Animal rights and welfare should be the same thing, but they're not. Last Wednesday, activists shoved about 1,000 minks out of their cages at a mink farm in Spokane, WA. A news report is here.
I'm so irked by the continued stupidity of so-called "animal rights" groups that I had to comment. Raids on fur farms have been reported at least since the 1990's. If these groups care so much about animals, they should have figured out by now that if you release a domestically bred animal into the wild, it will die because it does not know how to hunt or fend for itself in the wild. That's not death with dignity; that's torture by pain, illness and starvation.
With utterly no grasp of the irony and stunning ignorance of their statement, the activist group wrote in a press release: "We chose to do this not because we believe that humans wearing fur is inherently wrong. Rather we think that the callous disrespect with which the fur industry treats the animals is despicable."
In this particular case, the minks didn't go far from home and most were recaptured. Sometimes after these "releases," the minks turn against each other and fight to the death because none has established its own territory. Some of the Spokane minks were hit by cars and killed. Are trauma, terror and pain less despicable than life in a cage and a quick death?
Sherry, I am starting to put two and two together on all of this activists business and the picture I am coming up with isn't pretty. I won't go off on it now on your blog but I hope everyone wakes up and looks beyond the emotions of all of these protests to the puppeteers really controlling everything. - I feel so sorry for the minks and what you say makes so much sense, how frightened and lost they would feel...so very sad.
ReplyDeletexo
We had not heard about this story. Thanks for the info...and thanks for the salamander link. We have those things all over here. The dogs could really care less about them! They have bigger fish to fry..haha
ReplyDeleteWyatt's Mom
For a very awesome short story about a similar issue (stupid animal rights activists), check out Mercedes Lackey's short story Last Rights, which appears as part of Fiddler's Fair. Its a pretty awesome story that greatly shares your view of this issue.
ReplyDeleteIf you can't find a copy of that short story, I have it on my computer and could share through email if you are interested
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