Headlines Tuesday 13th January 2009

Fishy odour as PETA lures hapless donors
Piers Akerman
THE stereotype of the harmless British eccentric, dressed, perhaps, in ill-fitting knitted clothing of his own design, was once a staple of comedy.

It’s a pity that today’s eccentrics are not as benign.

Take the nauseating international lobbying groups such as Greenpeace and more recently, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, PETA, which calculatingly target those in whose veins flows the milk of human kindness - and then siphon off as much of that milk as possible before the hapless donors discover they have been hit by professional leeches.

There is little Greenpeace will not do to raise funds from people whose only flaw is that they cannot comprehend that an organisation which boasts its good intentions would actually fabricate untruths and falsify evidence to bolster its extremist environmental campaigns.

It has been serially caught out with its fraudulent claims that certain industries have released dioxins, notably the Nu-Farm fertiliser company in Victoria, but linking the words “green” and “peace” triggers such surges of empathy among some, that they are blind to the global pressure group’s flaws.

PETA stepped in where Greenpeace stepped off, directing its campaigns at young women, particularly, who hoped to make their mark in the worlds of acting and modelling.

Few ploys are guaranteed to gain as much attention as naked young women, and despite PETA’s anti-fur demonstrations being little more than a blatant appeal to sexism, the feminist lobby was as silent about the unclad protesters as it has been about Islam’s treatment of women as lesser beings.

PETA was able to recruit a clutch of high-profile representatives from among the usual coven of semi-celebrities hoping to lift their magazine profiles from thoughtless banality to at least the level of fingernail clinic intellectualism to spearhead the push against mulesing of merino sheep.

Anyone familiar with the production of fine wool would be aware that the merino breed, which furnishes the world’s better quality suiting, has a wrinkly skin beneath its woolly fleece.

That skin is particularly vulnerable to fly strike, especially around the sheep’s breech, where the wool is more likely to be damp and dirty from urine and faeces.

Mulesing is the best means of protecting fly-struck sheep from a lingering and painful death.

Empty-headed fashionistas and animal liberationists do not know this however, possibly because merinos rarely make an appearance in the inner urban salons and cafes where latte is served. - I note that PETA and Greenpeace have yet to address the issue of Dugong hunting by Australian Aboriginals. I also note that the hero in Tasmania who saved his 13 yo cousin from a sea kitten had to assault the sea kitten to do so. I still think he deserves a bravery award. As for the sea kitten, I think the fins would be very tasty in seasonally warm water with spices .. Japanese style. - ed
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