History Main / AnimalWrongsGroup

** '''Animal welfare''' groups: Usually outside this trope. These groups act within the law and seek to minimize the suffering of animals, but don't object to animals being used for pets, food, or testing (where the potential benefits are sufficient to justify it), or other such uses, provided they are treated decently throughout. They just don't want animals to suffer needlessly. This is generally where the ASPCA, most Humane Societies, and local animal shelters fall.
** '''Animal rights''' groups: Often resemble the mild versions of this trope. [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Animal_Rights As is explained]] at TheOtherWiki, these groups seek to end ''all'' connection between animals and humans by having all animals recognized as legal persons. That means no pets, no working or assisted living animals, or animals as a source of food or clothing. While they still mostly operate within the law, animal rights groups are usually more provocative than animal welfare groups; these actions tend to be the basis for the milder fictional portrayals. PETA is probably the best known group of this flavor. When these groups are criticized for "valuing animals more than people" it's ''usually'' in the sense of insulting people (such as the common feminist criticism of PETA for objectifying women in advertising, or PETA comparing slaughtered chickens to the Holocaust) rather than actually physically harming them or their property, unlike...
** '''Animal liberation''' groups: Resemble the more extreme versions of this trope, except these groups exist in real life. These groups want animals "freed" from human "exploitation" and they want it ''right now'', [[TheUnfettered whatever the cost]]. Their means to this end can include attacks on anyone connected with, or even related to people connected with, farms (especially fur farms) and animal testing labs, and, more rarely, zoos, circuses, and the like. Some have even gone to the extreme of domestic animals being abused, and plan to kill ''all house pets.'' Here you'll find veganarchists and the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Animal_Liberation_Front ALF]]; the people who aren't afraid of destroying property, or harassing and threatening researchers and their families. Some of these groups are even considered terrorist groups. Wikipedia gives a good overview on the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Animal_liberation_movement animal liberation movement]].

** Also, this became HilariousInHindsight when PETA themselves protested the ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'' series premise at ''Black 2'' and ''White 2'''s release, even going so far as to make [[http://features.peta.org/pokemon-black-and-white-parody/ their own spoof]], ''PETA’s Pokémon Black & Blue: Gotta Free 'em All!''. Even more hilarious when you realize that they praise [[MisaimedFandom Team Plasma as the heroes]] and Ash, [[TearJerker the guy who broke down crying when he thought his Pikachu was dead,]] as the villain.

* In ''{{Film/Tremors}} 3'', the hero is told that he's no longer allowed to hunt graboids, a dangerous, highly evolved earthworm-like beastie, because they made the Endangered species list, and gets chewed out by the suit who tells him this. Not long thereafter, the suit also gets chewed out. By said beastie.[[note]]shrieker[[/note]]

* ''TheJapaneseBeetle'' used this a couple of times. One arc had the [[FunWithAcronyms Militia for Ethical Animal Treatment]] stop the eponymous hero's battle with a {{Kaiju}} by pelting him with "Bricks of Love" and trying to let it go free (it ate their leader). A later story had an aged hippie concoct a formula that made anyone who ate meat suffer "sympathetic pains", usually manifested as violent reactions followed by blackouts; Ken thwarted him by injecting him with his own formula, then making him eat a soy burger, [[HoistByHisOwnPetard causing him to feel the same sympathetic pains]].

** Also, this became HilariousInHindsight when PETA themselves protested the ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'' series premise at ''Black 2'' and ''White 2'''s release, even going so far as to make [[http://features.peta.org/pokemon-black-and-white-parody/ their own spoof]], ''PETA’s Pokémon Black & Blue: Gotta Free 'em All!''. Even more hilarious when you realize that they praise [[MisaimedFandom Team Galactic as the heroes]] and Ash, [[TearJerker the guy who broke down crying when he thought his Pikachu was dead,]] as the villain.

First, [[RuleOfCautiousEditingJudgement a disclaimer]]: This trope is not [[AnecdotalFallacy proof]] that [[ProofByExamples all animal rights supporters]] are [[ConfirmationBias extremists]], nor is [[AdHominem their violence]], in itself, proof that animal rights are baloney. This trope deals with '''fictional''' portrayals of animal rights extremists. They might be inspired by the antics of ''some'' real world groups, but by no means are all animal rights groups as insane as these fellows. Only the [[VocalMinority loudest ones]].

* In Susan Conant's ''Bloodlines'', a young woman who's been listening to an AnimalWrongsGroup's propaganda steals the protagonist's beloved Alaskan malamute, Rowdy, at a dog show and turns him loose. [[spoiler: Luckily, she does so ''inside'' the building, and Rowdy is recovered safely. The protagonist's terror that he might's been set free outside -- right next to a busy highway -- is very potent until then, however, and she later chews the girl out six ways from Sunday for putting him in danger, at one point asking her why [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome she isn't running around setting peoples' CHILDREN loose in the woods?]]]]

* ''SteerMadness'' is an indie game where you play an anthropomorphic cow who joins an AnimalWrongsGroup; setting test animals loose from a laboratory is one of your missions.

** '''Animal liberation''' groups: Resemble the more extreme versions of this trope, except these groups exist in real life. These groups want animals "freed" from human "exploitation" and they want it ''right now'', [[TheUnfettered whatever the cost]]. Their means to this end can include attacks on anyone connected with, or even related to people connected with, farms (especially fur farms) and animal testing labs, and, more rarely, zoos, circuses, and the like. Here you'll find veganarchists and the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Animal_Liberation_Front ALF]]; the people who aren't afraid of destroying property, or harassing and threatening researchers and their families. Some of these groups are even considered terrorist groups. Wikipedia gives a good overview on the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Animal_liberation_movement animal liberation movement]].

* An episode of ''ThePowerpuffGirls'' had an animal rights group try to stop the [=PPGs=] from "harassing" Mojo Jojo, i.e., stopping him from committing crimes. They claimed Mojo wasn't evil but only following his natural instincts.....which included building incredibly complex machinery, and living in an entirly human manner including speaking in clear is over iterative english. The girls then helped them move Mojo into the wild.

** Also, this became HilariousInHindsight when PETA themselves protested the ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'' series premise at ''Black 2'' and ''White 2'''s release, even going so far as to make [[http://features.peta.org/pokemon-black-and-white-parody/ their own spoof]], ''PETA’s Pokémon Black & Blue: Gotta Free 'em All!''.

* In one issue of ''BatmanTheBraveAndTheBold'' (as in the original comics), ComicBook/{{Aquaman}} once spotted a diver spearing a whale. In a fit of rage, he struck him, and as is to be expected with a guy with SuperStrength, killed him. Turns out he was a marine scientist tagging the whale for research purposes. Whoops. The incident was used by his evil half-brother to spur a full-on HeroicBreakdown.

* ''CyanideAndHappiness'' contains a ''[[http://www.explosm.net/comics/1497 goldfish rights activist]]''. And "[[http://www.explosm.net/comics/1827/ fur is murder!]]".

* RecycedInSpace Space Tindalos from LightNovel/HaiyoreNyarkoSan is one of these played for laughs.

* ''TheAuthority'' is associated with a British secret service named 'Kev', a focus of a few comic books. Kev's buddy from his squad abandoned his post with a tame tiger instead of shooting it on orders. Later, both are implicated in the murder of a Japanese whaler.

* The Creator/MercedesLackey short story ''[[http://www.firebirdarts.com/mercedeslackey/chapters/lastright.shtml Last Rights]]'' features Animal Liberation activists wanting to free the re-created dinosaurs from an experimental park. One discovered that an apatosaurus that doesn't notice you can squash you good, another that velociraptors are not your new friend, and the sole survivor that triceratops are bad-tempered and surprisingly fast -- but fortunately, can't climb trees.

* Monster Warriors had an episode that dealt with a group of people protesting them fighting and destroying the monsters, with the leaders of the group being the parents of one of the warriors. Needless to say, they changed their tune when the monsters attacked them (although a few still bitch about it during the attack)

* Averted in an episode of {{Psych}} titled, appropriately, "Meat is Murder, but Murder is also Murder." [[spoiler: Turns out it wasn't the vegetarian vigilantes at all, just an ambitious assistant who wanted the dead man's job.]]

* Animal rights terrorist groups have turned up a few times in British crime dramas.
** One episode of ''{{Spooks}}'' involving an animal rights group who instigated a bombing campaign against vivisectionists that made Al Qaeda look like a cheerleading squad.
** Similarly, one episode of ''AshesToAshes'' had an animal rights extremist who wasn't beyond throwing a firebomb at a twelve-year old.
** An episode of ''{{Bergerac}}'' almost seems even-handed in comparison. Three activists release a bunch of plague-carrying monkeys but the only people infected are themselves, the death of one (who was dating Bergerac's daughter) is close to TearJerker territory and another has enough sense to turn himself in and get treatment. The group's leader is slightly more extreme but still non-violent and surrenders because the police threaten to shoot a dog if she doesn't. (Makes sense in context...)
** They're pretty popular in American crime dramas, to supply them with [[WellIntentionedExtremist murderous zealots]] and occasional {{Red Herring}}s. ''Series/LawAndOrder'' in particular is quite fond of going to this well.
** A storyline in ''Series/BetweenTheLines'' had an animal rights group planting bombs, unaware that they were being manipulated by a competitor of their main target. [[spoiler: It ends up in a murder-suicide with a big bomb]]
* ''{{Casualty}}'' has a long history of presenting animal rights groups as terrorists, who blow up laboratories, people who work in laboratories, the children of people who work in laboratories... One season premiere involving a bomb on a bus was originally going to have Islamic militants as the villains but it was changed to animal rights people because they were worried about offending Islamic militants. ([[AcceptableTargets No-one cares about insulting animal rights activists.]] [[TruthInTelevision And real-life Islamic militants are scarier.]]) They were actually on their way to blow up something relevant but the bomb went off prematurely.
* An episode of ''{{Tremors}}: The Series'' has an animal rights group trying to get graboids declared an endangered species, and the Perfection Valley residents' co-existence with the albino graboid El Blanco as dangerous to its health. The group's leader wasn't above non-fatally poisoning El Blanco to give them an artificial smoking gun, but upon her actions being revealed, the rest of the group leaves in disgust.\\
\\
This episode gets funny when you realize that:

* The heroes of ''Film/TheLostWorldJurassicPark'' fit this trope to a T[[hottip:*:-Rex. [[AWorldwidePunomenon Sorry]]. [[NiceJobBreakingItHero Releasing dangerous animals en masse, nearly getting trampled by them as a result, and getting numerous people killed]]. Getting too close to wild animals, activating their territorial instincts, and just generally failing every rule for how to treat wild animals like they're going down a checklist. Acting as though people taking these unnatural genetically engineered dinosaurs out of their "natural" habitat is some kind of crime against nature, even though they don't naturally exist anymore in the first place and would wreck any ecosystem they were introduced to (how many normal animals did you see left alive on that island?). Unloading the gun that was going to be used to defend the humans from the rampaging T-Rex.

* ''SluggyFreelance'' has had a few panels with PETA members attempting to "rescue" Bun-Bun. Hilarity and stab wounds ensued. There was even [[http://www.sluggy.com/comics/archives/daily/000622 a week]] featuring an all-PETA version of Series/{{Survivor}} (of which there were none).

* While most of the hippies in KingdomOfLoathing can be considered members, the [[FunWithAcronyms CARNIVORE operative]] is explicitly one. Most of the hippies at least have no problem with pet ownership. Unfortunately for said pets.
** The CARNIVORE operative drops a membership button when you beat him; wearing it enrages monsters so much that they get stronger, just to beat up this jackass from the animal rights group.

!!Examples:

* The heroes of ''[[Franchise/JurassicPark The Lost World: Jurassic Park]]'' fit this trope to a T[[hottip:*:-Rex. [[AWorldwidePunomenon Sorry]]. [[NiceJobBreakingItHero Releasing dangerous animals en masse, nearly getting trampled by them as a result, and getting numerous people killed]]. Getting too close to wild animals, activating their territorial instincts, and just generally failing every rule for how to treat wild animals like they're going down a checklist. Acting as though people taking these unnatural genetically engineered dinosaurs out of their "natural" habitat is some kind of crime against nature, even though they don't naturally exist anymore in the first place and would wreck any ecosystem they were introduced to (how many normal animals did you see left alive on that island?). Unloading the gun that was going to be used to defend the humans from the rampaging T-Rex.

[[folder:Live Action TV]]

* One of the most blatant examples of this trope is Franchise/{{Batman}} villain Ra's Al Ghul, who, in the comics and animated series based on them, has tried multiple times to wipe out more than eighty percent of Earth's population, because it would allegedly return Earth to a more stable ecosystem. However, the moments at which he really shows his Animal Wrongs side are when dealing with the menagerie of endangered animals he collects and keeps. In one comic in particular, he was shown to have had a henchman murdered because he accidentally killed a rare sort of tiger cub by feeding it chocolate, dooming its species to extinction according to Ra's.

Less violent versions of these groups in fiction are often based on the real-life group [[AcceptableTargets PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals)]]. PETA's stunts form the basis of many examples of this trope (though, truth be told, [[http://stripedfoxx.deviantart.com/art/Don-t-Degrade-Yourself-200618070 not everyone will resent their being used as Butt Monkeys]].) Their somewhat extreme views colour their portrayals; for instance, they [[http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/view/93706 are against guide dogs for the blind]], indicating that they would completely segregate humans from other animals.

** In the episode "Free Willzyx", animal activists shot down a group of police officers, border patrol officers, and an innocent bystander to get a whale to Mexico. Worse yet, the reason, which the animal liberation group was unaware of, was that the whale was being transported to Mexico not to get it to the ocean, but to the moon (this, of course [[ItMakesSenseInContext makes sense in context]]). It got there. As you might have expected, it didn't last long. The episode was parodying the movie ''Free Willy''.

** In the episode "Free Willzyx", animal activists shot down a group of police officers, border patrol officers, and an innocent bystander to get a whale to Mexico. Worse yet, the reason, which the animal liberation group was unaware of, was that the whale was being transported to Mexico not to get it to the ocean, but to the moon. It got there. As you might have expected, it didn't last long. The episode was parodying the movie ''Free Willy''.

*** In a twist, Stan was justified as the Japanese were attacking every whale and Dolphin they could find captivity or no, and killing protesters who tried to stop them. The in-universe explanation for the Japanese attacking whales and dolphins in the first place was because they thought that [[spoiler: They mistakenly believed that whales and dolphins caused the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, because the US government gave them a doctored photograph of a Dolphin and a Killer Whale piloting the ''Enola Gay''.]]

*** In a twist, Stan was justified as the Japanese were attacking every whale and Dolphin they could find captivity or no, and killing protesters who tried to stop them. The in-universe explanation for the Japanese attacking whales and dolphins in the first place was because they thought that [spoiler:They mistakenly believed that whales and dolphins caused the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, because the US government gave them a doctored photograph of a Dolphin and a Killer Whale piloting the ''Enola Gay''.]

*** In a twist, Stan was justified as the Japanese were attacking every whale and Dolphin they could find captivity or no, and killing protesters who tried to stop them.

* One of the most blatant examples of this trope is Comicbook/{{Batman}} villain Ra's Al Ghul, who, in the comics and animated series based on them, has tried multiple times to wipe out more than eighty percent of Earth's population, because it would allegedly return Earth to a more stable ecosystem. However, the moments at which he really shows his Animal Wrongs side are when dealing with the menagerie of endangered animals he collects and keeps. In one comic in particular, he was shown to have had a henchman murdered because he accidentally killed a rare sort of tiger cub by feeding it chocolate, dooming its species to extinction according to Ra's.

* Subverted in GrantMorrison's run on ''Comicbook/AnimalMan''. Although Buddy Baker devotes his career to collaborating with like-minded individuals in disrupting fox hunts and freeing laboratory animals, he himself avoids the use of violence (except against a whaler and dolphin-hunter who pretty much dared him to do so). When one of his collaborators on a lab rescue mission blows it up with an incendiary bomb, killing a firefighter in the process, Buddy hangs up his costume and resigns from the JusticeLeague. Conversely, Animal Man's [[CorruptCorporateExecutive big-business enemies]], far from being the put-upon victims normally found in this trope, are ''far'' more brutal and lawless.

* The protagonist of the horror movie ''Film/MansBestFriend'' is one of these. Against the wishes of her boyfriend, who tries to talk her out of it, she breaks into a legitimate scientist's lab and steals the titular genetically engineered killing machine in the shape of a dog, which of course goes on a bloody rampage.

* The heroes of ''[[Franchise/JurassicPark The Lost World: Jurassic Park]]'' fit this trope to a T[[hottip:*:-Rex. [[AWorldwidePunomenon Sorry]]. [[NiceJobBreakingItHero Releasing dangerous animals en masse, nearly getting trampled by them as a result, and getting numerous people killed]]. Getting too close to wild animals, activating their territorial instincts, and just generally failing every rule for how to treat wild animals like they're going down a checklist. Acting as though people taking these totally unnatural genetically engineered dinosaurs out of their "natural" habitat is some kind of crime against nature, even though they don't naturally exist anymore in the first place and would wreck any ecosystem they were introduced to (how many normal animals did you see left alive on that island?). Unloading the gun that was going to be used to defend the humans from the rampaging T-Rex.

* Played with in ''Literature/{{Wicked}}'', where the protagonist joins a revolutionary group working for the rights of Oz's Talking Animals. Their ultimate goal? Kill the Wizard. They are for the most part, in the right, and the Wizard really is a bastard. And of course, the animals they're defending are in danger of being treated as ordinary animals, which they object to. With their voices. The ones normal animals don't have.

* Woggle in Ben Elton's ''Dead Famous'' is one of these, to the extent that he believes disease-spreading vermin -- such as fleas and lice -- is unfairly put-upon. Although he torments the other members of the ''BigBrother''-style show he's put on with his loathsome self-righteousness and horrific concept of hygiene, the producers are able to make him the audience's favourite by [[ManipulativeEditing selectively editing footage]] so that the other housemates come off as even worse than him (which admittedly isn't that hard since they're a pretty horrible bunch to begin with). When against the housemates' expectations he ''isn't'' immediately voted out they [[GenreSavvy immediately clock what's happening]] and demand that the producers get rid of him otherwise they'll walk out. So the producers release evidence they have that Woggle took part in an anti-hunt demonstration in which he savagely beat the hell out of a fifteen-year-old girl and left her with brain damage, and the police promptly come a-calling for Woggle.

* ''OryxAndCrake'' mentions an incidence of a fanatic animal rights group breaking into a chicken factory to liberate the inhabitants. This is seen as hilarious by pretty much everyone, since the "chickens" in question are actually [=ChickieNobs=], a highly genetically engineered form of chicken that lacks a brain or indeed a central nervous system and, as one character notes, "can't even walk", since they haven't got legs.

** An episode of ''{{Bergerac}}'' almost seems even-handed in comparison. Three activists release a bunch of plague-carrying monkeys but the only people infected are themselves, the death of one (who was dating Bergerac's daughter) is close to TearJerker territory and another has enough sense to turn himself in and get treatment. The group's leader is slightly more extreme but still non-violent and basically surrenders because the police threaten to shoot a dog if she doesn't. (Makes sense in context...)

* ''{{Numb3rs}}'' had one of these, who accidentally murdered a professor (when his partner learned of it later, he was appalled). It turned out that he was schizophrenic and thought animals had greater "spirits" then humans; he basically acted independently from the main animal rights group.

* An ''Series/{{NCIS}}'' episode had a whale rights activist attempt to kill an entire submarine crew because he believed the SONAR they used was hurting the marine life. They do make it clear, though, that he has no connection to the protesters outside the base, whose biggest threat was being inconvenient.

* The Cult of Planet in ''[[SidMeiersAlphaCentauri Sid Meier's Alien Crossfire]]'' is kind of like this, except they are defending an environment that is ''more'' than capable of defending itself, and believe their cause so strongly they would gladly let humanity go extinct to preserve Planet. (Of course, they can convince Planet not to kill ''them'' by doing this, and in fact lend them aid in the form of slightly more docile -- to them -- wildlife.)

* LegacyOfAThousandSuns takes this to the extreme with animal rights groups that genetically engineer said animals, and even more extreme are "bacteria-rights" groups that think that SPREADING A LETHAL CONTAGIOUS VIRUS ON HEAVILY RESOURCE-RICH (Read: Populated) PLANETS IS MORE ETHICAL THAN KEEPING A SMALL VIRUS PETRI DISH. Naturally, the opposing groups are also extremist (one of them willing to murder her twin sister gruesomely for the whole "spread the lethal virus" thing), but less taxing on the general populace of the galaxy, and thus eligible to ask for more help from the Sian Captain. [[DesignatedProtagonist Usually]].

* ''SluggyFreelance'' has had a few panels with PETA members attempting to "rescue" Bun-Bun. Hilarity and stab wounds ensued. There was even [[http://www.sluggy.com/comics/archives/daily/000622 an entire week]] featuring an all-PETA version of Series/{{Survivor}} (of which there were none).

* Gordito's Father in ''Webcomic/TheAdventuresOfDrMcNinja'' had his guns jammed by a PETA operative so he would be killed by the dangerous animals he was supposed to shoot in his sharp-shooting act that was decreed to be cruelty to animals. (Of course, stuffing a bunch of animals into a cannon and firing them all out so that they can be shot just might fulfill ''anyone's'' standard for animal cruelty.) The reason the circus had gotten away with it up to that point was because they used rabid animals that were going to be killed anyway. Just [=FYI=].

* The Crocomire Hunter, a main character in ''PlanetZebeth'' fits this quite well. He goes into fits of sobbing and/or plots for revenge when an enemy creature (yes, they are referred to as enemies, even though many are friendly or at least unassuming) is killed. Pretty much all other main characters have no sense of value for the enemies' lives, so this happens often.
* ''CyanideAndHappiness'' contains a ''[[http://www.explosm.net/comics/1497 goldfish rights activist]]''. And "[[http://www.explosm.net/comics/1827/ fur is murder!]]", of course.

*** It should be noted that they were in fact in the right regarding Popplers, given that they are in fact [[spoiler:the eggs of Omicronians, who are very much sentient and sapient beings, [[OhCrap and very powerful and violent ones, to boot]].]]

** There's also the point that Monster Island was created so the monsters could live in peace without harming humans or getting in confrontations with the military and pretty much a Kaiju nature reserve.

* Parodied in an episode of ''MyGymPartnersAMonkey'', where a group called "B.A.A.A." (Because Animals Are Amazing) shows up at the school to protest the vaccinations that the school is giving its students. Keep in mind that this is apparently standard procedure for Charles Darwin.

** To be fare the rich Texan in that episode planned to tear down a redwood forest to build an amusment park in dedication to Lisa dying while trying to stop him from cutting down an ancient tree. When asked if he had no shame he nonchalantly said he didn't before pointing to his car which had steer horns, was parked on a beavers tail and had a license plate that said 'no shame'.