The Province
Let's halt this animal cruelty
Published: Friday, August 29, 2008
http://www.canada.com/theprovince/news/editorial/story.html?id=5acee362-a7eb-44a0-9fcc-d53022643ae2

Let's say this upfront: We have a lot of sympathy for those British
Columbians who are concerned about the welfare of this province's wild
and domestic animals, and strive doggedly to improve the way they are
treated.

You don't have to look up what St. Francis of Assisi said about our
relationship with these creatures to appreciate that they serve us
well -- and that we should look after them well in our turn.

Animals bring us untold wealth and joy. And cruelty to animals not
only violates our basic sense of humanity, it runs contrary to our
self-interest as stewards of the natural environment.

This may be truer than ever in today's hurried world in which
relationships between humans seem to be coming under increasing
stress.

More and more city folk, in fact, are coming to appreciate the value
of their interactions with animals and to demand that governments
clamp down harder on those who engage in animal abuse.

That said, we have no sympathy at all for those animal-rights
extremists believed responsible for last Sunday's release of some
6,000 mink from an Aldergrove farm. They not only broke the law, and
unfairly victimized a local farmer. They committed an appalling act of
cruelty, with some of the black mink being hit by passing cars or
dying of stress.

It is one thing for these "activists" to believe that raising animals
for fur is wrong, and for them to do everything they legally can to
get the practice outlawed.

It's quite another for them to become animal abusers themselves. And
that's exactly what they have become in perpetrating this cowardly and
unthinking act.

As SPCA spokeswoman Sara Dubois says, if the activists did it with the
intention of saving lives, they did the exact opposite.

"If the animals were born in captivity, it's going to cause them even
more suffering to be in the wild," Dubois told Province reporter
Glenda Luymes.

Now the anonymous group behind the Aldergrove release may be part of a
network of animal-rights activists who conduct acts of arson,
sabotage, vandalism and "liberation" around the world. And there are
indications it may be thinking about targeting other Fraser Valley
farms.

If so, let's hope the police act swiftly to track members of the group
down -- and "liberate" them from society by putting them behind bars.

(c) The Vancouver Province 2008


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