Did “Animal Rightists” Inject Rat Poison Into Swedish Meat?
Zealots have apparently struck another blow at the civility of modern society, this time in broadly-tolerant Sweden.
Swedish police are dealing with two cases in which “animal rights” activists may have injected rat poison into meat in supermarkets.
“The crime has not yet been proven since we don’t know exactly which poison we are looking for,” said a Swedish police official. Nevertheless, witnesses have come forward, and one store recently removed nearly 200 pounds of meat from its retail cases to ensure the protection of its customers.
Even the threat of a terrorist act is terrorism, of course. And since “animal rights” zealots have already burned research buildings and laboratories, and attacked fur farms, the threat of injected rat poison in our meat is all too credible.
The “animal rights” movement may not yet have learned the ugly lesson of Sept. 11. Caring intensely about something doesn’t give any of us the right to force our beliefs on others, be they about vegetarian diets, Moslem-or-die theology, anti-sprawl arson or abortion.
If the world permitted extremists to have their way, our societies would inevitably be run by fanatics with guns. The majority of us would be enslaved to their passions, and the general good would be ignored.
I put “animal rights” activists in quotes because I doubt that animal rights are actually what they seek. Think about the result of scaring people into giving up meat, milk, and eggs. All of the cows and calves in pastures across the countryside would disappear. No cattle owner can afford to provide land and protective fences for cattle that can’t be sold. Farmers would grow trees or grain instead.
Billions of laying hens would be put out of work, and probably to death, no matter what size their cages. It’s hard to imagine that PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) has given much serious thought to livestock welfare when its real agenda is livestock elimination.
In Europe, activists have demanded that laying hens get a daily recess outdoors, which means huge numbers of the chickens contract epidemic diseases and spread dangerous bacteria to their eggs. Why am I not surprised that mere death and disease has failed to deter the “animal rightists” from demanding the outdoor playtime.
If PETA had its way, all the dairy cows would be turned into pet food. Oops, the “animal rights” activists don’t want us to keep pets either. They say your kid is guilty of exploiting his puppy instead of loving and feeding it.
That means all the companion cats and dogs must be put down too. We obviously can’t have packs of wild dogs attacking wildlife-and children. Wild dogs and cats would both spread rabies and other diseases, and destroy the tranquility of our neighborhoods. (It wouldn’t help to complain to your neighbor about the dog barking, because the barking dog wouldn’t be his.)
Perhaps the worst aspect of the “animal rights” agenda is their effort to stop medical researchers from using animals to test new drugs-drugs designed to protect the health of both people and domestic animals.
I hate to admit this, but my family’s annual veterinary bills are much higher than our doctor bills. In affluent societies, the pets get just as good care as the kids. What does PETA have to say about that?
Still, the ugliest “animal rights” scenes occur when PETA activists turn animals loose. When activists turn loose thousands of mink from a fur farm, it’s only a question of how many will be run over by cars, how many will kill each other in fights, and how many will starve over the following weeks.
I found it hard to cede moral authority to animal rights fanatics before 9/11. Since then, I find it impossible. I feel angry rather than guilty. And if they’re starting a new terror campaign with rat poison in meat, they put themselves in the same vicious anti-human category as al Qaeda.
