European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - January 21, 1989, Darmstadt, Hesse Animal rights activists display placards outside Saks fifth Avenue in Beverly Hills calif., during a protest against the buying and Selling of fur Coats at the store. A by Kay Bartlett associated press he humane society of the United states is urging people to Cut up their american express cards because the credit institution mailed a fur coat Catalon announcing fur because Winter is Long and life is follow your heart. Drop your american express the Washington based humane society told its 830,000 members. That is but one More confrontation in a burgeoning animal rights animal welfare and animal liberation movement that has been gathering strength across the United states. It is by no Means monolithic or even United the majority of americans would not agree with some of the direct action resulting in burned buildings theft of records and research animals and death threats. There Are Large differences about philosophy and tactics. Many for example Are unprepared to espouse vegetarianism while others go so far As to feed a meatless diet to their dogs and cats to spare the suffering of a farm animal. It also has closed Down some research projects caused one company to drop its cosmetics line and improved conditions for some research animals. Consider the following More than 2,000 protesters led by Bob Barker walked up Manhattan s fifth Avenue the Day after thanksgiving fur free there were smaller demonstrations in 66 other american cities. A research scientist at new York University s prestigious Cornell medical College made research history when she or the University or both yielded to demonstrations and a letter writing Campaign and returned a $530,000 Grant to the National Institute of drug abuse for a study of Barbiturate withdrawal in cats. In England a few Days before Christmas the animal liberation front claimed responsibility for firebomb attacks on five of Britain s leading department stores causing millions of dollars of damage in retaliation for Selling fur. Dingles the largest store in Plymouth was gutted. President George Bush Drew Flack for Hunting Quail on a pre inauguration vacation in Texas. Police in Norwalk conn., Are holding animal rights activist fran Stephanie Trutt 33, of Queens n.y., on $500,000 bail As she awaits trial on charges of attempted murder and Possession of pipe bombs. Trutt was arrested on nov. 11 outside the United states surgical corp., a firm that experiments with dogs and has been a frequent target of demonstrators. In december Bloom county a political comic strip ran a week of satire on testing rabbits for cosmetics. And in Huntington n.y., on Long Island a tray of vegetarian dog and cat biscuits wow Bow and wow meow Are baked by an entrepreneurial activist. The Radical Side of the movement dates Back to the anti vivisection ism of victorian England but interest was rekindled by a 1978 Book animal liberation by australian philosopher Peter Singer. At last we re starting to look like a movement but i think animal rights is in its Early stages says Ingrid Newkirk chief strategist and director of people for the ethical treatment of animals Petate most Radical of an estimated 3,000 to 7,000 groups involved in animal welfare. A Peta spokeswoman estimates that 10 million americans Are involved and guesses that the operating budgets of the myriad groups come to about $50 million. That s not counting the Money held in endowments by the established giants who tend to be less militant. While businessmen and scientists say they Are worried activists claim they have never Hurt a human nor an animal. Alex Pacheco a co founder of Peta says arson property destruction burglary or theft Are acceptable crimes when they directly alleviate the pain and suffering of an the same goes for sit ins disruptions at stockholder meetings in attempts to pass resolutions to ban product testing on animals. Animal rights people say the experiments Are the real crime and that 40 percent of All research animals Are used for cosmetic and product testing often As insurance against a theoretical lawsuit not As safety measures. Do we really need the 48th Brand of oven cleaner Page 14 Newkirk asks. The Blitz against wearing fur is the most visible Campaign. There Are ads atop taxis on billboards in subways and buses. Celebrities such As Rue Mcclanahan and Loretta Swit have participated. Even Princess i was commended for her refusal to Wear fur. The fur Industry tries to keep the activists off the air. Richard Parsons executive director of the fur retailers information Council says furriers have been asked not to give interviews because they tend to shoot themselves in the like the time one told a reporter that All american furs Are farm raised. Not True. We can t threaten to pull our ads because that s How we sell our furs Parsons says. But we re big advertisers and sometimes we get a pretty Good response. Sometimes we can keep them off the air. We try. We Don t debate them. We Don t dignify them. We Don t need to defend the use of fur. It s a matter of personal Freedom. This is still a capitalistic society and it is supposed to be a tolerant sales have not been affected Parsons says although the Industry is looking to increase the International Levy at auction houses to increase its War Chest to combat the anti fur forces. The american fur Industry has had locks jammed arson bomb threats and windows smashed Parsons says. Giving this movement credibility gives in to More Dan Mathews a 24-year-old Peta member in charge of the anti fur Campaign says the fur Industry will be the first Domino to fall. We Are not asking you to change your life just give up besides the furriers the cosmetic Industry research scientists and producers of livestock eggs chickens and milk factory Farn Jers As the activists Call them Are under attack. So what if we put a few businesses under Mathews says. The slave traders lost an Industry the anti vivisection St faction believes that Man has evolved to a Point where he can live without any animal products meat milk leather fur Wool Etc. They feel that neither the cosmetic Industry nor medical researchers have the right to Experiment on animals that zoos rodeos race tracks even the household pet is an exploitation of the animal kingdom. I we Are not saying animals have the same rights As Man says George Cave of trans species unlimited. Sometimes we have to make Cave a former professor of philosophy exempts american indians and eskimos whose survival is dependent on the Hunting of game. The movement is marked by a hyperbolic rhetoric reminiscent of the 60s. Some activists Call themselves Freedom fighters for animals. Newkirk is Happy to reiterate a statement some others wish she had never said in the first place. I can t even remember it exactly says British born Newkirk but i stand by it too percent. What i said was a pig is a boy is a dog is a rat in that they Are All sentient beings they Are All capable of suffering. That is the various groups Are not above squabbling especially Over funding. Cave says the humane society of the United states which has an annual budget of $9 million has a stranglehold on the funds that is totally unethical. Its president John Hoyt is paid $139,000 a year. The Massachusetts society for the prevention of cruelty to animals has a Fortune sitting Idle in investments. They could wipe out the pet overpopulation in one year if they would use some of that the Spca founded in 1839, has an endowment of $42 million and spent $15 million last year supporting three veterinarian hospitals nine shelters and various educational projects. The humane society does t support some of the statements of the radicals and deplores the violence. We like to be taken seriously when we go to the Hill says a humane society spokeswoman. We Don t like to be seen As frothing at the Cave who lives on a $10,000 salary part of his group s total budget of $350,000, led the Cornell Campaign. He Calls it a landmark in that the Challenge was not about Sloppy Laboratory conditions but the very nature of the research. He maintained that Barbiturate addiction is a Complex human problem and that it was inappropriate to expose cats or any animal to the horrors of withdrawal a self inflicted condition in humans. Cave is now attacking a glue sniffing Experiment in using monkeys at new York University Hospital. In Nice weather trans species has 14 tables out every weekend on new York City streets explaining its philosophy. The biomedical research Community has reacted by forming a Washington based educational and lobbying group. We re not talking Here about Little old ladies in Blue hair says Frankie Trull president of the foundation for biomedical research. We have heard of Over 50 death threats. The research Community is so unprepared for the animal rights movement. First of All they have jobs and they Don t have time to hang out at shopping centers with signs. It is costing millions in increased Security replacing animals that were stolen and buildings that were 1 torched. It is no laughing the research scientist at Cornell or. Michiko Okamoto refuses to talk to reporters. Her colleagues say she was shocked by the developments. Or. Michael e. Debakey a cardiovascular surgeon who became a household name has emerged As one spokesman for the researchers. Now 80, but working daily from 4 . Till Midnight Debakey says he occasionally gets death threats. He sees the animal rights movement As one with great emotional Appeal but one that is not telling the whole Story. These people Are intimidating a lot of people Debakey says. If you want to become a Jehovah s witness and refuse blood from another person i have no argument. I Don t agree with it but i respect your right to do it. What i object to Here is the attempt to enforce this View on others. I have yet to see a patient who refused treatment from research gained from animals. Do these people plan on turning Down such treatment if they need it Debakey says his surgical breakthroughs which saved thousands of lives resulted from experimentation on dogs. Almost everything in the cardiovascular Field was developed through animal research. You can t use cells Ingrid Newkirk director of people for ethical treatment of animals Penaat her Rockville md., office. A or cell cultures or the surgeon says animal activists Are not improving the conditions of animals used in research they Are pricing it out of the Market. Twelve states have now passed Laws prohibiting the use of Pound animals. Yet the taxpayer spends $600 million a year caring for Pound animal rights activists criticized president George Bush for a pre inauguration Hunting trip to Texas. Animals and putting them to sleep. The activists have great political strength and Slick organizations. They say alternative methods can be used. They Are Debakey worries about the Cornell decision. It is disturbing to see an institution of higher learning Cave in Debakey says. The integrity of that academic institution is medical scientists Point to the great strides made using animal models. Everything from polio vaccine to treatments for such diseases As diabetes cancer and heart disease have benefited from research on animals. The activists insist the same advances could have been made using different kinds of research. Or. Frederick King director of the Yerkes primate Center at Emory University in Atlanta also a target of death threats is eager to speak out. Researchers at his institution Are injecting chimpanzees with the deadly aids virus so far it has not jumped their immune Barrier but King says that does not mean it will not with a longer incubation. The animals rights militants say that is not necessary since there Are thousands of dying human victims who would gladly allow themselves to be experimented upon. Forget the ethical questions Newkirk says. It s bad science. They Are retarding the aids research by using King dismisses that argument. He says it s yet another Case of non scientists throwing in their non scientific opinion. My question is where have All the moderates gone King says. Even Jane Goodall who came Here about a year ago has turned to their Side. She s a one Agenda person fanatically attached to chimps. The moderates All seem to have gone into the the stars and stripes saturday january 21,1989 the stars and stripes Page 15
