The animal rights movement has descended on Arizona this year, and the Center for Consumer Freedom is suiting up to play. Our opening salvo was fired in this morning’s Arizona Republic — a full-page ad reminding Arizonans that the animal rights movement would rather protect lab rats than cure dreaded diseases.
Why are we focusing our energies on the Grand Canyon State? Four wealthy animal rights groups are engaged in highly charged political fights there. One pits the Humane Society of the United States and Farm Sanctuary against pork and veal farmers. The other involves People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) and its quasi-medical affiliate, the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM), using every trick in the book to stop a medical research company from building a laboratory. When Arizonans aren’t being told farmers are evil, they’re being misled about vital medical research aimed at curing AIDS, cancer, and other diseases. Some local activists have even tried to hide their connections with national groups like PETA for fear of revealing the animal-rights ideology motivating their agenda.
We’ve seen this all before. In 2003, Farm Sanctuary leaders spearheaded a Florida campaign to add pigs to the state’s constitution. They prevailed, but not before breaking so many campaign finance laws that the group was fined $50,000. And animal rights groups like PETA and PCRM have been obstructing indispensable medical research for decades.
Animal activists have turned Arizona into their movement’s Ground Zero, but we’re taking up the challenge. Watch this space for more hard-hitting ads aimed at reminding Arizonans of a few of life’s undeniable truths:
The animal rights movement wants to abolish meat, milk, useful medical research, and a host of other things people take for granted;
Animal rights groups will do and say anything to get what they want;
The animal rights movement would rather save lab rats than sick people; and
Since animal activists don’t care if you live or die, they have no business telling you what to eat.
