animal rights

Animal rights activists keep attempting to grant “rights” to animals through novel — and I would say, frivolous — lawsuits. PETA sued SeaWorld, claiming that the orcas were “slaves.” The Nonhuman Rights Project has sued three times to have chimpanzees and elephants declared “persons” entitled to writs of habeas corpus. Those suits failed. But animal rights activists never give up. Now, PETA is suing the NIH and the National Institute of Mental Health, claiming that the agency’s refusal to allow them to receive closed-circuit monitoring of research monkeys and communicate directly with them violates the animal rights fanatics’ First and Fifth Amendment rights. The irrationality begins in the complaint’s first and second paragraphs when the complaint alleges PETA has a Read More ›

Animal rights activists are determined to persuade a court to declare an animal a “person” to enable them to engage in unremitting lawfare against all animal uses — an advocacy project known as “animal standing.” Having failed twice in New York to have chimps and then an elephant named Happy declared persons, the NonHuman Rights Project moved its effort to Colorado seeking writs of habeas corpus to be issued on behalf of zoo elephants. The activists had some reason for hope. Two judges in New York’s highest court swallowed the baloney in a 5-2 ruling against elephant personhood. Thankfully, the Colorado supreme court exhibited greater wisdom in unanimously turning the case away. Why? Because as any ten-year-old could tell the Read More ›

We hear a lot from environmentalists, animal rights activists, and just plain caring people about the supposed evils of industrial farming. Neo-Luddites throw tantrums about GMOs, for example. And many commenters — including in these pages — lament the conditions in which meat animals and egg-laying hens are raised. Those are certainly legitimate concerns worthy of investigation and debate. But we also need to focus on the tremendous good humans receive from having bountiful, affordable, and nutritious food supplies, which would seem to require at least some industrial methods to achieve. Indeed, until now, these and other benefits humans receive from industrial agriculture and so-called factory farms seem to be one of those hot potato topics that we are not allowed to Read More ›