New Animal Rights Group, the Wilberforce Institute, Launches to Target Conservatives
There’s a new animal rights group that launched today called the Wilberforce Institute. Normally, this wouldn’t be news; PETA people form new little groups all the time. But the Wilberforce Institute has a different agenda than most: It’s preaching to people who are politically conservative.
It’s unusual, like a Marxist group preaching to free-market economists. And we have to wonder if it’s just a waste of time.
For one, the name is a reference to William Wilberforce, an anti-slavery politician in 19th Century England. Is this new group going to try to appeal to conservatives by drawing comparisons between, say, having animals in zoos and owning slaves?
That’s something PETA believes, but most people would find it a ridiculous comparison. If the Institute goes in that direction, perhaps it will compare farms to Nazi concentration camps next. (That’s another PETA campaign.)
Second, the agenda of the animal rights movement is at odds with the conservative agenda.
Conservatives tend to support free markets and individual choice, and traditions such as hunting.
The animal rights movement has its roots in leftwing politics and supports policies that are incompatible with individual liberty. For example, the animal rights movement does not believe that humans should be allowed to eat meat. They work to pass laws that restrict the kind of meat and eggs that can be sold at supermarkets. And they most certainly want hunting to be phased out and prohibited.
Ultimately, the animal rights movement is about controlling human behavior to prevent the use of animals in a wide range of settings, from farms to zoos and aquariums. Some animal activists even oppose pet ownership. That agenda is simply incompatible with conservatism.
The Wilberforce Institute has a DC lobbyist named Marty Irby as its board chairman. We’ve exposed Irby before on this website. He wraps himself on social media in the “MAGA” banner while working for leftwing groups.
Irby previously worked for the lobbying arm of HSUS in 2017. After HSUS CEO Wayne Pacelle resigned in 2018 following accusations of sexual harassment, Irby followed him. Irby became executive director and senior vice president of two new groups that Pacelle formed.
Irby has since left both groups and formed his own lobbying firm. Now, he claims to be a friend of farmers–even as he worked for animal rights groups that lobbied to hurt farmers. Irby also claims to be a conservative while taking money to lobby for the Environmental Working Group, a radical environmentalist organization.
In a sense, Irby is the perfect representative for this new group. Given his lack of accomplishments, however, we’re not too worried about the Wilberforce Institute.
