A controversial animal rights activist spoke in a conference in Salt Lake City, Saturday. 2NEWS' Brian Mullahy spoke with the Doctor who had some startling words about methods used for the cause of animal liberation.

Dr. Vlasak is a trauma surgeon in Southern California. And to him, all forms of life are precious.

“I save lives everyday at the hospital. Everyday, I go to the hospital, I save lives,” says Dr. Vlasak.

But the doctor feels that if necessary, it’s morally acceptable to take human lives, if it saves the lives of many animals. Years ago, Vlasak was quoted as saying, “I don’t think you’d have to kill -assasinate- too many. I think for five lives, ten lives, fifteen human lives, we could save one million, two million maybe ten million non-human lives.”

Investigators say that Utah has seen its share of vandalism from animal rights activists. A farm, where many biology students studied, was burned down by activists.

At the “Confronting Animal Cruelty” conference in the Salt Lake City Library, 2NEWS Brian Mullahy got a chance to speak with Dr. Vlasak about the measures that activists should take.

Mullahy: Is Murder on the table as an option?

Vlasak: Whatever it takes to stop someone from abusing animals is certainly morally acceptable.

Yesterday, 2NEWS spoke with University of Utah Associate Vice President of Research Integrity, Jeff Botkin, who said,

When you get to a position in which you're literally advocating murder in promoting your cause, then I think there's no question that's a reprehensible point of view.  And I think it's unfortunate that individuals with those sorts of extreme points of view are invited to represent the activist community here in Salt Lake.

But words don’t faze Dr. Vlasak.

“Nothing is more violent and radical than what’s being done to non-human animals in our society,” said Vlasak. “If a researcher won’t stop abusing animals and is stopped physically, whether with the use of force, or is killed, I certainly wouldn’t lose sleep over that idea.”

Organizers of the conference say they don’t endorse the opinion of Dr. Vlasak. However, the group did invite Vlasak to speak at the conference.