A ringleader in a global monkey torture network exposed by the BBC has been charged by US federal prosecutors.

Michael Macartney, 50, who went by the alias “Torture King”, was charged in Virginia with conspiracy to create and distribute animal-crushing videos.

Mr Macartney was one of three key distributors identified by the BBC Eye team during a year-long investigation into sadistic monkey torture groups.

Two women have also been charged in the UK following the investigation.

Warning: This article contains disturbing content

Mr Macartney, a former motorcycle gang member who previously spent time in prison, ran several chat groups for monkey torture enthusiasts from around the world on the encrypted messaging app Telegram.

      • MilitantVegan@lemmy.world
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        3 months ago

        Currently billions of animals are raised in atrocious conditions and slaughtered against their will, for food, every year. This alone should be reason enough to want it to end, but the problems don’t end there. Most of the top causes of death in industrialized nations is the result of lifestyle diseases such heart disease, stroke, diabetes, and cancers. The main drivers of these diseases is overconsumption of animal products. In other words eating animals is the leading cause of death in humans.

        https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/56984912-the-proof-is-in-the-plants

        To make it worse, food deserts in low income areas results in disproportionately higher incidences of these diseases and causes of death for black people, indigenous people, and all persons of color.

        https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=w9ixJ3YcmZg&pp=ygUldGhleSdyZSB0cnlpbmcgdG8ga2lsbCB1cyBkb2N1bWVudGFyeQ%3D%3D

        even worse, animal agriculture is one of the worst sources of environmental destruction. It is one of the top causes of climate change, the single largest cause of deforestation, and causes rampant pollution.

        https://www.surgeactivism.org/aveganworld

        And again, it gets even worse. Not only is it strongly arguable that consumption of animals and their products is the cause of the covid pandemic; animal ag is also the leading cause of antibiotic resistant diseases, and if it’s allowed to continue it will only be a matter of when, not if, we end up with an H5N1 pandemic - a flu that has a 50-60% death rate. This should be reason enough for governments to outright declare animal agriculture a threat to national security, and pursue strong policies to transition away from animal consumption as rapidly as possible.

        https://www.surgeactivism.org/notifbutwhenbirdflu

        When something is this bad, aren’t modest proposals the last thing we need?

        • Mastengwe@lemm.ee
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          3 months ago

          How about you let people eat what they want to eat and you just worry about yourself.

          • MilitantVegan@lemmy.world
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            3 months ago

            Animals are generally killed significantly younger than their natural lifespans. The short lives they live are entirely in conditions that are comparable to history’s worst concentration camps. You’re literally living on the rotten flesh of traumatized children.

            Have you ever stopped to wonder what they want?

            • wakumul@lemm.ee
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              3 months ago

              the vast majority of make dairy calves are brought to full weight before slaughter: 18-20 months

              • MilitantVegan@lemmy.world
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                3 months ago

                Everywhere I’ve looked says the same - cows can live 15-20 years and possibly even longer. That’s significantly more life than 18-20 months.

                • wakumul@lemm.ee
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                  3 months ago

                  cows can live 15 to 20 years if they have protection from predators, and weather, and disease, and access to enough nutritious food, clean water, and veterinary care.

                  their natural life span, being a domesticated animal, is usually about 18-20 months.

                  • MilitantVegan@lemmy.world
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                    3 months ago

                    That’s insane. There’s nothing natural about being slaughtered against your will. Growing less profitable is not a natural cause of death. I don’t know anything more disturbingly capitalist than to perceive intelligent living beings as commodities.

          • A_Random_Idiot@lemmy.world
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            3 months ago

            Their user name is MilitantVegan.

            Do you genuinely think they have ever, in their entire life, been capable of keeping their nose out of other peoples business?

            • Korne127@lemmy.world
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              3 months ago

              I’m not even vegan by myself, but saying other people’s business when it’s not about things people do for themselves without harming anyone but killing animals is… really weird.

      • chetradley@lemmy.world
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        3 months ago

        I’ve yet to see a proposal more convincing to me than just avoiding animal products altogether. Don’t get me wrong, I used to enjoy things like meat, dairy and eggs, but I realized the cost far outweighed my own pleasure.

        • rusticus@lemm.ee
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          3 months ago

          Dairy and eggs don’t kill animals in a cruel way. It’s animal exploitation yes but who amongst us aren’t exploited?

          • Sizzler@slrpnk.net
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            3 months ago

            You never seen an egg laid without a shell because of the stress the chicken is under huh?

      • MilitantVegan@lemmy.world
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        3 months ago

        I have a Samsung device, so it’s likely from Vietnam. Other than that I, like most Linux users, live on a steady computer diet of used Thinkpads.

        Now that Fairphone is available in the US I will likely go for those in the future. Or maybe a Linux phone if one gets good enough. Is there evidence of unethical work practices in Samsung’s supply chain?