Four jailed in grave-theft case (Animal rights activists)

[Swede]

How stupid are these people?

Four animal rights activists have been jailed for waging a campaign of terror against a family which included digging up a grandmother's grave.
The Hall family were targeted for six years by activists who aimed to stop them breeding guinea pigs for research.


http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/staffordshire/4762481.stm

[YOY]

1. Well...you gotta share a wing with some wackos

I guess the PETA freaks are better than racist nutjobs the Right Wingers have to deal with...

[T_i_B]

7. There are all sorts of nasties on the left.

From the ALF, through religious bigotry (most often surfacing in debates about Israel) to apologising for regimes of tyrants such as Stalin the left does have quite a few repulsive people on board just as the right does. And ultimately, yes it is the job of the left to remove the log out of our own eye before complaining about the speck in someone else's eye.

[YOY]

2. Self Delete

[Rich Hunt]

3. are these people really activists?

I mean, shouldn't activists abide by a code of respect for ALL creatures and have some consistent ethics?

I'm not gonna defend someone just because they claim to defend 'animal rights'.

they're probably just a bunch of fascist saboteurs in reality.

It's the sixties and seventies all over again - lying sabotaging infiltrators, subverting humane agendas to terrorize people and dirty up legitimate causes.

If they're not abiding by ethics, they're not humanists, plain and simple. Study some history - they're saboteurs.

The fascists are banking on people having forgotten history.

[Kagemusha]

4. Stupid? Stupid...?? Many, many people would've given in long ago

These people decided that engaging in such activities was a rational and effective way to promote their beliefs. There is no stupidity involved, only intense malice.

[bluestateguy]

5. Certifiable nut jobs

How do these people promote animal rights by doing this? That would be like an anti-war protestor digging up a veteran's grave as a form of protest.

The sentence is appropriate.

[LeftishBrit]

6. I agree with the rest of you....

It is fine to support whatever cause you want, but when it comes to such systematic intimidation campaigns it is truly sick and disgusting. Especially as they targeted people who were only involved in the most indirect way; for example, I remember that they frightened the Halls' cleaning lady into quitting her job by threatening to harm her grandchildren.

This does get to me on a personal level, as some of the more extreme animal-rights activists have declared that anyone who works for my university is a legitimate target, due to the university administration setting up the construction of a controversial animal research lab.

[T_i_B]

8. PM gives lead on animal testing

Now Tony Blair is intervening in this one! Here's the thread about this in Editorials, just for good measure.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=103x210298

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/05/14/nrights14.xml&sSheet=/news/2006/05/14/ixuknews.html

Tony Blair today accuses anti-vivisection extremists of "stooping to appalling depths" as he launches an impassioned defence of animal testing.

Writing in The Sunday Telegraph, the Prime Minister leads opposition to the increasingly violent tactics of animal rights campaigners.

Mr Blair has taken his stand at the end of a week which has seen four people who ran a six-year hate campaign against the owners of a guinea pig farm handed lengthy jail terms.

Animal rights campaigners have also attempted to blackmail small shareholders in GlaxoSmithKline, the drugs company, into selling their holdings.

[tjwmason]

9. The stopped clock is right at last.

Of course I'd rather that animal testing didn't have to take place - but I've yet to see how we can get rid of it.

A few extremists are giving the whole of the animal rights movement a very bad name.

[non sociopath skin]

12. I think I'd feel more comfortable about animal testing if I felt ...

... that the wealthy drug companies were, meanwhile, looking for alternatives. I can't get over the suspicion that animal testing is favoured because it's a cheap option.

The Skin.

[tjwmason]

14. I have to confess to a total lack of knowledge.

I dropped both Biology and Chemistry after G.C.S.E. and thought it not a moment too soon - so I can't comment on what possible alternatives there could be.

I do share your concern - but every scientist I've heard speaking about the topic speaks of the necessity of animal testing.

[LeftishBrit]

15. Options are being looked at...

and many scientists think that we'll eventually be able to do without animal research for medical discoveries (e.g. by using cell lines); but not for some time.

I should note that (a) animal research is not especially cheap, as housing and feeding large numbers of animals costs money; and (b) at least in academic medicine, cheapness is not a high priority, as universities and research units gain points from the Research Assessment Exercise for the amount of grant money that they attract (sometimes a source of some resentment by researchers like myself who work on less expensive topics like children's mathematics learning!)

I am strongly against the use of animals for cosmetics testing or other non-medical purposes, but I think that at present there is little choice when it comes to medical research.

[non sociopath skin]

10. While I agree with the rest of ye on the Wacko Extremists ...

... am I the only person who finds it curiously appropriate that the first petition to which Tone has given primetime support is in favour of killing things.... ?

The Skin

[T_i_B]

11. I'm sure he signed petitions when in opposition

But that was a long while ago and the very first thing he points out in the article is that prime ministers usually don't feel the need to sign petitions anyway.

[tjwmason]

13. Somebody commented to Broadcasting House on Radio 4 this morning.

Whom is he petitioning?