Puk
08-05-07, 11:40 AM
someone else has seen the light.
from Brisbane's "courier mail" this morning.
Animal crackers
By Paul Syvret
May 08, 2007 12:00am
Article from: The Courier-Mail
HATE mail seems to come with the job here at Tuesday View. A lot of it is just nutty, some amusing, others just your common or garden variety abuse ¿ and very inventive in many cases. Keep it coming.
Occasionally though, you receive the plain psychotic.
The most recent example of this actually related to a news feature we ran a couple of weekends ago about the culling of feral pigs in Cape York.
This particular cull was aerial, using two helicopters and sharpshooters with semi-automatic rifles to eradicate the pests.
And they are indeed noxious pests – responsible for destroying sensitive wetlands and killing native fauna.
A case in point here is the degradation of nesting grounds used by marine turtles on the west of the Cape near Mapoon, to the stage where in recent years no baby turtles in some species have hatched at all because the pigs have got to the nests first.
This near extinction event didn't concern one apoplectic letter writer, who lamented that I hadn't died in a fiery helicopter crash covering the story, and expressed his outrage at the fate of these "poor defenceless animals (the pigs)". Most of the remaining text is unprintable, but you get the drift.
The first thing I thought on reading this diatribe was: PETA (or the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals).
Like many extremist groups, their name sounds all warm and fuzzy – a seemingly worthy cause which belies their position in the lunatic fringes of our society. Liking animals is good, and not wanting to see them mistreated is also commendable.
PETA takes this not so much a step further, however, as a quantum leap.
You may have heard of them most recently in the Australian context in relation to our wool industry, which apparently is evil incarnate.
PETA's ire at our sheep farmers – and their calls for a boycott of Australian wool – stems from the live export trade and the practice of "mulesing".
Mulesing involves surgically removing the skin around the sheep's backside to reduce the risk of fly strike.
Without mulesing, blowfly eggs are laid in moist wool and flesh-eating maggots create painful wounds, causing death in many cases.
Personally, given the choice, I'd opt for mulesing over maggots any day.
PETA's most visible campaigns relate to such issues as this, or its crusade against the use of furs. You may have seen recent images of PETA protesters harassing Queen Elizabeth on her tour of the US over the use of bearskin in her guardsmen's hats.
Again, on the surface, many people – including celebrities such as Pamela Anderson – would broadly support such agendas.
One wonders whether they have taken the time to research PETA's hard-line views in other areas such as militant veganism.
Take this, for example, from veteran PETA campaigner Bruce Friedrich at a US animal rights conference in 2001: "I think it would be a great thing if all of these fast-food outlets and these slaughterhouses and these laboratories and the banks that fund them exploded tomorrow.
"I think it's perfectly appropriate for people to take bricks and toss them through the windows, and you know, everything else along the line. Hallelujah to the people who are willing to do it."
Or this from PETA founder Ingrid Newkirk: "Even if animal research resulted in a cure for AIDS, we'd be against it."
Ironic isn't it, that a lot of these Hollywood stars who lend their profile to PETA also seem to turn up at awards ceremonies wearing AIDS ribbons.
One also wonders how many of them are rabid vegans – those who consume no animal products whatsoever, including milk, fish or eggs.
For those of us who still love a good steak, or milk with our wheaties, PETA, which campaigns not for animal welfare, but "animal rights" has this message:
"From a moral standpoint, actions that harm others are not matters of personal choice. For example, murder, child abuse and cruelty to animals are immoral acts, not matters of choice.
"Today, our society encourages meat-eating and factory farming, but at one time, society also encouraged slavery, child labour and many other practices that are now universally recognised as wrong."
Cruelty to animals, in PETA's eyes, even extends to children drinking milk – a substance which they also claim is harmful and linked to allergies, constipation, obesity, heart disease, cancer and other diseases.
Drink milk and your moral compass is up there with the slave traders. Shoot feral pigs and you're obviously on a one-way trip to eternal damnation.
Save the turtles I say. And pass the pork chops.
He is brave taking on the psychotic juggernaut, but more power to him, i say.
Puk
from Brisbane's "courier mail" this morning.
Animal crackers
By Paul Syvret
May 08, 2007 12:00am
Article from: The Courier-Mail
HATE mail seems to come with the job here at Tuesday View. A lot of it is just nutty, some amusing, others just your common or garden variety abuse ¿ and very inventive in many cases. Keep it coming.
Occasionally though, you receive the plain psychotic.
The most recent example of this actually related to a news feature we ran a couple of weekends ago about the culling of feral pigs in Cape York.
This particular cull was aerial, using two helicopters and sharpshooters with semi-automatic rifles to eradicate the pests.
And they are indeed noxious pests – responsible for destroying sensitive wetlands and killing native fauna.
A case in point here is the degradation of nesting grounds used by marine turtles on the west of the Cape near Mapoon, to the stage where in recent years no baby turtles in some species have hatched at all because the pigs have got to the nests first.
This near extinction event didn't concern one apoplectic letter writer, who lamented that I hadn't died in a fiery helicopter crash covering the story, and expressed his outrage at the fate of these "poor defenceless animals (the pigs)". Most of the remaining text is unprintable, but you get the drift.
The first thing I thought on reading this diatribe was: PETA (or the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals).
Like many extremist groups, their name sounds all warm and fuzzy – a seemingly worthy cause which belies their position in the lunatic fringes of our society. Liking animals is good, and not wanting to see them mistreated is also commendable.
PETA takes this not so much a step further, however, as a quantum leap.
You may have heard of them most recently in the Australian context in relation to our wool industry, which apparently is evil incarnate.
PETA's ire at our sheep farmers – and their calls for a boycott of Australian wool – stems from the live export trade and the practice of "mulesing".
Mulesing involves surgically removing the skin around the sheep's backside to reduce the risk of fly strike.
Without mulesing, blowfly eggs are laid in moist wool and flesh-eating maggots create painful wounds, causing death in many cases.
Personally, given the choice, I'd opt for mulesing over maggots any day.
PETA's most visible campaigns relate to such issues as this, or its crusade against the use of furs. You may have seen recent images of PETA protesters harassing Queen Elizabeth on her tour of the US over the use of bearskin in her guardsmen's hats.
Again, on the surface, many people – including celebrities such as Pamela Anderson – would broadly support such agendas.
One wonders whether they have taken the time to research PETA's hard-line views in other areas such as militant veganism.
Take this, for example, from veteran PETA campaigner Bruce Friedrich at a US animal rights conference in 2001: "I think it would be a great thing if all of these fast-food outlets and these slaughterhouses and these laboratories and the banks that fund them exploded tomorrow.
"I think it's perfectly appropriate for people to take bricks and toss them through the windows, and you know, everything else along the line. Hallelujah to the people who are willing to do it."
Or this from PETA founder Ingrid Newkirk: "Even if animal research resulted in a cure for AIDS, we'd be against it."
Ironic isn't it, that a lot of these Hollywood stars who lend their profile to PETA also seem to turn up at awards ceremonies wearing AIDS ribbons.
One also wonders how many of them are rabid vegans – those who consume no animal products whatsoever, including milk, fish or eggs.
For those of us who still love a good steak, or milk with our wheaties, PETA, which campaigns not for animal welfare, but "animal rights" has this message:
"From a moral standpoint, actions that harm others are not matters of personal choice. For example, murder, child abuse and cruelty to animals are immoral acts, not matters of choice.
"Today, our society encourages meat-eating and factory farming, but at one time, society also encouraged slavery, child labour and many other practices that are now universally recognised as wrong."
Cruelty to animals, in PETA's eyes, even extends to children drinking milk – a substance which they also claim is harmful and linked to allergies, constipation, obesity, heart disease, cancer and other diseases.
Drink milk and your moral compass is up there with the slave traders. Shoot feral pigs and you're obviously on a one-way trip to eternal damnation.
Save the turtles I say. And pass the pork chops.
He is brave taking on the psychotic juggernaut, but more power to him, i say.
Puk