Hugs for Puppies Not so Nice
Animal Rights Group with Previous Record of Violence to Exhibit at Animal Rights Conference
One organization called "Hugs for Puppies" will be exhibiting at this event. "Hugs for Puppies" is the Philadelphia chapter of an organization called Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty (SHAC). SHAC, and six of its leaders, was convicted last year in federal court for domestic terrorism charges that involved campaigning against medical researchers.
"Hugs for Puppies" currently has four different restraining orders filed against them to protect the public from potential harassment and threats. Back in November of 2006, the Hugs for Puppies director, Nicholas Cooney, was convicted of making "terroristic threats with the intent to terrorize another."
Many are outraged by Hugs for Puppies presence at and participation in this animal rights event. Among them is David Martosko, Center for Consumer Freedom Director of Research. He said concerning the conference, ""There's no excuse for consorting with terrorists. The Humane Society of the United States and PETA should be distancing themselves from violence. But by welcoming their movement's most vicious activists with open arms, they're defending the indefensible."
Additionally, this conference will feature a speech by PETA vice president Bruce Friedrich. During a 2001 animal rights demonstration in Virginia, he advocated "blowing stuff up and smashing windows." This type of disregard for the potential negative consequences in taking extreme action against those perceived to be participating in animal cruelty seems to be increasing in the animal rights movement today.
Animal rights is a serious issue that is hotly debated in the United States of America. Among animal rights activists, there are some sincere and caring people who ultimately help animals without promoting violence among human beings. There are certainly ways to promote animal safety and to counter animal cruelty legally and without any sort of domestic terrorism. Many may feel frustrated that the legal and proper channels aren't efficient or aren't working quickly enough. However, we certainly can't condone hate promoted terror.
Sources:
PR Newswire Press Release, http://media.prnewswire.com/en/jsp/latest.jsp?beat=BEAT_ALL&view=LATEST&resourceid=3523936
Published by Jason Webb
B.S. in Psychology. J.D. View profile
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7 Comments
Post a CommentI am curious if the writer of this article could
articulate the nature of the violent acts that
Hugs for Puppies is accused and been convicted of??
If they dont include rape, robbery, pillage and murder,
and they constitute home demos and harsh rhetoric towards
vivesectors then I ask for better journalism.
If there is actual jail time for for specified crimes
it would be important to the article and the judgements
made from that information.
While I agree in principle with Megans comments,
I think the "violence" needs to be qualified. Doing
home demos and even going so far as to damage property
[aka vandalism] is not violence to other humans, and while the vast majority of animal rights people do not
support violence of any nature CCF will use any event to
rally against animal rights issues. This is because
CCF is a paid lobbyist group and represents the core
animal use industries that profit from animal abuse. They have no interest in welfare or rights for anyone
but themselves and their profit margins.
What is missing in this article is that the vast majority of animal rights activists oppose violence. Violent tactics on behalf of animals are not only immoral, they are counter-productive and ineffective. A very small fraction of the movement engages in violence, which then allows opportunistic groups like Center for Consumer Freedom to attack the entire movement, as they always do. CCF actually started as a front group for big tobacco and they consistently attack groups like Mothers Against Drunk Driving.
Ardeth - is supporting spay/neuter so that millions of animals don't have to be killed each year "anti-pet"? That's not "fighting with and snipping at each other", which, by the way, is exactly what you're doing. What HSUS and other AR activists believe is that the number of pets should be reduced so they aren't crammed into shelters their whole lives then killed because there simply aren't enough homes for them.
and part of the growth.
What matters is the intent and for that I am grateful
for each action and each voice for the helpless animals
suffering at the hands of humans.
The biggest thrill in my life is knowing that animal
rights is a thought that did not exist and now does. It
is being worked on by people in every walk of life, from librarians to students. While the main stream society
tries to stay in a state of denial about their relationship with the animal world there are some who will not be quiet no matter the personal sacrifices it takes. The people working for animals are relentless and selfless. For those recieving home demos- I say get over it. Its America.
As to violence- the 6 people from SHAC sitting in FEDERAL
jails are there because they ran a web site and it scarred someone. Mr. Vick/ possible animal killer will be lucky to see six months in jail.
Mr. Bush's friends in high places, doing high crimes against America- get pardoned.
In a movement as large as Animal Welfare/ Animal Rights
with all of the attending emotional baggage, it is no
surprise that people would not agree or get along. That is part of the learning curv
The biggest problem in animal advocacy is not that a few may advocate violence, in my opinion. The biggest problem is that AR advocates are constantly fighting with and snipping at each other. For example, my friend, who is an officer with the Cat Writers of America, invited Wayne Pacelle to speak to her group's convention. Many of the members (and also the Dog Writers of America) are furious because they claim Pacelle and the HSUS are "anti-pet" because the HSUS supported the mandatory spay/neuter law in California. Animal advocacy desperately needs a charismatic figure, a Martin Luther King type, to draw all the contentious threads together.