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
    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.

      • MilitantVegan@lemmy.world
        2·
        7 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.

        • wakumul@lemm.ee
          22·
          7 months ago

          There’s nothing natural about being slaughtered against your will.

          this assumes non-human animals have a will to live. this would require an understanding that they, themselves, might die. we have no proof of understanding personal mortality in non-human animals (though, if you have a study that shows otherwise, i would be very interested to see it). therefore, we have no reason to believe nonhuman animals have a will to live.

        • wakumul@lemm.ee
          12·
          7 months ago

          I don’t know anything more disturbingly capitalist than to perceive intelligent living beings as commodities.

          intelligent is a relative term. but i can certainly show you something more disturbingly capitalist: exploiting people for profit.

        • wakumul@lemm.ee
          12·
          7 months ago

          Growing less profitable is not a natural cause of death.

          no, and it’s also not the cause of death for any of the animals we eat or otherwise exploit.