Free Republic

...Animal Rights Groups Are Desperate to Cover Up Both social media and the progressive mainstream media have been in an uproar over the past few days about the death of “Cecil,” a 13-year-old lion in Zimbabwe. Cecil was killed in an organized licensed hunt by a big game hunter, Minnesota dentist Dr. Walter Palmer, who has now gone into hiding after receiving numerous death threats from outraged animal rights activists. However, it would appear that the outrage surrounding the death of Cecil is what is commonly known as a “First World Problem,” as residents of Zimbabwe were mostly unaware of,...

AUSTIN, Texas — Customers craving fresh crustaceans will have to look beyond Whole Foods Market Inc. after the natural-foods grocery chain decided Thursday to stop selling live lobsters and crabs on the grounds that it's inhumane. The Austin-based grocer spent seven months studying the sale of live lobsters from ship to supermarket aisle, trying to determine whether the creatures suffer along the way. In some stores, they experimented with "lobster condos," filling tanks with stacks of large pipes the critters can crawl inside. And they moved the tanks behind seafood counters and away from children's tapping fingers. Ultimately, Whole Foods...

A BILLBOARD depicting a bloody, crucified lamb has been refused space above Sydney's roads this Easter, an animal rights group said today. People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), which has been running an international campaign against sheep mulesing in Australia, wanted to mount the confronting image for motorists to see over the Easter long weekend. But the group says billboard owners have refused to lease out the space. "PETA had hoped its new billboard opposing Australia's cruel treatment of sheep – which shows a blood-soaked lamb on a crucifix with the tag-line `Have mercy on them, stop mulesing...

Sick, sick, sick. There is no other way to describe the grotesque, over-the-top spectacle put on in Ottawa this week by a past-her-prime French actress. Brigitte Bardot made her way from the land of berets and baguettes with a deluded sense that she would somehow meet with our prime minister and plead for Canada to stop the annual seal hunt. The PM didn't bite. Neither did the fisheries minister or anyone else with a full-time job that doesn't involve a flash and a notepad. So, Bardot was left to do what she does best, play for the cameras. And that's...

Gov. Rejects Request To Make Walleye Off-Limits (WCCO) Gov. Tim Pawlenty sank an animal rights group's request Tuesday. People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals asked Pawlenty to declare walleye off-limits for fishing. PETA said a recent study showed fish are smart and feel pain. In a written statement, Pawlenty said, "The PETA 'Fish Empathy Project' is nutty and misses the mark." Pawlenty said PETA displayed "goofy judgment" and that fishing was not, as PETA claimed, the same as hooking a dog or cat through the mouth with a large hook and dragging it behind your car. "Minnesota cares for...

NEW YORK - Anna Nicole Smith has canceled a trip to Newfoundland to protest the killing of seals because of concerns about safety. The model and reality TV star had been scheduled to join a protest by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) in the Canadian province. When the animal rights group learned that her security could not be guaranteed, they advised her to cancel. "We felt it just wasn't safe to put her in that position," PETA spokesman Michael McGraw told The Associated Press Friday. "Working with activists who are protesting on the ice floe last week...