A recent report concerning the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) was simply too delicious not to comment on.
The ASPCA has a very nice sounding name, no? I mean, who is for cruelty to animals? Or even people. I certainly am not. But it should concern everyone that like so many other NGOs (nongovernmental nonprofit organizations, ostensibly devoted to the public good), it masks its agenda behind its euphemistic name.
In the case of the ASPCA, the agenda is one of a strident animal rights advocacy.
One of the projects that the ASPCA (along with fellow animal-rights groups such as the Humane Society, the Fund for Animals, the Animal Welfare Institute, and others) has pursued is ending the use of animals in circuses. Not content with, say, urging its supporters simply not to patronize circuses, the ASPCA (along with several of its NGO fellow-travelers) waged a “litigation war” against Feld Entertainment, owners of America’s biggest circus, long-famous Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey. It found a disgruntled former Ringling Brothers employee, one Tom Rider, to use as a plaintiff in a case the ASPCA and its allies filed against the circus, alleging that the circus routinely abused the elephants omnipresent in the shows. (The allegedly aggrieved pachyderms were not plaintiffs in the suit.)
The circus, a family-owned enterprise, fought the case, and won in 2009. In the trial, it was revealed that Rider, the alleged witness to the alleged mistreatment of the animals (which allegedly caused him extreme emotional injury), never complained while he worked for the circus, had no proof to back up his assertions, and had been paid a whopping $190,000 by the ASPCA and its fellow-travelers — his sole source of support — during the period of litigation.
So Feld Entertainment sued the animal-rights groups that were tormenting it, for malicious prosecution, abuse of process, and violating the RICO statute.
Late last year the ASPCA caved like a box crushed by an elephant. It will pay Feld Entertainment a jumbo-sized award of $9.3 million to settle all claims.
Feld is still pursuing the Humane Society, the Fund for Animals, the Animal Welfare Institute, and the Animal Production Institute United with Born Free USA, along with the moneygrubbing plaintiff Tom Rider and the posse of lawyers. I hope Feld wins across the board.
As the CEO of Feld Entertainment proudly said, “These defendants attempted to destroy our family-owned business with a hired plaintiff who made statements that the court did not believe. Animal activists have been attacking our family, our company, and our employees for decades because they oppose animals in circuses. This settlement is a vindication not just for the company, but also for the dedicated men and women who spend their lives working and caring for all the animals . . .”
Indeed.
Leftist NGOs routinely use the same tactics to further the agenda: lure people into giving financial support with moderate-sounding names, then use the money to fund propaganda campaigns and endless legal harassment of people or organizations they oppose.
It’s nice to see them smacked back for a change. It would be good if the media paid one one-thousandth as much attention to refutations of charges in cases like this as they did to the charges themselves.
