Taken individually, animal-rights organizations pose a threat to hunting, ranching and animal ownership with very specific approaches. Non-profit animal extremist organizations or loose-knit groups focus their attacks each in their own way.
Rational people can easily see the fallacies of the animal extremists when viewed in very a limited setting – say, when conflict with large predators arises. Reasonable people support a logical fix to ensure the safety of people and society at large. However, those usually sensible citizens begin to falter when the animal activists stir the pot and offer outlandish alternatives laced with emotional language. Still, rational folks can grasp that the extremists’ solution is a bit out there.
However, something insidious happens when the various components of the movement work in tandem. The most extreme splinter groups of the movement, those advocating for “direct action,” make the rest of the factions seem far more reasonable than history has proven. Direct-action activists believe in taking justice into their own hands as animal “vigilantes.” Groups like Animal Liberation Front, Sea Shepherd and Direct Action Everywhere encourage attacking universities, laboratories, businesses and people, such as hound handlers and hunters. They’ve used firebombing, burglary, piracy and assault to advance their agenda.
This article originally appeared in The Sportsmen’s Advocate, Fall 2022. Join now to receive our quarterly magazine.
These vigilante groups make organizations like People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) or Wolf Patrol, seem less unhinged by comparison. But they’re not. PETA is the master of media manipulation. Their actual impact on society rarely moves public opinion, but their stunts garner headlines, and headlines bring the issues they embrace to the mainstream. The more outlandish they are, the more coverage they get and the more people they reach. People know they’re bizarre, but they somehow reconcile the behavior as passion.
Both the direct action and media seekers make the largest, most powerful organizations seem completely mainstream by contrast. But they’re not. Groups like Humane Society of the United States, Center for Biological Diversity and Defenders of Wildlife have all the same goals as PETA and Animal Liberation Front, they just wear suits and work in the halls of Congress instead of working covertly under the cover of darkness.
Taken together, the more militant veins of the animal-rights movement legitimize the ideas of the still-extreme legal and legislative animal advocates, which makes them even more dangerous because people will happily settle on something that seems reasonable, even if it’s not. Justification comes from pointing to the more radical blocs as they buy into the well-rehearsed propaganda. That buy-in impacts American society as animal-rights lobbyists turn proposed bills into laws and pass ballot initiatives that undermine wildlife management and directly threaten our outdoor traditions.
Indoctrination Starts Young
California politicians have accused the firearms industry of indoctrinating youth into an abyss of gun violence by advertising their products, and even clothing, that might be subjectively attractive to them. Indoctrination is defined as “to imbue with a usually partisan or sectarian opinion, point of view, or principle.” Firearm ownership spans the gamut of political, social, economic and gender differences in America. The animal-rights ideology, however, is extremely sectarian, and they’re working to indoctrinate children from kindergarten through college.
PETA 2
Animal Rights
A one-time offshoot of PETA, this group has spent the last 20 years covering topics important to kids – food, beauty, fashion and celebrities – while also giving advice on how to resist parents’ concerns with a vegan diet and lifestyle or refusing to dissect animals in biology class. Recently, the subsidiary was merged with the parent site. However, PETA continues its propaganda aimed at youth aged 13 to 24 with Students Opposing Speciesism (SOS). The site provides a series of video trainings, a campaign guide, free protest kits and will even pay campus representatives to spread the word and agitate at schools.
Students Demand Action
Gun Control
Former New York City mayor and billionaire Michael Bloomberg merged his two gun-control groups – Moms Demand Action and the scandal-ridden Mayors Against Illegal Guns – into a single entity, the ubiquitous Everytown for Gun Safety. His massive spending has resulted in another organization under the same umbrella called Students Demand Action. With a $1 million grant from the parent group to push it into schools nationwide, anti-gun adults use kids to push their agenda and portray them protesting and advising how to start a petition, reach out to media or host a walkout.
Kind News Reading
Grade School Propaganda
A magazine available in two versions: Kind News, Jr., geared towards grades K-2, and Kind News, written for grades 3-6. For 34 years, Kind News was a program of Humane Society of the United States. It has recently been taken over by Sacramento-based RedRover. The magazine purports to teach kids about animals and
“humane ethics” through their 8-page printed and digital magazine and in conjunction with educators trained in their beliefs who read to and lead discussions with the children while encouraging activism. It has reached over 50,000 grade schoolers since 2007.
About the Sportsmen’s Alliance: The Sportsmen’s Alliance protects and defends America’s wildlife conservation programs and the pursuits – hunting, fishing and trapping – that generate the money to pay for them. Sportsmen’s Alliance Foundation is responsible for public education, legal defense and research. Its mission is accomplished through several distinct programs coordinated to provide the most complete defense capability possible. Stay connected to Sportsmen’s Alliance: Online, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
