Monthly Archives: March 2004

How Stupid Does Kim McCoy Think People Are?

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Kim McCoy, one of the animal rights activists who is part of Paul Watson\’s plan to seize control of the Sierra Club board of directors, has posted the following statement about her candidacy on her web site (emphasis added),

Animal Rights and Human Population

An additional misconception that I would like to clear up is that there is no alliance between animal rights people and \”anti-immigration\” people. Honestly, the two movements could not be more separate, and these allegations are nothing more than an attempt to distract from the real issues and power struggles at hand in this election.

In recent weeks, I have heard animal rights activists being falsely labeled as \”anti-human.\” This is simply not true. The animal rights movement is a movement of compassion for all species. Certainly this would include humans as well as non-humans, and for this reason, I (and many animal rights activists) fully support and champion the promotion of human rights. However, the fact remains that human population is the single largest threat to life on earth, and if nothing is done to slow or reverse the growth of human population, it is inevitable that all species will suffer, including both humans and non-human species. A wise friend recently said to me, \”One of the most wonderful things about promoting vegetarianism is that we can claim with all honesty that what is best for us is also best for the animals and the environment.\” I could not agree with this statement more, and I will add that, from my perspective (looking at the big picture), this is fundamentally true of the human population issue as well.

There is a lot at stake here, and our planet and its inhabitants need forward-thinking advocates who will speak on their behalf, even in the face of controversy and unpleasant accusations. My hope is that the goodhearted, gentle souls who fight against injustices in this broken world will turn inwards and really think about this issue; think about the repercussions of failing to address human population growth; think about the kind of planet they would like to see for their children and grandchildren, and for the offspring of countless other species of plants and animals. Addressing human population growth from a purely ecological perspective is entirely consistent with the protection of human and non-human rights and does not damage either movement, but failing to do so will.

Watson\’s alliance with immigration foes has caused some consternation and criticism among liberal-leaning activists, so McCoy\’s effort to say that there simply is no such alliance is understandable. But she might have clued in Paul Watson, since the Sea Shepherd site endorsed all three of the leading anti-immigration candidates for the Sierra Club board in a February press release,

The Sea Shepherd Endorsement for Sierra Club Directors

The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society is endorsing the following distinguished candidates for the 2004 election to the Board of Directors of the Sierra Club.

We urge our supporters who are members of the Sierra Club to look for your ballots in March 2004 and to consider voting for the candidates listed below.

. . .

Governor Richard Lamm

Why: Because as a three time elected Democratic Governor of Colorado with an excellent environmental record, Dick Lamm will be a strong and distinguished voice on the Board. Governor Lamm has been a long time supporter of the Sierra Club.

Frank L. Morris

Why: Because as a retired State Department foreign service officer and former executive director of the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation he brings both a knowledge of international affairs and minority concerns to the Sierra Club Board. His ballot statement talks about helping the Club with one of its longstanding internal challenges, diversifying its membership base. \”I seek a leadership position in our Club because I deeply share our core values of protecting the planet,\” he wrote. \”I will effectively represent us in settings not always open to our message-in minority and disadvantaged communities, in Congress, and in leading the defeat of President Bush.\”

Dr. David Pimentel

Why: Because Cornell University entomologist Prof. David Pimental is a respected ecologist and expert on the impact of human population growth on eco-systems. The Sierra Club needs the expertise of Dr. Pimentel.

Lamm, by the way, shares some of the animal rights animosity toward medical technology and research. As he put it in an infamous 1984 speech, \”We\’ve got a duty to die and get out of the way with all of our machines and artificial hearts and everything else like that and let the other society — our kids — build a reasonable life.\”

Sources:

Personal statement from Kim McCoy. Kim McCoy, Undated.

The Sea Shepherd Endorsement for Sierra Club Directors. Press Release, Sea Shepherd, February 12, 2004.

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ELF Damages Equipment at Virginia Building Site

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Earth Liberation Front extremists did about $30,000 in damage to a Charlottesville, Virginia building site in early February.

Activists set fire to a bulldozer and damaged other construction equipment at the site, which is being developed into a mix retail, commercial and residential units.

The ELF extremists let behind a banner reading \”YOUR CONSTRUCTION = LONG TERM DESTRUCTION – ELF.\”

The FBI is investigating the crime.

Source:

ELF Damages Construction Equipment at Charlottesville Site. Frontline Information Service, February 9, 2004.

Radical group claims damage. Carlos Santos, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Virginia), February 11, 2004.

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Animal Rights Militia Threatens \”Violent Retribution\” Against HLS Employees, Customers

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In late December 2003 the Animal Rights Militia claimed that it had sent threatening letters to Huntingdon Life Sciences employees as well as employees of a number of companies that are customers of HLS or have some other sort of economic relationship with the firm.

Here is the Animal Rights Militia\’s claim in its entirety,

The Animal Rights Militia in the UK has mailed out to 200 HLS workers, HLS supplier company directors, staff of HLS japanese customer Yamanouchi and every Daiichi worker in the UK threatening violent retribution if they do not sever their links with HLS by the end of the year 2003.

In addition we have written to all the directors of the letting agents for Daiichi\’s UK sales office, Nelson-Bakewell and the landlords Royal London Asset Management, and also to Yamanouchi\’s landlords Emerson and the letting agents Orbit in the UK giving them until the end of the year 2003 to evict Daiichi from their UK sales office and Yamanouchi from their new European headquarters in Surrey or face the consequences of harboring the animal killers.

For the animals dying in their cages killed by the monsters we will use all means at our disposal to finish off HLS. We mean business, we are deadly serious, we are fighting for victory and fighting for the innocent and nothing will stop us. We urge activists worldwide to go to war on HLS and finish them off for good.

For the animals always, onwards to victory, ARM

I think they forgot to threaten the brother of the janitor who works across the street from someone who dated an HLS employee 10 years ago.

Source:

Animal Rights Militia Communication. DirectAction.Info, December 23, 2003.

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British Activists Receive Jail Time for Harassing Phone Calls

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In February, British animal rights activists Paul Holiday and Paul Leboutillier were sentenced to jail for making thousands of harassing phone calls to a variety of companies and individuals, including to the homes and workplace of Covance and Huntingdon Life Sciences employees.

Holiday was sentenced to 18 months and Leboutillier to 5 years.

Source:

2 activists sent to prison. Earth Liberation Prisoners Support Network, February 26, 2004.

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Animal Rights Activist Sentenced to Two Months in Jail in UK

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Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty activist Kerry Whitburn, 34, was sentenced to two months in jail in January for breaking into a UK pet store. He actually only served one month and was released on January 30.

Whitburn pleaded guilty to breaking into The Fish Specialist after seeing a television documentary which included footage of the shop. Whitburn broke a glass door with a crow bar in order to steal two marmoset monkeys that he noticed in the footage.

The monkeys were not in the pet shop when he broke in, however, and Whitburn managed to cut himself on the glass leaving behind plenty of evidence of his involvement. Despite previous animal rights-related convictions — including a 2001 conviction for an anti-Huntingdon Life Sciences protest — Whitburn received the light sentence.

And Whitburn is very aware that law enforcement in the UK is unwilling or unable to do more than slap his wrists for such crimes. While in jail he wrote a letter to supporters,

\”HI EVERYONE!\” Hope everyone out there is fine and well, and living a positive cruelty free life. Course you are! So, here I am again! For those who don\’t know, I\’m serving a 2-month sentence for attempting to \’steal\’ 2 marmoset monkeys from a tiny, bare cage in a grotty pet shop in Nottingham. I won\’t go into detail, as those who know me will confirm that if I give the whole complex story I\’ll be writing a novel, not a short article. Oooh, I nearly broke into a waffle then, during that last sentence. So, for Jo-Ann\’s sake, all I\’ll say is the pet shop appeared on an undercover T.V. documentary, and was voted 2nd worse in the UK.

So, went to court on Jan 5th and received 2 months but will only serve one. Hell, this animal rights lark can really get you in trouble, can\’t it! Maybe I\’m expected to come to prison and learn my lesson, don\’t you think? Hmmmm, nah – maybe I won\’t! Besides, I\’m illiterate when it comes to the law concerned with the abuse of animals! Sorry, your honour.

Yeah, the British government is really doing everything it can to deter animal rights crimes, isn\’t it?

Sources:

Letter from Kerry Whitburn. Kerry Whitburn, January 28, 2004.

ELP November 2001 Newsletter. Earth Liberation Prisoners Network, November 2001.

Pets Raid Man Faces Prison. Nottingham Evening Post, December 10, 2003.

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Group Publishes Personal Information of Bank Staff

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A group calling itself No Justice, Just Us published names, addresses and phone numbers of State Street employees on a web site before the site was taken down.

Animal rights activists have targeted State Street because of alleged links it has with Huntingdon Life sciences.

The web site published the personal details about employees of State Street in addition to employees of HLS and HLS customer Yamanouchi, along with this message,

Make the bastards pay. . . . You will find after the list [of employees] is a selection of tips and tricks for smashing the monsters who must pay for murdering the animals at HLS.

. . .

The people listed here are not bit part players. They are the ones that matter. Think about what is going on inside Huntingdon and don\’t feel frustrated . . . take out all that anger on the people listed here.

Although Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty launched a campaign against State Street in October 2003, it claims it has no connection with No Justice, Just Us.

Source:

Bankers Named On Animal Rights Site. Allison Martin, TheWharf.Co.UK, February 12, 2004.

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Activists Cause Widespread Damage to Traps Used in Badger Study

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In 1998, the United Kingdom began a study designed to determine what role badgers play in transmitting bovine tuberculosis. According to a report in the Western Morning News, that study has been repeatedly disrupted by animal rights activists who have destroyed thousands of traps used in the study.

Badgers are a protected species in the UK, but the study protocol allows limited trapping and killing of badgers in areas that have been hit hard by bovine tuberculosis. Badgers can carry bovine tuberculosis but the extent to which the animals are responsible for outbreaks of the disease in the UK is hotly disputed.

According to the Western Morning News, about 5,600 badgers have been killed as part of the study since 1998.

The Western Morning News quoted an unnamed spokesman for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs who said that over the last 6 years of the study, 7,882 traps have had to be repaired or replaced after being damaged by animal rights activist at a total cost of £394,000. The study itself cost £6.5 million.

Source:

Activists Damage Thousands Of Traps. Western Morning News, January 12, 2004.

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Biotechnology Industry Organization Asks Bush for Help Fighting Animal Rights Terrorism

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Biotechnology Industry Organization president Carl Feldbaum sent a letter to U.S. President George Bush in February seeking government help in curbing the growing level of animal rights terrorism in the United States. Feldbaum\’s letter read,

In support of your Administration\’s commitment to fight all forms of terrorism, we strongly urge you to provide federal law enforcement with the necessary legal tools and financial support to stem the growing wave of terrorist violence — led by animal rights and environmental activists — against the U.S. biotechnology industry. Since spring of 2003, a number of biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies have come under attack from these eco-terrorists. Their campaigns, aided by the improved technology of the Internet, have gone well beyond harassment of scientists and corporate executives. Animal rights terrorists have engaged in bombings of research facilities, harassment of the children of biotech executives in their schools, and vandalism of personal property. Their campaign against biotechnology companies is strategic, specific, unrelenting and directed toward delivering economic, and sometimes physical, damage to companies engaged in innovation for life-threatening diseases such as cancer and cystic fibrosis. BIO believes that it is imperative for the Administration and Congress to take steps necessary to halt these activities.

Source:

Animal rights \’terror\’ rattles biotechs\’ cage. Daniel S. Levine, San Francisco Business Times, February 9, 2004.

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SNGP\’s Continued Harassment of the Halls

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With all of the attention on Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty\’s campaign of harassment against Huntingdon Life Sciences receives, sometimes the nastiness carried out by Save the Newchurch Guinea Pigs against the owners of the Newchurch Guinea Pig Farm.

David Hall and family own the farm and raise guinea pigs that are used in medical research. Like HLS, activist opposed to the Halls target associates with threats and harassment in order to attempt to isolate the Halls. As with HLS, this tactic has proven quite effective.

As has been discussed on this site, SHAC often reaches for tangential targets such as companies that provide janitorial services for HLS, but SNGP carries this even further by targeting small-scale shops that the Halls might patronize.

For example, here\’s a typical success trumpeted by the SNGP site: the SNGP asked activist to mail, e-mail and telephone The Red Lion — a pub frequented by members of the family. And sure enough, on February 26 the SNGP site published the following letter from the corporate owner of The Red Lion,

Dear Mr. Hall,

.

In the last ten days we have become a target of increased disturbance and threats (relating) to your use of the Red Lion, Newborough, a pub owned by our Company and operated by a tenant.

Whilst we are not in any way condoning the actions, as a responsible business we must take into consideration the safety and well being of our own staff, customers and the staff of our suppliers. To this end we feel we must ask you and your family to cease using The Red Lion, Newborough, with immediate effect. Whilst this situation is regrettable for all concerned we believe this is the most practical solution. We are sure you would not like any of our staff or customers or indeed yourselves to come to any harm as a result of your continued patronage of the Red Lion.

We are sure you will appreciate and respect our position.

Yours sincerely,

Leslie Porter
Secretary
For and on behalf of The Union Pub Company a trading division of
The Wolverhampton & Dudley Breweries, PLC R

And still the British government seems unable or unwilling to crack down on such blatant acts of harassment.

Source:

The Halls Are Banned Yet Again! Press Release, Save the Newchurch Guinea Pigs, February 26, 2004.

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New Mexico Senate Unanimously Passes Ban on Type of Animal Euthanasia

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In February the New Mexico state Senate unanimously approved a bill that would ban the use of intracardiac injection euthanasia in that state. Intracardiac injection kills an animal by injecting barbiturate directly into the heart of the animal.

Sen. Richard Romero, who introduce the bill, said that he sponsored the ban become too often the procedure misses the heart leaving the animals to suffer. Romero told The Albuquerque Tribune,

We need to put a halt to this inhumane practice in our state\’s animal shelters right away. This amounts to tormenting and torturing an animal when it\’s done without anesthesia or sedation.

The ban will only apply to animal control facilities and animal shelters. The procedure will remain legal in livestock and veterinary facilities.

The full text of the bill can be read here.

Sources:

Senate OKs bill to prohibit type of animal euthanasia. Associated Press, February 11, 2004.

. Albuquerque Tribune (New Mexico), February 12, 2004.

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