November 13, 2006

Rep. Tom Petri:   In my own state of Wisconsin, mink farmers and biomedical researchers have experienced their own share of intimidation, harassment, and vandalism at the hands of animal rights extremists.

Farmers have had their properties raided, causing thousands of dollars of damage. Scientists around the state have received in the mail, at their homes, razor blades with letters stating they were laced with the AIDS virus. Personal information such as home addresses, phone numbers and photographs of researchers have been posted on extremists' Web sites.

Many of these same scientists report death threats and home visits by animal rights extremists who through their terrorism have a goal of driving the scientists out of their research--research which has and will continue to improve human health and quality of life.