[BiteSizeVegan]

if you've every wondered "what can i do? how can i make a difference?" this is the video for you. in this interview, vegan activist Gary Yourofsky speaks about how to be an effective animal activist and deal with the mental and emotional toll of awareness.

 

[Jordan Severns]

Gary Yourofsky's tactics include misinformation, logical fallacy, and emotional manipulation. He is a dishonest, biased man and I have no respect for him or his opinion.

 

[Docbanana]

I don't know a lot about him, but don't support the things I do know. Like releasing the minks...he sounds so irresponsible and empty headed as he does the "aw shucks I just let the animals live" explanations. Never mind the very real consequences of his actions.

1. They weren't his minks to release. He broke into someone's business and committed a theft. Yes, they shouldn't be property in the first place but the reality is they are property under the law. Work to change the laws. I know sometimes civil disobedience is a way to change the law, but you have to own up to the fact that is what you are doing and accept the consequences, not whine as if your arrest or banning is something strange.
2. Whatever minks were freed will be replaced by the business. I'm sure they have insurance. MORE demand created for mink!
3. Whatever attention was brought to this issue was not positive. It reinforces the wrong stereotypes of wacky vegan activists and will not help the cause. If you want to reach new people, help non activists develop sympathy for the mink. That would be more effective than committing a B&E. Assuming of course that the goal is to help minks and not just do dramatic things to get some fame on TV.
4. What are these minks (territorial and solitary-living animals raised in captivity and released en masse into a non native environment) going to do now? They have no training to survive on their own--they are not wild animals! They don't live in groups, so they will fight to death trying to claim a territory of their own in this overpopulated space. And what impact will the survivors have on the local wildlife and food sources? They are carnivores, so the survival of that many minks in one space would depend on the deaths of many native wild animals. If there are any local wild minks, they may be driven out. This is about as responsible as dumping a truckload of unspayed/neutered house-cats into a forest and saying "yay, you are free! I'm such a good guy!" Then walking away feeling good as those animals either starve to death or wreak havoc on the local ecosystem in their efforts to live.

 

[WolfBird]

I don't know a lot about him, but don't support the things I do know. Like releasing the minks...he sounds so irresponsible and empty headed as he does the "aw shucks I just let the animals live" explanations. Never mind the very real consequences of his actions.

1. They weren't his minks to release. He broke into someone's business and committed a theft. Yes, they shouldn't be property in the first place but the reality is they are property under the law. Work to change the laws. I know sometimes civil disobedience is a way to change the law, but you have to own up to the fact that is what you are doing and accept the consequences, not whine as if your arrest or banning is something strange.
2. Whatever minks were freed will be replaced by the business. I'm sure they have insurance. MORE demand created for mink!
3. Whatever attention was brought to this issue was not positive. It reinforces the wrong stereotypes of wacky vegan activists and will not help the cause. If you want to reach new people, help non activists develop sympathy for the mink. That would be more effective than committing a B&E. Assuming of course that the goal is to help minks and not just do dramatic things to get some fame on TV.
4. What are these minks (territorial and solitary-living animals raised in captivity and released en masse into a non native environment) going to do now? They have no training to survive on their own--they are not wild animals! They don't live in groups, so they will fight to death trying to claim a territory of their own in this overpopulated space. And what impact will the survivors have on the local wildlife and food sources? They are carnivores, so the survival of that many minks in one space would depend on the deaths of many native wild animals. If there are any local wild minks, they may be driven out. This is about as responsible as dumping a truckload of unspayed/neutered house-cats into a forest and saying "yay, you are free! I'm such a good guy!" Then walking away feeling good as those animals either starve to death or wreak havoc on the local ecosystem in their efforts to live.

Hey ^.^ I don't know much about Gary either other than what majority of activists know so I'm not here to voice my opinion on him as a person but I do believe direct action can be very effective.

If you want to read his essay about the mink then you can find it here: http://www.nocompromise.org/issues/07gary.html

20 known liberated mink died and so 480 supposidly lived, whatever happened afterwards who knows. The issue of the impact on local wildlife is heavily debated but I'm no expert. It's a bit like the effect of feeding garden birds on the ecosystem, people think they're doing good but it can have bad consequences for the animals when the ratio of species becomes unbalanced. Majority of liberated animals however do not go back into the wild, they are taken to sanctuaries or into homes to live out the rest of their life.

In regards to insurance though, while the released mink would have been replaced, if attacks like that keep hitting fur farms then they will find it harder to be insured and lose money.

 

[Docbanana]

I've only been vegetarian and now vegan for about a year, but I've been involved in environmental causes, especially wildlife rescue and rehab, for years. There's no debate there. These releases are destructive acts to the environment, especially the animals. So you hurt animals to save animals.

It like trying to draw attention to off shore drilling by blowing something up and causing an oil spill. Yeah, people see the danger of drilling and you really stuck it to that company. But you also stuck it to the environment that you are trying to save and you screwed over your natural friends and allies in the environmental protection business who will have to clean up your mess.

Just being able to document 20 deaths doesn't mean all those lived. Intact dead animals don't last in nature! I'm sure many became food for larger prey, were eaten by vultures after becoming roadkill, wandered for weeks before starving to death. The ones who make it will harm native wildlife. That essay talks about "wild genes" helping them live which is utterly ignorant. The same people who believe that are the types who try to raise baby birds as pets and teach them to be friends with the house cat and then throw them outside as adults to let their "instincts" take over. That poor bird will be a cat snack by the end of the day. It buys into the mindset that the people who don't care about animals will propagate, that animals are just unthinking machines acting on pure instinct and denies the reality that that a normal baby animal is TAUGHT by its family how to navigate their world safely. They learn by watching and trying things under mom or dads protection, just like a human. I'm not saying they lack innate intelligence and instinct, but it takes more than that. Those poor minks were thrown out in an unfamiliar place not adapted to them, left to find food when they've never done it before, and many of the local animals will be defenseless against these strange and hungry new prey.


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[spacegirl]

Personally I think gary has done a brilliant job spreading the vegan message through his lectures. I understand what everyone is saying about the mink (Although I'd rather be set free and die in the wild than be skinned if I were a mink) but in his defence he does address this in his interview, saying that educating is the way forward

 

[WolfBird]

I've only been vegetarian and now vegan for about a year, but I've been involved in environmental causes, especially wildlife rescue and rehab, for years. There's no debate there. These releases are destructive acts to the environment, especially the animals. So you hurt animals to save animals.

It like trying to draw attention to off shore drilling by blowing something up and causing an oil spill. Yeah, people see the danger of drilling and you really stuck it to that company. But you also stuck it to the environment that you are trying to save and you screwed over your natural friends and allies in the environmental protection business who will have to clean up your mess.

Just being able to document 20 deaths doesn't mean all those lived. Intact dead animals don't last in nature! I'm sure many became food for larger prey, were eaten by vultures after becoming roadkill, wandered for weeks before starving to death. The ones who make it will harm native wildlife. That essay talks about "wild genes" helping them live which is utterly ignorant. The same people who believe that are the types who try to raise baby birds as pets and teach them to be friends with the house cat and then throw them outside as adults to let their "instincts" take over. That poor bird will be a cat snack by the end of the day. It buys into the mindset that the people who don't care about animals will propagate, that animals are just unthinking machines acting on pure instinct and denies the reality that that a normal baby animal is TAUGHT by its family how to navigate their world safely. They learn by watching and trying things under mom or dads protection, just like a human. I'm not saying they lack innate intelligence and instinct, but it takes more than that. Those poor minks were thrown out in an unfamiliar place not adapted to them, left to find food when they've never done it before, and many of the local animals will be defenseless against these strange and hungry new prey.

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I said that 20 *known* mink died and *suppoisidly* 480 lived, I do not believe this is the reality nor am I saying I agree with everything Gary writes in his essay. Just thought you might want to read it to understand his views. I don't think releasing the mink is crueler than them staying in the fur farm, as spacegirl said, I know what I'd prefer if I were a mink. The only problem I have with the release of these animals into the wild is as you said, the local ecosystem. It's a lot better to have safe living arangements and homes set up for animals you liberate, and majority of the time with direct action, that is the case. If done right it is one of the most effective forms of activism along with educating others.

I am also aware that animals are more than just instinct and they learn, however hand-raised animals can survive in the wild I've witnessed it countless times - I take in injured/malnurished and orphaned birds. They are all alive today and fend for themselves. When you raise an animal you become their parent and you have to teach them what to do and what not to do, it would be silly to have a bird learn that cats won't harm him unless he can't be released and will always be in your care. I am sure those mink do fancy their chances of survival in the wild than certain death by skinning though.

 

[H=N/C]

At least he didn't punch any journalists in the face during the interview. Of course he only does it in self-defense, like if someone clenches their hands at their sides while he's yelling in their face...

Guy is a high-school dropout with an 8th-grade math/science education and delusions of grandeur.

 

[H=N/C]

I've only been vegetarian and now vegan for about a year, but I've been involved in environmental causes, especially wildlife rescue and rehab, for years. There's no debate there. These releases are destructive acts to the environment, especially the animals. So you hurt animals to save animals.

Very interesting points. Thanks for sharing your experiences.

 

[Jordan Severns]

At least he didn't punch any journalists in the face during the interview. Of course he only does it in self-defense, like if someone clenches their hands at their sides while he's yelling in their face...

Guy is a high-school dropout with an 8th-grade math/science education and delusions of grandeur.

actually didnt he do that once...?