There Are Animal Rights Terrorists, Too

By Ron Schara, staff writer

While nothing compares to the Attack on America or the loss of lives on Sept. 11, acts of terrorism on U.S. soil are not uncommon.

Ask medical scientists at the University of Minnesota or at universities in Michigan and other places whose animal research labs have been bombed or destroyed by suspected animal rights extremists.

Ask a Minnesota mink farmer whose livelihood disappears in one night when mink pens are opened and the animals allowed to escape to almost certain death. Ask a Minneapolis meat business whose refrigerated delivery trucks are destroyed by fire and painted with a terroristic message "Meat is murder."

Ask deer hunters in New Jersey who have faced hostile animal rights groups bent on disrupting and sabotaging their legal hunting privileges.

Certainly these examples of violence pale compared to the loss of lives in New York and Washington. But raiding mink farms and releasing research animals are not merely the antics of vandals out for a few laughs.

These are the acts of people with a cause and a terrorist-like fervor who believe their view of animals justifies almost any violence against the enemy.

To animal terrorists, the enemy is anybody who raises animals, eats animals, hunts animals, wears animals or uses animals for research of any kind, even for humanitarian reasons.

The University of Minnesota research lab was using rats to find cures for Alzheimers. Apparently, in the mind of an animal terrorist, a laboratory rat's freedom is more important.

Prior to Sept. 11, we seemed oblivious to such isolated moments of terrorism. The U's medical lab is wrecked to the tune of thousands of dollars, vital research is destroyed and, oh, it's just a few animal lovers who got carried away.

Where is the outrage?

You can't find it on the editorial pages. You can't find it in the court rooms or police stations. Seldom are such cases solved and rarely are arrests made of mink or rat releasers.

Why aren't animal rights organizations more forceful in condemning the actions of extremists or aiding in their arrests? Isn't sympathizing or protecting animal terrorists just as deplorable?

Certainly America was changed on Sept. 11. Maybe now any act of terrorism in our homeland for any cause will not find a complacent citizenry.

If you want to protest wearing furs, fine. If you want to protest the treatment of farm animals, fine. It's the American way.

If there are animal use issues that need to be discussed or debated, the voice of animal rights is welcome. The way we raise livestock in some cases needs to be scrutinized. The way we hunt or trap animals should be reviewed.

The way laboratory animals are housed and cared for also are legitimate concerns. Unfortunately, there are those in the animal rights movement who think they can force their views on Americans with the use of terrorism.

At the moment, they are faceless and elusive.

But they need to be brought to justice, too.

Ron Schara is at ron@mnbound.com

See also:

Media Link September 11 with Ecoterror FCUSA commentary, Oct. 17, 2001.

FCUSA press kit Special Feature: Safe Farms Campaign

Chronology of animal extremist / ecoterror crimes

Farmers for Safe Farms flyer Animal Rights and Eco-Terrorism : The Price We Pay (PDF format).

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