Now, I consider myself an animal lover, but ...

... it's about time the government put some protection in place for researchers, so that they don't have to worry about loony-bird PETA activists flooding their homes with garden hoses or putting information about them and their family members all over the internet.

From the LA Times blog:

New Protections For Animal Researchers

California lawmakers have adopted new protections for animal researchers. Patrick McGreevy reports from Sacramento:

On Friday, three weeks after firebomb attacks on UC Santa Cruz animal researchers and months after vandalism at a UCLA professor's home, state senators unanimously approved an emergency measure to strengthen laws protecting academics against violence and intimidation.

It would create a new misdemeanor charge for entering residential property of an academic researcher with the intent to intimidate or interfere with research.

The measure also would make it a misdemeanor to publish information on the Internet that describes an academic researcher or his or her family members, or gives the location of their residence with the intent that another person use the information to commit violence or make threats.

...

The home of a UCLA researcher incurred more than $20,000 in damage after being flooded by animal-rights activists who inserted a garden hose into the house. An incendiary device destroyed a car outside the home of a UC Santa Cruz researcher and a firebomb exploded nearby on the front porch of another researcher's home.

The attacks are believed to have been orchestrated by activists who regard the use of animals in research as inhumane. Lawmakers say the targeting of academics in such ways is intolerable.

The thing is, humans are just inherently more valuable than animals. I love my sweet and fuzzy kitty cats, and that Sarah McLachlan ASPCA commerical with "Angel" playing in the background rips my heart RIGHT OUT, but I still believe humans have more value (it's because we were created in the image of God and all, and animals weren't.) Not that I think animals should be abused for fun or any such thing (I'm looking at you, two guys from my high school who used to spend weekend nights running down animals for amusement) but if it's a question of, "Should animal research that will ultimately benefit humans continue?" then the answer is yes.

And for goodness sakes, leave the researchers alone. I shudder to think what a setback it would be to have your entire lab destroyed.