| Gary Yourofsky | |
|---|---|
| Born | August 19, 1970 Detroit, Michigan, United States |
| Nationality | American |
| Occupation | Lecturer, activist |
| Known for | ADAPTT |
| Website | |
| www.adaptt.org | |
Gary Yourofsky (born August 19, 1970[1]; Detroit, Michigan, United States) is an American animal rights activist.
Yourofsky became an activist in 1996, founding Animals Deserve Absolute Protection Today and Tomorrow (ADAPTT).
He has been arrested 13 times between the years 1997–2001, and has spent 77 days in a Canadian maximum security prison in 1999, after raiding a fur farm in Canada, liberating 1,542 mink in 1997.[2]
Yourofsky was sponsored by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) between the years 2002–2005, and has lectured about veganism to more than 60,000 students in middle school, high school and college.[2]
Yourofsky has been banned from five countries, including Canada and England.
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Gary Yourofsky was born on August 19, 1970, in Detroit, Michigan, United States. He grew up in Oak Park, played guitar, and dreamed of being a goaltender in the National Hockey League.[3]
Yourofsky traces his animal rights advocacy to the early 1990s. His stepfather was volunteering as a clown in a circus, and offered him a backstage tour. During the tour, Yourofsky saw an elephant chained to a post, with scars behind its ears. Yourofsky was shocked, "I looked into the elephant’s eyes and all I saw was sadness and despair."[2] He left the circus when dancing bears wearing ballet tutus were brought out in front of the audience.[3] He started researching the treatment of animals in several industries, and became a vegetarian, then a vegan.[3]
In 1996, Yourofsky founded Animals Deserve Absolute Protection Today and Tomorrow (ADAPTT), a vegan organization opposed to any usage of animals.[4] By 2001, the organization had amassed around 2,200 members.[3]
On March 30, 1997, Yourofsky, alongside 4 members of the Animal Liberation Front (ALF), raided a fur farm in Blenheim, Ontario, Canada, and liberated 1,542 mink, who were scheduled to be slaughtered for their fur.[2] The raid reportedly caused damage estimated at C$500,000 to the farm.[5] He was arrested by Canadian officials, and sentenced to six months in a Canadian maximum-security prison in 1999.[6] Out of the six months, Yourofsky spent 77 days in prison.[2]
The experience affected Yourofsky, who said "[he] was no more than an animal in the zoo. It wasn't pleasant", and that it has reinforced "[his] empathy and understanding of what these animals go through".[5]
In the fall of 2000, Yourofsky received $10,000 from PETA, to fund the broadcasting of a commercial against "the animal slavery enterprise known as the circus". The commercial was broadcasted 69 times on a local television channel.[3]
In 2001, Yourofsky began facing financial problems. In an interview with Jack Lessenberry, a professor in Wayne State University, Yourofsky stated he is "in debt up to [his] ears", and that "[he owes] at least $30,000 on credit cards".
His financial troubles reportedly halted his activism for a brief period of 3 months that year.[3]
In early 2002, Yourofsky resigned as president of ADAPTT, due to financial troubles. A day after sending his resignation letter, he received a phone call from Ingrid Newkirk, president of PETA, who offered him a job. Employment negotiations between the two ended on May 20, 2002, with Yourofsky being made the organization's official, national lecturer. In an open letter sent by Yourofsky on May 28, 2002, he described his excitement, saying that "[getting] a call and/or a request from Ingrid is like getting a call from the Godfather's Don Corleone. It's an offer one can't refuse."[7][8]
Several of Yourofsky's supporters felt that his decision to join PETA was "selling out", because he had expressed dislike towards several large animal rights organizations, including it. Yourofsky responded to the criticism in the open letter sent on May 28, 2002, saying that "[...], those closest to me know that I have been growing wiser as each year of activism passes. I used to be flat-out vituperative when it came to PETA and other groups who didn’t do things my way. But last year I started to realize that my acrimony was wrong and wasteful..."[8]
Yourofsky had a falling out with PETA in 2005, and left the organization after it had cut his funding. In an interview[9], Yourofsky criticized the Humane Society of the United States, the strategies used by PETA, and its president, Ingrid Newkirk:
"PETA and HSUS are a hindrance to the animal liberation movement. Their endless compromises, persistent shenanigans and myopic tactics do NOT bring animals closer to freedom. I am tired of being silent about it. As long as PETA and HSUS exist, animals will remain enslaved by the billion. Ingrid Newkirk, a serial cat killer, goes out of her way to trap homeless, healthy cats in the Norfolk, Virginia, area and then kills them in a shed located on the grounds of PETA's Norfolk headquarters."
Yourofsky also added that "[...] under Newkirk's guidance, she has single-handedly turned the animal liberation movement into a mockery with her naked women campaigns and cartoon-costumed protests."
Yourofsky considers intentional killing only as a necessity for self-defense. When asked how he feels about bacteria being killed when he cooks food, Yourofsky responded that "you have the right to defend yourself and kill something that’s harming you."[10]
He also added:
"Now, let me explain this in a different way: If you and I are walking through the woods and a bear attacked you and jumped on you, do you really think I’ll be like 'Huh, too bad I’m vegan man'? I will beat the shit or try to beat the shit out of the bear, and get him off you! This is self-defense, you were attacked."