Michael Macartney, 50, confessed to the BBC his role in an extreme monkey torture network.

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
    265·
    8 months ago

    They’re only getting 5 years in prison. The article also says Macartney had been in prison previously. Since the US prison systems are designed for sadism and punishment, it probably did more to make the guy amenable to this kind of horror. It’s also known that slaughterhouses frequently get their workers from the prison system, so it’s very possible that this guy will simply have his unapproved abuses exchanged with ones that our society sanctions.

    When he comes out, his mind is most likely to be more disturbed than when he went in.

    • PrefersAwkward@lemmy.worldEnglish
      10·
      7 months ago

      Not condoning prison vigilante/revenge behavior, but if this guy’s fellow inmates find out what he did, and that is very easy to do, he may be in for a horrible time in prison. Not sure if he will be put into a ‘special-cases’ prison for his own safety or whether he’ll just go straight to a general public prison.

      He has really bad paperwork and fellow prisoners always find out what your paperwork is as soon as you land in your new prison. Torture of animals is among the worst things one can do.

      Again, I’m not condoning any of this. It’s just the reality this guy faces in American prisons

        • chetradley@lemmy.world
          71·
          8 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.

          • businessfish@lemmy.blahaj.zoneEnglish
            7·
            8 months ago

            yeah all the data is out there for why its better for you, the planet, and the animals that live on it, and i find it strange to not find veganism “modest” enough. going vegan was the easiest major lifestyle change i’ve ever made, and beans are cheaper than meat.

            the only time i have problems being vegan is when someone else makes it a problem, and for some reason people really like to respond to any mention of veganism with hostility. but also those same people love animals and hate animal abuse.

            • Adulated_Aspersion@lemmy.world
              31·
              7 months ago

              The reason people react strongly to veganism is twofold:

              1. There are many vegans that are very “in your face,” much in the same way that evangelical Christianity can be pushed too far. “You’re either with me or you are a terrible person.”

              2. Some think that a vegan’s decision to avoid animal products automatically means that the same vegan is passing judgement on those who still consume animal products.

            • chetradley@lemmy.world
              31·
              7 months ago

              I’ve noticed that too lol. People generally don’t like to have their beliefs challenged, especially if it’s about something they enjoy doing. Hell I know I struggled with it when considering giving up animal products and dairy specifically, but I’m so glad I did!

              • businessfish@lemmy.blahaj.zoneEnglish
                2·
                7 months ago

                the part i struggled with most is realizing that everyone i know just doesn’t care about animals enough to stop eating their favorite sandwiches, the rest is pretty straightforward. keep on fightin the good fight

          • rusticus@lemm.ee
            23·
            8 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
              2·
              7 months ago

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

            • chetradley@lemmy.world
              31·
              8 months ago

              I think we have fundamentally different outlooks on animal agriculture. It seems like your position may be based on the idea that animals used for milk and eggs are treated well, live long natural lives and are killed at the end of their lives when they would have died naturally.

              I wish this were the case.

              Animals used for milk and egg production live a small percentage of their potential lifespan. The effects on dairy cows of repeatedly being impregnated, giving birth, producing enormous quantities of milk, and going through the cycle again takes a harsh toll on their bodies. It’s normal for a dairy cow to only endure 4 or 5 cycles of this before they literally cannot physically continue, at which point they’re no longer profitable and are sold for slaughter. Similarly for egg-laying hens, the stress and mineral demand of ovulating multiple times a day means that they rarely live past two years. For the males of these breeds, it’s even worse. Male chickens of the egg-laying breeds are mostly useless to the industry, so they are killed immediately after hatching, usually by way of an industrial macerator or gas chamber. Male calves might live to 8 months to be slaughtered for veal, but if there’s no market for veal they are frequently killed immediately after birth.

              Modern egg laying chickens and dairy cows are man-made breeds far removed from their natural wild counterparts. Hens trace their lineage to red jungle fowls, who naturally will have a single clutch of roughly 12 eggs once a year. Selective breeding has increased this amount to once a day, sometimes even more. The extreme pressure on their reproductive system frequently causes health issues like egg yolk peritonitis, cloacal prolapse, and osteoporosis. Similarly with modern dairy cows, bovine mastitis, udder sores and infections are common due to our selective breeding to maximize milk yields. Even otherwise healthy animals face grueling lives because they’re part of a species that was selectively engineered for one purpose: profit.

              Modern animal agriculture is overwhelmingly inhumane, which is why livestock animals are almost always excluded from animal abuse legislation. Ignoring the above points about how they’ve been selectively bred and are worked to exhaustion, investigations into egg and dairy farms have found absolutely shocking treatment. If you have the stomach for it, they’re worth watching to understand the scope of animal abuse that is commonplace in our society.

            • BonesOfTheMoon@lemmy.world
              21·
              7 months ago

              Dairy is produced by a cow being forcibly raped, kept pregnant, her milk stolen, and her babies torn away from her. It is cruel

        • MilitantVegan@lemmy.world
          77·
          8 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?

            • MilitantVegan@lemmy.world
              97·
              8 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?

                • MilitantVegan@lemmy.world
                  24·
                  8 months ago

                  Taste is subjective, and it changes in response to what you eat. The vast majority of people are used to what are called hyper-palatable foods - foods that are scientifically formulated to be addictive. Every food that is not hyper-palatable tastes flavorless by comparison.

                  If you get used to eating real food - that is, real plants in their whole, generally intact forms - then hyper-palatable foods end up tasting disgustingly salty.

                  Point is, plants taste perfectly fine.

              • steeznson@lemmy.world
                2·
                8 months ago

                I disagree with you but that is an informative graph. I knew egg laying chickens were killed before they were a year old but 5 months is wild.

              • wakumul@lemm.ee
                23·
                7 months ago

                that chart is all lies. none of those animals have a natural lifespan that long

              • wakumul@lemm.ee
                23·
                7 months ago

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

                • MilitantVegan@lemmy.world
                  2·
                  7 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
                    22·
                    7 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.

            • A_Random_Idiot@lemmy.worldEnglish
              65·
              8 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
                62·
                8 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.

                • A_Random_Idiot@lemmy.worldEnglish
                  43·
                  8 months ago

                  Yeah, that bullshit “i’m not a vegan, I’m just gonna say vegan things” act wont pass here.

                  Also, I love how you are trying to claim something that a significant portion of all animal life on the planet does is “weird”.

                  Like, maybe thats a you problem, bro.

                  • MilitantVegan@lemmy.world
                    53·
                    8 months ago

                    If you’re familiar with trophic levels, you would know it’s literally impossible for a majority of the planet’s population to be carnivorous. The population levels of species in one trophic level are limited by the population size of what they eat. Primary producers and herbivores must always outnumber omnivores and carnivores.

                    And when you look at the full breadth of the harms caused by humans eating animals, it clearly is an abnormal practice. Just because something is popular, doesn’t mean it’s normal. Doing something every day that is completely contrary to our own natures, our own wellbeing, the wellbeing of all the other intelligent beings we share this planet with, and the planet itself, is grotesque and strange in the extreme.

      • BonesOfTheMoon@lemmy.world
        32·
        7 months ago

        Don’t you love how when it’s an animal they don’t eat they’re outraged, but animal agriculture is a-okay for no reason at all, and we’re just militant vegans? Lol. Carnists.