FCUSA Holds Annual Meeting; Animal Rightists Launch Personal Attack

FCUSA PRESS RELEASE, SEPTEMBER 17, 1999
FCUSA Holds Annual Meeting; Animal Rightists Launch Personal Attack
San Diego, California: A small group of animal rights activists demonstrated today outside the annual meeting of Fur Commission USA, being held in a hotel here. FCUSA is a non-profit trade association representing over 400 mink-farming families in 31 states.
The meeting proceeded without disruption, but outside, a group of about 20 demonstrators, some hiding behind masks, waged a personal attack on FCUSA Executive Director Teresa Platt and burned an effigy of her.
Two bomb threats were also received in connection with the FCUSA meeting, but law enforcement found no evidence to indicate the threats were genuine.
Far-Fetched Allegations
Advance warning of the demonstration had been given on Sept. 16 by the Sacramento-based Activist Civil Liberties Committee, which described Platt as an “anti-environmental extremist”. The announcement warned of a “militant” demonstration at which “confrontations with police, and arrests, are likely.” However, no arrests were made and the demonstration passed off without incident.
“Fur Commission USA is an extremist group that promotes the killing of animals, and opposes legislation that would insure clean water and protection for our family dogs and cats,” said J.P. Goodwin, director of the Dallas-based Coalition to Abolish the Fur Trade (CAFT), in the announcement. “This meeting in San Diego is designed to come up with more plans to hurt our environment, and animals.”
Teresa Platt was unfazed, however. “Thankfully, the suggestion that a group of family fur farmers could constitute an ‘extremist group’ is so far-fetched, no one could possibly take it seriously,” she said. “And to claim that we oppose clean water or proper welfare for our pets is equally ridiculous.”
In common with the agricultural community across America, fur farmers are concerned by over-zealous attempts at the Federal level to regulate water, she said. “As for CAFT’s suggestion that FCUSA is opposed to the protection of ‘family dogs and cats’, this is a crude misrepresentation of our stance on campaigns being waged in several states by the Humane Society of the United States to ban the sale of dog and cat fur.(1) FCUSA in no way condones trade in the pelts of pet animals, but we have expressed concern that some of the proposed legislation is so poorly worded that it could apply not only to pets but also to wild species of canines and felines, such as the raccoon dog, which are important to the fur trade.”
Rising Tide of Terrorism
Attempts to intimidate Platt have increased since she testified on May 18 to the Congressional Committee on Resources, Subcommittee on Forests and Forest Health, on the growing threat of animal rights and eco-terrorism.
She told the Subcommittee: “As victims of terrorism, either in the name of animal rights or the environment, [fur farmers] join the ranks of the beef, poultry, dairy, timber, mining and recreation industries, wildlife managers, research scientists, zoos, aquariums and all others who have been victimized.”
It is in response to this rising tide of terrorism that the National Animal Interest Alliance (NAIA), a non-profit educational organization of people involved in animal-based enterprises, has issued a “Call for Action”(2) to the US Senate Judiciary Committee.
The Call for Action requests the government to study and report to Congress on the impact of “domestic and international terrorism on enterprises using animals for food or fiber production, agriculture, research or testing, exhibition, entertainment or sport, including animal breeders and animal shelters.”
Over a thousand organizations have signed on to the Call for Action, including Alliance for America, several Farm Bureaus, American AgriWomen, the United Kennel Club, the Cat Fanciers’ Association, national research organizations, associations representing livestock producers, rodeo, farmers, ranchers, groups representing hundreds of thousands, possibly millions, of US citizens who are concerned at the threat posed by terrorism to our society.
Says NAIA’s executive director Patti Strand, a dog breeder and author of The Hijacking of the Humane Movement, “We refuse to allow America to be turned into a playground for political terrorists who are using violence and threats to force political change.”
FBI Priority
Fortunately, the voices of organizations such as NAIA and FCUSA are being heard. On Feb. 4, in an address to the Senate Appropriations Committee for the Departments of Commerce, Justice, State and the Judiciary Subcommittee, FBI Director Louis Freeh clearly indicated that domestic terrorism had been moved up his list of priorities.(3) He also singled out animal rights and eco-terrorism for attention.
“The most recognizable single issue terrorists at the present time are those involved in the violent animal rights, anti-abortion, and environmental protection movements,” said Freeh. “Each of these issues evoke strong emotions within society at large, and violent aberrants continue to tarnish the legitimate public debate on each issue. … Animal rights extremists continue to pose significant challenges for law enforcement as well.”
NOTES:
-(1) See Proposed Legislation Could Disrupt Responsible Organic Fur Trade, FCUSA commentary, July 13, 1999.
-(2) A complete copy of the Call For Action can be found at http://www.naiaonline.org, or will be provided on request by telephoning NAIA on (503) 761-8962.
-(3) See Engaging Political Will, FCUSA commentary, March 4, 1999.
-
For further information contact Fur Commission USA.
Home
© 1998-2011 Fur Commission USA