Another friend who regularly camps at Oak-Tree Sanctuary felt the terror from this group and/or their friends. On the 22nd of September, the day Rachael died, he was set up in the woods camping as usual. He was making rounds on the 70 acre property to look for trespassers and stayed at the barn while Carol went for a load of hay. After Rachael died, Carol would not leave the animals alone.

He heard womens voices in the field, but stayed with the animals as promised. The next day when packing to head home, he noticed the rear tire was a little soft. He put in fix a flat and air before heading home. We noticed slight cut lines in the sidewall but didn't think it was something important as they were so small. On the highway the air in the tire heated and expanded, then the entire sidewall blew out! He made it home safe, but quite shaken. When having the van serviced the tire technition confirmed our fears, they were knifed and set to explode when air pressure increased. He could have easily flipped the SUV and have been hurt or even killed!

In his e-mail to me> "Anyways, the news is that the tires were definately KNIFED.  It had to have happened while I was away from the camp.  I can pretty much guess that those were the voices I picked up in the southeast corner of the field while I was watching the front for you when you went out to pick up the hay.  I wouldn't be surprised if they had poisoned my pot of beans on the fire... but I put the rest of those on the offering stone after I had shared that boiled pot with you that night."

Oct. 2nd 2007, a long time friend and volunteer of Oak-Tree was left a message under his van's wiper blade, stating not to have anything to do with Carol Butler, or else. On that Friday the 5th, they entered his barn and broke the neck of a bottle fed, very friendly, baby goat that was adopted from Oak-Tree and a miniature horse was severely beaten. He is afraid for his animals and family! If this isn't terror what is?

Earlier this summer a local volunteer was threatened on 2 separate occasions, at his home. He has horses and dogs and was told not to work at Oak-Tree Sanctuary, or else his animals would be hurt or killed. He was afraid to tell anyone, fearing for the lives of his horses and family!

Last weekend, Oct. 6th, they were back. The were seen in the field trying to approach the horses, but the horses ran for their lives! They were heard commenting on the new fences and when they saw the tent said "he is back again", putting them here the weekend of September 22nd, basicly admitting their guilt to the tire explosion and dead horse. There were 2 women and a man, they had a white dog with them whom they call Skip! An ATV was heard later in the day leaving towards the East. The State Police have their discriptions. Now the police are starting to believe what has been going on!
We are living in terror!

George Washington University law professor Robert Cottrol says the Castle Doctrine law is a more incremental change than either side of the gun-control debate wants to admit. Realistically, he says, prosecutors have not been eager to prosecute people who truly act in self-defense.

"There is a fundamental feeling on the part of many that the aggressor should not profit and the person who is defending should not be held in legal jeopardy," he says.

They have killed my animals, tried to kill my friend and threatened a local volunteer at his house, twice. When they are on my property or even approaching my property, I fear for the lives of my animals and myself, even friends if present.... The police want me to capture them and hand them over like a stray dog... Ya Right! A disabled woman against 3 or more attackers? The only way I could survive is if I shoot first... So PETA members and friends of PETA, I suggest you stay away from my property and that of my friends, or you will be still here by the time the police show up, I PROMISE!

And to the Thanksgiving Day intruder in the bluegreen sports car, I suggest you don't come back again...

If what they are doing to me and my 3 friends is not stalking, why isn't it! And if it is why aren't the police doing something about it!
 

 Know the Law: NY State's
 Stalking Statute
There are four degrees of Stalking in New York

    PL § 120.45    Stalking in the Fourth Degree
      Class B Misdemeanor

    A person is guilty of stalking in the fourth degree when he or she intentionally, and for no legitimate purpose, engages in a course of conduct directed at a specific person, and knows or reasonably should know that such conduct: yes

      (1)   is likely to cause reasonable fear of material harm to the physical health, safety or property of such person, a family member, or an acquaintance; or  yes

      (2)  causes material harm to the mental or emotional health of the victim by "following, telephoning or initiating communication or contact with such person," a family member, or an acquaintance,  yes
    and the actor was previously informed to cease that conduct; or

      (3)      is likely to cause the victim to reasonably fear that his or her employment, business or career is threatened by "appearing, telephoning or initiating communication or contact" at the victim's place of employment or business,  yes and the actor was previously informed to cease that conduct.  (yes, if the police did their job!)

     PL § 120.50   Stalking in the Third Degree

    Class A Misdemeanor

        (1)   covers serial stalker (multiple victims but no prior convictions); yes

(2)   stalker who has previously been convicted of committing a
specified predicate crime against the victim or a family member
of the victim;

      N.B. The definition of "specified predicate crime" found in Penal Law § 120.40(5) is complex and includes all violent felonies (see Penal Law § 70.02[1][a], [b], [c], and [d]), most sex offenses (sexual misconduct; rape 2 and 3; sodomy 2 and 3; sexual abuse 2 and 3; aggravated sexual abuse 1; and incest), as well as a litany of other crimes (assault 3; menacing 1, 2 and 3; coercion 1 and 2; aggravated harassment 2; harass­ment 1; criminal mischief 1, 2 and 3; criminal tampering 1; arson 3 and 4; criminal contempt 1; and endangering the welfare of a child), stalking 2, 3 and 4, and certain offenses committed in other states (Penal Law § 120.40[5][e]).

      (3)    the basic language of the section requires intent to engage in the conduct, rather than intent to cause the result;

      (4)      if actor has a prior fourth-degree stalking conviction, actions that would otherwise equate to fourth-degree stalking receive the enhanced charge of third-degree stalking.

 
    PL § 120.55    Stalking in the Second Degree -  E Felony

(1)     offender commits stalking 3 and displays and threatens to
use a deadly weapon,  yes (poison!) or displays what appears to be a firearm;

(2)     offender commits stalking 3 and has a prior conviction of
one of the specified predicate crimes and commits actions that
would otherwise equate to third-degree stalking;

      N.B. The definition of "specified predicate crime" found in Penal Law § 120.40(5) is complex and includes all violent felonies (see Penal Law § 70.02[l][a], [b], [c], and [d]), most sex offenses (sexual misconduct; rape 2 and 3; sodomy 2 and 3; sexual abuse 2 and 3; aggravated sexual abuse 1; and incest), as well as a litany of other crimes (assault 3; menacing 1, 2 and 3; coercion 1 and 2; aggravated harassment 2; harassment 1; criminal mischief 1, 2 and 3; criminal tampering 1; arson 3 and 4; criminal contempt 1; and endangering the welfare of a child), stalking 2, 3 and 4, and certain offenses committed in other states (see Penal Law § 120.40[5][e])

 (3)  offender with two prior fourth-degree stalking convictions,
whose current actions equate to third-degree stalking, eligible
for the enhanced charge of second-degree stalking;

(4)      offender 21 or older - victim under 14 must intentionally
place or attempt to place the victim in fear of physical injury, serious
physical injury or death.

     PL § 120.60   Stalking in the First Degree -

    D Felony/Violent Felony Offense
        *
          If actions equating to third-degree stalking involve a specified sexual offense, first-degree stalking is charged as a D felony;
        *
         If the offender's actions cause physical injury yes, either intentionally or recklessly, first-degree stalking is charged as a D violent felony offense. 

If what they are doing to me and my 3 friends is not stalking, why isn't it! And if it is why aren't the police doing something about it!

    – Ingrid Newkirk, Satya, January, 2001

“One day, we would like an end to pet shops and the breeding of animals. [Dogs] would pursue their natural lives in the wild ... they would have full lives, not wasting at home for someone to come home in the evening and pet them and then sit there and watch TV.”
— The Chicago Daily Herald, 3/1/90

“Humans have grown like a cancer. We're the biggest blight on the face of the earth.”
— Washingtonian magazine, 2/1/90

“I plan to send my liver somewhere in France, to protest foie gras (liver pate) ... I plan to have handbags made from my skin ... and an umbrella stand made from my seat.”
— PETA President Ingrid Newkirk speaking to onMilwaukee.com, 2/1/05

“I openly hope that it [hoof-and-mouth disease] comes here. It will bring economic harm only for those who profit from giving people heart attacks and giving animals a concentration camp-like existence. It would be good for animals, good for human health and good for the environment.”
— ABC News interview, 4/2/01

“Even if animal tests produced a cure for AIDS, we’d be against it.”
— PETA president and co-founder Ingrid Newkirk, in the September 1989 issue of Vogue, 9/1/89

“I don’t use the word 'pet.' I think it’s speciesist language. I prefer 'companion animal.' For one thing, we would no longer allow breeding. People could not create different breeds. There would be no pet shops. If people had companion animals in their homes, those animals would have to be refugees from the animal shelters and the streets. You would have a protective relationship with them just as you would with an orphaned child. But as the surplus of cats and dogs (artificially engineered by centuries of forced breeding) declined, eventually companion animals would be phased out, and we would return to a more symbiotic relationship – enjoyment at a distance.”
— The Harper's Forum Book, Jack Hitt, ed., 1989, p.223,

“I will be the last person to condemn ALF [the Animal Liberation Front].”
— The New York Daily News, 12/7/97

“Six million people died in concentration camps, but six billion broiler chickens will die this year in slaughterhouses. [emphasis added]”
— The Washington Post, 11/13/83

“There’s no rational basis for saying that a human being has special rights. A rat is a pig is a dog is a boy. They’re all animals.”
— Washingtonian magazine, 8/1/86

“We’re looking for good lawsuits that will establish the interests of animals as a legitimate area of concern in law.”
— Insight on the News, 7/17/00

“Perhaps the mere idea of receiving a nasty missive will allow animal researchers to empathize with their victims for the first time in their lousy careers. I find it small wonder that the laboratories aren’t all burning to the ground. If I had more guts, I’d light a match.”
— The Chronicle of Higher Education, 11/12/99

“Our nonviolent tactics are not as effective. We ask nicely for years and get nothing. Someone makes a threat, and it works.”
— Ingrid Newkirk, in the April 8, 2002 issue of US News & World Report , 4/8/02

“In the end, I think it would be lovely if we stopped this whole notion of pets altogether.”
— Newsday, 2/21/88

“I am not a morose person, but I would rather not be here. I don’t have any reverence for life, only for the entities themselves. I would rather see a blank space where I am. This will sound like fruitcake stuff again but at least I wouldn’t be harming anything.”
— The Washington Post, 11/13/83

“Probably everything we do is a publicity stunt ... we are not here to gather members, to please, to placate, to make friends. We're here to hold the radical line.”
— USA Today, 9/3/91

“I wish we all would get up and go into the labs and take the animals out or burn them down.”
— "National Animal Rights Convention", 6/27/97

“Would I rather the research lab that tests animals is reduced to a bunch of cinders? Yes.”
— New York Daily News, 12/7/97

“Eating meat is primitive, barbaric, and arrogant.”
— Washington City Paper, 12/20/85

“Pet ownership is an absolutely abysmal situation brought about by human manipulation.”
— Harper's, 8/1/88

“The bottom line is that people don't have the right to manipulate or to breed dogs and cats... If people want toys, they should buy inanimate objects. If they want companionship, they should seek it with their own kind.”
— Animals, 5/1/93

“We are complete press sluts.”
— Ingrid Newkirk, in The New Yorker, 4/14/03

“More power to SHAC if they can get someone’s attention.”
— People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals president & co-founder Ingrid Newkirk, in The Boston Herald, August 25, 2002,

“There is no hidden agenda. If anybody wonders about -- what’s this with all these reforms -- you can hear us clearly. Our goal is total animal liberation. [emphasis added]”
— “Animal Rights 2002” convention, 6/30/02

Info below came from the listed websites, there is even more to read on line! This is just to help educate the public! New info added nightly, check at the bottom to see if you read it all!

http://www.consumerfreedom.com/news_detail.cfm/headline/2264
December 12, 2003

Anti-PETA Ads Win Popular Acclaim

Last week the Fox News Channel aired two Center for Consumer Freedom commercials skewering People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) for its association with terrorism and other violence. We have received hundreds of email responses from the general public -- almost all of them positive -- and we wanted to share a few with you. Some were personal, from people with direct experience dealing with animal rights terrorism. Others were from animal lovers and vegetarians who detest PETA for casting them in a bad light. But most were from ordinary Americans whom PETA has managed to anger and alienate over the years.

The following note comes to us from a retired college professor who was targeted by animal rights lunatics:

    "I was very pleased -- moved almost to the point of tears -- when I saw your ads against PETA last night on Fox TV (I really liked the one showing Rod Coronado!) ... I myself am a former scientist, who considered himself one of the top 10 targets in the country of an animal rights attack for the past 25 years ... The biggest problem we face is ignorance of what and who PETA are. Your ads are a Godsend -- and are what prompted me to contribute my $25 to your cause. Go you!"

The next message came from a Los Angeles firefighter:

    "When [radical activists] bomb or commit arson of a structure that's their target, firefighters that respond and attempt rescues and firefighting operations can and have been killed for their cause ... Firefighters enter the burning structure to rescue anyone or even animals, then in a week we all attend funerals!!! Yes people should know about these VERY DANGEROUS PEOPLE. Thank you."

The next batch of emails came from people who care a great deal about the welfare of animals, but oppose PETA and its overbearing tactics:

    "Thank you very much for your campaign against the actions of PETA. As a vegetarian I hate to see PETA get so much media attention for their 'causes.' I think it gives us 'normal' vegetarians a bad name. Thanks again!"

    "I just wanted to applaud your organization for taking a stand against PETA. I am an animal lover and a member of the ASPCA. Organizations like PETA cast an evil shadow over peaceful animal lovers everywhere! For many years now I have been outraged, shocked and annoyed at PETA and their actions, as well as shocked that they continue to receive tax-free funding from ignorant citizens across this country. I am so very happy to see an organization such as yours take the time, and spend the money, to educate people about the real PETA and their activities."

    "THANK YOU for having the intestinal fortitude to run the ads telling about the real PETA. Most responsible pet owners and rescuers know what they are really about but it's hard for us to run TV ads. We are a small group compared to PETA but detest what they stand for."

    "Thank you so much for bringing the reality of extremist, radical, terrorist organizations like PETA to the masses. They do more damage and hurt organizations that are out there trying hard to do some real good. They make it so much harder for us to get the support from communities. All of us volunteers, dedicated to animal welfare thank you."

And then there were these notes from people who simply can't stand PETA and heard their own voice in our commercials:

    "I was so blown away by your ads which I saw on Fox News last night that I was happy to make a small contribution. Keep up the good work!"

    "My mouth dropped to the floor when I saw your tv commercial about PETA. I was shocked. Finally someone is fighting back. I am tired of these wacko groups trying to control our lives. Keep it up, I love what you are doing by exposing some of these groups for what they really are."

    "I'm still trying to pick my jaw up off of the floor. FINALLY, a campaign has sought to spread the TRUTH about groups like PETA. They seek only to promote their own twisted agenda -- consumer freedom and individual rights be damned. I could type for hours and not begin to express my appreciation for what [the Center for Consumer Freedom] is doing. Kudos to you!"

    "I was so happy to see your commercial re: the violent acts committed by PETA members. It was the first time that I have seen these people challenged. I have made a donation and sent your website to everyone on my list."

    "I saw one of your ads/PSA's last week and whooped with joy! At last, someone with clout is speaking out against PETA. Congratulations!"

    "It is about time someone truly takes a stand to expose PETA & PCRM for what they really are, and even better that we are starting to see things on the television ... You are doing a great job, and you have the gratitude of millions of Americans for taking such a stand!"

The Book PETA and HSUS Don’t Want You to Read

We never thought we’d wade into the politics of pet shelters, but the decidedly unethical treatment of a van-load of pound puppies in 2005 by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) employees radicalized us. Despite PETA’s habit of killing upwards of 90 percent of the dogs, cats, puppies, and kittens it takes in, PETA president Ingrid Newkirk conceded in 2000 that her organization “could become a no-kill shelter immediately.” (Such a shift of budget priorities, of course, would require the jettisoning of some of PETA’s more obnoxious campaigns and obnoxious campaigners.) The image of PETA blissfully slaughtering adoptable pets is a fair definition of hypocrisy. But just when we thought we had heard the worst of it, along comes Nathan Winograd.

Winograd’s book, available for purchase this month, is titled Redemption. He argues, quite effectively, that the concept of “pet overpopulation” in the United States -- that bogeyman that PETA and the Humane Society of the United States constantly use to justify an inordinate focus on dispatching dogs and cats to the great beyond -- is a myth. Every year, Winograd claims, there are actually more Americans looking for pets than animals needlessly killed in shelters.

We read Redemption and we absorbed Winograd's prescriptions for change. We were touched. We asked the author to answer some tough questions about his claims. And he said yes.

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals
501 Front Street, Norfolk, VA 23510
Phone 757-622-7382 | Fax 757-622-0457 | Email info@peta-online.org
 

Overview
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) has been described as "by far the most successful radical organization in America." The key word is radical. PETA seeks "total animal liberation," according to its president and co-founder, Ingrid Newkirk. That means no meat or dairy, of course; but it also means no aquariums, no circuses, no hunting or fishing, no fur or leather, and no medical research using animals. PETA is even opposed to the use of seeing-eye dogs.
Amidst the dozens of animal rights organizations, PETA occupies the niche of -- in Newkirk's own words -- "complete press sluts." Endlessly seeking media exposure, PETA sends out dozens of press releases every week.

In the past, PETA has handled the press for the Animal Liberation Front (ALF), a violent, underground group of fanatics who plant firebombs in restaurants, destroy butcher shops, and torch research labs. The FBI considers ALF among America's most active and prolific terrorist groups, but PETA compares it to the Underground Railroad and the French Resistance. More than 20 years after its inception, PETA continues to hire convicted ALF militants and funds their legal defense. In at least one case, court records show that Ingrid Newkirk herself was involved in an ALF arson.

PETA has even begun to adopt the tactics of an ALF offshoot known as SHAC (Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty). This group is notorious for taking protests outside the boardroom and into the living room, attacking their targets at their homes.

In 2001, three masked SHAC members brutally bludgeoned a medical researcher outside his home in England. The lead attacker was arrested and sentenced to three years in prison. A few months later, SHAC attacked another research industry employee on his doorstep with a chemical spray to his eyes, leaving him temporarily blinded and writhing in pain. The following year, Newkirk was asked her opinion of SHAC in the Boston Herald. Her response? "More power to SHAC if they can get someone's attention."

By 2003, PETA activists had adopted SHAC's protest techniques, stalking and harassing fast-food restaurant executives. Not content to write letters and picket the chain restaurant's offices, PETA's leaders met with the CEO's pastor, and visited his country club and the manager of one of his favorite restaurants. PETA activists, one dressed in a chicken suit, even protested at the church of two executives, annoying worshipers by driving a truck with giant screens of slaughterhouse video back and forth along the street.

In an effort to win more media exposure, PETA has adopted the counter-intuitive tactic of buying stock in restaurant and food companies that serve and sell meat. After buying just enough shares to qualify, PETA's pattern is to introduce shareholder resolutions that would require animal-rights-oriented practices in the way animals are handled and slaughtered.

PETA's goal as a shareholder, of course, is not to turn a profit. Its resolutions, if passed, would increase the cost of doing business and lower the value of everyone's investment. The group has claimed that it's "not trying to remove meat from the menu." But with a stated long-term goal of "total animal liberation," pushing for animal-welfare changes is just a first step. PETA's short-term goals are to economically cripple these companies, force them to increase the retail price of meat, and nudge consumers toward eating less of it.

PETA collected almost $29 million in donations in 2004 alone, but few donors understand exactly where their money is going. During the past ten years, PETA has spent four times as much on criminals and their legal defense than it has on shelters, spay-neuter programs, and other efforts that actually help animals.

From both a moral and a legal standpoint, there are far too many objectionable things about PETA to list here in detail. But the following "top ten list" is a good start:

    * 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 2003 alone -- that's over 85 percent of the animals it received. In fact, from July 1998 through the end of 2003, PETA killed over 10,000 dogs, cats, and other "companion animals" at its Norfolk, Virginia headquarters. That's more than five animals every day. On its 2002 federal income-tax return, PETA claimed a $9,370 expense for a giant walk-in freezer, the kind most people use as a meat locker or for ice-cream storage. But animal-rights activists don't eat meat or dairy foods. So far, the group hasn't confirmed the obvious -- that it's using the appliance to store the bodies of its victims.

    * PETA assaults common decency.
      PETA's leadership has compared animal farmers to serial killer (and cannibal) Jeffrey Dahmer. They proclaimed in a 2003 exhibit that chickens are as valuable as Jewish Holocaust victims. They announced with a 2001 billboard that a shark attack on a little boy was "revenge" against humans who had it coming anyway. They have branded parents who feed their kids meat and milk "child abusers." In 2002 PETA organized a campaign to sabotage a popular Thanksgiving hotline, which provides free advice about cooking turkeys. The group has even contemplated (literally) dancing on the grave of Kentucky Fried Chicken's Colonel Sanders. And in 2003, PETA president Ingrid Newkirk wrote to Yasser Arafat, pleading with him to make certain no animals are harmed in Palestinian suicide-bombing attacks.

    * PETA peddles its "animal liberation" food agenda through a medical front group that pretends to offer objective nutritional advice.
      A group misleadingly named the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM) has duped the press into believing that it is an association of conscientious doctors promoting good nutrition. In fact, it is a PETA front group. PCRM and PETA share money, offices, and staff. The American Medical Association calls PCRM a "pseudo-physicians group," has demanded that PCRM stop its "inappropriate and unethical tactics used to manipulate public opinion," and argues that PCRM has been "blatantly misleading Americans" and "concealing its true purpose as an animal 'rights' organization."

      Taking a page out of PETA's press book, PCRM has labeled U.S. school lunches "weapons of mass destruction" because they include meat and milk. PCRM's president, a psychiatrist named Neal Barnard, recently duped Newsweek into covering his "study" (of seven people) supposedly demonstrating that a vegan diet helped prevent type-2 diabetes. In 2002, PCRM was cited in major newspapers more than 550 times. It was identified as an animal-rights organization in only a handful of those cases.

    * PETA exploits sick people.
      PETA famously suggested that drinking milk causes cancer, in an advertisement mocking then-NYC Mayor Rudy Guliani with the words "Got Prostate Cancer?" PETA has also erected a billboard reading: "Got Sick Kids? Drinking milk contributes to colic, ear infections, allergies, diabetes, obesity, and many other illnesses." In 2003 the group held a demonstration in front of a Toronto-area hospital that was under a SARS-related quarantine, spuriously alleging that animal husbandry has something to do with the epidemic's spread. Upon hearing that Charlton Heston had fallen ill with Alzheimer's Disease, Ingrid Newkirk suggested that PETA would "toy with the idea that both Alzheimer's and CJD [Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease] are related to meat consumption." According to a profile in The New Yorker, she considered "renting billboards that would display a large picture of a gaunt Charlton Heston foaming at the mouth."

    * PETA propagandizes children.
      PETA's website for kids puts a skull and crossbones next to the logo of Disney's Animal Kingdom and tells the horror story of a fast food restaurant employee who "had taken a patty into the potty with her, then returned and said she had peed on it." It hands out trading cards to kids that allege drinking milk will make them fat, pimply, flatulent, and phlegm-ridden. PETA also has a child-themed website, and a kiddie-oriented magazine, called GRRR! Kids Bite Back. The name is significant, as it is intended to prep children to identify with the Animal Liberation Front (ALF), which has long-used the phrase "bite back" in its promotional materials. In fact, as early as 1991, convicted ALF arsonist and PETA grantee Rodney Coronado was calling his own crime spree "Operation Bite Back." PETA also sends "humane education lecturer" Gary Yourofsky into high schools -- and even middle schools -- to promote the "animal liberation" agenda. Yourofsky is a convicted ALF criminal who has said he would support burning down medical research labs even if humans were trapped in the flames.

    * PETA distorts religious teachings.
      Not only does PETA oppose the age-old Jewish tradition of Kosher slaughter, but the group's leaders maintain that Jews have misinterpreted their own sacred texts on the subject. They also claim, ignoring mountains of scripture to the contrary, that Jesus was a vegetarian. PETA celebrated Easter in 2003 with a billboard depicting a pig, reading "he died for your sins." PETA also insists (again, selectively ignoring contradictory evidence) that Muhammad "was not a meat-eater." In his speeches to adolescents, Gary Yourofsky regularly compares himself to Gandhi and Jesus Christ. PETA's in-school presentations include the application of "do unto others as you would have them do unto you" to birds and turtles -- not people.

    * PETA opposes life-saving medical research.
      PETA has repeatedly attacked groups like the March of Dimes, the Pediatric AIDS Foundation, and the American Cancer Society, for conducting animal testing to find cures for birth defects and life-threatening diseases. When asked if she would oppose an experiment on five thousand rats if it would result in a cure for AIDS, Newkirk responded: "Would you be opposed to experiments on your daughter if you knew it would save fifty million people?" In addition to opposing any and all medical research that uses animals, PETA also insults medical professionals by arguing, with a straight face, that animal testing is a counterproductive means of finding cures for human diseases.

    * PETA devalues human life.
      PETA's efforts to treasure every mosquito and cockroach invariably lead them to hate human beings for using bug spray and RAID. Ingrid Newkirk argues that as human beings, "we're the biggest blight on the face of the earth."

    * PETA openly supports violence and terrorist activity.
      PETA has long-standing ties to militant groups like the Animal Liberation Front (ALF), and the Earth Liberation Front (ELF). The FBI calls these criminal groups a "serious domestic terrorist threat."

Motivation
According to People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, human beings are just another animal species, no more special or important than a snail darter or dairy cow. The group believes, as one commentator put it, that “animal trainers, hunters, fishermen, cattlemen, grocers, and indeed all non-vegetarians are the moral equivalent of cannibals, slave-owners, and death-camp guards.” Newkirk insists that the world would be a better place without people: “Humans have grown like a cancer. We’re the biggest blight on the face of the earth.”

While valuing livestock over people may be an indefensible argument, it’s typical of PETA’s overall strategy: to stake out extreme, ridiculous, offensive, and often laughable positions, in order to constantly redefine the edge of what’s considered “acceptable” philosophy and protest activity. Ten years ago, throwing fake blood on a fur coat, agitating for vegan cafeteria food, or objecting to Biology-class dissection were unusual behaviors. Today, these are commonplace -- the radical line is now defined by firebombs, grand theft, stalking of scientists, and bloody physical assaults. For this, PETA deserves much of the blame; its habit of upping the ante of bad taste and shock value has redefined misanthropy and bad taste.

For instance, when PETA learned that the photographs of Holocaust victims displayed in its roving exhibit -- entitled “The Holocaust on Your Plate” -- included Nobel Peace Prize winner Elie Wiesel as a young man at the Buchenwald concentration camp, it shrugged. “Six million people died in concentration camps,” laments Ingrid Newkirk, “but six billion broiler chickens will die this year in slaughterhouses.”

When terrorists struck on September 11, 2001, PETA issued a press release emphasizing the “animals left orphaned” and the dogs and cats in nearby buildings who would be “highly traumatized.” The press release berated Mayor Giuliani for his “poor record when it comes to animals” and urged him expend time, energy, and human resources “to set up a task force to locate and rescue animals” at Ground Zero.

When Newkirk heard that Palestinian militants had strapped explosives to a donkey in the hopes of exploding it in a crowded Jerusalem street, she faxed a letter to Yasser Arafat, pleading with him to “leave the animals out of it.”

When a grisly killing spree in Vancouver left 15 women dead, PETA tried to purchase full-page ads in local papers suggesting that this carnage was no worse than the killing of animals for food.

When Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh decided to refrain from eating meat during his last meal, PETA’s Bruce Friedrich told reporters: “Mr. McVeigh’s decision to go vegetarian groups him with some of the world’s greatest visionaries, including Albert Schweitzer, Mohandas Gandhi, Leo Tolstoy and Albert Einstein.”

And when images of American POWs brutalized by Saddam’s regime came back from the war zone -- reminding us of mankind’s capacity for barbarism -- PETA loudly fretted that the hens used by the army to detect chemical weapons “never enlisted” and that the dolphins locating deadly mines in the Persian Gulf “have not volunteered.”

Having proclaimed the life of a roaster chicken to be as valuable as that of a person trapped inside a collapsing skyscraper or imprisoned in a death camp, a murder victim, a federal worker in Oklahoma City, or an innocent Israeli civilian, PETA continues to place greater value on a dolphin than on a ship packed with American soldiers. “I don't believe that people have the right to life,” Newkirk has said. “That’s a supremacist perversion. A rat is a pig is a dog is a boy.”

In this sense, Timothy McVeigh and Osama bin Laden may be seen as heroes to PETA. By taking thousands of humans out of the food chain, they saved far more chickens and cows than they killed people.

Blackeye
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals provides aid and comfort for the Earth Liberation Front (ELF) and the Animal Liberation Front (ALF). The two groups are responsible for more than 600 crimes since 1996, causing (by a very conservative FBI estimate) more than $43 million in damage. ALF’s “press office” brags that in 2002, the two groups committed “100 illegal direct actions” -- like blowing up SUVs, destroying the brakes on seafood delivery trucks, and planting firebombs in restaurants.

The FBI calls ALF and ELF the nation’s “most serious domestic terrorism threat.” Bruce Friedrich, PETA’s “vegan campaign director” and third-in-command, didn’t seem to care when he addressed the Animal Rights 2001 convention in Virginia, telling a crowd of over 1,000 activists that “blowing stuff up and smashing windows” is “a great way to bring about animal liberation.”

“It would be great,” he added, “if all the fast-food outlets, slaughterhouses, these laboratories and the banks who fund them exploded tomorrow.”

PETA’s connections to ALF and ELF are indisputable. “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.

For instance, in 2003, ELF set fire to an unfinished, 200 unit condominium complex near San Diego. The arson caused $50 million in damage, and according to a San Diego Fire Captain: “It could have killed someone.” ELF left its calling card in the form of a twelve foot sign that read: “If you build it -- we will burn it -- the ELF’s are mad.”

PETA also has given $2,000 to David Wilson, then a national ALF “spokesperson.” The group paid $27,000 for the legal defense of Roger Troen, who was arrested for taking part in an October 1986 burglary and arson at the University of Oregon. It gave $7,500 to Fran Stephanie Trutt, who tried to murder the president of a medical laboratory. It gave $5,000 to Josh Harper, who attacked Native Americans on a whale hunt by throwing smoke bombs, shooting flares, and spraying their faces with chemical fire extinguishers. All of these monies were paid out of tax-exempt funds, the same pot of money constantly enlarged by donations from an unsuspecting general public.

PETA president Ingrid Newkirk is also an acknowledged financial supporter of a publication called No Compromise. This periodical operates on behalf of the radicals of ALF, and often publishes underground “communiqués” and calls to arms from ALF leaders.

Most ominously, PETA president Ingrid Newkirk was involved in the multi-million-dollar arson at Michigan State University that resulted in a 57-month prison term for Animal Liberation Front bomber Rodney Coronado. At Coronado’s sentencing hearing, U.S. Attorney Michael Dettmer said that PETA’s Ingrid Newkirk arranged ahead of time to have Coronado send her a pair of FedEx packages from Michigan -- one on the day before he burned the lab down, and the other shortly afterward.

The first FedEx, according to the Sentencing Memorandum, was delivered to a woman named Maria Blanton, “a longtime PETA member who had agreed to accept the first Federal Express package from Coronado after being asked to do so by Ingrid Newkirk.” The FBI intercepted the second package, which had been sent to the same address. It contained documents that Coronado stole before lighting his firebombs, as well as “a videotape of the perpetrator of the MSU crime, disguised in a ski mask.” Since Coronado was convicted of the arson, we now know that he himself was that masked man. “Significantly,” wrote U.S. Attorney Dettmer, “Newkirk had arranged to have the package[s] delivered to her days before the MSU arson occurred.” (emphasis in the original)

A search warrant executed at Blanton’s home turned up evidence that PETA’s other co-founder, Alex Pacheco, had also been planning burglaries and break-ins along with Rodney Coronado. The feds seized “surveillance logs; code names for Coronado, Pacheco, and others; burglary tools; two-way radios; night vision goggles; [and] phony identification for Coronado and Pacheco.”

Shortly after Coronado’s arrest, PETA gave $45,200 to his “support committee” and “loaned” $25,000 to his father (the loan was never repaid and PETA hasn’t complained). Now free from jail, with an expired parole, and with the benefit of an expired Statute of Limitations on his many earlier arsons (to which he readily confesses in his standard stump speech), Coronado stood before a crowd of hundreds of young people at American University in January 2003 and demonstrated how to turn a milk jug into a bomb. A few days later, ALF criminals tried to burn down a McDonald’s restaurant in Chico, California, using a firebomb that matched Coronado’s recipe.

The following month, Ingrid Newkirk told ABC News that Rodney Coronado is “a fine young man.”

Newkirk wrote a book called Free the Animals! The Untold Story of the U.S. Animal Liberation Front and Its Founder, ‘Valerie.’ In it she writes: “The ALF has, over the years, trusted People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) to receive copies of the evidence of wrongdoing … I have also become somewhat used to jumping on a plane with copies of freshly purloined documents and hurriedly calling news conferences to discuss the ALF’s findings.” Indeed, PETA has held such press conferences just hours after ALF arsons and other break-ins.

PETA has published a leaflet called “Animal Liberation Front: the Army of the Kind.” In another pamphlet, “Activism and the Law,” PETA openly offers advice on “burning a laboratory building.”

“I will be the last person to condemn ALF,” says Newkirk. And in another interview: “I find it small wonder that the laboratories aren’t all burning to the ground. If I had more guts, I’d light a match.” In ALF’s publication Bite Back (yes, this terrorist group has a newsletter), Newkirk has said: “You can’t have all politeness and patience, all potlucks and epistles … Some people will never budge unless [they are] pushed to budge.”

Perhaps Newkirk’s most telling comment, though, came in a 2002 U.S. News & World Report feature. “Our nonviolent tactics are not as effective,” she admitted. “We ask nicely for years and get nothing. Someone makes a threat, and it works.”

 Profile:
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals

We've Got A Bone To Pick With HSUS Over Michael Vick

First things first: We’re not fans of dogfighting. And if the charges against Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick prove true, he should be punished to the fullest extent of the law. But that hasn’t stopped the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) from making him the latest poster boy for its gargantuan -- and apparently misleading -- fundraising efforts. It looks to us like Vick isn’t the only one with some serious explaining to do.

Have we mentioned that we can’t stand dogfighting? We also can’t stand animal rights fundraising that smells of fraud, or smug activists who can’t keep their stories straight.

Case in point: In yesterday’s New York Times, HSUS president Wayne Pacelle called for the pit bulls seized from Michael Vick’s house to be “put down.” That’s HSUS-speak for “killed, because we’d rather not spend part of our $223 million nest egg actually operating any pet shelters.” Pacelle also lamented: “We don’t know how well they are being kept.”

But just a few weeks ago in HSUS’s prominent plea for the public’s donations, the group wrote that it wanted money “to help The Humane Society of the United States care for the dogs seized in the Michael Vick case … your gift will be put to use right away to care for these dogs …” Click here to see a screen-capture from HSUS’s website, dated July 18. A week later, HSUS quietly changed its fundraising tune. (Click here to compare it with the current, edited pitch for cash -- not that we recommend giving.)

Let’s recap: Vick was indicted on July 17. The next day, HSUS was raising money on the promise that it would be used to “care for” Vick’s dogs. Just two weeks later, the Times reports that not only wasn’t HSUS “caring for” them, but its president had no idea who is, or where. And -- oh, yes -- he’d very much like them dead.

CCF Delivers One-Two Punch to PETA

Yesterday, the Center for Consumer Freedom (CCF) sent PETA and one of its top spokesmen scurrying with their tails between their legs. Big time. PETA has been using the Michael Vick dogfighting scandal to drum up support -- and cash -- for the organization. And while CCF deplores Vick's actions, we also have a big problem with PETA's blatant hypocrisy when it comes to killing animals.

CCF pressed PETA’s Daphna Nachminovitch on the issue of PETA’s hypocrisy in a debate on Fox News. In the words of one fan, CCF "not only ate the lunch of [Nachminovitch], but took her chocolate milk, too." Enough said.

And as CCF’s full-page ad yesterday in The New York Times pointed out, PETA has killed more than 14,400 animals since 1998. Vick allegedly killed 8. (Click here to enter PetaKillsAnimals.com, where you can see the ad and read more about how PETA really treats animals.)

We put it best in a recent press release:

    PETA has shamelessly used the horrific Michael Vick case to pad their group’s coffers, even though their track record of slaughtering thousands of helpless, adoptable animals is far more damning. Americans need to be aware of how PETA treats animals in their care and reject the group’s overt hypocrisy.

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals
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People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) is an animal rights organization based in the United States. With 1.6 million members and supporters, PETA claims to be the largest animal rights group in the world.[1]

Founded in 1980 and based in Norfolk, Virginia, PETA is a nonprofit, tax exempt 501(c)(3) corporation with 187 employees,[2] and funded almost exclusively by the contributions of its members.[1] Outside the U.S., there are affiliated offices in Canada, France, Germany, India, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, South Africa, Taiwan, and the United Kingdom.[3] There is also the peta2 Street Team for high school and college-age activists.[4] Ingrid Newkirk is PETA's international president.

PETA's slogan is "animals are not ours to eat, wear, experiment on, or use for entertainment."[1] In support of that position, it focuses on four core issues: factory farming,[5] fur farming, animal testing, and animals in entertainment. It also campaigns against fishing, the killing of animals regarded as pests, abuse of chained, backyard dogs, cock fighting, bullfighting and the consumption of meat. It aims to inform the public of its position through advertisements, undercover investigations, animal rescue, and lobbying.

The organization has been criticized for some of its campaigns, for the actions of some of its employees regarding their treatment of animals,[6] and for the number of animals it euthanizes. It was also criticized in 2005 by American Senator James M. Inhofe for having acted as a "spokesgroup" for the Earth Liberation Front and Animal Liberation Front, after activists associated with those groups had committed what Inhofe called "acts of terrorism."[7]

PETA is an animal rights organization, meaning that in addition to focusing on animal welfare and protection issues, it rejects the idea of animals as property, and opposes all forms of speciesism, animal testing, animal product eating, factory farming, hunting, and fishing, as well as the use of animals in entertainment or as clothing, furniture, or decoration.[8]

In PETA's 2004 annual review, Newkirk stated:

    Everyone eats, so we have done our best not only to reform the worst abuses in factory farming and slaughterhouses, but to promote a compassionate vegan diet, providing all the resources, from recipes to health tips, that a person could ever need. We have also revolutionized the way some companies do business, getting them to stop selling fur, boycott Australian merino wool, and abandon painful animal-poisoning tests in favor of sophisticated non-animal methods. We have shown how to prevent flooding without destroying beavers' homes and how to prevent birds from entering "big box" stores without using cruel glue traps. In the past year alone, former circus and zoo elephants were sent to sanctuaries, hog-dog rodeos were banned, and cruel companies were fined. We also educated millions of kids about animal rights through our teacher network and education programs.

    – Ingrid Newkirk "PETA annual review 2004", Peta.org.

[edit] History
“  PETA believes that ... like you ... [animals] are capable of suffering and have an interest in leading their own lives; therefore, they are not ours to use — for food, clothing, entertainment, experimentation, or any other reason. — People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals [9]  ”

Founded in 1980, PETA first came to public attention in 1981 during what became known as the Silver Spring monkeys case.[10] Alex Pacheco, PETA co-founder with Newkirk, conducted an undercover investigation inside a primate research laboratory at the Institute of Behavioral Research in Silver Spring, Maryland. The lead researcher, Dr. Edward Taub, was studying regeneration of severed nerves by cutting nerves in the limbs of 17 monkeys, then applying electric shocks, physical restraint of intact limbs, and withholding food to see what, if anything, would force them to use the damaged limbs.[11] Pacheco visited the institute at night and took photographs that showed the monkeys were living in "filthy conditions," according to the Institute for Animal Research's ILAR Journal.[12] He turned his evidence over to the police, who raided the lab and arrested Taub. Taub was later convicted of six counts of animal cruelty, the first conviction in the U.S. of a research scientist, although it was later overturned on appeal.

The case, which lasted ten years, led to the amendment of the Animal Welfare Act in 1985,[13][14] and became the first animal-testing case to be argued before the United States Supreme Court,[10] which unanimously rejected PETA's application for custody of some of the monkeys. They remained instead with the National Institutes of Health, which had funded Taub's research, until they died or were euthanized.[12][15] Findings were made by the examining veterinarians that "the animals were suffering and in danger of serious life-threatening injuries due to their deteriorating health," and euthanasia was recommended by the primate center's blue ribbon panel of animal care experts and the Louisiana SPCA. PETA and other animal rights groups pleaded for the animals' lives, contending that their condition did not warrant euthanasia and that "they could live safely, humanely, and comfortably if transferred to a suitable facility."[citation needed]The director of the Delta Regional Primate Center said: “They still blocked the euthanasia with court action. They are going to fight very hard for every monkey because the more publicity they get, the more money they bring in.”[16] Ultimately, PETA's efforts to save the animals failed, and they were euthanized when the appeal was denied.[17][18]

The case defined PETA as an activist group that was able and willing to use undercover methods, the courts, and the media to try and achieve its aims.

    See also List of notable supporters of PETA and List of notable opponents of PETA

The organization is known for its undercover investigations and aggressive media campaigns. Newkirk has said of PETA's campaign strategy: "How do we pick our battles? By trying to touch the public imagination, the public heart, and by choosing targets that will result in great change for large numbers of animals and set an example for others to follow when we win our battles with them."[citation needed]

Many of PETA's campaigns have focused on large corporations, such as KFC, McDonald's, Wendy's, Burger King, PETCO, Procter & Gamble, Covance, and Huntingdon Life Sciences (HLS). PETA now focuses on KFC, and has launched the website kentuckyfriedcruelty.com.[19] In 1997, PETA initiated what has become an international, and sometimes violent, campaign against HLS, when video footage shot covertly inside the company by PETA investigator Michele Rokke[20] was aired on British television, showing staff beating the beagles in their care.[21] When HLS threatened legal action, PETA was forced to retreat from the campaign, fearing crippling costs, and Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty, a loose affiliation of activists with links to other groups, took its place.[20]

PETA's president and co-founder Ingrid Newkirk.
“  Thinkers may prepare revolutions, but bandits must carry them out. — Ingrid Newkirk [22]  ”

Ingrid Newkirk is firm in her support of direct action. Both she and PETA have been criticized for providing financial support to Animal Liberation Front (ALF) activists when they were faced with legal action against them. The Observer noted what it calls a "network of relationships between seemly unconnected animal rights groups on both sides of the Atlantic,"[20] writing that, with assets of $6.5 million, and with the PETA Foundation holding further assets of $15 million, PETA funds individual activists and activist groups, some with "links to extremists."[20] This includes links to the ALF and Earth Liberation Front (ELF), which the Counterterrorism department of the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation have named as "special interest extremism organizations" and "as a serious terrorist threat.[23]

Rod Coronado, a former ALF activist, received $64,000 from the group and two months later another $38,240 as a loan which has never been paid back to fund his legal defense when he was convicted of having set fire to a Michigan State University research lab in 1992. PETA claimed a tax refund from the Internal Revenue Service for the donation after the arson took place.[24][20] PETA is also alleged to have donated $1.3 million to the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM),[20] an organization that promotes the use of alternatives to animal testing, but which has been criticized for its links with the ALF, and in particular with Dr. Jerry Vlasak, a trauma surgeon who runs the North American Animal Liberation Press Office.[25] PETA also gave $5,000 to the Josh Harper Support Committee, before Harper was convicted of "animal enterprise terrorism" in the U.S. in connection with the Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty campaign[26] and, according to the New York Post, gave $1,500 to the ELF in 2001.[27] Newkirk said of the ELF donation that it was a mistake, and that the money was supposed to be used for "public education about destruction of habitat."[27] According to the Southern Poverty Law Center, PETA also provided $7,500 to Fran Trutt, convicted of the attempted murder of Leon Hirsch, the CEO of the United States Surgical Corporation.[28]

In general, Newkirk makes no apology for PETA's support of activists who may break the law, writing that "no movement for social change has ever succeeded without 'the militarism component'." Of the Animal Liberation Front, she writes: "Thinkers may prepare revolutions, but bandits must carry them out." [22]
“  Not until black demonstrators resorted to violence did the national government work seriously for civil rights legislation ... In 1850 white abolitionists, having given up on peaceful means, began to encourage and engage in actions that disrupted plantation operations and liberated slaves. Was that all wrong? — Ingrid Newkirk [22]  ”

During an event funded by several animal rights groups, including PETA, PETA's vegan campaigns director Bruce Friedrich said: "If we really believe that animals have the same right to be free from pain and suffering at our hands, then of course we're going to be blowing things up and smashing windows. ... I think it's a great way to bring about animal liberation, considering the level of suffering, the atrocities. I think it would be great if all of the fast-food outlets, slaughterhouses, these laboratories, and the banks that fund them, exploded tomorrow."[29]

PETA members have themselves crossed the line between campaigning and direct action, particularly in their long-standing efforts to halt the fur industry,[30] which has involved disrupting fashion shows and throwing paint at fur coats.[31] In 1996, PETA activists famously threw a dead raccoon onto the table of Anna Wintour, the editor-in-chief of Vogue, who promotes the use of fur in fashion, while she was dining at the Four Seasons in New York, and left bloody paw prints and the words "Fur Hag" on the steps of her home. PETA supporters have also pied Wintour more than once,[32] and a member delivered a package of maggot-infested innards to her office in April 2000, explaining in a press release that "Anna stole this animal’s skin and his life, she might as well have his guts."[33]

Christy Turlington during PETA's "I'd rather go naked than wear fur" campaign[34]

PETA is best known for its highly visible, often controversial campaigns. (See below.) The Lettuce Ladies, young women dressed in bikinis which appear to be made of lettuce, gather in city centers to hand out leaflets about veganism. Every year the "Running of the Nudes" campaign sees PETA activists run naked through Pamplona, Spain in a parody of the annual Running of the Bulls tradition.[35] Supermodels such as Christy Turlington and Naomi Campbell have posed naked on billboards with the slogan "I'd Rather Go Naked than Wear Fur" emblazoned across their chests.[36]

PETA's campaigning tactics were described as not "much different than blackmail" in 2005 by Dr Len Stevens, the CEO of Australian Wool Innovations body.[37]. A similar worded accusation in a 60 minutes interview that "They were blackmailed by you" was dismissed by PETA representative Ingrid Newkirk as "It doesn't matter" so long as "They are on board" (referring to PETA achieving its boycott goal).[38]
Holocaust-Campaign by PETA

Other campaigns are hard-hitting and controversial. The 2003 Holocaust on your Plate exhibition,[39] consisted of eight 60-square-foot panels, each juxtaposing images of the Holocaust with images of factory farming. Photographs of concentration camp inmates in wooden bunks were shown next to photographs of caged chickens, and piled bodies of Holocaust victims next to a pile of pig carcasses. Captions alleged that "like the Jews murdered in concentration camps, animals are terrorized when they are housed in huge filthy warehouses and rounded up for shipment to slaughter. The leather sofa and handbag are the moral equivalent of the lampshades made from the skins of people killed in the death camps."[40]
“  (The exhibition) was "outrageous, offensive and takes chutzpah to new heights ... The effort by Peta to compare the deliberate systematic murder of millions of Jews to the issue of animal rights is abhorrent.. — Abraham Foxman, chairman of the Jewish Anti-Defamation League. [39]  ”

The creator of the campaign, Matt Prescott, who is Jewish and lost several relatives in the Holocaust, told The Guardian: "The very same mindset that made the Holocaust possible — that we can do anything we want to those we decide are 'different or inferior' — is what allows us to commit atrocities against animals every single day. ... The fact is, all animals feel pain, fear and loneliness. We're asking people to recognise that what Jews and others went through in the Holocaust is what animals go through every day in factory farms."[39] The project's website cited Jewish Nobel laureate Isaac Bashevis Singer, who wrote of animals: "In relation to them, all people are Nazis; for the animals it is an eternal Treblinka."[41][42] The Jewish Anti-Defamation League denounced the campaign.[43] The chairman of the ADL, Abraham Foxman said the exhibition, was "outrageous, offensive and takes chutzpah to new heights ... The effort by Peta to compare the deliberate systematic murder of millions of Jews to the issue of animal rights is abhorrent."[39] PETA has since apologized for this campaign. In a statement to the ADL, Ingrid Newkirk said she realized that the campaign had caused pain: "This was never our intention, and we are deeply sorry."[44]

PETA has used Holocaust imagery before. A television public service announcement entitled "They Came for Us at Night," which aired on U.S. cable networks and in Warsaw, Poland, in July 2003, "showed the outside world through the slats of a boxcar and is narrated by a man (with an accent) who describes the plight of being transported with no food and water," according to the Anti-Defamation League, and drew an analogy between the plight of animals being transported to their deaths in cattle cars with Jews in the same situation during the Holocaust.[44] Newkirk has been quoted as saying "Six million Jews died in concentration camps, but six billion broiler chickens will die this year in slaughterhouses."[45]

The organization was criticized again in 2003 when Newkirk sent a letter [46] to then-PLO leader Yasser Arafat in response to a Jerusalem bombing attack, in which a donkey was loaded with explosives and blown up.[47] After being "bombarded with calls," according to a PETA spokesperson, Newkirk asked Arafat to appeal to those involved in the attacks to keep animals out of the conflict. When criticized for involving herself on behalf of the non-human victims only, Newkirk told the Washington Post: "It's not my business to inject myself into human wars."[48] Regarding PETA's controversial campaigns, Newkirk has said:

    The fact is we are the biggest group because we succeed in getting attention. ... The fact is we may be doing all sorts of things on a campaign but the one thing that gets attention is the outrageous thing. It simply goes to prove to us each time, that that is the thing that’s going to work; and so we won’t shirk from doing that facet — in addition to all the other things we do that you never hear about because no one cares.

    – Ingrid Newkirk, Satya, January, 2001

Many of the campaigns bear fruit for PETA. Burger King,[49] McDonalds,[50] Wendy's,[51] Petco,[52] and in 2006, after talks with PETA, Polo Ralph Lauren announced that it would no longer use fur in any of its lines.[53]

[edit] Undercover investigations

One of PETA's primary aims is to document the treatment of animals in research laboratories and other facilities where animals are used. To achieve this, it sends its employees into laboratories, circuses, and onto farms, sometimes requiring them to spend many months undercover, filming and otherwise documenting their experiences.[54]

PETA does not itself engage in raids on facilities to free animals, but it receives and publicizes tapes recorded by the ALF during the latter's raids, arranging to meet with ALF activists to receive video footage and documentation, or having them forward it via a third party.[10] This practice has led to criticism, as the raids are sometimes violent and may involve the destruction of property, and there has been one allegation that PETA may have had advance knowledge of an attack. In 1995, during the trial of ALF activist Rod Coronado for an arson attack on Michigan State University, U.S. Attorney Michael Dettmer alleged in a sentencing memorandum that Ingrid Newkirk had arranged, "days before the MSU arson occurred," to have Coronado send her documents from the lab and a videotape of the raid.[55]
A monkey in a restraint tube filmed by PETA in Covance laboratory in Vienna, Virginia, 2004–2005 [4]
A monkey in a restraint tube filmed by PETA in Covance laboratory in Vienna, Virginia, 2004–2005 [4]

Many of PETA's investigations have led to legal action against the target companies. PETA conducted an undercover investigation of Covance, a drug development services company, from April 2003 until March 2004, obtaining video footage that a British judge called "highly disturbing."[56] The evidence, which PETA submitted to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), appeared to show monkeys being hit, tormented, and humiliated.[57] According to PETA's website, Covance was subsequently fined for violations of the U.S. Animal Welfare Act based on PETA's documentation.[56] However, Covance was cleared of lab maltreatment charges in Germany, where the incident was filmed; Covance maintains that the footage was edited together to exaggerate evidence.[6]

Researchers working for PETA went undercover into Huntingdon Life Sciences, a contract animal-testing facility, in 1997, where they filmed staff beating dogs in the UK[21] and what appears to be abuse of monkeys in the company's Princeton, New Jersey, facility.[58] The employees were fired and HLS's licence in the UK was suspended. After the video footage aired on British television in 1999, a group of activists set up Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty with a view to closing HLS down, a campaign that is still ongoing.

In 1990, a Las Vegas entertainer lost his entertainment license, as well as a later lawsuit against PETA, after the group filmed him beating orangutans. A North Carolina grand jury handed down indictments against pig-farm workers, the first indictments for animal cruelty within that industry, after they were filmed skinning a sow who was allegedly still conscious.[59] In 1985, the U.S. government suspended funding to the City of Hope biomedical research center in California over its alleged treatment of dogs, and East Carolina University agreed to stop using animals for classroom experiments after a PETA investigation.
PETA's film Unnecessary Fuss shows researchers' footage from a study that involved inflicting brain damage on baboons.
PETA's film Unnecessary Fuss shows researchers' footage from a study that involved inflicting brain damage on baboons.

In 1984, a 26-minute PETA film,[60] based on 60 hours of researchers' footage obtained by the Animal Liberation Front during a raid on the University of Pennsylvania's Head Injury Clinic, led to the suspension of funds from the university, the closure of the lab, the firing of the university's chief veterinarian, and a period of probation for the university. The footage was made by the researchers as part of a study that involved inflicting brain damage on 150 baboons using a hydraulic device intended to simulate whiplash. An independent investigation by the Office for Protection from Research Risks (OPRR) confirmed that there had been "extraordinarly serious violations" by the lab of the Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals.[61]

PETA was criticized by the OPRR for having edited the film in a misleading way. Twenty-five errors were identified in Newkirk's voiceover, including a scene where she described an accidental liquid spill over a conscious baboon as an acid spill, with no evidence to suggest it was anything but water. The film also gave the impression that a scene involving the hydraulic equipment smashing against a baboon's head represented several baboons being damaged, whereas subsequent examination of the 60 hours of original footage showed that the same scene had been constantly repeated.[12]

PETA was also criticized in 1999 regarding undercover film it took inside the Carolina Biological Supply Company, which appeared to show wriggling cats being embalmed alive. Two veterinarians from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) agreed that the cats appeared to have been alive at the time, and the video was introduced as evidence before a departmental hearing. An anatomist called by Carolina Biological's lawyer subsequently demonstrated that the wriggling may have been the effect of formalin on freshly dead muscle tissue, which causes muscle fibers to contract and move, and the case against the company was dismissed.[62]

[edit] Community Animal Project

PETA has several programs helping cats and dogs in poorer areas of southeastern Virginia and northern North Carolina. It has spayed or neutered over 30,000 [citation needed] cats and dogs for reduced price or for free in the last few years. The organization comes to the aid of neglected dogs and cats who are severely ill and injured, and pursues cruelty cases. They offer free humane euthanasia services to counties that kill unwanted animals via gassing or shooting. PETA also offers free euthanasia for severely ill/dying pets when euthanasia at a veterinarian is unaffordable. PETA paid for and built a cat shelter in a North Carolina county. Each year the organization builds and sets up hundreds of sturdy dog houses, with straw bedding, for dogs that are chained outside all winter. PETA also creates and airs numerous public service announcements and billboards urging people to help control the pet overpopulation through spaying/neutering, and adopting animals from shelters instead of purchasing cats and dogs from pet stores or breeders.[63][64]

[edit] Policy on euthanasia

PETA is against the no kill movement and euthanizes the majority of animals that are given to them.[65][66]. It recommends euthanasia for animals, for certain breeds of animals (e.g. pit bull terriers)[67] and in certain situations for unwanted animals in shelters: for example, for those living for long periods in cramped cages.[68][69] Ingrid Newkirk has said: "Our service is to provide a peaceful and painless death to animals who no one wants."[70] PETA recommends the use of an intravenous injection of sodium pentobarbital provided it is administered by a trained professional.[69]

Before founding PETA, Newkirk was chief of animal-disease control and director of the animal shelter in the District of Columbia.[67] During her time working in animal shelters, she said she would "go to work early, before anyone got there, and I would just kill the animals myself. Because I couldn't stand to let them go through ... [other workers abusing the animals]. I must have killed a thousand of them, sometimes dozens every day."[71] The organization says that it takes in feral cat colonies with diseases such as feline AIDS and leukemia, stray dogs, litters of parvo-infected puppies, and backyard dogs, and as such it would be unrealistic and unkind to operate a no-kill policy.[68] Newkirk has said: "It is a totally rotten business, but sometimes the only kind option for some animals is to put them to sleep forever."[72]
“  (I would) go to work early, before anyone got there, and I would just kill the animals myself. Because I couldn't stand to let them go through that. I must have killed a thousand of them, sometimes dozens every day.. — Ingrid Newkirk, president of PETA. ."[73]  ”

According to the Wally Swett, President of Primarily Primates, PETA killed 1,946 pets in its home state of Virginia in 2005, transferring or adopting out 215, and killed 141 wild animals in the same year, transferring or releasing 52.[74] In 2004, PETA killed 2278 animals while finding homes for 368 animals.[75] Columnist Debra J. Saunders of the San Francisco Chronicle, quoting the Center for Consumer Freedom (CCF) data based on PETA's filing with the state of Virginia, has said that PETA killed over 10,000 animals from 1998 to 2003.[76]

In 1999, PETA took in 2,103 animals, of which 798 were either found new homes, were reclaimed by their owners or transferred to other facilities, while those remaining were euthanized.[77] During the years 2004 and 2005, PETA took in 20258 animals, of which 15438 were reclaimed by their owner. 4224 were euthanized, while 507 were adopted.[78][79] The San Francisco Chronicle reported in 1991 that after rescuing 18 rabbits and 14 roosters from a research facility,[76] PETA euthanized them because they didn't have the money to care for them.[80] This was questioned by critics in view of PETA's budget for that year which was over six million dollars.[81] Though PETA denied that such killings violated animal rights, US Congressman Vin Weber — founder of the Congressional Animal Welfare Caucus — doubted PETA's intentions highlighting the double standards employed in Silver Springs monkey case and the Aspin Hill killings.[82]

The Humane Society of the United States estimates that 3–4 million dogs and cats are euthanized annually in the U.S. for a lack of homes.[83] PETA and other animal protection groups blame people who don’t spay and neuter their animals, and people who buy animals from breeders instead of adopting from shelters, for causing the animal overpopulation crisis.[84]

[edit] Animal euthanasia and criminal charges
A dead cat and her two dead kittens left in the dumpster by PETA employees.

PETA was criticized in 2005 when police discovered that at least 80 animals had been euthanized and left in area dumpsters over the course of a month. Two PETA employees approached a dumpster in a van registered to PETA and left behind 18 dead animals. Thirteen more were found inside the van. The animals had been euthanized by the PETA employees immediately after taking them from shelters in Northampton and Bertie counties.[85] In a 2005 column in the San Francisco Chronicle, PETA’s director of the Domestic Animals Issues stated that PETA began euthanizing animals in some rural North Carolina shelters via painless injection after it found that the shelters were killing unwanted animals with rifles and dilapidated gas chambers, both of which they claim are inhumane ways to kill animals.[86] Officials from both counties said they were under the impression that the animals would be euthanized only if a home could not be found for them, and after being fully evaluated by a veterinarian. Both counties suspended their agreements with PETA after the incident.[87]

Among the bodies in the dumpster were a cat and two of her kittens, given to PETA by veterinarian Patrick Proctor of Ahoskie Animal Hospital. According to Proctor, the two kittens were very adoptable, and he said the PETA employees claimed they would have no trouble finding homes for them.[88][89][90] In an interview with CNN, Ingrid Newkirk said that Proctor — who himself carries out euthanasia on behalf of PETA — was not present when the kittens were removed and was therefore not in a position to know what PETA's employees had said. Newkirk added that it was unlikely the employees said they could find homes for the animals, given that the veterinarian's assistant handed the animals to PETA precisely because she knew homes could not be found. "If the veterinarian couldn't find homes for a few kittens and a cat, which is surprising, if they have clients coming in, then that's why they called us, because they know we don't have a magic wand either," Newkirk told CNN. [89]

PETA condemned the dumping as against their policy, and suspended one of the employees involved for 90 days. Police charged the two employees with 31 felony counts of animal cruelty and eight misdemeanor counts of illegal disposal of dead animals. [91] In October, these charges were dropped, and replaced with 42 combined counts of animal cruelty, and 3 counts of "obtaining property under false pretense". [92][93] In the trial, which began on January 22, 2007, [94] both workers were acquitted of all charges, including animal cruelty charges, except a misdemeanor count for improper disposing of the euthanized animals. [7]

In May 2007, the United States Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) started investigations of how PETA handles euthanasia drugs.[95] According to the DEA, PETA could face fines or sanctions against its license if it finds any wrongdoing, while gross mishandling of drugs could lead to criminal charges.

[edit] Conflicts with other activists
“  (Newkirk is) an abuser of the human animal...Many of us believe that the further we distance ourselves from PETA, the better off the animal rights movement will be.. — Sue Perna, animal rights activist and former PETA employee[96]  ”

PETA has been the target of criticism by other animal rights advocates.

John "J.P." Goodwin, founder of the Coalition to Abolish the Fur Trade, argues that some of PETA's campaigns are detrimental to the credibility of the animal rights movement: "some people have positioned the movement as flaky, based on silly claims and goofy stunts. It's time to say no to pie throwing, manure dumping, and naked models, and get back to talking about animals."[96]

PETA's "I'd rather go naked than wear fur" campaign has generated criticism from feminists for objectifying the female body. In response to an ad campaign in which Patti Davis posed naked with Hugh Hefner's dog, Batya Bauman, director of Feminists for Animal Rights, asserts that "PETA has now escalated the tactic into pornography and got themselves into bed with Hugh Hefner and Playboy magazine." She added that PETA "severely overstepped the boundaries of respect toward women."[97] Carol J. Adams, a prominent feminist and animal rights advocate, objected to PETA's campaign saying "I don't liberate animals over the bodies of women" and "I think the further insult was the celebration of PETA's alliance with Playboy by having a jointly sponsored event last summer, at which Patti Davis was featured. I'm glad she gave some of her money to PETA. But like Catharine MacKinnon, I'm not sure reparations money is the way we go about changing the status of women. I abhor the alliance of any animal advocacy with pornography."[98]

[edit] Conflicts with wildlife conservation personalities

PETA is critical of those they call "self-professed wildlife warriors", television personalities such as Jack Hanna, Jim Fowler and Steve Irwin, who worked with animals on television. They argue that while those "wildlife exhibitors" express a conservationist message that is often right on target, some of their actions, such as invading animals' homes, netting them, subjecting them to stressful environments, and sometimes wrestling with them and provoking them are harmful to the animals they claim to protect. Those actions often involve babies which they say should be with their mothers.[99] The conflict between PETA and those personalities came to a head in 2006, when PETA's vice-president Dan Mathews stated that Steve Irwin, had "made a career out of antagonizing frightened wild animals, which is a very dangerous message to send to kids," adding "If you compare him with a responsible conservationist like Jacques Cousteau, he looks like a cheap reality TV star."[100] This prompted criticism from Australian Member of Parliament Bruce Scott who told his federal parliament that PETA should apologise to Steve Irwin's family and the rest of Australia.[101]

[edit] Position on animal testing
“  [Even if animal research produced a cure for AIDS], we'd be against it.. — Ingrid Newkirk, PETA President [102]  ”

In 2005, a coalition of advocates for AIDS patients launched a campaign assailing PETA for its opposition to using animals to test possible AIDS drugs and calling on PETA's celebrity supporters to account for their high-profile role in what they described as "hindering the search for a cure to AIDS."[102] PETA vice-president Dan Mathews responded that: "AIDS is an easy disease to avoid, but our government squanders millions on duplicative animal tests, rather than issue frank warnings, especially to young people." Dr. Genevieve Clavreul, the coalition's organizer, expressed concern that in order to find an AIDS vaccine "We are going to have to go to an animal model to do it and I don’t want to have to be fighting every five minutes against PETA."[103] In a letter, the Patient Advocates Against PETA, observed that PETA President Ingrid Newkirk made a statement that even if animal research produced a cure for AIDS, "we'd be against it."[102]

In 2006, Britain’s Advertising Standards Authority ruled that PETA misrepresented both animal test and the science behind animal experiments, ordering it to stop making the misleading claims and rewrite one of its publications. PETA had claimed that “nearly 3 million sensitive animals—monkeys, rabbits, mice and others—are killed in the UK each year in painful experiments” and that “animal experiments are crude and unreliable.” The ASA ruled that animals used in laboratories may suffer in experiments, but that PETA had failed to document that nearly 3 million died “as a result of painful experiments.”[104]

PETA supports embryonic stem cell research because it has "the potential to end the vast majority of animal testing".[105] However, their position has been criticised as being contradictory to their belief all species are equal, since it puts one animal species (humans) to be "preferentially sacrificed to save another"; i.e. that PETA exalts "animal life in trivial ways, while simultaneously devaluing human life to the point where it’s worthless."[105]

[edit] Finance

PETA received donations from the public of over $25 million for the year ending July 31, 2005, according to the group's audited financial statement. Nearly 85 percent of its operating budget was spent directly on its programs; 10.83 percent on fundraising efforts; and 4.18 percent on management and general operations. Regarding its employees, 53 percent earned between $14,560 and $27,999; 32 percent between $28,000 and $38,499; and 15 percent over $38,500. Ingrid Newkirk earned $32,000 from her PETA position during that year.[106] Charity Navigator notes that others holding Vice President of Campaigns posts like Dan Matthews et al. were drawing remunerations up to $72,488.[107]

There have also been criticism over PETA's finances, with many questioning its nonprofit, tax exempt status, because its "leaders and personnel have been involved in criminal activities", according to the foundation Center for the Defense of Free Enterprise (CDFE).[108] The United States Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works has also pointed to these terrorist links by showing tax return claims for funding terrorist organizations.[109] Steven P Kendall, Vice President, Animal Husbandry Society, also corraborates this, stating that the majority of the donations are spent on fundraising, administrative costs and salaries[110] The BBB Wise Giving Alliance in its evaluation of PETA observed that it does not meet a couple of Charity Accountability standards.[111]

[edit] Anti-fur campaigns

Two long-running campaigns are "Here's the rest of your fur coat,"[8] and "I'd Rather Go Naked Than Wear Fur," in which supermodels appeared nude to express their opposition to wearing fur.[36] Singers Sophie Ellis-Bextor and Shirley Manson have posed for this cause. In May 2006, they held a naked protest near St Paul's Cathedral in London to highlight the use of real bear fur in the Bearskins used by the Foot Guards.[9]

PETA severed its relationship with some of the models when they continued to wear fur. In 1997, Naomi Campbell wore a fur coat during a Milan fashion show after appearing in a 'Rather Go Naked Than Wear Fur' advertisement.[112] Other models PETA has ended its relationship with are Kate Moss and Cindy Crawford.[113]

PETA has held notable public protests in London and Hong Kong against Burberry's use of fur in some of its products.[114]

[edit] Lettuce Ladies

The 'Lettuce Ladies' are women, some of them Playboy models, who appear publicly in bikinis made to look like lettuce leaves, and distribute information about the vegan diet. [10] There is a lesser-known male counterpart to the Lettuce Ladies, called the Broccoli Boys. [11]

[edit] Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC)

    See also: Kentucky Fried Cruelty.com

PETA has a major campaign targeting Kentucky Fried Chicken that has included more than 10,000 demonstrations worldwide and claimed support from the Dalai Lama (although the Dalai Lama later declared he was misrepresented by PETA because he did not intend to specifically address a specific KFC executive), [115] Al Sharpton, Paul McCartney, Dick Gregory, Tommy Lee, and Bring Me The Horizon among others. PETA has requested that KFC require that its suppliers adopt the welfare recommendations of KFC's own animal welfare committee, including stopping the breaking of birds' limbs and drowning conscious birds in tanks of scalding water. PETA shot video footage at a slaughterhouse in Moorefield, West Virginia, and posted the footage on PETA's website. According to news reports, PETA as a shareholder in YUM! Brands, submitted a shareholders' resolution asking KFC to kill chickens in a more humane manner.[116] KFC is PETA's fourth fast food target for alleged animal cruelty, after campaigns against McDonald's, Burger King, and Wendy's.

[edit] Circuses
Shilpa Shetty in a Boycott the circus advertisement

The group regularly protests circuses that use animals. The Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus is a frequent target of PETA's allegations of abuse. PETA asked a number of mayors to pass legislation banning items used to train elephants from cities the circus was due to visit. In one specific case, PETA asked that "bullhooks, electric prods and other devices that inflict pain on, or cause injury to, elephants" be banned, after the animal care director of the Carson & Barnes Circus, Tim Frisco, was filmed allegedly attacking elephants with bullhooks and electric prods.[12][117] PETA's videotape of one of Frisco's training sessions allegedly shows him attacking elephants with steel-tipped bullhooks, shocking them with electric prods, and shouting "Make 'em scream!"[117] The elephants are shown screaming and recoiling in pain, according to PETA.[118]

Comedian and civil rights activist Dick Gregory recorded a public service announcement, urging people to boycott circuses that use animals in what he calls "modern-day slavery."[119]

In response to PETA's request, Mayor Rod DesJardins of Munising, Michigan, called the organization "radical extremists with a bizarre philosophy that considers the life of an insect equal to the life of a human being." [13]. One of these ad campaigns was promoted by Indian actress Shilpa Shetty (pictured).

[edit] Religious compassion

In its www.jesusveg.com Web site, PETA makes an argument that Christian values of compassion extend to all living creatures and are inconsistent with cruelty to animals. It then promotes vegetarianism based on that argument.[120] It has a Muslim counterpart as well, www.islamveg.com, using Sunni hadith to justify veganism.

[edit] Name changes of cities

PETA regularly asks towns and cities whose names in its view are suggestive of animal exploitation to change their names. In April 2003, they offered free veggie burgers to the city of Hamburg, New York, in exchange for changing its name to Veggieburg; the town declined the offer. PETA also campaigned in 1996 to have the town of Fishkill, New York, change its name, claiming the name suggests cruelty to fish. (The root "kill", found in many New York town names, is Dutch for "creek".)[121] In October 2003, the group urged the town of Rodeo, California, to change its name because it invokes images of the sport of rodeo, which they claim is harmful to animals. As a replacement name, they suggested Unity, an acknowledgment of Union Oil's role in saving the area economically in the late 19th century. PETA offered to donate $20,000 worth of veggie burgers to local schools if the name was changed. The town declined.[citation needed]

[edit] Youth outreach
Joaquin Phoenix on the cover of PETA's Grrr! Magazine

The group runs a website geared towards children at Petakids.com[122] with contests, online games, online videos, comics, songs that are supportive of PETA's causes, and a free subscription to Grrr! Magazine, over 500,000 copies of which were distributed in 2005.[123] The website also provides an e-News list.[124]

PETA also runs a website dedicated teens/young adults at peta2.com with most of the same features. Peta2 also includes an online message forum dedicated to linking activists together, and to offer help/advice for those new to the vegan lifestyle.

PETA teamed up with bands such as Deftones, STUN, and Further Seems Forever to record commercials on a variety of topics, including reporting animal abuse. The youth-oriented web site Peta2.com featured over 50 interviews from bands such as Yellowcard, The Shins, The Used, and Good Charlotte. PETA’s efforts were covered by MTV, Rolling Stone, AP, and Revolver.

PETA2 dispatched supporters on 61 summer concert and skateboard tours including the Warped, Phish, Taste of Chaos, and Morrissey tours. At these events, PETA screened the Meet Your Meat video and disseminated information.

[edit] Animal Liberation Project

The 2005 "Are Animals the New Slaves?" campaign [125] featured a display in which images of oppressed minorities, including black slaves, Indians, child laborers, and women, were juxtaposed with those of chained elephants and slaughtered cows. [126] The campaign was criticized by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, [14] and PETA agreed to suspend it. [15]

[edit] Graphic pamphlets

Cover of the "Your Daddy Kills Animals" pamphlet [5]PDF (490 KiB)

PETA comic: "Your Mommy Kills Animals"

The organization has been criticized for distributing graphic pamphlets to children. According to PETA's website,[127] the pamphlets are geared toward making parents aware of how their actions affect their children. One pamphlet, "Your Daddy Kills Animals!"[128] showed a cartoon father gutting a fish, and stated: "Since your daddy is teaching you the wrong lessons about right and wrong, you should teach him fishing is killing. Until your daddy learns it's not fun to kill, keep your doggies and kitties away from him. He's so hooked on killing defenseless animals, they could be next." Another pamphlet, addressing the wearing of fur, was headlined "Your Mommy Kills Animals"[129], and featured a cartoon of a mother slicing a knife into a rabbit's stomach. This comic was the inspiration for the naming of a 2007 documentary film about PETA entitled Your Mommy Kills Animals.

[edit] Dairy campaigns

As part of an effort to reduce milk consumption, PETA created the "Got Beer?" campaign, a parody of the Got Milk? campaign. The advertisements urged college students to "wipe off those milk moustaches and replace them with. . . foam." Mothers Against Drunk Driving and college officials of campuses targeted by the campaign complained that the campaign encouraged underage drinking. As a result of the criticism, PETA halted the campaign in March 2000.[130] In 2002, the effort to promote beer over milk was revived by PETA after a two year hiatus.[131]

One of the "Milk Sucks" themes

Following the removal of the beer campaign, PETA launched a new effort aimed at teenagers. The new campaign attempted to place advertisements in highschool newspapers and printed trading cards claiming that dairy products caused acne, obesity, heart disease, cancer, and strokes.[132] A similar campaign in the UK was ordered by the Advertising Standards Authority to discontinue claims it made about milk consumption in a campaign aimed at school children, concluding that the campaign "played on children's anxieties and were likely to cause some children undue fear and distress" and that the claims regarding supposed health risks "were unacceptable", and not directly supported by the cited articles. [133] Following the injunction, PETA revamped their trading cards in order to continue the effort.[134] Their website www.milksucks.com though, still makes the same claims regarding adverse health effects.

    See also: Running of the Nudes

Every year, naked PETA activists, wearing red scarves and bull horns, take to the streets of Pamplona two days before the city's annual "Running of the Bulls" in protest at the tradition, which sees bulls goaded by the crowd. Over 1,000 activists took part in 2006.[135]

[edit] Michael Vick

    Further information: Bad Newz Kennels dog fighting investigation

In April 2007, a home in rural Surry County, Virginia owned by Michael Vick, quarterback for the Atlanta Falcons football team, was searched on suspicion that Vick was leading dog fighting operations in the home. Additional legal action and searches led to the indictment of Vick, as investigators found nearly ten dog carcasses in shallow graves.[136] Consequently, on July 20, 2007, the PETA held a protest outside the National Football League offices in New York City, holding signs with statements such as "Sack Vick" and photographs of injured dogs with the caption "dogfighting victim", expressing the PETA's demand that Vick be suspended. Bruce Friedrich, Vice President of the PETA, stated in a letter to Nike, Inc. president Mark Parker: "Vick will be forever associated with cruelty to animals - and so will Nike unless it acts today." [137] On July 27, 2007, Nike suspended its contract with Vick without pay, so the PETA canceled its national "day of action" against Nike that was scheduled for July 30, in which they would have protested in all twelve "Niketown" stores in the United States for Nike to take action against Vick. [138]

[edit] Domain name disputes

In February 1996 a parody website calling itself "People Eating Tasty Animals" registered the domain name peta.org. The site contained links to other sites advocating the consumption of meat, the use of leather and animal furs, and promoting the benefits of animal experimentation in medical research.[139] In response to the site, PETA filed a trademark infringement lawsuit against the website creator and Network Solutions, the company that issued the domain name, that resulted in PETA gaining control of the domain name.[140] A PETA spokesperson said that "the people who are doing this are the lowest of the low. We can't help but be amused that we are so threatening to people like this that they would go to so much trouble as to steal away our name."[141]

While still in the legal proceedings over "peta.org," PETA registered the domains www.ringlingbrothers.com and www.voguemagazine.com, using the sites to highlight the cruelty that they say Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus and Vogue were guilty of. PETA later surrendered the domains under threat of legal action over trademark infringement.[142][143]

[edit] Cultural influences and context

PETA has been viewed as part of the modern humane movement, which formed in the mid-1970s following the views of philosophers like Peter Singer. Surveys of the supporters of PETA in the United States have shown that they tend to be middle-class, and well educated. Politically, they view themselves as independents, or Democrats, hold moderate to liberal political views, and tend to be distrustful of modern science.[144] A variety of scholarship holds that these beliefs tie into deeper trends in the popular discourse — namely, a feeling of alienation from the environment, egalitarianism, and a distrust of the modern nature of capitalism and "big business".[144] In the media, the association with PETA has often been used as a short-hand for exemplifying these types of positions; for instance, in The Simpsons episode G.I. (Annoyed Grunt), Lisa joins PETA; in contrast to her father enlisting in the US Army.

PETA's positions have been lampooned by Matt Stone and Trey Parker in a number of episodes of their cartoon South Park, including Douche and Turd; making the claim that PETA cares more about animals than humans. In addition, the comedic duo Penn & Teller attacked PETA in a 2004 episode of their television show Bullshit! over a number of issues, including purported hypocrisy by PETA spokespeople and leaders.

This archive contains the most complete listing of references to soundly debunk the Animal Rights Agenda.  The essays, articles and information on this Archive may be distributed freely, we ask only that credit be given to the author and the PATHWAI Archive.  Any information on linked pages are subject to the terms listed by the Authors of those pages.  Please show respect to our contributors.

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“Hollywood Hypocrisy: How Celebrity support for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PeTA) is hindering the search for a cure to AIDS and other deadly diseases"

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http://www.cdfe.org/peta-probe.htm

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This site has tons of info!

http://www.animalrights.net/archives/related_topics/organizations/pro_ar/peta.html

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http://www.peta-sucks.com

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There is also anecdotal evidence from former PeTA employees..
Quote from: http://www.american-partisan.com/cols/2003/gibson/qtr3/0903.htm
A former PETA employee spoke of one particular incident that burned into her mind forever: A teary-eyed man showed up at PETA headquarters one day with his beloved pet rabbit. The man had grown old and sick and was no longer able to care properly for his friend. He supplied a cage, bed, toys, and even vet records for this pet. He was assured by PETA workers that they would take "good care" of his rabbit and find him a home. The man left distraught but no doubt believing that his friend would be able to live out the rest of his life in a loving, compassionate home...PETA workers carried him to the 'death house' immediately and ended his life!

PETA doesn't stop with animals who are dropped off at their facility. No, they actively seek out animals throughout the community to kill. PETA sets traps to catch roaming animals all over Hampton Roads. These traps are designed to catch cats, many of these are not just strays but people's pets. They have even ventured onto a local federal installation, where they captured dozens of cats and immediately killed them. The cats at this particular facility were living in a 'feral cat colony'. They were well fed, spayed and neutered, and received regular veterinary care at the expense of the government workers. PETA in their renowned arrogance decided that they knew better and illegally entered the installation several times, stole these people's cats and ended their lives.

PETA employees and volunteers regularly enter private property to capture animals, which according to former PETA employees are often times people's pets - someone's cat out for a midnight stroll or even just sitting in their owner's yard! Car loads of cats are regularly brought to PETA headquarters by employees and volunteers whose job it is to 'round them up'. One such volunteer has brought in hundreds of cats, many wearing tags bearing the name and address of their owner. The animals are loaded into a small storage shed, where they sometimes sit for several hours in the heat and cold...awaiting their date with the executioner.

I found this particular bit from the same article quite interesting..
Quote
In researching this article, I spoke to former PETA employees as well as people whose pets have been stolen by PETA (which were undoubtedly killed). Everyone of these people were willing to talk to me but insisted I not divulge their names or even the cities in which they now reside! When I asked one of these people why she was so afraid of retribution from PETA, I was told..."They will take it out on my animals".

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Found on peta-sucks.com
One of my favorite websites,
I just love the name, it is so fitting!

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http://peta2.com/TAKECHARGE/t-alert.asp

 Get Paid to Get Active

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), with more than 1,100,000 members and supporters, is the world’s largest—and in our opinion, best—animal rights organization. PETA operates under the simple principle that animals are not ours to eat, wear, experiment on, or use for entertainment.

PETA focuses its attention on the four areas in which the largest numbers of animals suffer the most intensely for the longest periods of time: on factory farms, in laboratories, in the skins trade, and in the entertainment industry.
Get Paid with Goods

Are you a PETA2 Street Team member yet? We’ll help you help animals while you piss some people off. Click here to get ideas and to sign up to receive updates.

Free Housing and Cash for Food

Feel like what you are doing just isn’t enough? Join the dozens of other Street Teamers who’ve interned at PETA. You won’t believe the stuff you’ll get to do and the people you’ll meet. It’s like an animal rights summer camp that’s open year-round, and it looks great on your resumé.

Make the Big Bucks

Check out jobs at PETA. Use your experience to save animals. Work with amazing, talented people who all have one goal: to stop all animal suffering. You’ll actually look forward to getting out of bed to come to work.

Join the Street Team and Earn Free Concert Tickets, CD's and Goods

Does the task of saving billions of animals’ lives seem a little overwhelming to you? It’s simple. We just need you to rock the world, make a stink, change minds, and change the world. In other words, join the peta2 Street Team.

The Street Team promotes animal rights at a grassroots level, spreading awareness throughout your community, making sure that our message is visible and heard.

Once you’ve joined, check out the tons of activities that you can do to get points. Shop for goods with all the points you earn.

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http://www.goveg.com/organic.asp

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http://www.countrypondfishandgameclub.com/archive/archive_2001_page_3.htm#PETA_Supports_Terrorism

PETA Supports Terrorism!

Listen to Bruce Friedrich Call for Violence

In a recent article, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals' Ingrid Newkirk claimed that her group does not condone violence. Really? Then why did Bruce Friedrich tell a group at the Animal Rights 2001 Conference that while he doesn't "blow up stuff,"

...I do advocate it, and I think it's a great way to bring about animal liberation.

Thanks to the folks at the Guest Choice Network you can hear Friedrich in his own words. They have a 1 megabyte WAV file of Friedrich going on at lenghth about the glories of animal rights terrorism.

You can download it at http://www.guestchoice.com/downloads/peta_quote.wav

Friedrick said that He "thought it would be a great thing if all these fast food outlets, slaughterhouses, laboratories, and banks that fund them exploded tomorrow"!

This certainly sounds like supporting terrorism to me!

His voice sounded awful familiar, then it hit me! Bruce Freidrick is the Guy that Howie Carr has on his show on WRKO in Boston from time to time!

It's about time we start treating domestic terrorists the same way that we have treated the Taliban!

In a recent op-ed article, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals president Ingrid Newkirk defended her organization by claiming that "PETA does not condone . . . violent acts."

But in fact, PETA or its representatives have often rationalized or celebrated violence. Consider just a few examples:

* In the December/January 2000 issue of 'Genre', PETA's Dan Mathews was asked to name men of the 20th century he admired. Mathews told the magazine he admired serial killer Andrew Cunanan, "because he got Versace to stop doing fur."

* In 1999, an animal rights terrorist group calling itself the Justice Department sent letters booby-trapped with razor blades to medical researchers and fur farms in the United States and Canada. When asked about the letters, Newkirk said, "I hope it frightens them [the researchers] out of their careers. If experimenters feel afraid now, that's nothing compared with the fear, harm and death they have inflicted on their victims."

* In a new author's note in her book about the Animal Liberation Front, 'Free the Animals', Newkirk writes, "Determined to cause economic injury to the exploiters, ALF members burn down their emptied buildings and smash their vehicles to smithereens. Perhaps, after reading this book, you will find that you cannot blame them."

* In 1994, PETA donated $42,500 to the Rodney Coronado Support Committee. Coronado is an animal rights terrorist who in 1995 pleaded guilty to firebombing a medical research facility at Michigan State University.

* In fact, Newkirk herself has expressed a wish to carry out arson. At a 1997 animal rights convention she said, "I wish we all would get up and go into the labs and take the animals out or burn them down." In 1999 she expanded on that sentiment, telling the 'Chronicle of Higher Education', "I find it small wonder that the laboratories aren't all burning to the ground. If I had more guts, I'd light a match."

From PETA and Animal Rights Violence:
http://www.animalrights.net/articles/2001/000229.html

One of these days one of these idiots is going to screw up and burn a building with someone in it! Then this Politically Correct country may wake up and do something about this kind of domestic terrorism and those that support it!

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The Deer Wars Part 2: Mad Science

Bio-Bullets and darts filled with an experimental drug are being used to sterilize deer. Then there are the other options, such as splicing a sterilization agent onto a virus and setting it loose. An update on deer birth control.

EXCERPT:
The experiment is bold and groundbreaking. Years have already been invested and budgets stretch well into six figures. Half a dozen scientists are taking part along with dozens of volunteers. But it's all going to be worth it, says the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS), because in the end the research will prove to the world that it doesn't take hunters to control deer populations.

The Humane Society is a national organization with a staff of 250 and a membership of about 7 million. Its literature describes lethal controls for deer as "irresponsible," so the group's agenda is clear. But can this wealthy nonprofit organization find a way to control deer without using hunters?

To achieve this goal, HSUS needs to prove it can control a wild, free-roaming deer population with immunocontraception (birth control). So its first step was to find a test area it could control. It settled on Fire Island, a 32-mile-long and half-mile-wide barrier island near the south shore of Long Island, New York. Fire Island has more than 200 deer per square mile