Tag: Geese

Oops, HSUS Did It Again

It seems that the Humane Society of the United States can’t make up its mind about whether activists should protest Columbia, Missouri.

In a June 13, 2001, Humanelines e-mail — which is widely redistributed on numerous animal rights e-mail lists and web sites — HSUS wrote,

Stephens Lake recreational area, owned by the City of Columbia (MO) is waiting until the geese on their property begin molting (and are unable to fly) to round them up and send them to slaughterhouses. You can write to them in protest of their plan at: City of Columbia, Parks & Recreation Dept., (Attn: Karen Ramey), 1 South 7th St., Columbia, MO 65205 / email: [email protected] / (573) 874-7460.

But less than 24 hours later they sent out a semi-retraction,

Regarding the Stephens Lake, Canada Goose Roundup & Slaughter printed in yesterday’s Humanelines, it appears as though the City of Columbia may NOT actually be engaged in such a slaughter plan. Please hold off on sending your protest letters until we can actually confirm the City of Columbia’s stance on this issue. We apologize for the confusion, and thanks for your patience!

Ariana Huemer
HSUS Government Affairs
[email protected]

Hey, everyone makes mistakes, but you’d think HSUS would thoroughly fact check a story before sending out a plea for people to call and write to protest.

Smithsonian Caves to Fear, Cancels Foie Gras Presentation

Animal rights advocates had
been targeting the Smithsonian Institute for several weeks after it announced
plans to hold a program called “Foie Gras: A GourmetÂ’s Passion”
on Sept. 21. Foie Gras is produced by force feeding ducks or geese. Animal
rights groups maintain the practice is cruel.

Rather than citing its agreement
with this argument, however, the Smithsonian cited concern for the safety
of visitors as the main reason for canceling the program. “Because
we are always concerned with the well-being of our participants, we have
regretfully concluded that it would be in the best interests of everyone
involved to cancel the program,” said Mara Mayor, director of the
Smithsonian Associates. Michael Gilnor, owner of Hudson Valley Foie Gras
and a scheduled speaker for the event, accused the animal rights groups
of inciting fear of violence to force the Smithsonian to cancel the program.

“What these people are
doing are terrorist acts,” said Gilnor. “They use means that
are close to terrorists but without the blood.”

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, one of the main groups opposing the program, said it has never
engaged in terrorism. “We have made no threats whatsoever,”
said Michael McGraw. “We would most likely dress up as ducks or geese and
hold up signs.” Of course they might also decide to light bales of
hay on fire in an act of arson as happened in two recent PETA protests.
Still McGraw is technically correct that PETA doesnÂ’t commit terrorist
acts – they just show up conveniently after terrorist acts have been committed
and provide legal and financial support for terrorists.