Outrage Over Exotic-Game Animals Hunted Down in Ohio

Strange story. And look for activists pushing for even more regulations.

At WaPo, "Dangerous exotic animals turned loose, hunted down in Ohio." And at NYT, "Police Kill Dozens of Animals Freed on Ohio Reserve."

'I want people to have the freedom to eat what they want...'

Amazingly on point.

That's the chef interviewed at New York Times, "In California, Going All Out to Bid Adieu to Foie Gras."

“I want people to have the freedom to eat what they want,” said Ludo Lefebvre, one of the chefs behind the stove here on Friday. “Animal rights people would turn everyone into a vegan if they could. I don’t want animal rights people to tell me what to eat. Today it’s foie gras. Tomorrow it’s going to be chicken, or beef.”

Would You Pull Over For a Snake On the Windshield?

Actually, yes. That was my first thought upon seeing this at The Blaze, "‘OOOOH MY GOD’: SNAKE ON WINDSHIELD TRIGGERS HIGHWAY FREAK OUT."

But see KABC-TV Los Angeles, "Tennessee family catches snake on windshield."

My wife said she wouldn't stop: "Who cares about the environmentalists?!!"

Spain's San Fermin Festival Goes Topless

At Astute Bloggers: "NSFW PHOTOS: THE RUNNING OF THE BOOBS, ER UM I MEAN BULLS."

And a streaker gets gored after running with the bulls:

PREVIOUSLY: "Running of the Bulls."

Running of the Bulls

At USA Today, "1 gored, 6 others hurt in running of the bulls."

And lots of pics at Daily Mail, "Get out of my way! The bulls of Pamplona go running… over the backs of revellers." And The Sun, "It's crush hour in Pamplona."

San Francisco May Ban Pet Sales

This is the practical effect of the animal rights movement. People will take away your pets, and not just guppies.

At Los Angeles Times, "San Francisco considers banning the sale of all pets."

The first vision was simple and straightforward: To curtail puppy mills and kitten factories, the sale of cats and dogs should be banned in San Francisco, where the loving guardians of animal companions come to regular blows — politically — with the loving parents of children.

The ban was put on hold last year after animal advocates broadened it to include anything with fur or feathers. Now it's back, with a new name and a new strategy: More is more. The Humane Pet Acquisition Proposal is on its way to the Board of Supervisors, and it hopes to protect everything from Great Danes to goldfish.

Yes, goldfish. And guppies, gobies, gouramies, glowlight tetras, German blue rams. No fish, no fowl, no reptiles, no amphibians, no cats, no dogs, no gerbils, no rats. If it flies, crawls, runs, swims or slithers, you would not be able to buy it in the city named for the patron saint of animals.

Representatives of the $45-billion to $50-billion-a-year pet industry call the San Francisco proposal "by far the most radical ban we've seen" nationwide and argue that it would force small operators to close. Animal activists say it will save small but important lives, along with taxpayer money, and end needless suffering.

More at the link above, and interestingly, the Los Angeles Times has come out against San Francisco's proposed ban on circumcision: "Ban the circumcision ban."

Lea Michele Joins PETA Campaign Against Horse-Drawn Carriages in New York

At NYT, "‘Glee’ Star Joins PETA Cause." Here's the clips with the "Glee" star, in any case. Young and idealistic. Also, at London's Daily Mail, "Lea Michele joins forces with PETA to campaign against New York's horse-drawn carriages." The conditions don't look so great, actually.

RELATED: "The New York Times ran a story on this a few weeks back, "Group Calls Attention to Treatment of Carriage Horses."

Animal Rights Activists Threaten UCLA's David Jentsch

It's been almost two years, but I wrote on this previously: "J. David Jentsch Stands Up to Animal Rights Extremists."

I'm not surprised, but things have gotten worse. At LAT, "Attacks Won't Deter Researcher":

When UCLA neuroscientist J. David Jentsch was a grad student, he never expected his life as an academic would require around-the-clock armed guards, or a closed-circuit TV inside his bedroom so he could keep constant watch over his home.

But the high-powered security proved necessary again this month when the researcher, who experiments on monkeys, opened a letter left in his mailbox to discover razor blades and a death threat.

"We follow you on campus," Jentsch recalled the note reading. "One day, when you're walking by, we'll come up behind you, and cut your throat."

Activists claimed the razors were tainted with AIDS, though it hasn't been confirmed by officials. University officials have said the latest threat, confirmed by UCLA on Tuesday, is under investigation by the FBI and UCLA police.

But the 38-year-old professor has been through this before. Last year, he woke up to an orange flash and a car alarm. He ran outside to find his car had been blown up.

Twice a month, animal rights activists in ski masks gather outside his home, chanting "murder." On Halloween, neighborhood trick-or-treaters were handed flyers with images of bloodied animal subjects.

"If you go to the house down the street, there's a monster who lives there," children were told.

The tactics, Jentsch said in an interview inside his office, are part of an intensifying effort by extremists to halt animal research at the university. Molotov-cocktail-like devices have been left near researchers' homes and under their cars, and in one case, a professor's window was smashed and a garden hose inserted to flood her home.

Some of Jentsch's colleagues have opted to alter their research, or move, but the neuroscientist says the latest incident has motivated him to press on.

"They're absolutely determined. This is not a joke to them," he said. "But this is the work I feel morally obligated to do."

This is left-wing terrorism, and right here at home. Just one more sign of the true evil of left-wing ideologies.

God bless J.David Jentsch.

RELATED: "UCLA researcher receives threatening package; animal activists said to claim responsibility."

Teenage Girl Throws Puppies in River

I'm a little late on this, but it's nevertheless unfathomable. At Telegraph UK, "Teenage girl throws puppies into a river in online video."



Click the image to watch.



No doubt JBW thinks this is hilarious — no evil in the world, and all that, dontcha know?

Are You With PETA on This One...?

I love elephants. I'd like to know if the trainers' whips can be used without the beating. But given how casual the men look, I have no doubt that those elephants get whapped into line routinely. My family skipped Ringling Bros. this summer. Every year the animal rights activists are out there protesting. It's hard not to shamed, and readers know that's a trick with me!

The New York Daily News has the story, "PETA Video Shows Ringling Bros. Circus Handlers Beating Elephants":

The world-famous Ringling Bros. circus faces fresh accusations of animal abuse today after undercover videos show handlers beating elephants before they enter the ring.

The tape, made by a man who posed as a stagehand for six months, is likely to stir outrage and give animal rights activists new ammunition in their campaign against the circus that bills itself "The Greatest Show on Earth."

A worker with People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals used a secret camera to document what the group calls the abuse of animals as they're led from holding pens to the stage.

The animals are seen herded together, wearing headdresses, while trainers stand around, appearing to randomly whip them with bull hooks across the head, legs and body.

Loud cracking noises can be heard.

In one scene, a handler curses an elephant, saying, "F--- you, fat ass" before using his whip to nonchalantly strike its trunk.

The elephants are led with a bull hook - a long pole with a metal point at the end - used to pull them by the trunk.

The undercover PETA employee scored a job with Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus and traveled with the circus as it toured seven states, a spokesman said.

Footage was shot between January and June, the animal rights organization said, and included a stint at Madison Square Garden.

"He witnessed these elephants being beaten for no apparent reason," said Daphna Nachminovitch, PETA's vice president for cruelty investigations, who described the abuse as "consistent" and "routine."

"We've known for years that backstage beatings occur," said Nachminovitch, "but what will strike the audience is that these elephants can't do anything right as far as these workers go.

"This sort of behavior is deeply embedded."

Ringling Bros. officials said they were unaware of the video and could not comment on its content, but they maintained their animals are treated properly.

"PETA is an animal rights extremist group," said Steve Payne, a spokesman for Feld Entertainment, which owns Ringling Bros.

The guy's right about PETA being extremist. See Jacob Laksin, "Animal Rights Extremism Meets Academia." That piece discusses Gary Yourofsky, a hardline radical activist who's been banned in Britain for seeking to "foment or justify terrorist violence in furtherance of particular beliefs ..."

That sounds about right. I wrote about some related issues earlier at, "J. David Jentsch Stands Up to Animal Rights Extremists." At that piece I link to Roger Scruton's key essay, Animal Rights."

For reasons found at those links, no matter how much I abhor this treatment of the elephants, I just can't get too close to these radical activists ideologically and politically - if not physically.

Hat Tip: Memeorandum. Also, blogging, Perez Hilton, which shouldn't be surprising I guess ...