Do PETA Supporters know......

[Native87]

that since 1998 the organization has chose to "put down" 21,339 adoptable animals instead of finding homes for them?

According to a report filed by PETA from the Norfolk, Va. headquarters to the Virginia Dept. of Agriculture and Consumer Service that in 2008 95% of the animals taken in were euthanized. That is 7 animals out of 2,216.

PETA has an annual budget of $32 million of which the organization uses the majority of those funds to pay for campaigns against eating meat, drinking milk, hunting, fishing, and anti-leather promotions. All that money for media and not actually helping the animals in their custody.

Hunting Illustrated Fall 2009 Editorial Staff Page 11

[MrGreenJeans]

I,am not sorry for saying it, those people are nut's. Not an attack a fact.

[cinok]

There have been many PETA threads on this board. They range range how you can not adopt working dogs to do their jobs and live happily on the "farm" and how farm animals are wasted if they cannot find a home to treat them as pets. There was also a thread about PETA trying to infiltrate 4H to show the kids the error of their ways in the way they raise animals. These people are nuts, I have no problem with anyone who wishes to be vegetarian. I also believe that all animals deserve the best treatment possible whether it be the family dog that you spoil rotten, or the livestock that you keep, and that deer you humanly take down with a kill shot so that it does not suffer. Whats funny is that most Americans have no clue where there food comes from and how the cycle of like works. PETA capitalizes on this with those sad puppy eyes or by showing that downer cow with telling the "supporters" the whole story on how they refuse to adopt out animals for their true purpose but chose to euthanize them.

[nhlivefreeordie]

There have been many PETA threads on this board. They range range how you can not adopt working dogs to do their jobs and live happily on the "farm" and how farm animals are wasted if they cannot find a home to treat them as pets. There was also a thread about PETA trying to infiltrate 4H to show the kids the error of their ways in the way they raise animals. These people are nuts, I have no problem with anyone who wishes to be vegetarian. I also believe that all animals deserve the best treatment possible whether it be the family dog that you spoil rotten, or the livestock that you keep, and that deer you humanly take down with a kill shot so that it does not suffer. Whats funny is that most Americans have no clue where there food comes from and how the cycle of like works. PETA capitalizes on this with those sad puppy eyes or by showing that downer cow with telling the "supporters" the whole story on how they refuse to adopt out animals for their true purpose but chose to euthanize them.

Unbelievable, I agree 100% in what you posted.
Also don't forget the money they use to campaign against fur with sensationalized and totally false accusations.

[MooseToo]

the humane society as well as the s.p.c.a. both have horrendous kill statistics -

[nhlivefreeordie]

the humane society as well as the s.p.c.a. both have horrendous kill statistics -

With all of them, the animals are a way to promote emotionally influenced donations. The animals are just a means to an end, which is money used for political influence. It has nothing to do with animals after they have done their job of tugging at the heartstrings of otherwise uninformed ignorant people.

[Travis]

1% of the animals out there are mistreated and thats what PETA shows as the majority. Does it make sense to anybody to mistreat an animal if that animal is your living? I know several farmers and they treat there animals just as well as there kids. I hate any group that is so radical that you cannot have a normal intelligent conversation with them.

[bigriks300]

First it needs to be spelled PITA (foul language prohibited); but tahts just my opinion.
Second, they are following through on their agenda. Namely, to STOP any and all "pet" animals. This is their objective; the leader of PETA is a stone cold nutbag. She has said on numerous occasions that animals are more important that humans and should be allowed to be completely free. No pets, no meat animals, no fur animals, no work animals, no zoo's, no NOTHING, just animals running amok.


This is a statement made by Ingrid Newkirk, the President of PETA: “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.

[leera]

I'm all for treating animals humanely,letting a cow graze in a pasture until time to butcher rather than standing in feces in a feed lot,etc,etc......

I will fully support those who chose to be vegans,there's nothing wrong with that.

PETA people are insane,period...

There was a write up last year I think about some PETA workers who picked up something like 17 dogs from a shelter where they were scehduled to be put down,drove down the road,euthanized them in the back of their van and threw them in a dumpster.....

There is no point or purpose to PETA....they claim to be for the animals,yet they kill more animals that even the worst county controled animals shelter in the country....

[jonvee]

My neighbor and I have - well - heated discussions about PETA all the time. Her argument is that they put down the animals humanely. I told her there was no difference in the drug the shelters use and the drug that PETA uses to put animals down. But, sometimes people just have to believe their cause is right - regardless.

A few months ago she announced that they had just rescued a bunch of chickens from Foster Farms. I looked her straight in the eye and said "WHY". She said they were going to be slaughtered and now they could live out their life in peace and contentment. At that point I almost lost it.

So I calmly tried to explain the world of meat birds to her and how they are not breed to be long lived and how they were actually causing those rescued birds pain and harm because they will be dead one way or another. Either by heart attack, breaking down their legs and then dieing or by slaughter. So to what end have they rescued those birds?

She had a hard time continuing with her reasons when she realized she really didn't know ANYTHING about the slaughter process. I suggested she educate herself before she launched off on some misguided rescue. I also invited her to come watch the next time my friend and I process our birds. That way she would know exactly what the reality was instead of making up fantasey. Needless to say she didn't accept my invite.

[Aamylf]

I admit that I am one of "those" hypocritcal people. I could no more hold a rabbit I had raised in mylap and then break it's neck (as one book suggested) than I could walk up to a pig I had raised and shoot it, but I still eat meat someone else slaughters. That's hypocritical, I know.

We also have rescue dogs and I think Ingrid is nuts. PETA started out the way most organizations do, fairly reasonable -- they didn't want chickens kept in tiny cages, beaks cut off so they couldn't peck each other -- etc. Then, as with many organizations, only the nut cases remained. (Like MADD which now believes you should never have ONE drink and get behind the wheel for many hours.)

I will bet you most people do not have a clue what PETA does with its rescued animals.

If you want to help animals, find an organization that wants to defeat puppy mils and cat mills. We rescue from HUA.org and have worked several vacations at their rescue center in NE. Do they euthenize? Yes -- but the same way most of us would -- one dog sometimes at the end of its life.

As for 1% of animals being abused -- way more than that -- but it's hard to know as much is done behind walls. I live in dog fighting area.

As for 'the same shot they use at shelters' probably not. Many shelters across the country electrocute them with car batteries, drown them (yes, drown them), gas them -- because the shot is too expensive.

People -- spay and neuter your pets!

[Laura]

that since 1998 the organization has chose to "put down" 21,339 adoptable animals instead of finding homes for them?

According to a report filed by PETA from the Norfolk, Va. headquarters to the Virginia Dept. of Agriculture and Consumer Service that in 2008 95% of the animals taken in were euthanized. That is 7 animals out of 2,216.

PETA has an annual budget of $32 million of which the organization uses the majority of those funds to pay for campaigns against eating meat, drinking milk, hunting, fishing, and anti-leather promotions. All that money for media and not actually helping the animals in their custody.

Hunting Illustrated Fall 2009 Editorial Staff Page 11

Nuts? Yep.
Fanatics? Yep.
Powerful lobby group pushing their agenda's in Washington because they have the money to do it? Yep Yep.

PETA, when you dig deep deep into the profile of the 'members' (especially the active at the top) you are going to find a common theme.

Women. NOW supporters. Pro-Choice. (save a puppy, but kill a baby) Earthies (global warming, hug a tree types) Vegetarians. Anti-War types. Aggressive.
Men. IF they are not gay, they are soft. (mommy issues) Easily dominated by women, soft spoken, passive. Anti-war types. Vegetarians. Pro-whatever the woman in front of me wants so she will not hit me with her shoe.......

Dig it up....you will see!

The whole thought of this group is like.......chewing tin foil, or rubbing two pieces of styrofoam together, or pulling cotton out of a vitamin jar, or nails on a chalkboard.......

[MotherCharlotte]

While I don't agree with a great deal of what PETA stands for, and I don't think there's anything wrong with having animals as pets or as work animals--I do agree that the intensive selective breeding done to create many purebreeds is cruel. My parents have an expensive purebreed dog, and it has been truly awful to see this dog suffer throughout his life with a myriad of health problems that are "usual" for his breed. It bothers me that it's considered normal for certain breeds to be sickly and arthritic.

I know selective breeding is necessary and desirable in agriculture (up to a point), but the extent to which many purebreed cats and dogs have been inbred just to acheive a certain appearance I think is not right. If I ever have a dog, it will be a mutt.

[jonvee]

The one thing I do think is awful and PETA hasn't jumped on (as far as I know) is the designer dog industry. Some breeds should not be bred together no matter what Paris Hilton wants!!

oodles, doodles, schmugs or chugs what the He11 are they thinking???

Just because you can doesn't mean you should.

I'll stick with my pound mutts.

[momma_to_seven_chi]

I,am not sorry for saying it, those people are nut's. Not an attack a fact.

We are in agreement on this. I think sometimes, the younger people who become involved just do not know what PETA really is all about. But the hard core petaites are just crazy.

[momma_to_seven_chi]

The one thing I do think is awful and PETA hasn't jumped on (as far as I know) is the designer dog industry. Some breeds should not be bred together no matter what Paris Hilton wants!!

oodles, doodles, schmugs or chugs what the He11 are they thinking???

Just because you can doesn't mean you should.

I'll stick with my pound mutts.

All dog breeds started from a simple pair of dogs that God made. It doesn't matter how they are crossed IMO. Breeds are not a holy grail to be retained as nontouchable, just something man made up. They all came from specific crosses designed by men.
I'm not a doodle person, but if somebody wants them, then more power to them. I do think they should keep dangerous dogs off the streets, but other than that, it doesn't matter how they are crossed, pedigreed, or bred to me.

[Aamylf]

Unless you own a full bred wolf or an absolute mutt, you own a designer dog! My problem with any 'pedigreed' dog is that so many come from puppy mills or backyard breeders who do noo genetic testing, etc. As long as there are any in shelters, I'll be getting mine that way.

[canuck]

Well kick me out of this forum but I'm for PETA. I may not be aware of some of the stuff you are talking about but as far as I can see they actively investigate animal cruelty. I know this for a fact as I've brought a couple of things to their attention and they did something. They must get thousands of emails a day but my email was answered almost immediately and they took action. They are super organized and get things done. They bring awareness to issues on animal cruelty and seem to be THE organization actually DOING something. Every organization has it's problems and some of the followers may be nuts as some of the posts here say but for the most part and bottom line it's members have one common goal to stop cruelty to animals. In fact so far from my experience the local humane societies don't do much at all...again from experience...they are scared to actually do anything unless you have video footage or have done all the leg work and have the proof yourself. I'm actually a little disappointed in reading some of the posts here that members of this forum have taken to name calling and degrading an organization that's trying to help animals.

[Aamylf]

Just checking -- Canuck

You're a vegan?

You think all uses of animals is immoral and should be outlawed?

You agree with killing all the animals PETA saves from those who are being cruel to them?

You think honey use is immoral and should be illegal?

You don't wear leather or silk?

You think making silk should be illegal?

You think having sheep for wool should be illegal and that those who would wear wool should be arrested?

You think hunters should be arrested?

You think premarin and other animal-obtained drugs should be illegal?

If you agree with all of that, then you agree with PETA. If you don't, how can you support them because that's what they believe? It's like a supposed born-again Christian friend of mine who disagrees with abortion, welfare and has five sons in the military voting for Obamao.

You're welcome to your opinion, of course, but I am curious. It's sort of like saying Mussolino made the trains run on time so I'm all for him -- if you disagree with their stances but still support them it seems sort of wacky.

[offgridbob]

My prayer has always been that when I'm out hunting that one of those nice PETA people come out and try and harrass me. Is it true that if you tie a naked person to a tree and smear them with honey that a bear will come by and lick them till they cry like a baby?

[momma_to_seven_chi]

they actively investigate animal cruelty. I know this for a fact as I've brought a couple of things to their attention and they did something.


I'm actually a little disappointed in reading some of the posts here that members of this forum have taken to name calling and degrading an organization that's trying to help animals.

Well now you know that if they took those poor abused animals away from their owners, they were killed. I'm sure they were glad to be saved that way.

I think you are probably one of the innocent people who really don't know everything about the organization you are supporting. They don't rehome animals. They kill them..... after they take pictures to send out for soliciting money.

[Aamylf]

Thanks! I needed that laugh... surely they wouldn't be out in the woods -- they might step on a bug! I always wondered how PETA took photos prior to digital cameras given that film had gelatin in it and we know where THAT comes from.

I go back to: if you want to help, support a shelter where you can get to know the people, the animals and what they REALLY do, not what their PR rep says they do.

[MooseToo]

then there's the peta vegetarians whose smart-eating dessert is jello -

[canuck]

Just checking -- Canuck

You're a vegan?

You think all uses of animals is immoral and should be outlawed?

You agree with killing all the animals PETA saves from those who are being cruel to them?

You think honey use is immoral and should be illegal?

You don't wear leather or silk?

You think making silk should be illegal?

You think having sheep for wool should be illegal and that those who would wear wool should be arrested?

You think hunters should be arrested?

You think premarin and other animal-obtained drugs should be illegal?

If you agree with all of that, then you agree with PETA. If you don't, how can you support them because that's what they believe? It's like a supposed born-again Christian friend of mine who disagrees with abortion, welfare and has five sons in the military voting for Obamao.

You're welcome to your opinion, of course, but I am curious. It's sort of like saying Mussolino made the trains run on time so I'm all for him -- if you disagree with their stances but still support them it seems sort of wacky.

I knew that responding to this thread would only result in this type of response. You say you are entitled to your opinion but then again you'd be "wacky". I don't really care what you think but will say again that it's disappointing...bottom line is cruelty to animals..nothing more.

[West_TX_Desert_Rat]

For me the connection between PETA, ELF and ALF cancels out any good PETA has done. All birds of a feather. That is all I have to say on the subject.

[bigriks300]

My prayer has always been that when I'm out hunting that one of those nice PETA people come out and try and harrass me. Is it true that if you tie a naked person to a tree and smear them with honey that a bear will come by and lick them till they cry like a baby?

No sir they won't; darn lazy bears just walked on by the one I had hogtied. Total waste of some darn good honey.

In all seriousness if one supports PETA then one should be, at the very least, aware that the MAIN GOAL of PETA is NOT to protect animals from cruelty.
PETA uses these horrible crimes to further their agenda of ending human and humane use of animals in all aspects of life.

On the PETA children's site:
http://www.petakids.com/vsk/index.asp



"Does the thought of chowing down on one of your friends give you the creeps? How about eating something that may as well have been dunked in the toilet? Well, this is the place for you! This site is for kids who care about animals and don’t want to eat them."

I don't care an adults viewpoint; I truley don't. I've long since come to the conclusion that a person that thinks PETA is great will never, ever, ever be pursuaded that their supporting an organization that kills more animals, TOTAL, than public animal shelters.

I also don't mind their website devoted to brainwashing children.
It's a parent's responsibility to monitor what our children do and see.

I do find fault that this organization has such a vast, blind, following.

It speaks great ill of my fellow countrymen.

[Aamylf]

"I knew that responding to this thread would only result in this type of response. You say you are entitled to your opinion but then again you'd be "wacky". I don't really care what you think but will say again that it's disappointing...bottom line is cruelty to animals..nothing more. "


So I guess, in other words, Canuck, you don't agree with where they stand on anything except where they SAY they stand on animal cruelty and facts won't dissuade you. Even the fact that they are cruel to animals by 'murdering' them -- which is what they think we do when we utilize an animal for anything.

I do apologize for using the word 'wacky.' It was inflammatory and unhelpful to the dialogue. If after viewing all of the information about PETA, nto just what they put out, you still agree with them, well, there you have it. Your train of thought brought you to a different place than the rest of us.

[offgridbob]

I had a train of thought one time but the darn train derailed and I lost my caboose. What was left, I couldn't even string together to make a good sentance.

[thundercloud]

The one thing I do think is awful and PETA hasn't jumped on (as far as I know) is the designer dog industry. Some breeds should not be bred together no matter what Paris Hilton wants!!

oodles, doodles, schmugs or chugs what the He11 are they thinking???

Just because you can doesn't mean you should.

I'll stick with my pound mutts.

They will not do this because they will offend rich people in Hollywood. Those folks are a major source of revenue for them.

[Rickhead]

Humans are omnivores.
My sil is an md. She see's vegans all the time. Immune systems so weakened they get sick by just looking at a germ. Lol
i raise my animals with love and respect. Then I eat them. Its right there in Genesis.
As joel salatin alwayd days, let a pig be a pig, a cow be a cow, and a chicken be a chicken. Rootin', eating grass, and scratching for food is the only way to go.
Standing in poo eating chicken biproducts, cement raised pigs, and poultry houses you need an scba to walk into should be these wacko's targets.

[offgridbob]

I Dated a P.E.T.A. Girl once and things went well for most of the evening but later when things were getting a little warmer she smelled like rotten cabbage and thats just wrong.

[Rimfire_Red]

Well kick me out of this forum but I'm for PETA. I may not be aware of some of the stuff you are talking about but as far as I can see they actively investigate animal cruelty. I know this for a fact as I've brought a couple of things to their attention and they did something. They must get thousands of emails a day but my email was answered almost immediately and they took action. They are super organized and get things done. They bring awareness to issues on animal cruelty and seem to be THE organization actually DOING something. Every organization has it's problems and some of the followers may be nuts as some of the posts here say but for the most part and bottom line it's members have one common goal to stop cruelty to animals. In fact so far from my experience the local humane societies don't do much at all...again from experience...they are scared to actually do anything unless you have video footage or have done all the leg work and have the proof yourself. I'm actually a little disappointed in reading some of the posts here that members of this forum have taken to name calling and degrading an organization that's trying to help animals.

The horse industry in the US has been destroyed by PETA and others (such as the Hollywood elite). In Europe horse meat is a delicacy. Horses are that would have gone to slaughter are now abandoned at boarding stables or let loose on government land. We recently had to shoot a friend's injured horse and dispose of her because they could no longer sell her for slaughter. Years ago they would have received 1.2 to 1.5K for her and could have bought a replacement for her. Instead they are "borrowing" a horse from us to keep their colt company and we have a dead horse feeding the coyotes 300 yards from our house.

If you want to have a horse as your "pet" that is fine, but horses are livestock (and tools). Telling me what to do with mine, destroying an industry and putting people out of work because of your own "feelings" is wrong. Call me cruel.......if you have paid over $7000 in vet bills saving a horse - because I have. I won't call you names - my mother taught me to be polite......but do NOT ask my opinion of you PETA people....

[krapgame]

Well, I wouldn't be me if I didn't put in my 2 cents. I think I can already feel the flames that will come from this.

I personally believe that it should be left to the conscience of the owner of the animal how they treat it, because animals inherently have no rights. There, I said it. Rights are endowed by the Creator, not by some administrative bureaucrat.

Now, that being said, I also believe that given the commandment of stewardship, we have an ethical and moral responsibility to the animals we are given charge over. Yes, I will kill an animal in my care if the situation warrants it, but I do it in the most humane fashion possible. When the time comes, I do butcher livestock for food purposes but until that day comes they are provided with the best, most natural conditions I can provide them. Seeing any kind of livestock raised in confinement conditions bothers me on several levels. However, I don't believe that I have a moral high ground to protest that nor to invoke some kind of legal authority to harass the people for exercising what their conscience (or lack of it) allows them to do. I simply refuse to support, to the maximum extent possible, an industry that chooses to produce its products in such a manner, and that is my right.

As an example, if I see a neighbor who has a cow that I believe is being mistreated, I believe I have the right to approach that neighbor and offer to purchase the animal, if he's willing to sell, and attempt to improve its lot in life, but I don't believe it's within my rights or authority to try to take it from him nor to call some supposed lawful authority to enforce my conscience on him.

As for putting down an animal, I personally find that to be most distasteful. I believe all life has value and it's not easy for me to take that life away. But it is part of the natural order. If you've ever seen a raccoon raid a chicken house, I think you'd agree that the way I perform the task is much more humane than the way the raccoon does it. But at the end of the day, there is no method of termination for an animal that is completely humane.

Unfortunately, we seem to have become a society that's much more occupied with policing the activities of our neighbors than tending to our own duties and responsibilities. PETA is but one more symptom of that. People raised in front of a TV looking at all the cute animal cartoons, completely out of touch with reality and on some level believing that a real rabbit has the same capacity for personality and sentience that Buggs Bunny does. Compounded with politicians and bureaucrats with the same poor upbringing who listen to them and don't have sense enough to know the difference and who write laws and ordinances to give powers to enforce this bizarre perversion. To me, it's maddening.

[MacDachshund]

According to the mandatory reports that must be submitted to the government every year for non profits, PETA euthanizes more animals than any other organization in the USA.

I also know for a FACT (as I was involved in the case) that, in the 90's, PETA was involved in burning down two facilities in our state. In one, 6 horses were burned alive. In the other 27 horses were burned alive.

That being the case anyone that supports PETA, supports the ruthless killing of animals.

Enough said.

[land steward]

We need to make up a new name.

P E Tasty Animal

[str8sh00ter]

I think the term you are looking for is People Eating tasty Animals, and I am a proud member:)

[Equilibrium]

Ya’ll are slippin'.... I think some of us missed PETA’$ most recent publicity stunt to save “sea kittens”, http://features.peta.org/PETASeaKittens/. They want us to think twice about buying fishsticks so they “revamped” the scaly image while simultaneously renaming them…. drum roll please…. “sea kitten sticks”. Their campaign coordinator stated fish, “have complex social interactions; they form bonds; they express affection by gently rubbing against one another.” Awww…. can we all say anthropomorphization targeting children in unison? I’ve no doubt McDonalds capitalized on that and sold even more Filet ‘O KittyKat meals offering an assortment of collect-them-all fishy plush toys. On an aside…. I can’t help but wonder how many kiddies scooped “Goldie” out of her fish bowl and put her in Fluffy’s litter box to go pee>>>>?
--
Ridiculous publicity stunts such as the sea kitten campaign, complete with lesson plans for teachers, have zip nadda no impact on the well being of animals but…. they do bring in $$$ to these organizations which seems to be all their really interested in doing these days anyway.... cover those salaries and benefits. BTW…. PETA never seems to do a thorough job educating the public and they are afforded non-profit status…. they forgot to add that the majority of “sea kittens” eat their young. They conveniently left that tasty tidbit regarding filial cannibalism out…. wouldn’t want to undermine an otherwise “ingenious” campaign….. which was a dismal flop…. as it should have been because humans need to eat and for many…. fish is their only source of protein. Similar issues with many of the campaigns launched by H$U$, AH$, and the HA$. Most of these organizations were founded by people who had the most honorable of intentions. Unfortunately as the years passed, they focused on elevating the life of an animal above that of a human which…. was…. the point of no return IMO… the point where they lost all semblance of credibility.

[Mitch]

Now now, I wouldn't tie a PETAite to a tree and smear on honey, that would be a waste of honey. I would squirt some call high call lure on his shoes and then inform him the wolves would be along shortly and he came into the woods without a gun. Then I would ask him: "How far away is your car? Enjoy your little forrest puppies"

Mitch

[grumble]

Reminds me of a hunting story, Mitch.

My partner and I had climbed a fairly difficult hill on a deer hunt. Huffing and puffing, we got to the top to find three middle aged women in bright tee shirts there to greet us, and ready to follow us around and make a lot of noise to scare away any deer, and of course to explain to us the error of our camo-ed ways.

My partner asked them if that was their car at the bottom of the hill, which they said it was. He asked them, "did you know you have two flat tires?" All of a sudden they were less concerned about the deer, and hustled down the hill to see about their car.

We didn't see any vehicles at the bottom of the hill. I thought that was pretty clever of him.

[papa bear]

Hitler was a vegetarian

[kfander]

While I am sure that there are individual members of PETA who truly care for the animals they use as a means of collecting money and amassing power, the organization is more about changing a population's perception of pets than actually doing anything to help the animals. They would rather kill a cat or a dog than allow it to remain in bondage as someone's pet. These people are somewhere between craziness and evil.

That said, I am not at all in favor of cruelty to animals. Although I would be willing to do so if it were necessary for me to do so in order to survive, I am the only one of eight brothers who doesn't hunt. When I was twelve or so, my father told me that the pig ran away one Christmas, a story that I didn't doubt until it crossed my mind some thirty years later, and I realized that the disappearance of the pig may have been related to the ham we had for Christmas dinner.

But neither hunting nor the slaughter of a food animal is cruelty, although I suppose that it could be, depending on how it was done. I eat meat, after all, although less of it now than I once did.

I once worked for a city in Texas where the public works department doubled as animal control, and unclaimed cats and dogs were killed with shovels at the landfill. When I protested, no one even took me seriously at first.

"It's just a dog", or "it's just a cat", is what I heard. This was in the Rio Grande Valley of Texas, where people "threw away" pets that they no longer wanted by dropping them off along a road somewhere or killed them for sport. It was not at all unusual for a child to be given a puppy or a kitten as a pet, then get rid of the animal once the animal grew out of the cuteness phase.

That's wrong, but the solution to that is not to give power over to the crazies on the other end of the spectrum.

As for rescue agencies and puppy mills, not all puppy mills were bad and not all rescue agencies are good. Since they charge the same amount of money and the rescue agencies are far more intrusive, I'd almost rather bring the puppy mills back. In reality, if I am ever in the market for a dog or cat again, I'll do what I've done in the past and find someone whose cat has had kittens or take in a feral, the latter being more challenging and sort of fun. I have three cats who are twenty-one years old and another that is eleven, so I must be doing something right.

[sally]

It seems like most organizations/movements that raise enough money eventually get taken over by political types, eager to use the money and clout of the organization for their own purposes. They continue the rhetoric, to keep the money coming in, but the real purpose of the organization changes.

[grumble]

Sally, that was an astute comment. Something I've often seen, but never put into words.

[momma_to_seven_chi]

While I am sure that there are individual members of PETA who truly care for the animals they use as a means of collecting money and amassing power, the organization is more about changing a population's perception of pets than actually doing anything to help the animals. They would rather kill a cat or a dog than allow it to remain in bondage as someone's pet. These people are somewhere between craziness and evil.


I'd vote for evil. And the sad part is that people don't know it. Some people with kind hearts and good intentions support the idiotic group because they have no idea of how cruel it really is.

[MYellowRose]

I also wonder how many PETA members are aware of the huge office tower in Norfolk, VA that is their headquarters? My daughter pointed it out to me in '02 when I was visiting her there.

[velojym]

PETA, like most special interests who pursue political power, are more interested in maintaining and growing that power. The animals, and those who want to help them, are merely a tool.

[Hooverville]

Would be interesting to see their CAFR to find out how much money is invested and where - just my two cents.

[J R Adams]

Would be interesting to see their CAFR to find out how much money is invested and where - just my two cents.

Too bad that we as a group do not organize and use our time and inquisitiveness to expose some of the crap that is going on. Many or today's problems could be avoided if we as a group decided to expose rarher than tolerate the situation.

[lonewriter]

Everyone I've ever seen who belongs to PETA are really crazy.