to accommodate the activists only further emboldens them and the BBA declared a “renewed determination to maintain a service to customers regardless of intimidation.”

This comes in conjunction with a recent meeting between the BBA and the Home Secretary in which the government told the bankers that, “we are prepared to do whatever is required” to end the intimidation and violence directed at financial institutions by animal rights activists.

Source:

UK banks agree tough stance against animal rights intimidation. Ananova, June 13, 2001.

Utah ALF Activists Attack Bed Bath & Beyond: Anti-HLS Terrorism Crosses the Atlantic

It looks like we can expect animal rights activists in the United States to continue the violent British campaign against anyone even remotely associated with Huntingdon Life Sciences. The Animal Liberation Front took credit recently for smashing 45 windows and breaking 4 plate glass doors at a Utah Bed Bath & Beyond store.

Bed Bath & Beyond sells domestics merchandise and home furniture, but the activists apparently targeted it because — try to follow the logic here — Bed Bath & Beyond has financial dealings with companies that own HLS stock.

Source:

Radical animal group credits itself with crime. Desert News, June 12, 2001.