The following is an interview by Students Promoting Awareness of Animal Rights (SPAAR) with Peter Young, Animal Rights Activist and Political Prisoner. Young was imprisoned after releasing mink from fur farms. On Wednesday, November 5th, he will guest-speak at Sarah Lawrence on his personal experiences of moving from mainstream activism to illegal animal liberation activity, his prison experience, motivations of the underground animal liberation movement, and more. Come to the event at 7:30 pm in Titsworth Lecture Hall to learn more and to ask Young your own questions! Hosted by SPAAR. Contact Shakira Croce for more information.
SPAAR: Why did you become involved in animal rights?
Peter Young: It was simple equation, taking stock of suffering in our culture, what abuse was happening on the largest scale, and factoring in what I had the best ability to directly affect. I am not an “animal lover” in the sense that people love the company of dogs and cats. I have a strong contempt for abuse of power, and a strong empathy for the victims of this abuse. I read books such as Diet for a New America and Animal Liberation and threw myself into this movement full-force. That was 14 years ago.
What steps of action do you recommend for students who want to become active in animal rights?
First, go vegan. While this is uncomfortably honest for some, if you are still consuming animal products you are still part of the problem.
Get involved in a campus group. Before taking the next step, it is important to surround yourself with likeminded people to internalize that you are part of something much larger than yourself. This is a worldwide movement of people from every demographic.
I would then encourage everyone to make a dedicated project of learning what types of animal abuse is happening on a local level. We are all aware in the abstract sense that 10 billion animals a year are killed for food, 2 million for fur, etc. The next step is to confront that murder of this kind is not just happening “out there,” but in their own town and region. Go to www.finalnail.com or download Flashpoint numbers 1 through 4* (a series I created to put into print the addresses of animals abuse facilities). Look up animal exploitation sites in your area and drive there. Stand outside labs, slaughterhouses, fur farms, and take in the scale of what is happening in your town. Confronting that this abuse is happening in your neighborhood is a crucial motivator.
Then do everything in your power to expose these atrocities and save these animals. Ask yourself what is most effective and follow your heart.
Lastly, take a hard look at your tactics and ask yourself if they are effective. Are you fighting smarter, or harder? Are you focusing on the efforts that bring the greatest yield? Be very confrontational with yourself as to whether your tactics are effective, or merely give you the illusion of being effective. If standing outside a lab with signs or circulating online petitions is not achieving results, discard these tactics. Always ask yourself: am I being effective, or just feeling effective?
The answers on being effective in the animal liberation struggle are in front of you. Always be honest with yourself and recognize your only role as an agent of innocent life is to act in a way that is effective. Not symbolic, not socially acceptable, but effective. Nothing else.
When you first participated in the underground animal liberation movement, how familiar were you with its tactics and methods, and why did you make the decision to ascribe to illegal forms of activism?
I was very familiar with the extralegal tactics to save animals through publications such as Underground and No Compromise!. When I juxtaposed the achievements of groups such as the A.L.F. [Animal Liberation Front] with my own, it became clear that we were not maximizing our potential as activists. I had protested the Health Sciences building at the University of Washington for two years, without the rescue of one animal to my credit. Then I read in Underground of activists breaking into labs at the University of Arizona and rescuing 1,231 animals, causing the cessation of over a dozen experiments, and forcing the university by their own admission to clean up their act fearing what activists would find should their doors be broken down again. I knew these people had accomplished more in one night than I had in 2 years of activism. I had stood outside fur stores with signs, hoping to dissuade a small amount of business on weekends. Then I would read in No Compromise! of activists going right to the source, freeing thousands of mink and permanently shutting down fur farms forever. The equation is clear. Unfortunately, we too often choose the path of least resistance over the path of most results.
Were you aware of the consequences of your illegal actions for the animals?
Prison is always a risk when working outside the law. I accepted this, and knew the risks were worth the consequences.
What were the exact circumstances of the release of the mink from fur farms, and what were the consequential effects for the animals themselves?
Fencing was stripped away and the cages opened. This is the short formula for a fur farm liberation.
The fur industry has a short checklist they feed the media on the fate of liberated fur farm prisoners. The animals are hit by cars, die of heat exhaustion, were all recaptured, do not leave the farm at all, and/or die from exposure/starvation. Each of these is easy to refute. Mink are a native species which have been showing to survive in the wild. Mink populations in areas such as northern Utah are almost entirely descendents of fur farm escapees. We are talking about something entirely different than releasing a dog or cat into the wild. These are genetically wild animals held captive. Any arguments against releasing mink also ignore the brutally obvious point that mink and fox on fur farms are bred to die. Death is already a certainty. Fortunately, that is not the case for those animals freed into their native habitat by activists.
How has the media treated you and your actions? Has there been a majority of positive or negative press, or has the mass media chosen to disregard your story?
The press has been largely positive. Often surprisingly so. Coverage of my case was national news on several occasions, stimulating debate on an urgent topic and bringing the plight of animals to the minds of millions. Much of the criticisms of media coverage of direct action did not apply to the coverage around my case. Through the media interviews I have had the good fortune of doing both during and since my prison sentence, I have been able to educate millions more on the exploitation of non-humans.
What have you learned from your prison experience? Is there anything you know now that would have changed about your actions?
From my indictment and arrest I learned: work alone when possible and the threat of prison is worse than the thing itself.
From my actions: I only wish I’d gone bigger and done more.
What are your goals and plans of action for the future?
I have two book projects in the works, several publications slated to be released (including a collection of rare and out-of-print underground animal liberation “how it was done” stories by those involved in actions from the 1980s and 1990s; and by summer the Flashpoint Book, which will be a nearly complete collection of address for animal abuse facilities including labs, fur farms, slaughterhouses, vivisection suppliers, deer farms, and much more). More info will be available at the soon-to-be-launched site voiceofthevoiceless.org. And I will continue to speak for those who cannot speak for themselves, and work to educate both the public and activists about what is happening to animals and what must be done to save them.
*Found on his MySpace page along with other videos.