The Animal Liberation Front claimed credit Monday for releasing some 7,000 mink from a Kaysville farm. The extreme and loosely affiliated animal rights group said in a statement that three of its Utah members were responsible. Many of the mink died from heat stroke before about 6,000 were recaptured, and, later, presumably, turned into hats. If that’s not a raging success, I don’t know what is.
ALF has made headlines for advocating murder and intimidating researchers, such as the characteristically botched attempted bombing of a UCLA office in 2006, prompting a researcher’s resignation out of fear for his family’s safety.
ALF’s ethical philosophy is spelled out in several long essays on why animals shouldn’t be killed. It’s long-winded and convoluted at times, but there’s some sense in it. ALF holds that “the most fundamental ethical axioms seem to be nearly universally accepted,” and, as it is “easy to show that nonhuman animals can also suffer, feel pain, be harmed,” we ought to consider their welfare.
It seems reasonable8212;the conditions in which animals live in factory farms are indeed abysmal. If ALF could support this with constructive actions, it might be a positive organization. Unfortunately, it can’t, or won’t.
Perhaps realizing that its mediocre domestic terrorist program clashes with its previously stated opinions, ALF drops the conciliatory tone of its earlier argument. Instead, it peppers its incoherent rants with condemnations of our ignorant, morally absolutist society and the corruption that has infected every layer of it.
Ironically, ALF does its cause a major disservice with its publicity stunts by associating “f***ing insane” with “animal rights” in the public consciousness. Even by ALF’s backward standards, its supposed raid on Kaysville was a failure8212;nothing was accomplished but prematurely killing hundreds of weak animals that keel over in relatively mild autumn heat.
Even the wider movement is impossible to take seriously. While militancy is what defines ALF’s particular brand of idiocy and political inefficacy, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, one of the most prominent animal rights groups in the country, chooses a different tactic.
On Wednesday, PETA urged Ben & Jerry’s Homemade Inc. to replace the cows’ milk used in ice cream production with human breast milk. Apparently, it would have the dual blessing of bringing healthier milk to humans and reducing the suffering of cows. It would also ruin Ben & Jerry’s faster than you can say Lehman Brothers.
Ben & Jerry’s spokesman Rob Michalak replied later that day, “We applaud PETA’s novel approach to bringing attention to an issue, but we believe a mother’s milk is best used for her child.”
Hopefully PETA doesn’t let the dream die. We could have thousands of women on free-range, organic farms in a matter of weeks.
When your movement has become a caricature of itself, it’s time to head back to the drawing board. Animal rights are a real issue, but some of its biggest voices make it hard to take it seriously. If there’s any lesson to be learned, it’s that the voice of moderation, while not terribly interesting, makes the most sense. Next time student animal rights protesters hit campus, they’d do well to remember the mistakes of their forebears.
Kevin Merriman
Aaron Shaddy