The Stephen Kelley Affair

"It lets them know that we are serious, and I'm not sure that they do already."

As if to punctuate that point, NARN held a protest—seven protesters, eight UW police officers—outside the primate center on June 11 and, then, a haphazard march through the health sciences complex.

Robin Laananen

One profane primate dons the skin of another to show his displeasure with primate research and Stephen Kelley at a June 11 protest.

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Green says he thinks NARN has picked a fight it can win.

"I think we're winning right now," he says. "We're reaching people with the message that primate research is not going to go on without some oversight from the community."

Oversight would be a small victory compared to the many large victories activists like Wayne Johnson and Che Green have already won. America is a kinder, gentler place for research animals than it was 20 years ago—no matter how hollow animal rights groups say the advances are. Lab dogs must be exercised, cage sizes are regulated, and nonhuman primates must have their psychological well-being tended to. And the cruelty-free guarantee is commonly plastered across eyeliner tubes and shampoo bottles on supermarket shelves.

The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) recently gave an award to personal products giant Procter & Gamble for championing alternatives to using animals for developing consumer products—both an award and an approach that would have been unthinkable a generation ago.

And last month, Kroger, the largest supermarket chain in the United States, agreed to abide by PETA's demands that its suppliers of animal products adhere to humane guidelines.

But those victories weren't won because the corporate giants gained a soft spot for animals; the wins came because P&G and Kroger were up against HSUS and PETA, both sophisticated PR machines that can make facts stick to their intended targets. NARN, with a $60,000 a year budget, hasn't marshaled the facts around Stephen Kelley to its advantage. Instead, by going after an individual with gossamer-thin threats, it turned a battle that should have been a principled fight into a quest about as likely to succeed as one to get Seattleites to forgo chinook salmon.

pdawdy@seattleweekly.com