state of michigan has florida animal rights activist arrested

Camille Marino Arrested — Are Animal Rights Activists a

“Hate Group”?

Two activists with the animal rights group “Negotiation Is Over” (NIO) have been arrested at a protest in Florida. Group founder Camille Marino was arrested on an out of state warrant, and is awaiting extradition to Michigan.

In Michigan, NIO is campaigning against an animal experimenter at Wayne State University named Donal O’Leary, who uses dogs in heart experiments. One of the dogs, the Dalmation pictured above named Queenie, was forced to run on a treadmill with a device implanted in her heart, catheters protruding from her body, and open wounds leaking fluids. Doctors have urged the federal government to investigate O’Leary’s violations of the Animal Welfare Act.

Marino has allegedly posted personal information about O’Leary on the NIO website, alongside inflammatory commentary and her voicing support for physical violence. (Most of these posts appear to have been removed recently.) For example, on one of the NIO blog posts about O’Leary, a commenter wrote 800 words of gruesome details about what should be done to him, such as “We will then strap you into a monkey restraining device and use industrial pliers to crack your testicles like walnuts.”

Americans for Medical Progress, an industry group, says NIO is an “animal rights hate group” and the Southern Poverty Law Center has included NIO in its “Hate Watch” column.

Marino’s campaigning is controversial, but to call it a “hate group” is overreaching. Among the many differences between NIO and hate groups is that animal rights activists are opposing people because of what they do rather than who they are.

An even more important difference is that hate groups engage in physical violence, while NIO has only sensationally talked about it on blogs and Facebook.

As one commenter said on Hate Watch:

Upon reading the story it looks like Ms. Marino is not guilty of any serious crime… She did have a protective order issued against her, I’m not sure it was really violated here and it may get dismissed. She has committed no specific act of violence or damage to property. An expired drivers license is no big deal either.

These are important points to consider when discussing whether NIO’s blog is protected by the First Amendment. At the heart of the two key standards in First Amendment law is the question: Is the speaker using outrageous rhetoric to get attention, or will these threats be carried out?

Dalmatian Named Queenie Dies in Unlawful Experiments at Wayne State, in Detroit

Queenie and many other dogs have endured traumatic heart-failure experiments at Wayne State University in Detroit, Mich. These experiments violate the Animal Welfare Act, argues a Petition for Enforcement filed by PCRM with the federal government.

According to medical records obtained through the Michigan Freedom of Information Act, Queenie’s chest was cut open so experimenters could install devices inside her. After a second major surgery to implant more instruments, she was forced to run dozens of treadmill experiments with catheters protruding from her body and incisions leaking bodily fluids, causing constant pain and distress. Hypertension was induced by reduction of blood flow to her kidneys. On June 29, 2010, Queenie—a former companion animal obtained from a Michigan animal shelter—was killed in the laboratory after one of the devices broke and retracted into her body.

“Wayne State’s unlawful dog experiments should be halted and defunded immediately,” says John J. Pippin, M.D., F.A.C.C., director of academic affairs for PCRM. “As a cardiologist, I know that advances in treating patients with heart failure and hypertension have come from epidemiological and clinical studies and other human-focused research methods. Using animals in heart experiments does not protect human health and inflicts terrible suffering on dogs like Queenie.”

To learn more about Wayne State’s inhumane dog experiments, visitPCRM.org/WayneStateDogExperiments.

About rob los ricos

“I want to live among people who are conscious that we live in a war. A war against life, against the spirit. I want to live among people who don’t look down at their feet, or won’t look you in the eyes when you speak of struggle or insurrection, because In their heart they know they have surrendered, and because—maybe, just maybe—they never really hated the system. Among people who have not been bought, who did not take the pills they were offered, because they preferred to struggle with their feeling of pathologized anxiety than to live in the dead zone. People who don’t pretend to be struggling when it is obvious that what they are doing is turning a battlefield into a garden. I want to be in a place where the war is admissible.” —anonymous Spanish poet

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