A Viable Alternative to Violence

In "Feinstein pushes tought penalties for animal rights violence" in Saturday’s San Francisco Chronicle, Edward Epstein writes of a bill that:

would toughen federal criminal penalties for causing physical harm to people or making threats to researchers or their families. It would also boost penalties for causing economic harm to companies or universities engaged in research using animals that are frequently destroyed in the course of lab work.

As I’ve said many times, I do not advocate violence or property destruction–but not because it’s illegal. It’s a bad strategy because of an unintended consequence, particularly after 9/11 (today’s date), that’s wholly unrelated: people compare it to terrorism. In other words, it creates negative branding for anyone trying to reduce the suffering of animals.

Luckily, there is an alternative to violence, which does include some minor law breakage, but for some people the end justifies the means. It’s called "open rescue," and it was pioneered in the 1990s by activist Patty Mark.

Open rescue involves:

• breaking into a facility
• damaging only what is necessary and paying for the damages (e.g., locks)
• filming the conditions in the facility
• taking animals in urgent need of veterinary care for treatment
• notifying the police and the media of the action

As Erik Marcus writes in his must-read book, MEAT MARKET: Animals, Ethics, and Money (Brio, 2005), which is primarily about animal agriculture:

The key to open rescues’ success is a Gandhian willingness to accept responsibility. People who engage in open rescues clearly break the law, but the offenses are minor and the rationale for committing these acts is something that the public can agree with. It may be wrong to trespass or cut locks, but it would be a far greater injustice to deny the public the opportunity to see how animals are being raised.

Most of the animal experimentation I have seen or heard about has come to me via open rescues, and I see little hope of it coming from anywhere else. It’s a Gray Matter as it involves breaking the law, but the law is protecting heinous cruelty committed by abusers who are paid for such "work."

The matter gets less gray by the moment.