Animal Rights Groups Protest Near Washington DC In Midst Of Global Health Crisis
Adding a new chapter to the old adage, “Never let a crisis go to waste,” animal rights activists chose to victimize a quite suburban neighborhood near Washington DC.
“On April 22 – in the middle of a global health crisis that has killed over 200,000 people worldwide, including nearly 57,000 Americans, police were called away from their important public safety efforts in order to respond to an angry, disruptive protest in an otherwise generally quiet suburban neighborhood near Washington DC,” according to an article in Speaking of Research, an advocacy group that provides accurate information about the importance of animal research in the biomedical, behavioral, and life sciences.
The article said that the animal rights protestors, some lacking personal protective equipment such as face masks, were “driving through neighborhoods, screaming at residents, honking their car horns and even getting out of their vehicles to confront police and local residents, placing everyone’s health and safety at risk.”
The activists were led by none other than the infamous Ingrid Newkirk, President and founder of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. The same Ingrid Newkirk who said, “a rat is a pig is a dog is a boy.”
Newkirk and her crew targeted the neighborhoods of Dr. Francis Collins, director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), as well as that of an internationally renowned National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) investigator.
This is not the first time Dr. Collins, his neighborhood and his neighbors have been the targets of animal rights tactics. In 2015, at the urging of animal rights groups, mass mailings were sent to residents that live near him in an attempt to intimidate him into ending monkey research at NIH.
While medical animal research can be controversial, some animal rights activists are trying to restrict its use by arguing that it’s inhumane. Animal research is tightly regulated by the federal government. Researchers are required to use appropriate anesthetic and analgesic drugs to ensure animals don’t experience pain. Those responsible for overseeing research must certify that use of animals is necessary and utilize as few animals as possible.
It appears that Newkirk is keeping true to the mission of PETA – get as much media exposure and create as much chaos as possible. She is turning her attention to disrupting animal research on COVID-19.
