What PETA Really Stands For
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals define their organization as "the largest animal rights organization in the world" in their mission statement. However, this mission statement offers a very gilded version of what PETA actually does for animals and where they truly stand. PETA is notorious for lying, distorting facts, and encouraging violent methods of protest.
PETA claims that their first priority above all else is animal liberation, however on the most basic level this is clearly not true. With the millions of dollars PETA makes every year, they have a grand total of one animal shelter. As much as PETA advocates an animal's right to fair and ethical treatment, this is not a no kill shelter. In fact, PETA has killed roughly 85% of the animals its shelter has "rescued."(Newsweek) In many cases, shelters are forced to euthanize animals because they lack the finances to care for them. This is not the case for PETA, who in 2007 made over $30 million dollars. That's enough money to finance their no kill shelter, and open multiple other no kill shelters.
What PETA considers rescuing is far from the definition of what many of us would consider rescuing. In 2005, authorities found at least 80 dead animals thrown in a dumpster by PETA employees within a month. Two PETA employees were caught illegally dumping the bodies of 18 animals they had "rescued" from two local counties, Northampton and Bertie. Inside of their van, 13 more animals were found. The two counties had been lead to believe that the animals were being taken to PETA's animal shelter where they would be examined by a veterinarian and put up for adoption. The animals never even made it to the shelter. After this incident, both counties ceased to work with PETA. ( SFGate)
If you click around the PETA organization's website, it won't take you long to find heart wrenching pictures of abused animals and shocking videos. Often, these pictures are taken in slaughter houses and meant to promote vegetarianism. Clearly promoting vegetarianism is a priority of many animal activist groups and totally understandable. What makes PETA different is the fact that they lie and exaggerate to manipulate people into adopting their beliefs. The extremes observed in their videos are not common practice in the meat industry. Common sense will tell you that the meat industry wishes to slaughter animals quickly, in the most cost efficient way possible. Beating cows with bats does not fit that description, in spite of what PETA would like to lead people to believe. It's time consuming, and manual labor is pricier than mechanical. Finding one extreme example and passing it off as common practice is misleading and disrespectful to the activists who have put their trust in PETA.
The type of vicious activism promoted by PETA is one of the reasons why animal activists in general have earned a bad reputation. PETA has been a partner of the North American Earth Liberation Front. This is a group recognized by the FBI as a domestic terrorist organization. ELF and a partner organization, ALF, have committed over 600 domestic crimes resulting in over $40 million in damage costs. In 2001, PETA made a donation to the organization of over $1,000. ( CNS) PETA also sees no problem with giving money to attempted murders, such as Fran Trutt, who PETA gave $7,500. She attempted, and thankfully failed, to kill Leon Hirsch. (National Review)Mr. Hirsch is the CEO of the US Surgical Corporation, an organization that has worked to innovate and improve surgical practices to save lives. Funding dangerous and destructive behavior is not the type of protesting any respectable activist would wish to take part in.
Because of their shocking tactics, PETA has gained more publicity than other animal rights organizations, and this publicity is in no way deserved. With deceitful behavior and shady antics, PETA has manipulated people who truly do care about animals into fueling their outrageous behavior, and who are the ones suffering because of this? The animals.
PETA claims that their first priority above all else is animal liberation, however on the most basic level this is clearly not true. With the millions of dollars PETA makes every year, they have a grand total of one animal shelter. As much as PETA advocates an animal's right to fair and ethical treatment, this is not a no kill shelter. In fact, PETA has killed roughly 85% of the animals its shelter has "rescued."(Newsweek) In many cases, shelters are forced to euthanize animals because they lack the finances to care for them. This is not the case for PETA, who in 2007 made over $30 million dollars. That's enough money to finance their no kill shelter, and open multiple other no kill shelters.
What PETA considers rescuing is far from the definition of what many of us would consider rescuing. In 2005, authorities found at least 80 dead animals thrown in a dumpster by PETA employees within a month. Two PETA employees were caught illegally dumping the bodies of 18 animals they had "rescued" from two local counties, Northampton and Bertie. Inside of their van, 13 more animals were found. The two counties had been lead to believe that the animals were being taken to PETA's animal shelter where they would be examined by a veterinarian and put up for adoption. The animals never even made it to the shelter. After this incident, both counties ceased to work with PETA. ( SFGate)
If you click around the PETA organization's website, it won't take you long to find heart wrenching pictures of abused animals and shocking videos. Often, these pictures are taken in slaughter houses and meant to promote vegetarianism. Clearly promoting vegetarianism is a priority of many animal activist groups and totally understandable. What makes PETA different is the fact that they lie and exaggerate to manipulate people into adopting their beliefs. The extremes observed in their videos are not common practice in the meat industry. Common sense will tell you that the meat industry wishes to slaughter animals quickly, in the most cost efficient way possible. Beating cows with bats does not fit that description, in spite of what PETA would like to lead people to believe. It's time consuming, and manual labor is pricier than mechanical. Finding one extreme example and passing it off as common practice is misleading and disrespectful to the activists who have put their trust in PETA.
The type of vicious activism promoted by PETA is one of the reasons why animal activists in general have earned a bad reputation. PETA has been a partner of the North American Earth Liberation Front. This is a group recognized by the FBI as a domestic terrorist organization. ELF and a partner organization, ALF, have committed over 600 domestic crimes resulting in over $40 million in damage costs. In 2001, PETA made a donation to the organization of over $1,000. ( CNS) PETA also sees no problem with giving money to attempted murders, such as Fran Trutt, who PETA gave $7,500. She attempted, and thankfully failed, to kill Leon Hirsch. (National Review)Mr. Hirsch is the CEO of the US Surgical Corporation, an organization that has worked to innovate and improve surgical practices to save lives. Funding dangerous and destructive behavior is not the type of protesting any respectable activist would wish to take part in.
Because of their shocking tactics, PETA has gained more publicity than other animal rights organizations, and this publicity is in no way deserved. With deceitful behavior and shady antics, PETA has manipulated people who truly do care about animals into fueling their outrageous behavior, and who are the ones suffering because of this? The animals.
Comments
Page 1/2 | Next
AMAZING blog, really.
rollerpig, July 11th, 2008 at 01:47:31pm
I can't believe Paul McCartney is a partner with PETA.
PETA is disgusting.
nimrodidiot, June 23rd, 2008 at 04:15:49pm
this is a really well written blog, you raise a great point!
I have been told about this before, its terrible knowing that an organization that set out to help animals went in the other direction -_-
Vegemite, June 23rd, 2008 at 08:07:50am
PETA is crazy.. Libby is a member of their website and I'm just like.. ummm. yuh. they're crazy.
Rage, June 22nd, 2008 at 06:24:30pm
thank you, kurtni, for this blog. i'd known that PETA was
a joke, but i didn't know it was so excessive. so thanks again. =]
get famous, June 21st, 2008 at 07:14:03pm
what? didn't i just explain it? cause people are sh*t. we do all kinds of stuff for our own intrests without concerning about animals or nature or other people. we are selfish and stupid.
princess consuela, June 21st, 2008 at 06:27:10pm
why?
NiMrOd_1995, June 21st, 2008 at 03:56:19pm
Of course it would. I never said that. What I said was, I despise human race in general.
princess consuela, June 21st, 2008 at 01:37:11pm
so if your whole family were killed because of an animal rights activist it would'nt bother you? :]
NiMrOd_1995, June 21st, 2008 at 01:22:40pm
oh dear.. you got me all wrong...
I'm not brainwashed by PETA. I live in finland. do you know what that means? I don't have much to do with peta anyway. I used to visit the site though.
So, i'm not brainwashed, I don't give a f*ck about trends. it's just my basic attitude. I always though people were skams to treat animals like they do. a lot of cruelty in the world, no denying that. people who torture animals deserve nothing but a painful death, if you ask me.
Yes, i'm angry, yes, i'm agressive. you know why? cause i'm so damn pissed about people's selfish lifestyles and ignorant attitudes. like "why should it consern me?"
I love animals. I don't like human race. end of the story. try to change my mind and we'll see.
princess consuela, June 21st, 2008 at 01:09:47pm
I agree with every bit of this blog.
I despise PETA.
Kevin Devine, June 21st, 2008 at 12:02:30pm
Well, first off MissNeurotic, I don't eat meat. I'm a vegetarian, and a devoted animal rights activist, so no, being disgusted by "preaching vegans" is not the case. I just choose to put my support behind organizations that aren't gigantic frauds who actually accomplish something unlike what PETA does.
Secondly, I gave you credible sources for all my information. Seems to me you just don't want to believe it because you're caught up in the PETA trend. They don't do good and it really saddens me that they have made you think its ok to damage and hurt other people to protest things.
If all that is made up, show me sources that say otherwise?
Kurtni, June 21st, 2008 at 10:34:59am
I always found PETA was something people did because they thought it was trendy.
Saving animals, etc. Putting the flashy banners on Myspace.
They put all their funding into buying Pammy Anderson for their posters.
germma margaret!, June 21st, 2008 at 06:06:32am
oh yea...? well, maybe I think it is okay to blow stuff up for animal rights.
"Patient. Unattended. A package under a terminal bench. A short fuse to scatter steady hands if I forget to remember that better lives have been lived in the margins, locked in the prisons and lost on the gallows than have ever been enshrined in palaces."
princess consuela, June 21st, 2008 at 05:27:54am
the tactics do matter.
the proof is all there.
although preacheing vegians really piss me off, there is video proof of peta activists saying
"it's okay to blow stuff up for the animal rights" or something along those lines.
but yeah there was an activist at a college showing kids how to make bombs and stuff :]
so she isn't just saying that.
i suggest you do your research first missneurotic
NiMrOd_1995, June 21st, 2008 at 04:21:29am