Finally Scientists in Britain Smarten Up

For a long time researchers in Britain have been trying to appease animal rights terrorists. Their lives, their families lives, and their property is often threatened and damaged if they utilize animal research models. Rarely are these domestic terrorists caught and prosecuted. Often it begins with stones thrown through the window of the home, death threats, and possibly arson. These activities then escalate to assult and in some cases murder. Occasionally the terrorists gain access to laboratories or animal living quarters and release decades worth of work. The animals fare much worse outside. I would be suprised if survival was over 1% of total released animals. An Article in Reuters shows that the researchers are finally . standing up for themselves. I wish them well and hope for their safety. It is unfortunate that Britain makes it hard to defend yourself from such attacks. In the US at least some states provide individuals with the right to protect themselves.

A suggestion for the eco-terrorists: If you don't belive in medical research stay away from all drugs, sugeries, and other medical therapies. There have been virtually no medical advances in the absence of animal research. A researcher must show absolute justification before proceeding to animal research. It is a documentation intensive process and ensures that animals are treated humanely and that the impacts of the research are enough to justify the use of animals.

If they can't legislate they'll sue!

In another demonstration showing the anti's disregard for public policy, animal rights groups have sued to prevent the USDA from inspecting horse carcasses for processing. The problem is that the inspections were taking place per fee to the slaughterhouse after funding for the inspectors salaries were cut by a conservative congress that seems to bow to every liberal demand. Read more here.

The problem with this is it sets a precedent against free market. If people are willing to pay for horsemeat, there will be a producer. If the producers are willing to pay to have the meat inspected--there will be inspectors regardless if the government is footing the inspection bills. However, this attempt to prevent a lawful business from obtaining proper health inspections is a blatant disregard for the law. Congress removed funding for the inspectors but did not block payed inspections.

Lets consider the situation. These horse are treated well as livestock for a specific purpose, providing meat. Many of these horses are past their prime for the purpose for which they were bred. The alternative to slaughter is to relocate the horses to non-profit shelters? Show me the space and where the money is coming from! I suspect if the anti groups are able to prevent payed inspections that we will see a decrease in the quality of these horses lives and a decrease in living conditions coincident with increased abuse. I am sure the horses will be much happier in poor, abused living conditions. Maybe they will have to be destroyed due to a lack of money for care. Then they become a wasted resource. This is a much worse fate as we are not honoring the animal by at least utilizing it as a resource.

For those who are involved in the suit due to your homes' proximity to a slaughter house and are claiming reduced property values; I say, everywhere is going to have detracting values, yes some are worse than others, but we all have a choice. If you don't like where you live, sell your house (if at a loss it is part of the risk of investment, here in Ann arbor we are facing a market that is about to adjust down in value about 20 percent), move somewhere else. The problem is that undesirable buildings (prisons, slaughter houses, mega markets) can be built anywhere, again this is the risk of owning a home. If you aren't willing to take this risk, RENT.

As The antis continue to exaggerate

Anti-hunters and eco-terrorists will go to the extreme to vilify hunters. Recently a pseudo-news article was published claiming that hunters will cheat on their taxes.In this article the author claims that hunters use charitable donation trusts in order to reduce their taxes. Anybody can name a tax exempt charity as a beneficiary of their estate for a tax benefit. You may ask, "Why target hunters?" Well they can't vilify us with their silly rhetoric against guns or hunting, and they can't expect reasonable people to jump on their eco-terror wagon so now they champion, "hunters are stealing from the government!".

Of course they have started a petition to close the "tax-loop hole". Sounds a bit like their efforts to close the "gun show loophole" if you ask me. Additionally, they will be doing damage to many charities who receive more because people can use the donations as a tax break. This extends far beyond hunting and hunters so even if you don't hunt think about donations you make or non-profits you support. Maybe they will drive themselves out of business!

Additionally, They claim that over 40 million dollars are "stolen" from the government by hunters each year. How much damage do eco-terrorists do to businesses, research facilities, and universities that are declared as losses and translate to tax deductions. I would hazard that it is much more. In the "stolen" amount the author of the article states that specimens donated to a museum that will not be displayed should not be given tax breaks. Do people think that museums are only galleries. They are repositories for research and study. Just because they will not be on display does not mean they are useless and should not be funded by public money. A big part of ecology and conservation revolves around understanding the biology of the species.

O Canada!

So recently, the Attorney General of Ontario has proclaimed that Ontario should have the right to Ban handguns, Read about it here. The Attorney general claims that handguns in the household are unsafe. Of course in most cases as many good studies, especially by John R. Lott, have shown that handguns in the home are unsafe for criminals. Bryant contends that only the police, military, and Olympic sportsmen should have access. I feel sorry for our northern neighbors and that they for so long have had to cow to the liberals. I am hoping that the change in the Canadian government last month will change the Canadian government's view on guns of all types. Hopefully, the Canadian government will quash this lunacy.