New Jersey Animal Rights Alliance

Activist Wants Senate to Cancel Eco/Animal Rights Terrorism Hearings

Joe Miele, of New Jersey Animal Rights Alliance, was unhappy when Republican Sen. James Inhofe announced hearings to investigate eco- and animal rights terrorism. Miele posted to AR-NEWS urging activists to send letters to Inhofe characterizing the hearings as a waste of money and a diversion from the evils of global warming and birth defects. The sample letter Miele posted is fascinating,

The Fur Commission USA has begun a letter-writing campaign to support the
hearings being conducted by the Senate Committee on The Environment in
Washington into what the government calls “eco-terrorism.”

To counter their message, please write to the anti-animal extremist
committee chairman Senator James Inhofe and inform him that there are far
more important things to do than to waste taxpayer money appeasing special
interest groups by targeting those who defend the earth and her animals.

SAMPLE LETTER:

The Honorable James Inhofe, Chairman
Senate Committee on Environment & Public Works
410 Dirksen Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510

Dear Chairman Inhofe:

I am writing to respectfully urge you to stop wasting taxpayer money to
satisfy special interest groups who oppose wildlife and environmental
protection.

The multi-billion-dollar industries you serve to protect are those that
perpetuate environmental destruction on a global scale and are creating
problems such as global warming, birth defects and dwindling populations of
wildlife and endangered species.

By focusing your attention on the activities of environmental and animal
rights groups, you are allowing global polluters and those who rape the
environment in the name of profits to continue their business as usual.
This is not only myopic, but incredibly irresponsible. As a public servant
you are obligated to carry out the will of the people. Unfortunately, you
choose to carry out the will of anti-environmental corporate interests. By
doing this you are betraying the public trust and destroying your
reputation.

Please Senator Inhofe, please cease your foolish and wasteful inquiries into
the state of the environmental movement and focus your attention on the
industries that are the world’s major polluters and exploiters. They are
the ones who deserve your scorn, not those who are trying to reverse the
march toward the environmental devastation you so willingly support.

Sincerely,

Looks like some activists are starting to feel the heat from all the negative attention that animal rights and environmental extremists are starting to attract.

Source:

Letters needed: Counter message of Fur Commission. Joe Miele, October 2, 2005.

Five New Jersey Activists Set for Trial in Seaboard Securities Protest

The New Jersey Animal Rights Alliance sent out an appeal for funds in late December to aid five activists set to go on trial in late January.

According to the appeal,

Back in July, five activists were arrested at a silent, peaceful protest against Seaboard Securities, a market maker which allows Huntingdon Life Sciences (HLS) to trade its stocks. The activists were simply displaying their disapproval of Seaboard’s complicity in the murders of 500 animals a day at HLS — a lab which conducts cruel procedures on animals in the name of “science.” . . .

These false arrests have proven to be a financial hardship for two of the activists — one an NJARA member and employee — who have retained a lawyer to help fight the false allegations and defend their right to free speech for the animals.

Unfortunately, I couldn’t find much information about the original arrests or the pending trial (even the NJARA’s website has no mention of it), so anyone who can point me to additional information on this case would be greatly appreciated.

Source:

Defend your right to speak up for the animals! New Jersey Animal Rights Alliance, Press Release, December 30, 2004.

Some Activists Unhappy with HSUS' Use of Dead Pigs in Bear Experiments

The Humane Society of the United States is making some animal rights activist unhappy with an otherwise animal rights-style project.

The HSUS has reached agreements with Six Flags Wild Safari in New Jersey to carry out an experiment in using contraception rather than hunting to control bear populations. The HSUS will do two separate tests, one in which it will inject female bears with PZP and another where it will administer a chemical castration compound, Neutrosol, to male bears.

It is the PZP experiment that had New Jersey Animal Rights Alliance activist Joe Miele complaining in a post to AR-NEWS that “HSUS [is] exploiting pigs to save bears.” When injected into bears, PZP causes an immune system reaction that has a byproduct of preventing sperm from fertilizing a female’s eggs. PZP is obtained by taking tissue from dead pigs.

Vegan birth control it ain’t. Presumably it was undertaken on one of the days of the week when HSUS doesn’t oppose animal research.

Source:

Bear contraception to be tested at Six Flags. Brian Murray, New Jersey Star-Ledger, October 8, 2004.

Activist Pleads Not Guilty to Trespassing, Obstruction

New Jersey animal rights activist Angi Metler, 47, plead not guilty this month to charges of trespassing and obstructing a government function. Metler locked herself to a bear trap in August and police had to remove part of the cage to arrest her.

According to the New Jersey Herald, Metler and another activist with Bear Education and Resource Group visited a home that had recently been broken into by a bear. State wildlife officials had set up a trap outside the home in hopes the bear would return.

The New Jersey Herald reported that,

Words were apparently exchanged between [the homeowner] and the activists, and Metler’s solution was to jump into the cage to prevent the death of the bear, which would be killed if caught and positively identified as the problem animal.

Wildlife officials believe that one or two bears is responsible for numerous home break-ins in the area.

Source:

Caged BEAR activist ready to go to trial. Brendan Berls, New Jersey Herald, September 1, 2004.

In Defense of Animals Starts Letter Campaign Against Proposed Pro-Trapping Postage Stamp

On December 8, 2003, In Defense of Animals included this item in its weekly newsletter,

A pro-trapping postage stamp is currently under consideration by the U.S. Postal Service. The National Trappers Association (NTA) is pushing the stamp and if they go forward with their campaign to institute the pro-trapping stamp, the trappers will inundate the USPS with vocal requests for these stamps.

Each year approximately 10 million animals are trapped in the wild, so that they can be skinned for fur coats. The primary tools used by fur trappers are the following: leghold trap, the body grip (Conibear) trap, and the wire snare. Volumes of documentation proving that leghold traps mutilate wild animals, are non-selective in what they catch, and are a danger to companion animals and children.This is not something to be promoted on a stamp. Learn more about trapping here.

Contact the national Citizens’ Stamp Advisory Committee and ask it to deny any pro-trapping stamp requested by the NTA. Tell the Committee that the USPS should not promote animal cruelty.

But a couple weeks later, New Jersey Animal Rights Alliance activist Joe Miele posted a copy of a letter he had received from the USPS dated November 4, 2003, denying that the postal service had plans for a trapping stamp,

November 4, 2003

Dear Mr. Miele:

Thank you for your October 24 letters expressing your opposition to the
issuance of a stamp honoring trappers and animal trapping.

There are no plans to issue such a stamp as part of the annual stamp
program.

Each year the Postal Service receives thousands of letters suggesting
hundreds of different topics for new stamps. The Citizens’ Stamp Advisory
Committee was established in 1957 to review all suggestions and make
recommendations to the Postmaster General. Committee recommendations are
based on national interest, historical perspective, and other criteria. We
rely on the Committee to produce a balanced stamp program that touches on
all aspects of our heritage. Enclosed for your reference is the Creating
U.S. Postage Stamps brochure.

We appreciate your interest in our stamp program.

Sincerely,

Terrence W. McCaffrey
Manager
Stamp Development

If IDA wants to keep activists busy on a wild goose chase, more power to them.

Sources:

Trappers push pro-trapping postage stamp. Animal News Center, December 22, 2003.

E-Newsletter. In Defense of Animals, December 8, 2003.

USPS correspondence. Terrence W. McCaffrey, November 4, 2003.

McGreevey Lied, Bears Died?

During Democrat James McGreevey’s successful run for the governorship of New Jersey, McGreevey said he supported a five-year moratorium on the hunting of bears. As governor, however, McGreevey did not attempt to interfere with the New Jersey Fish and Game Council to reinstate a bear hunt this year in order to control the population of bears in the state.

In the ensuing hunt, 328 bears were killed. Under New Jersey law, the governor does not have the ability to revoke or stop a hunt directly, but he could have used his political clout and influence to try to forestall the hunt if he had wanted to. Then-New Jersey Gov. Christie Todd Whitman did just that in 2000 to help stop a planned bear hunt.

Animal rights activist, not surprisingly, are angry with McGreevey for apparently changing his mind about whether a bear hunt was necessary and have ratcheted up the rhetoric against him. For example, a press release from the New Jersey Animal Rights Alliance and the Bear Education and Research Group said,

In an attempt to climb out of the dismal pit that is his approval ratings, Governor James E. McGreevey is unveiling a new slogan for the state of the state address: “Promises Made, Promises Kept.”

“Sounds nice”, states Stuart Chaifetz of NJARA, “but it’s as false as the promises he made. This is a man who promised not to allow bear hunting, and yet a mere month ago he allowed the slaughter of 328 bears.”

It is important to understand that this was not just a campaign promise, but a major reason why tens of thousands of people worked for his election and voted for him.

“He not only lied”, states Lynda Smith of the Bear Group, “he stole our votes. The reality is that since he lied to us about the bears, he’ll lie about anything.”

Since the Governor is looking for a new slogan, Here’s one that is at least honest: “McGreevey Lied, Bears Died.”

In December about 100 anti-bear hunt activists gathered at Wawayanda State and carried signs referring to McGreevey with language like “Adolf McGreevey” while chanting “Never Again!”

Source:

Promise – Broken. Governor McGreevey’s New Slogan Is Worst Form of Hypocrisy. Press Release, New Jersey Animal Rights Alliance/BEAR Group, January 2004.