Cash for puppies, please
It is quite apparent that the only way to get what you want in today’s age of information overload is to control the narrative. We have seen that with the federal government for quite some time.
A perfect case in point is the FBI. I am sure it has been the case dating back to George Washington but, with today’s instant communication, controlling the narrative is imperative. While I have many examples to expand on, I choose to share how the animal rights community works now that we have solid evidence. John Brolin recently contacted me and we did a radio program. After he retired from a career in law enforcement, he signed up to work for an unnamed animal rights group as an investigator, only he quickly learned that it was not investigations they wanted him to do at all.
Prior to his animal rights employment, Brolin spent three years working as a U.S. marshal and seven years working undercover against organized crime. One can only imagine the stuff he experienced during that decade. I suppose his frame of mind after that would have been a desire to continue investigative work without the daily risk of being discovered and killed. However, what he discovered was the completely fraudulent way these groups do their work. He said within six months on the job, he learned it was all about generating cash and not at all about helping animals.
The greatest abuse (of the public not the animals) occurs during national disasters. We really need a national plan to assist local animal authorities when fire, flood or tornado hits an area. From what I saw with the massive flooding that occurred in South Texas last fall, certainly many locals stepped up to the plate and helped other animal owners. We must do that more often.
County emergency officials may not be well versed in proper animal care. They contact a local shelter and that shelter quickly realizes the distress level is beyond their capacity. They suggest contacting a national organization such as the Humane Society of the United States or the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. These “professionals” roll in promising to “take care of everything with the animals and it will cost you nothing.” The truth of the matter is that all they really do is show up in their billboard clothing, capturing media attention and planting the notion that they are the solution when in fact they are simply working that angle to end all animal ownership.
Not all have been fooled by this approach. On March 12, 2014, Scott Pruitt, then acting attorney general for Oklahoma, launched an investigation against HSUS for its actions during the tornadoes that hit central Oklahoma.
These natural disasters are windfalls of cash for these organizations because all they really are doing is hounding the media for coverage and using it as marketing to get more donors. One look at their website and it is quite clear; their main goal is to make money to pursue their anti-animal ownership agenda.
In my conversation with Brolin, what bothered him the most was the fact that the group would be notified of an animal in trouble, go in with local enforcement and seize all animals on the premises, not just the animals in question. The more animals they took, the greater the marketing story they would have to tell. I have always had concerns about the erosion of property rights when they use “alleged” animal abuse to capture “evidence” but after my conversation with Brolin, I realize it is even much worse than I imagined.
Typically after law enforcement has been notified the animal rights group will be listed on the warrant as part of the enforcement team. This grants them full access to the property and full access to all information that is acquired about said property, the owner and the animals. I wish to remind you this all happens before any conviction and in many states, like North Dakota, animals can be seized and dispersed upon charges being filed rather than waiting for a conviction. I personally know of several examples where the animals were taken, sold and only to have a not guilty verdict pronounced years later. However, the animal rights group really wins because the animal owner has lost everything—not only the animals but thousands in legal fees.
This erosion of property rights is occurring all across the country with bills being introduced every year in states that should know better. For example, Iowa is currently discussing an increase in the penalty for animal abuse. My home state of Nebraska is debating who can sell pets and who cannot. This is just one more example of slowly eroding the rights to own any animals.
It’s time to stop letting the tail wag the dog and get control of this narrative before it goes way too far. We need to make sure our lawmakers consider personal property rights as well as the notion that people are “innocent until proven guilty” in this country or we will be watching our ability to own pets and raise livestock shuttled away in an animal rights van.
Editor’s note: Trent Loos is a sixth generation United States farmer, host of the daily radio show, Loos Tales, and founder of Faces of Agriculture, a non-profit organization putting the human element back into the production of food. Get more information at www.LoosTales.com, or email Trent at [email protected].
