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The two faces of Animal Rights Groups
Perhaps more than any other public interest group in America, the radical animal ‘rights’ organizations have two faces. There’s the one they present to the public and more importantly to potential donors.
Then there’s the other face, the true one, which encompasses a philosophy that is more anti-human than pro-animal.
The two largest and best funded animal ‘rights’ groups, Humans Society of the United States (HSUS) and People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), both rely on financial support that often comes from people that have no idea what their real agendas are. In many cases, that support is based on misunderstanding or even deception.
HSUS has long benefited from the use of the term ‘humane society.’ Many erroneously believe HSUS operates animal shelters, rescue groups and other animal welfare operations. Well-meaning people give money, thinking they are assisting the operation of these local and regional organizations that do so much to help animals.
However, the truth is HSUS has never operated an animal shelter of any kind. Ever.
PETA employees have been arrested, prosecuted and convicted for illegally disposing of animals killed in their ‘shelter’ operations.
The public face of HSUS talks of ending barbaric practices such as dog fighting, but rarely emphasizes its efforts to mandate all dogs be spayed or neutered which would, of course, shut down private ownership of dogs, i.e. household pets. Nor does HSUS publicize its work to give pets the same legal status as a husband or wife in domestic abuse cases.
In the area of hunting, HSUS claims to oppose only ‘the most egregious forms of hunting.’ The problem is, they find all hunting egregious. In state after state, HSUS has opposed hunting of all sorts: Dove hunting (the most commonly hunted gamebird in America), bear hunting, cougar hunting, varmint hunting and more. They oppose hunts regardless of the sound conservation science that supports them. They continually press for ‘alternatives’ to hunting, such as the wildly expensive and proven ineffective use of contraceptives to control exploding deer populations.
HSUS has also opposes several organizations attempts to lower the hunting age in many states arguing: “At a time when youth violence is a nationwide epidemic and our children already face many threats every day, we should not put them in more danger or teach them that killing defenseless animals is wholesome entertainment.”
Of course, this charge is baseless; studies have shown youth who are taught to hunt and respect firearms and wildlife are less likely to become engaged in criminal activity, and hunting is safer then a host of activities kids regularly engage in, such as swimming, football and bicycling.
Finally, HSUS always opposes lifting the restriction that 10 states have on Sunday hunting. HSUS fails, however, to explain how hunting on Sunday is ‘egregious’ no doubt because it would just as soon ban hunting on the other six days of the week.
Another area where HSUS has been very active is ‘canned hunting’. HSUS use this term just as the anti-gun movement uses the term ‘assault weapon,’ to divide opponents and passage of a broader ban. But, as usual when it comes to legislation, the devil is most definitely in the details. In one case, HSUS pressed hard for legislation that defined so called ‘canned hunting’ as hunting within any ‘man-made enclosure, regardless of size.’ A five acre parcel of land would be treated the same as a 20,000 acre piece. Of course, HSUS hoped lawmakers would miss the point as they talked of ‘killers shooting animals in cages.’
In 2005, HSUS entered into an alliance with the equally radical Fund for Animals, forming a litigation group to use the courts to interfere with or end legal hunts. They have used this group to bring lawsuits in states like Maine, Wisconsin, Maryland and New Jersey, and to challenge hunting on federal wildlife refuges. Their lawyers abuse federal law by ignoring congressional intent. In their minds, the end always justifies the means.
HSUS has also begun an effort to take land out of the reach of hunters through the ‘Wildlife Land Trust’ a novel take on the conservation easements used by many landowners to save on taxes while preserving wildlife habitat from development. In HSUS’s bizarre twist, the group encourages people to set their land in trust, but only if the landowner forbids hunting. HSUS doesn’t explain how it intends to manage animal populations on these lands, or how it will deal with the inevitable catastrophe when populations of deer or other creatures overwhelm the habitat.
Apparently, these are not HSUS’s concerns. HSUS is working to gain tax benefits for these lands similar to current types of conservation easements, which means we would all pay to move HSUS’s anti-hunting agenda forward. This program is in its infancy, with less than a million acres signed up, but potential donors need to learn about HSUS’s radical agenda and the repercussions of ignoring sound conservation science.
PETA, known as the Pop Star of Animal Rights Radicalism is attempting to dismiss the other large animal ‘rights’ groups the same way most adult American dismiss misbehaving Hollywood starlets. The problem is, many of our kids don’t dismiss those miscreants and PETA works hard to get its message out to the same people who care what Paris, Nicole, Britney and Lindsay are doing.
While embracing many of the same positions as HSUS, PETA has always taken a different path. It targets the glamorous world of Hollywood, cultivating celebrity spokesmen and women and focusing on the publicity that protests, boycotts and other such publicity-seeking stunts will generate. Gaining news coverage by displaying naked or nearly naked young women in cages is a typical tactic. PETA doesn’t spend the time, effort and money HSUS does in the courtroom or hearing room, but the threat they pose is real nonetheless, because their prime targets are our children.
PETA has gone to great lengths to indoctrinate kids and young adults by creating materials, including comic books and videos, that teach its radical agenda, and then getting sympathetic teachers to use those materials in the classroom.
One of PETA’s comic books proclaim on the cover, “Your Daddy Kills Animals!” and warns kids to keep the family dog away from him. Why? Because Dad is a fisherman.
PETA’s PR machine is relentless; PETA selects a ‘vegetarian of the year’ from among notable celebrities and presents that person as a role model for children. Each year it attacks restaurant chains that serve meat, circuses that have animal acts and, of course, any pharmaceutical company that uses animals to develop life-saving medicines.
PETA opposes all hunting. It describes hunting as ‘cruel and unnecessary’ and pressed for the ineffective ‘alternative’ as HSUS, including sterilizing the deer population. PETA also recommends interfering with legal hunts, calling on activists to ‘protest organized hunts, and spread deer repellent or human hair, gathered from barber shops and hair salons, near hunting areas’.
With a multi-million dollar budget, and the willing support of celebrity vegans who want to force their lifestyle on everyone, PETA represents the pop-culture side of the animal ‘rights’ movement.
We should all take care that PETA’s message is not spoon fed to our kids when we are not watching.
PETA is actually listed as a domestic terror group with the FBI.
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Every normal man must be tempted at times to spit upon his hands, hoist the black flag and begin slitting throats... -H.L. Mencken
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Oct/17/2007, 7:46 pm
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