'Animal rights' and other pet causes:

Things your TV never told you

By Tony Gosgnach

Abundant North American media coverage has been directed in recent years towards cases of abortion-related violence, most notably several shootings in the U.S., and in Canada the bombing of Henry Morgentaler's first Toronto abortuary, as well as the highly publicized, and as-yet-unsolved, shootings of three abortionists.

That has, more or less, been the extent of media coverage of the abortion issue, apart from token, annual articles devoted to the release of Statistics Canada figures that have shown consistent year-to-year increases in the number of abortions. The status and plight of the unborn are being generally ignored.

In contrast, media coverage and the attention of governments are copiously and positively directed to environmental, labour, left-wing and animal-related issues. The alleged dangers posed to the environment by our current mode of existence are, like a mantra, drilled constantly into the consciences of the media-consuming masses, while the plights of animals in various predicaments are often (and sympathetically) depicted. Meanwhile, numerous incidents of left-wing-, environmental- and labour-related violence are quietly wallpapered over.

The contrast between how the unborn are viewed in comparison to the environment, the labour movement, left-wing causes and animals, becomes very stark when a survey is taken of media coverage and government attention (or lack thereof) to these issues.

One recent news piece that was distributed worldwide, for example, quoted the World Wildlife Fund for Nature as claiming a third of the natural world has been destroyed in the last 25 years in what allegedly has been "the greatest period of destruction since the extinction of dinosaurs 65 million years ago."

And People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals is publicly claiming that civilization will not survive unless Americans stop catching and eating fish. PETA adds that since fish have vertebrae and brains, they can feel pain, and so, shouldn't be killed.

On the so-called "animal rights" front, numerous articles in recent months have examined the plight of creatures in various predicaments. While the unborn quietly get slaughtered in abortuaries across Canada at the rate of some 400 a day, the media find time and space to report on such inane developments as the death this past August of an orangutan at the Toronto Zoo.

"A St. Catharines man has been saddened to learn that an orangutan he pulled from a moat at the Toronto Zoo died of respiratory failure almost 48 hours after the dramatic incident," said the Canadian Press in a report distributed across Canada. "Kartiko (the orangutan) fell into the water after five orangutans had scuffled over cookies zoo visitors had thrown into the cage."

Several people had tried to save the animal, including a respiratory therapist who went to the zoo with special equipment. "We just did what you would do to an eight-year-old child," said the therapist.

The story of a Wisconsin man who was sentenced in July to 12 years in prison for beating to death five cats was carried by the Associated Press and picked up in Canada. (That development, by the way, came on the heels of a relatively light, 2 1/2-year prison sentence given to Wilmington, Dela. college student Amy Grossberg, who gave birth in a motel room, then had her boyfriend place the child into a garbage bag and throw him into a dumpster.)

Housing for monkeys

More recently, the reprieve from death of 115 research monkeys at Health Canada in Ottawa drew national coverage, including photographs. Apparently, an Ottawa Citizen story about the monkeys sparked angry protest calls to Health Canada. The monkeys, which are used for experiments into the long-term effects of exposure to pesticides, lead and mercury, were to be put to death because the department couldn't afford to keep them.

However, Health Canada spokesman Rod Raphael said the fate of the monkeys is now to be decided by a Royal Society committee of philosophers and scientists. The committee recently decided to improve housing for 750 other monkeys while seeking to drum up greater research interest in the animals.

In San Francisco, the SPCA there has purchased 12 apartments that are air conditioned, have skylights, soft rugs and tasteful furniture - for stray animals. It is reported that homeless humans are invited to come and stay with the dogs and cats - but only so that the animals won't be lonely. The humans can't stay overnight or use the showers.

Also, recently, copious media attention has been devoted to controversy surrounding a whale hunt taking place off the west coast. Opponents of whaling converged on the area in an effort to thwart the first whale hunt by the Makah Indian tribe in 70 years. The opponents aroused concern over whether they would stage potentially dangerous confrontations at sea.

"It will be quite intense on the water," vowed Neil Gregory of the West Coast Anti-Whaling Society.

"I'm quite willing to be arrested out there," added Paul Watson of the Sea Shepherd Society. His group brought out two surface vessels and a mini-submarine in attempts to divert whales from hunting areas.

Kris Maenz, a member of the Sea Defense Alliance who came all the way from Montana, said she was prepared to die for the whales.

Elsewhere, U.S. government scientists announced earlier this fall a breakthrough that would allow for more humane scientific experimentation on animals. A committee headed by William Stokes of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences said a new skin test for irritating chemicals will use fewer animals, no animals, or cause less pain and distress to the creatures. The director of the NIEHS said the overall goal was to reduce the numbers of animals used in testing.

This attention to animal-rights issues might not be that surprising in light of the treatment animals and preborn human beings receive in Canadian law. A series of Canadian Supreme Court rulings has, in effect, made the preborn child persona non grata until he or she emerges from his or her mother's birth canal.

Animals, however, are protected a series of Criminal Code provisions, including:
• Section 444, which makes it a crime punishable by up to five years in prison to kill, maim, wound, injure or poison cattle
• Section 445, which makes it a crime punishable by summary conviction (up to six months in jail) to kill, maim, wound, injure or poison any other animal
• Section 446, which makes unnecessary suffering caused to animals a summary-conviction offence (also up to six months in jail)

Then there are the federal government's efforts to protect animals. Two years ago, then-Environment Minister Sergio Marchi announced the tabling of legislation that would provide for fines of up to $1 million for anyone who killed, harmed or - seriously, folks - bothered endangered species, or damaged their nests and dens.

A "recovery plan" was also to be prepared for every species under federal jurisdiction, including fish and birds. "The government of Canada is very serious about protecting endangered species," Marchi said, by way of understatement.

These examples of coverage of animal-related issues, and governments' willingness to take account of them, run in tandem with numerous incidents of violence connected to animal rights. But for some reason, whereas pro-life groups are subjected to media vilification and persecution by public officials for fewer and more-isolated incidents of abortion-related violence, animal-rights violence (often more serious in nature) fails to draw similar responses from media and public officials.

In fact, animal-rights activists have been deemed to be a serious enough threat to warrant the attention of Canada's spy agency, the Canadian Security Intelligence Service. The agency last December said it sees a potential for "serious violence" by animal-rights extremists - violence that would be "a threat to the security of Canada."

"I'm confident that CSIS has an active animal rights-related program underway. Certainly, the service is very interested, to put it mildly," said David Harris, a former director of strategic planning for CSIS.

A CSIS brief obtained by the Southam News service noted that, "Canada has a large number of animal-welfare groups with long histories of peaceful protest and activism. However, there have been incidents in the past in which militant animal-rights groups have undertaken acts of terrorism and sabotage to make their point."

The brief came on the heels of a threat-and-bombing campaign against BioChem Pharma Inc. in Laval, Que., which was thought to be linked to the company's use of rodents in drug and vaccine testing.

Last November, BioChem was rocked by four bomb explosions within 70 minutes in attacks at two of its facilities, in Laval and Montreal. Police defused two more bombs at the Laval site. Though there were no injuries, Montreal police spokesman Christian Edmond said the blasts "certainly could have injured people, especially the one that went off in front of (a) ... building, which was facing the street."

The bombs were found in plastic bags and contained one kilogram of explosives. One report said plastic explosives were used. BioChem beefed up security in the wake of the bombings, and police began a close surveillance of the facilities.

A call was later received from someone claiming to represent the Animal Liberation Front, a militant U.S. group, who said the bombs were a protest against the company's use of rats and mice to test vaccines that treat cancer, AIDS and other serious diseases.

Another explosive was found outside BioChem's Laval headquarters in March, forcing an evacuation of the facility and a suspension of trading in the company's shares. Police successfully defused that device.

But the BioChem incidents are just the tip of the proverbial iceberg. During Thanksgiving 1996, thousands of turkeys were pulled from store shelves in the Vancouver area after the Animal Avengers group said it poisoned birds at three major supermarket chains.

"Murder begets murder and those participating in unthinking carnage will soon be examining the consequences of their actions, preferably around an open grave," the group said in a message to a television station.

The incident followed a similar threat by the Animal Rights Militia during Christmas in 1994, when 20,000 turkeys were taken off the shelves.

Researcher threatened

Last March, a researcher at Hamilton's McMaster University received threats in connection with the university's 400 projects involving the use of animals.

"We have a person here who is at risk, the target of harassment. It is a grave concern to us," said Ron Carter, retiring chair of the university's committee that oversees the treatment of lab animals. The nature of the threats was not specified, but it was said that the matter was being handled internally by the university. Hamilton police decided not to investigate.

In July, animal-rights activists thought to be linked to the Animal Liberation Front slashed the tires and smashed the windshield of a car belonging to a University of Guelph pathobiology student, then spraypainted it with the letters "ALF." Slogans were also painted on roads near the student's home.

University officials beefed up security, saying they were not going to subject their researchers to risk.

More serious, two anti-racism and animal-rights activists were arrested this past spring in connection with a rash of razor-blade letters and parcel pipe-bombs sent three years ago. David Barbarash and Darren Thurston were charged with 27 counts of mailing an explosive or thing with an intent to cause bodily harm. Barbarash was additionally charged with possession of an explosive substance and possession of a prohibited weapon. Thurston was also charged with impersonation.

Toronto Holocaust denier Ernst Zundel was targeted with a parcel bomb nine days after his home was hit by an arsonist. John Thompson, of the Mackenzie Institute in Toronto, also received a parcel bomb. Although his secretary opened it, the wires on the device became disconnected and it failed to go off.

Terrence Mitenko, vice-president of Alberta-based Alta Genetics Inc., also received a bomb. His firm is an embryo-transplant centre for domestic livestock and dairy cattle in Alberta.

In Vail, Colo. last month, what was called the most costly act of "eco-terrorism" took place. Damage was estimated at $12 million after a ski lodge and other buildings were set afire. The Earth Liberation Front claimed responsibility for the arsons.

The ELF said it carried out the attacks to stop the destruction of natural habitat and the exploitation of the environment. "Putting profits ahead of Colorado's wildlife will not be tolerated," it said in a communique. "This action is just a warning."

It is interesting to examine media reaction to the Colorado arson. Whereas the press has been quick to suggest a pro-life element may be responsible for the shootings of abortionists, ABC World News Tonight anchor Peter Jennings was just as prompt in making it clear that environmental groups other than the ELF "certainly don't approve of what they've done." ABC reporter Tom Foreman, meanwhile, said that environmentalists "are afraid their cause will be tainted by the violence."

In the wake of media coverage of the Colorado incident and the murder of abortionist Barnett Slepian, the U.S. Media Research Centre's Brent Bozell is charging the media with "knee-jerk religious bigotry." He said they are "laying the blame for these heinous (abortion) murders at the feet of innocent Christians and social conservatives."

Eco-terrorism

The ELF has already claimed at least partial responsibility for fires at U.S. Agriculture Department buildings in Olympia, Wash and at an Oregon corral.

Katie Fedor, a spokewoman for the Animal Liberation Front, said her group has aligned itself with the ELF and the two organizations have declared war on companies "that desecrate the earth." The Associated Press noted that the Colorado arsons mark a major escalation in eco-terrorism.

Animal rights isn't the only realm in which violence is a common occurrence. It's a well-known fact that labour disputes often involve skirmishes of a lesser or more serious nature. Virtually all major police forces in North America have a specialized labour-relations officer on hand to deal with potential problems before they start, because of the propensity towards violence in such situations.

Sometimes, these problems can't be defused ahead of time. Like in Montreal, whose municipal civil service is known for its combative nature. In 1996, four city workers were convicted of abducting and beating one of their bosses, but remained on the job after their union insisted they not be fired.

Last year, two union bosses were sentenced to six months in prison for helping incite a riot at city hall. Four other people received suspended sentences after trying to break down the doors of Montreal city hall with a battering ram.

In Philadelphia, Pa. last month, pro-life protester Donald Adams filed a criminal complaint against Teamsters Union head Johnny Morris, charging that Morris directed henchmen to beat him to the ground as he picketed with 70 other demonstrators outside Philadelphia city hall, where President Bill Clinton was visiting.

One of the henchmen, Teamsters business agent Anthony Michael Mucillio, was later arrested in connection with a $4 million drug bust that also yielded numerous firearms and explosives.

Violence also surrounds other issues. The clashes that took place at the APEC summit in Vancouver - and which are now the subject of inquiry - are well known, but less publicized are disputes involving environmental issues.

In Alberta recently, a campaign of terrorism - including bombings and other vicious attacks - against oil, gas and forestry companies, has been making the news. One RCMP officer characterizes the incidents as "the actions of perverse people and criminal minds," while the Alberta Energy Company calls them "industrial terrorism."

More than 160 separate acts have caused millions of dollars in damage, and struck fear into the hearts of industrial employees. "You wonder if you've got to start wearing flak jackets on oil leases," remarked the owner of a local excavating company that works on oil wells.

"Greater safeguards must be taken now to eradicate the toehold I believe industrial terrorism is taking in Canada," said Alberta Energy Company president Gwyn Morgain. "We have made the issue a priority item with our industry's association."

AEC estimates acts of terrorism against it have cost the firm about $2 million.

A bomb destroyed a building at an oil well site north of Hinton, Alta. last Aug. 24. That followed the conviction last year of a man charged with vandalizing a gas well. One local farmer said he could understand the reasons for the violence taking place.

"If someone comes into your house to burglarize it, you use force to prevent that. They (oil and gas companies) have spilled blood here, and to keep them from spilling blood, we need to do something," he said.

The situation may have reached a climax with the recent laying of a first-degree murder charge against 54-year-old Eifion Wyn Roberts. Police allege that Roberts killed Calgary oil executive Patrick Kent, 42, after a dispute over claimed contamination from an oil well near Roberts' central Alberta farm. Kent was shot while organizing a test for contamination of the ground around the well-head site.

The shooting followed other incidents in the area, including a rifle shot taken at an oil company worker and homemade pipe bombs set off at oil wells.

Barry Clausen, an investigative journalist based in Cutten, Ca., says 1,400 acts of industrial sabotage costing well in excess of $100 million have been verified in the U.S. "It's enormous," Clausen commented. "And the fact that little is done to stop it only means there will be more."

Various demonstrations, violent and non-violent, often take place in connection with numerous other contentious issues. But again, whereas pro-life protesters are often accused of harassing women outside abortuaries, and the like, little attention is paid when the matter doesn't concern abortion.

Why is it that pro-life activists seem to get the short end of the stick in the treatment they receive from governments and the media, while activists in other fields get treated with kid gloves when they go astray?

One reason may be finances. Animal-rights activism receives widespread support, not least from celebrities who manage to cull donations to the cause. Apart from the well-known animal-rights campaigns of French actress Bridgette Bardot, former Beatle Paul McCartney, and his late wife Linda, have been prominent animal-rights supporters.

Linda McCartney went so far as to develop a line of animal-free food. Her husband gave a series of interviews recently about animal rights and vegetarianism in honour of Linda, during which he had to deny he was a secret meat eater. He said he plans to be as active in supporting animal rights as his wife was.

The plentiful finances that prop up the animal-rights movement might no better be seen in use than in a series of large, costly, colour advertisements decrying the commercial seal hunt, that ran in the Toronto Star newspaper last fall, paid for by Canadians Against the Commercial Seal Hunt, a project of the International Fund for Animal Welfare - Canada.

"We killed 268,921 seals last year. One seal at a time," said one ad, failing to note that over 100,000 unborn human Canadians were killed in their mothers' wombs during the same period. "We caved in their skulls. Hooked their flesh. Blasted them with bullets. Even skinned them alive. The equivalent of twice the human population of P.E.I."

The ad noted that, "We can make a difference," and gave a 1-800 number to call. Among the signatories to the ad calling for an end to the seal hunt, was Toronto lawyer Clayton Ruby, who is noted for having represented Toronto abortuaries in court proceedings over the years. Also giving their endorsements were figures such as actress Cynthia Dale, homosexual writer and broadcaster Irshad Manji, author and naturalist Farley Mowat, and actor William Shatner.

The power held by such individuals is indicated by the fact that the Canadian seal hunt even draws the attention of governments overseas. This past spring, top members of the U.S. Congress from both major parties demanded that Canada curtail the seal hunt "because it's so cruel." They included Democrats Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts and Daniel Moynihan of New York. In a scathing letter to Newfoundland Premier Brain Tobin, they warned that the seal hunt may cause serious environmental damage.

Animal-rights issues elsewhere also make their presence felt in North America. When calls emerged for the banning of Britain's traditional fox hunt last fall, Canadian news media covered the issue generously. The International Fund for Animal Welfare was a presence in that dispute, publishing full-page ads in newspapers.

Of course, the fact that the media are constantly sympathetic to left-wing causes must be kept in mind. Consider the example of CBC-TV reporter Terry Milewski, who was pulled off coverage of RCMP hearings over the force's clashes with student protesters outside Vancouver's APEC summit.

It was revealed that Milewski had exchanged e-mails with a protester in which Milewski gave advice and referred to the federal government as "the forces of darkness." The prime minister's office sent the CBC a letter, charging that Milewski was engaging in one-sided reporting and that the CBC was broadcasting innuendo, unsubstantiated allegations and false statements.

Apartheid

One can also point to media coverage of the apartheid issue in South Africa. Current president Nelson Mandela in constantly lionized by the media as one of the great figures of our time, drawing comparisons with likes of Ghandi or Martin Luther King for his role in the struggle against apartheid.

Less publicized, though, is the fact that Mandela was aligned with the African National Congress which, as has now emerged, was guilty of human rights violations including torture, bomb and mine attacks on innocent civilians and executions of enemy agents. South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission noted that Mandela's former wife Winnie was convicted in 1991 for kidnapping and assault in connection with the death of a young activist in Soweto.

On the environmental side, while declaring open season on unborn humans, courts are quick to crack down on offences against the environment. The owner of a New York City delicatessen this spring "apologized" to a tree to which he had chained his bicycle in order to escape a $1,000 fine for his transgression.

A neighbour had complained that Daniele Malpeli was abusing the tree. Malpeli was told by New York's city parks commissioner that he would recommend leniency if Malpeli apologized to the tree, gave it a hug and promised to water it.

The complainant was said to have once arranged an elaborate funeral when a tree died in Queens, N.Y. Malpeli was charged under a by-law that prohibits anyone from tampering, trimming or otherwise interfering with any of the 500,000 trees lining New York City streets.

As with most aspects of the culture wars - as well as the related moral and ethical questions that fuel them - the roots of the disputes may be found in philosophy, metaphysics and worldviews. The fact that someone like Clayton Ruby can defend animal rights while at the same time push for the "right" of abortuaries to slaughter unborn human beings, indicates that something strange is going on in these realms.

And Ruby is not alone. Peter Singer, a philosophy professor and director of the Centre for Human Bio-Ethics at Monash University in Australia, believes that disabled babies should, in certain circumstances, be given lethal injections. He thinks that if doctors, parents and the legal system have concluded that a new-born baby is so brain-damaged that he or she should not be given treatment or food, then it would be kinder to administer a lethal injection to end the infant's suffering.

On the other hand, Singer is also the man who in 1976 wrote Animal Liberation, a seminal work that popularized the idea that animals have rights. The work gave birth to a worldwide movement of animal-rights activism.

Singer says the centuries of Judeo-Christian morality are over. "We have now entered a new era," he says, "one in which we look at the quality a human life may have rather than talking about its sanctity." In the end, some animals might be more morally important than some human beings, he suggests.

Perhaps the last word on the issue should go to Norwegian member of parliament Steinar Bastesen, who made headlines around the world recently with his call for killer whale and movie star Keiko (of the film Free Willy) to be turned into meatballs.

Spending millions of dollars to return Keiko to the ocean is "a lunatic waste of money," said Bastesen, a former head of the Norwegian whalers' association. He said four-tonne Keiko should be turned into food aid - specifically, 60,000 meatballs that could be sent to the starving children in the Sudan region of Africa. "The only good killer whale is a dead one," said Bastesen.

Needless to say, his comments weren't appreciated by the folks at the British-based Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society, which has been backing the efforts to bring Keiko back to the ocean.