The British newspaper The Observer reported yesterday that a prominent animal-rights activist called for the murder of scientists as a means to end scientific research using animal test subjects:

To the fury of groups working with animals, Jerry Vlasak, a trauma surgeon and prominent figure in the anti-vivisection movement, told The Observer: 'I think violence is part of the struggle against oppression. If something bad happens to these people [animal researchers], it will discourage others. It is inevitable that violence will be used in the struggle and that it will be effective.'

Vlasak, who likens animal experimentation to the Nazis' treatment of the Jews, said he stood by his claim that: 'I don't think you'd have to kill too many [researchers]. I think for five lives, 10 lives, 15 human lives, we could save a million, 2 million, 10 million non-human lives.

Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty (Shac), which campaigns for the closure of Huntingdon Life Sciences, has close links with Vlasak. He has also advised Speak, the organisation that last week forced out the contractor building an £18 million primate research laboratory in Oxford. ... Other animal rights groups have distanced themselves from him. Until recently he was a member of the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM), a group funded by the powerful lobbying group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (Peta) and endorsed by Shac.

But a PCRM spokeswoman told The Observer: 'He is not a member of the organisation.' Vlasak confirmed he was not working with the PCRM 'at the moment'.

One wonders how much coverage this will receive in the US, although I am impressed that the Observer covered it in the UK. (The Observer is a subsidiary tabloid of the Guardian, the Labourite broadsheet.) PETA has hid behind its quiet endorsement and financial support of terrorists like the Animal Liberation Front and Vlasak for far too long, and a complacent media has allowed them to escape scrutiny. They've managed to make themselves into a sort of Sinn Fein for the nutcases that bomb research facilities and attack people wearing fur on the street, but only because the investigative media have given them a pass.

When anti-abortion nutballs made similar statements, developing hit lists that enabled a few lunatics to promote their version of pro-life stances by murdering doctors, the American media screamed it in headlines and Hollywood followed suit using the lamest weapon in their arsenal -- the Lifetime made-for-TV movie. So far, we hear nary a peep from the same folks who supposedly decry political violence. It's time that someone takes a long, hard look at PETA's books to see where their money comes from and where it goes to -- before their associates finally kill someone.

Trackback Pings

TrackBack URL for this entry is