Animal-rights activists aim protests at UCLA researchers' children, blog says

Animal-rights activists plan to hand out fliers and protest at schools attended by the children of UCLA researchers.

Laist reports that these activists -- already known for protesting animal research both at UCLA and in the neighborhoods where UCLA researchers live -- will go to the schools attended by children of researchers and hand out information to children about what their peer's parents do for a living:

From protests and pipe bombs comes the latest in the escalating drama between animal activists and UCLA researchers that use animals in their experiments: protesting at the schools of researcher's children.

Activists plan on legally leafleting the school in order to educate fellow students what their classmate’s father does for a living,' warns a posting on the blog Negotiation is Over about UCLA neurobiologist Dario Ringac.

Read the full story here.

Here are some other interesting L.A. reads on the Web today:

Saving the Maravilla Handball Court: East L.A. residents are banding together to preserve and restore a local handball court. KPCC reports: "The aim is twofold – to restore some of the lost glory of this L.A. cultural landmark and to honor the memory of Michi and Tommy Nishiyama, the Japanese American couple who ran the court and the adjacent El Centro grocery store for 65 years."

Cypress police to charge rowdy residents: The Cypress City Council has voted to allow police to charge residents for loud and disruptive parties. The Orange County Register reports: "Cypress police may soon have the authority to start billing for 'extraordinary police calls,' which the department said are calls where officers need to respond multiple times to loud parties or similar situations."

Community fundraiser for injured gang interventionist: South L.A. residents gathered to raise money for a gang intervention worker who was shot and paralyzed. L.A. Beez reports: Calvin Hodges "was wounded by gunfire in the Nickerson Gardens Housing Project last October while doing outreach. This caused him to lose the use of his legs. The fundraiser aimed to cover medical costs for Hodges and help support his wife and children."

-- Anthony Pesce

Have some news for Linking L.A.? Contact Times reporter Anthony Pesce here.

Comments

[Kevin]

If you follow the link to the LAist article, an animal rights supporter comments, "but if daddy pays the bills with blood, you have to expect some of it to drip off onto junior." Isn't this the same argument al Qaeda used to justify the destruction of the WTC towers? I happen to think that improvements could be make to lab animal treatment, but I will never, ever, cooperate with or support these animal rights people. You go after children and you lose my support and sympathy forever.

[Fred]

agree with Kevin, they lose all credibility and are written off as nutjobs

[Big Nasty]

There is absolutely no justification for harassing children, no matter what the motivation or the cause for which one is fighting. This is truly a disgrace and as a parent, if animal rights activists go forward with their plan, I hope the researcher has the courage to bring suit against the group for intentional infliction of emotional distress and harassment. Unfortunately, litigation is sometimes the only way to protect yourself and you family. In fact, the researcher should go to court to get a restraining order. There is a fine line between advocating for your cause and outrageous harassment. That line is crossed when you start trying to turn a child's friends against them based on the occupation of their parents.

[mike]

when a member of these groups of people who despise animal tested pharmaceuticals/animal testing researchers comes down with a bad case of cancer, what typically happens? they all crawl back to the hospitals that utilize modern medicine, perfected by the same researchers they hate and try to destroy, asking to be treated with animal tested radiation therapy and animal tested chemotherapy.

i prefer they keep their own words and boycott all medicine.

[JSA26]

Unbelievable!

These people have resorted to violence and vandalism in the past, and I thought they couldn't get any lower.

I was wrong.

I hate to make the same mistake again, but I don't think they can get lower than this.

[Shelly]

What an adult does for a living should have ZERO impact on what their children are exposed to. This to me is the same as PETA's stupid Thanksgiving ad with the little girl at the dining table talking about the turkeys being slaughtered.
I think groups cross the line of decency when they drag innocent children into their disagreements.