By Gary Yourofsky

The following is a response editorial by Chatham 3 defendant, Gary Yourofsky, that he wrote to counter an editorial written in the Oakland University Post about the mink raid in Chatham, Ontario. Read the original article or just read Gary's rebuttal (which is much better!) below.

It's a shame that the media and a majority of society fell into the typical scam perpetuated by police and dishonorable individuals. Most choose to believe the words of the police, even though their job is to make themselves look impeccable while making the accused look corrupt, and the statements made by mink killers, who barbarically kill animals for a living. The latter was most disturbing because the mink killers were only trying to intercept the public's sympathy from animal freedom fighters.

According to the furriers, 400 mink allegedly died on Easter Sunday from car accidents and pneumonia after being released from their pathetic 12" x 18" wire cages. However, if 400 mink died that night, then Ted Nugent is a member of PETA and Richard Jewell bombed Centennial Park. For the record, Nugent shoots animals for fun and Jewell was exonerated from any association with the Olympic bombing after originally being found guilty by careless journalists who write whatever they're told.

Why does manipulative hype prevail over common sense and investigative inquiries? During my ten days of incarceration in Chatham, Ontario, four were spent in front of Justice of the Peace Elaine Babcock for a bail hearing. Then, on my request, my lawyer asked the owners of Ebert's Animal Concentration Camp to provide proof of the purported 400 dead mink. They were asked to do so by either bringing in photos, dead bodies, or testifying under oath. Then, surprisingly, the death toll quickly descended from 400 to 300 to 200 to 100 to 20. And, even though 20 deaths are unfortunate, 20 squirrels, raccoons, and opossums collectively die in a certain locate on any given night from unnatural causes.

It's thoroughly amusing that the media and a majority of society get so angry when enslaved, tortured animals are liberated. Yet, they don't get upset when enslaved, tortured animals spend their pathetic lives [breathing in fumes from] their own excrement, gassed, or anally electrocuted.

Let me clarify a few issues. Mink are wild animals. And no amount of genetic altering or breeding can take away their instinctive, survival genes. Plus, mink do not get pneumonia running freely through a field. Actually, owners of mink farms get pneumonia seeing their profits running freely through a field. According to the Chatham court, these are the official numbers on the mink: 1,500 released; 1,000 captured; 480 escaped; and 20 dead from cars (most likely those of the farm workers who were trying to recapture the liberated mink). Also, of the 1,000 recaptured mink, the best news is that 70 to 80 percent were pregnant and were expected to abort or miscarry their fetuses.

The animals rights community does not want animals bred into enslavement for profit. A miscarriage is 10,000 times more dignified and humane than a lifetime of imprisonment, horror, and eventual murder.

If pseudo-journalists would use their heads instead of trying to fit into the sleazy world of media-hype, they could have actually produced a brilliant story on animal rights humanitarians and the current paradoxes in our society. For instance, why is it a crime punishable by up to two years in prison for freeing tortured and enslaved animals, but it's not a crime to torture, enslave, and brutally murder animals? Moreover, why do property rights supersede the right to life and freedom?

Furthermore, it's disgraceful that true animal rights humanitarians, who fight all forms of injustice and inequity, were described as terrorists. The FBI and ATF have always stated that no human injury has ever occurred from the animal liberation movement. And that's because it's an unwritten rule that if someone chooses to free animals, physical harm to humans is absolutely prohibited.

In conclusion, taking statements without questioning the source is contemptible. Why would responsible journalists heed the words of the police, who are experts at manipulation, and abject furriers who collectively murder 40 million animals a year for money?

People who put their lives on the line for a cause should be commended not condemned. Martin Luther King, Jr. once stated, "There are some things so dear--some things so precious--some things so eternally true--that they are worth dying for. And if a man has not discovered something that he will die for--he isn't fit to live."

I wholeheartedly concur.