September 21, 2017
Volume 47 - No. 37
by lyle e davis
Most everyone we know loves cute little puppies, cute little kittens, cute little monkeys, cute little squirrels . . . animals are warm and cuddly and fuzzy and loyal and . . . . well, they're just nice. That innate feeling often arouses a sense of loyalty within us when we hear of an organization with such a high minded name as People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, more commonly referred to as PETA. Why sure, we think . . . we'll support an organization with such a noble calling. After all, we like animals.
But, let's take a look at PETA. Is it as high-minded as they would have us believe? We'll look at what critics allege is, at best, outlandish and outrageous tactics . . . and then we'll look at what PETA purports to be. What they have accomplished (which is a great deal), what their goals are . . . what they hope to accomplish - how, and working with whom. A few things you should know about PETA:
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PETA is not an animal welfare organization.
PETA spends less than one percent of its multi-million dollar budget actually helping animals. The group euthanized (killed) more than 1,900 animals in one year alone -- that's over 85 percent of the animals it received. PETA's Dirty Secret
Hypocrisy is the mother of all credibility problems, and People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) has it in spades. While loudly complaining about the "unethical" treatment of animals by restaurant owners, grocers, farmers, scientists, anglers, and countless other Americans, the group has its own dirty little secret. PETA kills animals. By the thousands.
From July 1998 through the end of 2005, PETA killed over 14,400 dogs, cats, and other "companion animals" -at its Norfolk, Virginia, headquarters. That's more than five defenseless animals every day. Not counting the dogs and cats PETA spayed and neutered, the group put to death over 90 percent
Obituaries Memorials Area Services Page 12
of the animals it took in during 2005 alone. And its angel-of-death pattern shows no sign of changing. PETA kills an average of 85 percent of the animals it takes in, and finds adoptive homes for just 14 percent. By contrast, the Norfolk SPCA, whose shelter is located less than four miles from PETA's headquarters, found adoptive homes for 73 percent of its animals in 2003. Dana Cheek, the former (and most recent) director of the Norfolk SPCA, and whose facility is only four miles away from PETA’s location, wrote recently:
“I often receive phone calls from frantic people who have surrendered their pets to PETA with the understanding that PETA will "find them a good home." Many of them are led to believe that the animals will be taken to a nearby shelter. Little do they know that the pets are killed in the PETA van before they even pull away from the pet owner's home … PETA refuses to surrender animals they obtain to area shelters for rehoming. If only the celebrity "deep-pocket" donors on the west coast knew that their donations were going to kill adoptable cats and dogs here in Norfolk.”
PETA has given tens of thousands of dollars to convicted arsonists and other violent criminals. This includes a 2001 donation of $1,500 to the North American Earth Liberation Front (ELF), an FBI-certified “domestic terrorist” group responsible for dozens of firebombs and death threats. During the 1990s, PETA paid $70,200 to an Animal Liberation Front (ALF) activist convicted of burning down a Michigan State University research laboratory. In his sentencing recommendation, a federal prosecutor implicated PETA president Ingrid Newkirk in that crime. And PETA vegetarian campaign coordinator Bruce Friedrich told an animal rights convention in 2001 that “blowing stuff up and smashing windows” is “a great way to bring about animal liberation.”
"We did it, we did it. We gave $1,500 to the ELF for a specific program," PETA's Lisa Lange admitted on the Fox News Channel. PETA has offered no fewer than eight different explanations of what the "specific program" was, but law enforcement leaders have noted that since the Earth Liberation Front is a criminal enterprise, it has absolutely no legal "programs" of any kind.
The Two Faces of PETA Continued on Page 2