How PETA is betraying vegans and the animal rights movement
People become vegan, and support animal rights, because they believe animals have the right to live free from suffering. That’s why they usually support one of the highest-profile advocacy groups that claims to share their vision for animals, PETA. But that support is based on a lie.
PETA does not believe animals have a right to live. They’ve said just that to feral cat advocates in the past, and their own actions continue to prove it to this day.
In 2011, PETA took in 2,029 companion animals, mostly dogs and cats, and killed all but 64 of them, which is 97 percent.
I don’t mean they metaphorically or indirectly killed those animals. I mean they took their lives with their own hands in their own facility.
How do we know? Because they say so in the records they’re required to file by the Commonwealth of Virginia every year, which mandage “recordkeeping and reporting of only those animals taken into custody… for purposes of adoption.” (Empahsis mine.)
In a nation where half the animals who enter shelters come out alive, in a state where some communities save around 90 percent of the pets who become homeless, in a country where shelter save rates are going up every year even in the midst of the worst economy since the Great Depression, PETA has bucked the trend every year.
Which means that in 2011 they killed 1,965 dogs, cats, bunnies, and other companion animals admitted to what they call their “shelter” in Virginia.
It’s fine if you don’t believe me. It makes sense that an animal rights advocate would mistrust someone who is casting doubt on your most visible standard-bearer.
So go look at the numbers for yourself; you can view the Commonwealth of Virginia report, prepared by PETA, here.
Then ask yourself if PETA is who you think they are. If PETA is who you want to give your animal-serving dollars to. If PETA should be out there, speaking for you.
Look at the facts, then look into your own heart, and see if you don’t share a question I’ve had for years now:
Why is anyone still listening to PETA?
28 Comments to “How PETA is betraying vegans and the animal rights movement”
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And since every time I write about PETA it sets off the whole Internet game of me being a dog breeder and AKC lobbyist, let me make this plain: I’m not a dog breeder. I do not even own an intact animal. I have never lobbied for any group, not even one of those I support. And if I WERE an AKC lobbyist, they’d surely want their money back, as the nicest thing I’ve ever written about them is that I don’t hate them as much as I hate the Klan.
The tiny flame at the heart of all this smoke is that my late mother and I used to raise and show Scottish Deerhounds. We never made a penny doing it, and our goal was simply to ensure that the breed we loved did not vanish from the face of the Earth. Our last litter — one puppy who I kept — was born 13 years ago.
OMG…there are no words, only tears.
Thanks for this! PeTA is a scary organization in many ways, but this is just amazing.
Any time I mention that I’m Vegetarian (on my way to Vegan), I volunteer at a shelter, or that I use my voice to stick up for animals, I ALWAYS provide the disclaimer of “I HATE PETA! I’m not a supporter of theirs, and they kill a TON of animals every year and need to go away!…” In the least, organizations like PETA are embarrassing for the rest of us who are actually trying to do some good.
We believe that the mass, systematic killing of our beloved companion animals is abhorrent, immoral and unacceptable. We believe that all animals have the inherent right to live, and to be treated with respect and dignity; that no animal should be treated as a disposable object or killed for any reason other than for dire and untreatable medical conditions.”
~SOS: Save Our Shelter Animals
Apparently PETA does not agree, and is primarily focused on destroying companion animals, while relentlessly seeking out animal “hoarders”/abusers and bringing them to “justice”, as they play G-d and kill thousands of defenseless, innocent, adoptable animals each year!
Primum Non Nocere, first do no harm, is a bio-ethical principle which seems to have escaped PETA entirely!!!
It sounds so terrible I must admit. I think however that most people become vegan, and have ZERO affiliation with any group, and do it for their ethics. I abhor all slavery, cruelty, bullying, torture, killing, suffering etc., but I have a sneaking suspicion that by the time PETA is called in, the non human animals must be in such a state that there is more mercy in euthanizing, than allowing beings to suffer. I certainly cannot say what the facts are as I am not there, nor do I know anyone who knows the real facts.
Humans are very frightened of death. In my opinion, it is not death that is so horrible, but the suffering and the fear and the agony that all too often accompany it. Of course, I think that rehabilitation should without a doubt be a consideration on a case by case basis.
Since I try to look at things as best I can from a NON speciesist point of view, I think we should take a look at the sheer difference in numbers of animals killed, and who is really at the wrong end of the stick: how many dogs, cats, rabbits etc. are killed annually in shelters in the US for example? Somewhere around 5 million…give or take a million either way. How many cows, chickens, pigs, ducks, etc. are killed in a year in the U.S? Billions upon billions.
How many dog and cat rescuers does it take to change a lightbulb? It’ll get done as soon as they finish their steak. I don’t agree with unwarranted killings, but let’s be honest with ourselves… most of the people who are concerned with rescue are stuffing other dead animals, who are JUST as intelligent, and just as social and just as wonderful as dogs and cats into their gobs.
I can’t understand why you don’t just email PETA and ask them how they come to get the animals, what condition they are in, and why do they see fit to kill so many. Get it in writing, and share THAT.
Actually, we (back when we were Pet Connection) did just that. So did many other people. They didn’t answer us. In fact, they threatened to sue the owner of Pet Connection, Gina Spadafori. Although it’s worth noting they never did.
In a court case in North Carolina, PETA was proven to have taken adoptable, even highly adoptable, animals from shelters and vets with the promise of finding them homes, and then killing them before their “rescue van” turned the corner. They tossed the bodies in convenient dumpsters.
They have never responded when asked for the veterinary evaluations for any of the animals they claimed were killed because of their medically hopeless condition.
Underfunded municipal “shelters” staffed by people who really don’t care rarely have a kill rate as high as PETA’s, an organization that raises millions every year, and doesn’t have any obligation to take animals it doesn’t have the space or resources for.
Well said. Those groups and people who continue to deceive well-meaning people by twisting words and putting the blame on others, are the lowest of the low. But PETA’s time is coming. The facts don’t lie – they kill most animals they ‘save’. I used to believe in them, thought they did what I couldn’t do, gave them money. But now I know the truth and the only truth that remains about what I used to feel about them is that I cannot do what they do – now meaning I could never deceive in order to kill the very thing I say I’m protecting.
vegangster- were it true that ONLY sick, old, or injured animals were killed by PeTA, THIS wouldn’t have happened: http://www.pet-abuse.com/cases/1379/NC/US/
During the trial, many of the vets, shelters, and individuals who surrendered the killed and dumped animals testified that PeTA reps said eh puppies, kittens, cats and dogs were going to be re-homed and were healthy and social.
Note here the vet determination that eh dead animals appeared to be in good health.
http://www.thedogplace.org/PROJECT/PETA_Arrested.htm
PETA’s stance has always been that the animals were too sick or otherwise unsuitable to life to be saved. But they never responded to my request to reveal their standards, who makes the decisions or what their credentials are. And as revealed in court findings, the animals they actually went so far as to pick up were in good health when killed by PETA staffers and tossed into grocery store dumpsters.
PETA is out of step with sheltering facilities large and small, urban and rural, coast to coast that now re-home the majority of the animals that come in their doors. I don’t know what goes on in Ingrid Newkirk’s head, but saving the lives of companion animals doesn’t seem to be part of her agenda, despite PETA’s slick marketing machine push to say otherwise.
Oh, and here’s my disclaimer: I have bred one litter of a rare breed in 35 years of adult life. All in forever homes, the majority spayed or neutered. Like Christie, I have no intact animals here with the exception of my pet chickens and ducks. And I am the former director of a regional breed rescue, taking in, rehabbing and rehoming more than 100 animals a year. In all that time, we euthanized exactly two dogs — one for cancer (he was 16), and the other for a neurological disorder that triggered unpredictable and dangerous sessions of aggression.
Having been involved in the rescue and rehabilitation of over 200 puppymill dogs who were proclaimed “better off dead” by oh-so-many authorities, I call bullshit, bullshit, bullshit on the “We must stop their suffering” schtick. (PeTA did not weigh in. I don’t think they feel real comfortable in Montana.)
If a tiny little national breed rescue group with a normal budget firmly in the four-figures, working with a handful of emergent volunteers in the middle of Montana, can rehabilitate and then find skilled, suitable, loving homes for 227 special-needs, effectively feral, dogs, provide specialist surgery for a number of them, and not kill a SINGLE DOG, then what is PeTA doing with its $36 MILLION budget? With almost $18,000 to play with per dog, cat, chicken or bunny rabbit taken in, and a mailing list of “hundreds of thousands” of bunny-huggers, I think I could do better than kill them all the same day.
Oh, and to address Christie’s and Gina’s disclaimers:
I AM a dog breeder, my record of breeding decisions, placement policies, my contract, and my follow-up is well-known in my breed community and easy to find via google, and I will not apologize for breeding litters in the past, or for any litters I breed in the future.
Anyone who wants to play animal-welfare pissing-contest with me — bring it. You will lose.
I’ve once or twice been accused of supporting the nefarious AKC, to which I say, “Google is your friend, idiot.”
Actually, Heather’s point is a good one. I am not at all sorry that I was responsible for a well-planned, health certified litter of dogs that went to five carefully chosen people from a waiting list far longer. Those people were looking for purpose bred working retrievers, and they got them.
I am in fact proud of BOTH my time as a breeder and my time running a breed rescue. AND when I move onto my new property, my pet chickens will be joined by meat birds, which I will raise with care, providing them with a good life and a swift, humane death as they give their lives to feed me, my dogs and my cats.
Thanks for calling me out on this, Heather.
Ingrid Newkirk has always said she does not believe that domesticated animals should be “created” or born. She was sterilized young so her statements about a child’s life and any other being’s life have little value. People deceived themselves because they did not understand the animal rights movement is about hatred of humans not love or even respect for others.
I was not apologizing.
ninbroken52 23 February 2012 at 10:22 am #
“I HATE PETA! I’m not a supporter of theirs, and they kill a TON of animals every year ”
Actually, if one would assign the average weight of 20 lb. an animal in PETA’s, uhm, shelter program, (big dogs, little dogs and cats averaged out), that’s around 39,000 pounds which is a heck of a lot more than a ton.
Thank you for continuing to report on the truth of what PETA is. Now if only we could get Hollywood to read this so they would quit giving credibility to PETA.
Would it be possible for you to attach another copy of the report? I can’t find it at the State of Virgina website. The current copy breaks right where “Euthanized” is at the top of the column and I think it would be more effective when sharing this info if euthanized and the column total were on the same page. Thanks!
It is also well known that SPCAs (especially the ones in Texas) and the HSUS DO NOT like no kill shelters and victimize the ones who cannot afford attorneys and deny them their due process. What is really saddest about those cases is that the Justices of the Peace who are supposed to help enforce the laws allow the due processes to be tromped on.
If it weren’t for open-admission shelters, most homeless animals would have absolutely nothing. Euthanization is better than being tortured from a terminal illness on the streets alone, being hit by a car, attacked by other animals, starving, freezing to death, etc..
No-kill shelters turn away animals in need because they don’t have room.
No-kill shelters turn over animals for euthanization at open-admission shelters when they’re unable to place them.
PETA is against breeding, which is at the root of the problem.
I agree domesticated animals should not be created. It’s completely unnatural that humans domesticated lions and tigers for human use. This is called EXPLOITATION. So many domesticated animals are abused, used, killed, used for scientific experimentation.
Focus your efforts on stopping breeders instead of attacking other animal rights groups.
Also, I don’t view PETA as a dog/cat rescue group. I think they use their money to try to change society’s view and treatment of all other species.
I don’t support everything PETA does, but I’m not going to slander another animal rights group when we should focus on breeders, vivisectors, slaughterhouses, fur, leather, wool, etc..
Ah Nancy, who is this “we” of whom you speak?
Not gonna find many of ‘em here.
And honey, it ain’t slander when it’s (a) written and (b) TRUE.
Also, that word domestication? Are you sure you are using that word correctly? Because I do not think it means what you think it means …
Nancy,
Domesticated lions and tigers? No such thing.
Euthanasia is a poor response to a shelter system in reform.
It has been documented that pets released to PETA were highly adoptable and yet were killed, sometimes within minutes of PETA taking possession.
PETA is against more than breeding. You may agree with them that domesticated animals shouldn’t exist, but most of the rest of us want the choice of humanely treated animals for food and wool as well as wanting our companion animals in our daily lives. PETA is purposely misrepresented to the general public as a means of advancing their ultimate agenda. I’m not letting that happen – I tell everybody I can about the truth of PETA.
There is no more reprehensible group than Peta. I am a life-long animal rights supporter, vegetarian and instructor in ethics at a well known Veterinary graduate program in the USA and have, over the years, developed a very, very bad feeling about PETA, its leadership, programs, tactics and especially its offices in Asia. They are quite a disturbed bunch.
I save and rescue every animal I find, on my street, in the park, etc – I am a foster mom for several local orgs that DO rescue dogs from high kill shelters and we KEEP them safe, performing criminal background checks on the potential adoptees, asking for their vet history (than going to the vet to actually see how often they take their animals in, etc), we do home inspections. All the dogs have adoption fees of course and they are HIGH for one reason only: to make that adoptive family think before adopting this animal that was pulled from a shelter. If they commit a large chunk of change, one hopes they will think hard about assuming the responsibility of the animal. We have sponsors of GOOD quality dog food companies that donate bags of food for our fosters to feed the animals while in their care, as well as bags of food that go home with their adoptive families and we will always take the dog back if for some reason things are not a mesh for the family.
It CAN be done, peta chooses to be a front group for their own selfish needs and agenda, which has nothing to do with the ethical treatment of animals.
As for breeders, a RESPONSIBLE breeder knows when to breed and there is nothing wrong with AKC or CKC (canada) and those orgs. It is those that want to make money off their animals, being puppy pimps, that are destroying animals, because they do not care what happens to the animals once they get that check/cash in hand.
I will continue doing what I do, and I will make a difference, all the while continuing to spread the word about what peta really is: a front for making money by a spoiled bitch.
For your edification:
http://www.roanoke-chowannewsherald.com/2007/01/24/testimony-underway-in-peta-trial/
http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/douglas-anthony-cooper/peta-kill_b_1387030.html?just_reloaded=1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=wuD8RCUIqAs
I love dogs; I have no problem with ethical breeders; but they seem to be a very small percentage of the ones producing puppies. For a real eye-opener, watch the BBc special: Pedigreed Dogs Exposed:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3O0l0f50AAk part 1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4dc5xAlsRpw part 2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TnN4u7OrYdI part 3
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HSR7o5pB_6Q part 4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wQSR-1yAMXo&feature=related part 5
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RTjQuQo8Xds&feature=relmfu part 6
Thank you for this article. It’s about time people start to find out about all of PeTA’s betrayal and how they are an inferior “charity”. People need to do their research before they give to anyone/anything. They assume that PeTA is the only good animal rights group out there and give tons of money to continue doing the opposite of what people think they do. All the evidence is out there, and it’s probably enough to bring PeTA down to its knees begging for mercy, but people need to stop being the flock and think for themselves. We should “ethically treat” PeTA in the same way they “ethically treat” all those dogs and cats.