Animal Liberation is an extreme animal rights group that was founded in 1976 based on the philosophies of Professor Peter Singer as set out in his book Animal Liberation. Singer’s philosophies also include a suggestion that interspecies sex, whether initiated by humans or nonhumans, should be conceived to be moral and mutually satisfying. He promotes an attitude of liberal tolerance towards bestiality. This suggests that if you’re an Animal Liberationist following the philosophies of Singer, then it’s okay to have sex with an animal, but not eating it. Society, in general, will see this as disturbing, but Animal Liberationists call us unethical for utilising animals for food or product. Having sex with an animal for pleasure is nothing short of animal sexual assault and must be condemned by society and so should any group based on such philosophies.
Singer was a founding member of The Greens party in Victoria and was also the nominated party candidate during the 1996 Australian Federal Election. When opposing politicians and media started to research his background, they found that among other things, he had previously stated “that it would be ethical to ‘abort’ six-month old infants”. The discovery of such an outrageous statement meant that the media and competing parties certainly made sure attention was drawn to that issue. It would be needless to say that The Greens had a ballot box disaster that year. Although Singer is no longer campaigning for The Greens, his philosophies are deeply entrenched in its policies and within current members such as Senator Bob Brown and Rhiannon Lee.
This political party is certainly philosophically dangerous. It has, unfortunately, attracted votes from people on simple vote-catching statements such as ‘Stop climate change’ without those people actually knowing the real intentions of the party that they voted for – a party that thinks that people who are not vegans are unethical and carries with it an extreme animal rights agenda. The philosophies of The Greens are at odds with general society and this minority should not be given the chance to have the balance of power in any government in Australia. They are a party with no real ambition or capability to run the country, but try to push their agenda onto the public of Australia.
In Australia, Animal Liberation has branches in all states, but they all preach the same philosophies of Singer. According to Animal Liberation (NSW), they believe that all animals have a right to live how they would normally choose without other species’ intervention. Their aim as an organisation is to challenge society’s views and have non-human animals given human values and rights, which will liberate them from suppression. This all sounds very cute, but nature itself relies on species intervention. Animals eat animals, thus animals utilise other animals. Nature is cruel; it causes animals to die from starvation and disease and to be slowly ripped apart while still alive by a predator. Are Animal Liberationists proposing that the laws of nature be also changed?
Animal Liberation (Vic) aims to abolish the property status and institutional exploitation of animals. To do this, they want everyone to adopt a vegan lifestyle and brand anyone who holds an animal as property (this includes livestock and pets) or utilise animal products as a ‘speciesist’. Unfortunately, by creating a world based on veganism, breeding herds of animals will then have limited value and they will disappear. This will, in fact, cause the death and waste of millions of animals. This type of action would ‘abolish’ the life of many animals, which would be the direct result of Animal Liberation ideology.
Animal Liberation (ACT) aims to also stop the fur trade. Unfortunately, the decreased demand for fox pelts from Australia has lead to deaths of millions of native species due to the introduced European Fox each year. Seeing that in the early 1980s, around 500,000 pelts where exported annually and in the year 2000, it was close to zero, we can hold Animal Liberationists responsible for an increased number of foxes that are now killing our native animals since the 1980s. In reality, wearing fox fur in Australia is environmental friendly and should be seen and promoted that way.
Animal Liberation (WA) has rebadged itself as Animal Rights Advocates Inc. With mainstream society rejecting the ridiculous ideologies of Animal Liberation, no wonder this state branch has tried to hide its true identity by a simple name change. This is a clear example on how Animal Liberation is trying to survive irrelevance by creating new or infiltrating other organisations. By infiltrating other organisations, they try to gain membership and then seek to become board members, so they can push their ideologies onto once-legitimate organisations.
It is quite easy to find groups that are affiliated with and ones that have been infiltrated by Animal Liberation members. Some of the most easiest to identify are Horse Racing Kills.Org, Voiceless – The Fund For Animals, Animals Australia, Australian Wildlife Protection Council, Wildlife Protection Assoc of Australia Inc, Coalition Against Duck Shooting, National Kangaroo Protection Coalition, Against Animal Cruelty Tasmania (AACT), Say No to Animals in Pet Shops and unfortunately, the RSPCA. The majority of these groups hold a very small membership and should be easily dismissed by the general public for what they are – a small bunch of people trying to force their unwanted ideologies onto others.
The RSPCA was once a reputable animal welfare organisation, but it has now been tarnished by the infiltration by Animal Liberationists. Animal Liberationists have attempted to gain board positions at state level on many occasions in an attempt to further their cause. Nothing makes this clearer than the events surrounding a push within the RSPCA (SA) branch to endorse vegan diets to its members as the best way to prevent animal cruelty.1
A radical motion was proposed by former Animal Liberation state president Peter Adamson and supported by board member Rosalie McDonald. McDonald has stated that she wants to become state president and “reform the RSPCA”. In this instance, reform means turning it into an Animal Liberation umbrella organisation, which can access and squander public monies and fund its plan to push their extreme ideologies onto the public. This type of reform will make this organisation dishonest and irrelevant to mainstream society and will be the cause of the ultimate demise of the RSPCA in the future.
The extreme animal rights group PETA, whom Animal Liberation has connections with, has a criminal history of domestic terrorism in the USA. The vice president of PETA Bruce Freidrich famously told a convention of animal rights groups that “blowing stuff up and smashing windows is a great way to bring about animal liberation”. He also added “Hallelujah to the people willing to do it”2. These type of statements echo other statements we hear from radical terrorist groups across the world who kill innocent people. It would be quite naïve to dismiss any links between different extreme animal right groups when their end goals are similar.
The Australian RSPCA president Dr Hugh Wirth has stated the extreme and violent tactics of animal rights activists in Britain and the USA are being employed by radical Animal Liberation groups in Australia. Dr Wirth has also claimed that the Animal Liberation movement in Australia was moving from activism to terrorism. Patty Mark from Animal Liberation (Vic) disclosed that some of their members had possible links with the extreme Animal Liberation Front. Ms Mark herself is associated with the British anti-vivisectionist group Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty (SHAC), which the FBI has identified as a serious terrorism threat to the USA3.
In the USA, PETA has an annual income of $30 million. They recruit models and Hollywood stars to keep the money flowing in. Most people who donate money to this group would believe that the money is being spent on saving animals. Little do they know that PETA kills 90 per cent of the animals in their care4. They claim to be dedicated to protecting animals and treating them ‘ethically’, but they rather implement the most cost-effective option to maintain profits and just kill animals that could quite easily be adopted out to other homes. When comparing the adoption rates of PETA’s Norfolk head office with a community animal shelter nearby that runs on a shoestring budget, it’s quite clear that saving animals are not their top priority. The Virginia Beach SPCA managed to adopt 70 per cent of animals in its care in 2007, whereas PETA only found homes for less than 1 per cent. There have been suggestions that PETA have euthanised donor’s animals, where the donors themselves thought that PETA would relocate to a shelter for adoption.
The North American Animal Liberation Press Office in their 2008 report proudly discusses almost 200 illegal actions conducted by groups associated with the Animal Liberation Front in North America and Mexico5. With a comprehensive list of incidents involving letter bombs, firebombing, car bombs, arson, property damage and sabotage, there is little wonder why the FBI has listed these groups as domestic terror organisations.
Animal activist quotes and statements
In response to the culling of kangaroos on Defence Department Land in Canberra that were causing extensive damage to the grassland ecosystem, Animal Liberation (NSW) wants to pay for a relocation program by “putting the idea to Paul McCartney and Heather Mills”.6
Animal Liberation bizarrely claims that “wild pigs, dogs and other introduced pests are not a proven threat to native species”. This is despite substantial evidence to the contrary from farmers, scientists and government authorities.7
Spokesperson for Animal Liberation (ACT) Bernie Brennan responded to the question on how we should deal with the feral animals that are causing an estimated $720m worth of environmental and economic damage to Australia each year. His sophisticated proposal was to “leave them alone”.8
PETA’s Ingrid Newkrik is on record saying, “Even if animal testing resulted in a cure for AIDS, we’d be against it”.9
References
1 The Advertiser 2008, ‘RSPCA reformers push vegan diets’, 28 September.
2 Consumer Freedom 2008, California animal rights lunatics make their point with firebombs, The Center for Consumer Freedom, 4 August.
3 The Age 2005, ‘Animal libbers ‘act like terrorists’, 28 August.
4 PETA Kills Animals 2008, PETA killed more than 90% of the animals in its care in 2007, PETA’s 2007 Euthanasia Records, PETA Kills Animals, 18 December, <http://www.petakillsanimals.com>.
5 The North American Animal Liberation Press Office 2009, 2008 year: End report on animal liberation activities in North America, The North American Animal Liberation Press Office, Woodland Hills, California.
6 Sydney Morning Herald 2008, ‘Cull protest blunder’, 20 May.
7 The Daily Telegraph 2006, ‘Culling of feral pigs in the gun’, 6 March.
8 Win News 2008, ‘Animal Liberation hits out at the Sporting Shooters Association for calling on its members to hunt feral animals’, 8 December.
9 ActivistCash.com 2008, Activist Groups, <http://www.activistcash.com>.