Can the animal rights wack jobs do anything more stupid than this?

[Archae]

I'm not talking about fighting to stop cruel cockfighting or dogfighting, or animal expriments by makeup manufacturers.
Those are legitimate causes.

I'm talking about these a**holes in the "Animal Liberation Front," who learned about nature by watching Disney cartoons, who pulled this idiotic stunt.

http://www.msnbc.com/news/982003.asp?0dm=C1BRN

[proud patriot]

1. Nope

:shrug: I don't think they do anything for their cause
by doing stuff like this .

[Archae]

2. Exactly.

It just damages the legitimate animal-rights fighters.

And PETA supports these nitwits.

[Piperay]

3. It's stupid alright but

I can't understand why anyone would want to wear an animal like that either. :shrug:

[AP]

4. I predict more animal rights and eco-"terrorism" activity in next 13 month

and I bet a lot of it will be caused by Republican intriguers.

[pretzel4gore]

11. the bushmedia loves this kind of stuff...but not THIS:

http://www.salon.com/news/wire/2003/10/03/bond/index.html
The bushmaggots want us to think a certain way; everything they do is CALCULATED, run by focus/reaction/blood pressure monitoring groups to gauge OUR reaction, then they giggle and put out their crap....animal suffering is a human disgrace, the way we try pretend it doesn't happen, but Archae, rest assured if extremists are acting stupid, the MAN aint too far away (i recall reading a Rolling Stone story about American Indian Movement circa '75 where a meeting of activists in minneapolis was attended by 100% FBI undercover agents!)
we have one enemy, and it always was stupidity.
'look at that monkey run!' (someone's comment on watching geebush's bid for re-election)
or rather re-selection

[Archae]

22. I seriously doubt this.

I've seen first-hand just how nutsoid the most radical "animal rights" people can get.

Believe it or not, the animal right movement doesn't need any "right-wing conspiracy," to have members that are violent and deluded.
They can be.

They are very few in number.
But it only takes ONE, to break into a farm and let all the animals out and then set the barn on fire.
(We had a guy like that go to jail here in WI for doing just that. And you know who paid for his lawyer? Yup. PETA.)

And those are the ones that grab the headlines, unlike the people working hard at the Humane Society every day to do some actual good, for animals.
They usually don't get the headlines.

[Name removed]

5. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[bitchkitty]

6. I'm divided on this -

on the one hand, I'm sorry for the residents, but on the other hand, I know what goes on in those mink farms. Some of the creatures are now doing well. I'm more inclined to blame both the activists and the mink farmers equally for all this chaos.

[jafap]

7. what is so legitimate about Mink coats?

"The average farmed mink, by the way, lives about nine months, at which time it is “pelted” and its flesh is rendered to make mink oil for boots. In the wild, a mink’s normal lifespan is from two to five years."

That sure sound like a noble industry which is producing such a useful status symbol.

[bearfartinthewoods]

21. are you vegan?

thr average lifespan for beef cattle is less than two years.

[mhr]

8. So Its OK To Be Raised To Die!

But Its Not OK To Be Given a Chance at Freedom.

Archae you make me nauseous with your logic!

[RebelOne]

10. Yes, you have a good point there.

I am an animal rights advocate. I gave away my fur coats years ago.

[diamondsoul]

13. mhr, you ever been confronted with a domesticated animal

turned wild? I have. It is NOT pretty. No, I don't agree with mink farming, but when's the last time you ran into a wild mink in your local woods? Minks are history.*sigh* Another fatality to human greed and selfishness. You just cannot let them loose on an unsuspecting public because they ARE dangerous.

Ok, I'm a Pit Bull fanatic. I'll do everything in my power to save a Pit any day, including risking my own safety. Even so I have to accept some of those beautiful creatures cannot be allowed to attack my children, right? It's a similar thought process. They aren't wild animals anymore and they don't fear humans, now they're just PISSED. Understandably, but do we risk all of our population to turn loose animals taught to hate us? They don't know the difference, to them human=BAD.

Yeah, I hate it, but I also know reality and I do have some human arrogance. I hate that too, but it's true.

[Cocoa]

24. not sure about your science...

even the pretty biased article above states that minks are wild animals:

But unlike cows or pigs, minks are not even close to being domesticated. The short-legged, needle-toothed members of the weasel family remain wild predators in their cages. They will bite just about anyone who tries to touch them.

[kayell]

14. Sorry, but releasing 10,000 minks enmasse

was very stupid. I am a strict vegetarian for ethical (animal rights among them) and ecological reasons, but I would never dream of doing this kind of action. Anyone who would release that many animals in one area is a complete fool and ignorant of animal behaviour. Very few animals survive being caught, held in cages, and released back into the wild. They are unfamiliar with the area, they have not established terratories, they do not know what competition and predators to beware of. This is why trap, transport and release is such a bad idea in controlling deer populations. The result can be even more cruel than the captivity. In the case of the mink, it's also damaging to the local ecology.

Mink farming and other exploitive animal agriculture is wrong, cruel and horrible, but these people did NOT make the situation better.

Added: That said, the original posters title was inflammatory. While these particular people were extremely ignorant, and should not be doing ANY actions involving actual living animals, most animal activists are sane, serious people who are persuing genuine solutions to cruelty towards animals.

[Classical_Liberal]

15. What about the animals that are being wiped out by the minks

Don't AR people give a fuck about the environment? yeah this is a dumb stunt.

[kayell]

16. Yes, they do

See my post above. This stunt was performed by people supremely ignorant of animal behavior. They are an embaressment and danger to animals and the movement. But just as you only hear about the excessive behavior of a limited number WTO demonstrators (quite possibly disruptors), and never about their legitimate concerns, so it goes with animal rights activism. Thank our media for your well rounded view of animal rights.

If you are curious about what the majority of people who believe animals should not be exploited are doing, start with the links here. http://www.worldrevolution.org/Guide.asp?CategoryName=Animal+Rights
Anything by John Robbins is excellent - he is extremely good at connecting with all sorts of people, very aware of concerns that current meat-eaters have, and compassionate. His concerns are like mine towards people, animals, environment. http://www.foodrevolution.org/index.htm

[Gman]

19. Oh fucking spare me...

Releasing those minks was the pinnacle of idiocy. It did great damage to the animal rights cause. It was an act of destruction. I'll bet they never even thought about hundreds getting run over by a car. It is a perfect example of what happens by not thinking something completely through.

[BeatleBoot]

9. Now that is dumb!

:donut:

[diamondsoul]

12. OMG! Freakin' fools!

I'll bet not a one of them has ever run up on a wild mink or muskrat relative! The little sh*ts are vicious! Do I like mink farming in general, no, not really, BUT this is not a critter I want running around wild either!

[ima_sinnic]

17. releasing large numbers of wild animals out of context is DUMB

--that is what misguided people did back in the 19th century and it caused ecological havoc--for example: Australia (cane toads) and Jamaica (mongoose from India, which wiped out all other small native mammals by outcompeting them for prey and continually still rob henhouses and birds nests--there is now in fact a bounty on mongoose (mongeese?)--they have no natural enemies in Jamaica). I am working on a biological control project using insects against an invasive weed in the Everglades. Stringent testing of the insects (which are imported from the weeds' native ranges in South America) to make sure they will not start feeding on any other plants is at the heart of these programs and takes years to accomplish to the satisfaction of all the regulatory agencies. Release of any species outside of its native range has the effect of seriously disrupting the ecological balance all the way up and down and throughout food webs. Very very VERY STUPID. A-HOLES. Far better would be to protest and change the sensibility that dictates humans somehow look good wearing dead animals on their bodies.

[Cocoa]

25. it sounds from the article that this isn't like that

Ruth Milner, district biologist for the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, agrees that some of the minks will probably be able to carve out a niche for themselves in the foothills of the Cascades. The area is laced with rivers and rich in fish, rodents and other small mammals upon which minks prey.
“There is a pretty brutal learning curve for predators in the wild,” Milner said. “But if they survive the first few months or get through the first winter, they’ll probably make it.”
There are wild minks on the western slopes of the Cascades, and Milner expects that any farm-raised escapees that make it through the winter will breed with them.
In recent years in England, when animal activists released thousands of farmed minks, the freed creatures decimated local populations of the beloved water vole.
There are no water voles in western Washington or any other creatures that are likely to be pushed to extinction by, at most, a few hundred farm-raised minks gone native, Milner said, but in select areas such as Weaver’s property, it is probably very risky to be a fish, a nesting bird or a mouse.
“These minks,” she said, “are perfectly capable of wiping them out.”

[Serrefine]

18. Those thugs need jail time

As this story illustrates, there is nothing humane about what they do.
Thank you for posting this eye-opening article. I had no idea so called animal-rights people did anything more than peaceful demonstration. These thugs do great harm to all the animal-loving folks.

[ShaneGR]

20. Stupidest thing, EVER

I was particularly horrified by this:

In the first few hours after the minks got loose, cars squashed a couple hundred of them. Kate Roesler, whose husband has helped run the fur farm here for 25 years, explained why so many minks ran into oncoming traffic.
“We feed them from motorized carts,” she said. “They have been conditioned to associate the sound of a motor with food.”
The minks, which are about the size of small squirrels, ran loose after unidentified intruders opened cages at 3 a.m. and knocked down a section of fence surrounding the fur farm. With the help of scores of townspeople, many of whom ran over minks in their rush to be neighborly, the Roesler family managed to round up all but about 1,500 of the minks within 48 hours.

Good job Animal Liberation people, way to research the consequences of your actions.

[Loyal]

23. You know what I've always found funny

about these guys and the environmentalist wackos? On earth day, they sure do leave QUITE a mess at their protests. That's not very environmentally friendly of them to leave their trash all over the place.

[quaker bill]

26. Yes

They could release infected animals from some laboratory.

On the other hand, this story is stunning in it's stupidity.

[enki23]

27. apparently you're on a lonesome crusade against the whacky left

bully for you.

yes releasing the mink was stupid. no joining the animal liberation front doesn't mean you know anything about ecology. yes stopping fur farming is a legitimate cause, whether you agree with the cause or not, just as stopping abortion is a legitimate cause whether you agree with it or not. no this wasn't a good tactic, especially if one is mostly interested in the welfare of the mink, or the local ecosystem. yes it got a lot of attention. no most of the attention wasn't good. yes this is already old news. no you aren't the first on DU to post this story.

yes some people on the "far left" are stupid, as this story might illustrate. no this doesn't mean the "far left" is stupid, in spite of your fervent desire for us to believe it.

[Archae]

28. What??!!??

"no this doesn't mean the "far left" is stupid, in spite of your fervent desire for us to believe it."

I'm not saying this in the least.

Keep jumping to conclusions like that, and sooner or later you'll hit your head.

This has everything to do with those who take a cause, no matter how noble in intent, and simply fall off the deep end.

It's taking to task, those who are absolute morans :-) that just give enemies like the Savage Weener or Hinsanity ammutition, to paint ALL with a broad brush.

The far left can be really stupid.
As can the far right.