For
centuries, those who raise, breed, and work with animals have been revered and
lauded for what they do. Today, across America our rights to own and raise
animals are under attack by animal rights activists and their increased
influence on government and non-government agencies overseeing issues
pertaining to animal welfare. This onslaught regularly violates
protection from illegal search and seizure, and a citizen’s right to due process
of the law; all of which are outlined specifically in the U.S. Constitution.
The
rule of law provides that Americans are innocent until proven guilty in a court
of law based upon facts and evidence, not emotion and conjecture. Unfortunately
for animal owners today, the opposite is prevalent. Animal rights
activists use false claims of animal abuse and anonymous tip lines to convince
over zealous prosecutors and sympathetic judges to issue warrants when, in most
cases, no facts or actual witnessed evidence is provided to obtain the warrant.
As
a result, animal owners and animal related businesses live with the daily
terror that fraudulent claims, anonymous tips, or an animal rights activists’
internet-campaign could result in law enforcement arriving at their door and
their animals seized without due process. Coupled with this real fear,
animal owners are then exposed to extravagant animal care bonds and charges for
temporary animal care, possible sterilization of high value breeding stock, or
euthanization of their animals.
These
instances become a big payday for animal rights activists and their
organizations as they raise big money from these circumstances, and often times
confiscate and sell, or in their words, “rescue and adopt out,” the private
property of the accused who has not yet been adjudicated in a court of
law. These are real possibilities before the animal owner has their day
in court.
In
many actual instances, the rush to judgment fueled by animal rights activists
results in destroyed property, bankrupt businesses, and reputations that are
damaged whether they are found guilty or not.
At
the end of the court proceeding, if the accused is found not guilty, the
activists, prosecutors, state or local government, and the judges all get to
walk away with no legal or financial ramifications.
The
property owner, even if found innocent, is liable for the cost to house his
animals for months or years in some cases, coupled with the destruction of
their business and reputation.
The
severity and the regular occurrence of these abuses of our Constitutional
rights strikes fear in the hearts of animal owners and animal related businesses across America, who know that their livelihood and animals are threatened by the very
real possibility of illegal search and seizure or false claims of animal abuse.
The
animal rights based organizations have made their ideology no secret, and daily
they express their desires and promote their strategies in plain view to nudge
public opinion to their point of view. It’s no stretch to figure out what
they intend to accomplish with their policies when one realizes that the truth
behind the veil of their exploitation of animals is the abolition of animal
ownership and a vegan agenda for all.
Most
Americans are unaware that this abuse is taking place. Either that, or
they are willfully blind to the impact that the animal rights extremists are
currently wreaking havoc on all animal related businesses and animal owners
across our nation.
To
add insult to injury, many of the associations organized to promote and
represent farmers, ranchers, and pet breeders are ushering in animal rights
politics and policies by allowing a façade of compromise and agreeing to
unnecessary, onerous, prohibitive, and costly regulations at the expense of
fewer farms, fewer farmers, and higher food prices. All of which are the
intended consequences on the animal rights extremists.
Furthermore,
many rural Americans are unaware of their Constitutional rights, and are often
railroaded through a bureaucratic system that defies common sense and standard
agricultural practice in their systematic to attempt to regulate and inspect
commercial animal enterprises.
Notwithstanding
the animal rightists goal of terrorizing animal owners and destroying animal
related businesses, the Achilles’ heel of the animal rights movement is the
historic principle that animals are property, and that private property is
protected under the fundamental foundation of our U.S. Constitution -- further
reinforced under the Fourth, Fifth, and Fourteenth Amendments.
Our
Founding Fathers' fundamental motivation behind the constuction of the
Declaration of Independence and U.S. Constitution was the protection of private
property and its direct link to Freedom and Liberty.
John
Adam's words made it clear, "Property must be secured, or Liberty cannot
exist."
And
more than one hundred years later in 1909, William Howard Taft's words still
hold true today, “Next to the right of liberty, the right of property is the
most important individual right guaranteed by the Constitution and the one
which, united with that of personal liberty, has contributed more to the growth
of civilization than any other institution established by the human race.”
Our
sincere hope is that Americans wake up before it’s too late, and recognize that
any individual or entity operating to usurp ownership of private property can
and must be stopped by the recognition, comprehension, and protection of our
U.S. Constitution.
Meanwhile,
The Cavalry Group will continue to be on the frontlines to protect our members,
their animals, and animal enterprise. Join us in the fight!
Mindy Patterson is the president of The Cavalry Group,
a member based company protecting and defending the Constitutional and private
property rights of law abiding animal owners, animal-related business, hunters,
and agriculture concerns legally nationwide.
