By John M. Simpson.
Last week, we reported on an Australian animal rights group that published an interactive map providing the names, locations and other identifying details of farmers and other animal enterprises across Australia. This week, an organization in the U.K. followed suit and published a similar map targeting dairy famers in England and Wales. Continue reading “British Dairy Farmers Also Caught in the Activist Cross-Hairs”
by John M. Simpson.
Aussie Farms, an animal rights organization in Australia, recently published an interactive map on its website and Facebook page that provides particulars on a wide range of animal enterprises in Australia. The map includes street addresses and actual map grid coordinates for farms and similar enterprises located throughout Australia. Each of the map locations has a live link to a database of information that Aussie Farms claims it has assembled on the targeted businesses. Continue reading “Australian Animal Rights Group Stirs Controversy With Map Targeting Farmers”
by John M. Simpson.
The American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF), a prominent non-governmental organization in the U.S. representing farm and ranch families, held its annual meeting earlier this month in New Orleans. Among the topics discussed (in addition to the address by President Trump), was the increase in “alternative protein” production, namely meat-like substances that are derived from plant ingredients or that are cell-based and grown in a laboratory from animal cells. Plant-based “meat” products (e.g., “tofurky”) are currently available at retail. Cell-cultured “meat” products are not yet available but could be seen in 2019. Continue reading ““Fake Meat” Discussed at Farm Bureau Federation Annual Meeting”
By John M. Simpson.
In typical fashion, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) recently called for an end to live animal mascots at collegiate sporting events. This was apparently prompted by a “meet and greet” between the competing football teams’ animal mascots prior to the January 1, 2019 Sugar Bowl. Continue reading “PETA Weighs in on Live-Animal Mascots”
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), an animal rights organization known for attention-grabbing publicity stunts, recently launched a new campaign to rid the English language of idioms that the organization regards as offensive to animals. Analogizing the matter to the use of “racist, homophobic or ableist language,” PETA claimed that replacing phrases such as “bring home the bacon” with alternatives such as “bring home the bagels” would remove “speciesism” from daily conversations. Continue reading “PETA Language Pointers Generate Controversy”
by John M. Simpson
Somewhat lost in the din of current news reporting on the Supreme Court appointment controversy, was the release of the Trump administration’s National Strategy for Counterterrorism of the United States (Strategy) on October 4. That document makes specific reference to “animal rights extremism” as a “persistent” domestic security threat. Continue reading ““Animal Rights Extremism” Targeted in Trump Administration Counterterrorism Strategy”
by John M. Simpson.
Sometimes the target gets steamed and fires back. People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), an animal rights organization that is not generally known for shying away from publicity, may have recently met its match in Baltimore, Maryland. Continue reading “Seafood Restaurant Takes on PETA”
In Animal Legal Defense Fund v. U.S. Dep’t of Agriculture, 2018 WL 23987812 (N.D. Cal. May 25, 2018), the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California recently granted summary judgment to the government in a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit in which the plaintiff challenged the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s “policy and practice of interpreting the statute to exclude nonhuman animals.” The case arose out of a FOIA request by an animal rights organization for inspection records of USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service concerning Tony the Tiger — a Bengal tiger maintained at a truck stop in Louisiana. Continue reading “Court Rules Bengal Tiger Is Not An “Individual” Under FOIA”
A Connecticut Superior Court Judge recently issued an opinion further elaborating on his prior decision to deny a petition for a writ of habeas corpus filed on behalf of three elephants (two Asian and one African) owned by a zoo in Connecticut. Nonhuman Rights Project, Inc. ex rel. Beulah, Minnie and Karen v. R.W. Commerford & Sons, Inc., No. LLICV175009822S, 2018 WL 3014069 (Conn. Super Ct. May 23, 2018). The action had been brought on behalf of the elephants “Beulah,” “Minnie” and “Karen” by the Nonhuman Rights Project (NHRP), arguing that the animals possessed emotional, social and intellectual attributes sufficient for common law personhood and for the common law right to the bodily liberty protected by the writ. The May 23 decision expanded upon the reasons why the court previously had found the habeas petition to be “wholly frivolous on its face.” Continue reading “Court Denies Habeas Petition Filed on Behalf of Elephants”
