University police increased security for threatening blog post

University Professor Dick Bianco's house is under surveillance after an animal right's blogger posted a message some considered to be threatening.

Published: 11/10/2009
By Robert Downs and Stacey Battenberg
MN Daily (University of Minnesota)

In some circles, Dick Bianco isn't very popular.

Bianco, an associate professor of surgery at the University of Minnesota , uses animals for medical testing and has emerged as a voice of a million-dollar ad campaign from the Foundation for Biomedical Research.

Now, Bianco's house is under police surveillance after an animal rights blogger named Camille Marino responded to the ad campaign by posting Bianco's name and photograph with a message that some consider threatening.

“We cannot be complacent,” Marino said in the post. “… We should not be surprised when the unconscionable violence inflicted upon animals is justifiably visited upon their tormentors.”

University police began increasing patrols this week near Bianco's home after the “vague” threats were made, University police Deputy Chief Chuck Miner said.

Marino , founder of negotiationisover.com , described FBR's ad campaign as an attempt to “garner support for animal abuse.”

The campaign is aimed at cities that reported to not have a definitive opinion about animal research. It is active in 11 markets, including the Twin Cities, Los Angeles and Boston — all of which are “on the fence” about animal research, FBR President Frankie Trull said .

“We are not reaching out to those who are definitively opposed,” Trull said. “We are not going to change their mind.”

Animal rights advocates have a history of activism in California and Minnesota, Trull said.

“I don't want to paint everyone this way, but there are those within the [animal rights] movement that are very zealous and feel that if you don't agree with them they are going to be aggressively hostile,” Trull said.

Marino said she did not try to stir up hostile actions with her post.

“My intent is simply to provide the other side of the story,” she said. “It is not a threat.”

Marino said she published Bianco's name and photograph because he is a public figure who is “publicly advocating animal abuse.”

“I'm simply putting a name and a face together with the movement,” she said.

Marino noted that she was not surprised to hear her article was interpreted as a threat. When asked why she published the article anyway, Marino replied “If my speech is unpopular, does that mean that my free speech should be inhibited simply because it may be manipulated or twisted?”

This is not the first time Bianco has dealt with animal rights activists. Student organizations from Compassionate Action for Animals to the Student Organization for Animal Rights (SOAR) have been well acquainted with Bianco through his work as assistant vice president of the Academic Health Center.

In 1999, Bianco filed a grievance against SOAR for disorderly conduct and disruptive demonstrations when a member suspended himself from the top of Moos Tower in a small tent for six days near a hanging banner that read, “Stop Animal Torture.”

In 2000, SOAR, along with a group from Los Angeles, offered $10,000 to anybody who could “end alleged animal cruelty at the University.”

“It's outrageous,” Bianco then told The Minnesota Daily. “It's like putting a bounty on the head of our researchers and the people who are trying to find a cure for diseases.”

University police have taken extra precautions over the years since Elliot Hall and the Lions Research Building were burglarized in 1999 by animal rights activists, Miner said.

The University has since increased physical security of research buildings and installed more alarms and closed circuit television, he said.

Ben Kutschied , the student advisor of Compassionate Action for Animals, said live animal testing, called vivisection, is never justifiable for medical advancements.

“I have a hard time considering [vivisection] worthwhile no matter how many human lives we may have saved using these kinds of unethical methods,” he said.

Despite his beliefs, Kutschied said resorting to disrespectful or violent means are never worth pursuing and tend to cause more harm than good.

“Are any people who are in support of animal experimentation really going to change their minds because you've just insulted somebody and threatened somebody? Probably not,” he said. “If anything else, they've decided now that they're not going to listen to any animal rights activists ever again.”

Bianco will appear in a Discovery Channel documentary on animal surgery in the next few months, he said. He is not afraid for his safety and will continue to be a supportive voice for the use of animals in surgery, he said.

“If we could use computers to do this, or other simulations, we would,” Bianco said. “In fact, we do. The vast majority of what we do does not involve live animals. Under law, we must test medical devices on animals before they can be used for humans.”