I received the email response below from PETAs attorney: PETA claims that their members are aware that PETA kills animals. However, I highly doubt that is true! I advocated for PETA for 2+ years without knowing that they were killing animals. PETA calls us no-kill evangelists (see below), which is unbelievable because PETAs campaigns are against the killing of animals! It looks like they decide which animals ought to be killed. Theyve included homeless animals without life-threatening diseases on their list. Do they believe that homeless humans should be euthanized as well because they are seemingly unwanted and unloved?!? Dear Ms. Smith: I received your below email, but must reiterate that due to your continuing litigation threats, you are instructed to direct any communications only to me and no other PETA representative. In response to your email, please see the several items below: Regarding the postcard: Given the length of time since Ingrid’s exchange with Mr. Winograd [Director of the No Kill Advocacy Center in Oakland, CA], we do not recall what communication from him prompted the postcard response. On the first point, Ingrid was probably stating what should be obvious, that there are things worse than death and that we are against suffering and will not uphold a “right to life” when euthanasia is the kindest thing. As for the reference to exceptions, it is usually the case that there are exceptions but we do not have a record of what prompted the comment. Regarding euthanasia and our work to end the homeless-animal crisis: As we always do each year, PETA has issued a news release about its annual intake, adoption, and euthanasia figures, hoping to engage the public in useful efforts to address the neglect and homelessness that are affecting companion animals across our nation... ...We take responsibility for the animals nobody wants—the sick, the scarred and broken, the elderly, the aggressive and unsocialized, and sometimes the simply unwanted ones who are thrown away like last year’s fad toy. ...Sometimes, they need the comfort of being put out of their misery—a dignified exit from a world in which they were abused and unwanted. ...The answer lies in prevention. We must stop irresponsible guardians, backyard breeders, and puppy mill operators who churn out litters without a thought as to where these helpless animals will go. ...You may be interested in the real story of PETA’s work in rural North Carolina. We began working to improve conditions for animals there in 2000, when we were asked by a police officer to stop local pounds from killing cats and dogs by gassing and shooting them. We immediately began properly—and painlessly—euthanizing sick and unwanted animals. ...Our hope is that this trial, though unfortunate and ultimately baseless, will shine light on the staggering dog and cat homelessness crisis plaguing the United States. Every year, 3 to 4 million dogs and cats must be euthanized in animal shelters. Countless more suffer far worse fates, languishing for years in pounds or dying slow and painful deaths from exposure, starvation, diseases, or injuries on the street. The practice of euthanasia will continue to be a tragic consequence of the cat and dog homelessness crisis until people stop buying animals from breeders and pet stores and fail to spay and neuter their animal companions. The Virginian-Pilot February 9, 2007 People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals is an easy target. Start with the zealousness with which the group pursues its anti-cruelty goals - the graphic reminders of where meat and fur come from, the anti-hunting and -fishing activism, the vegetarian proselytizing, the publicity stunts, the naked protests. Add a heaping dose of righteousness and youve got a recipe that pretty much divides America into folks who either love PETA or hate it. Thats fine. Whats not fine is turning that national ambivalence into persecution. Hertford County officials came perilously close to crossing that line when they charged two PETA workers with 21 felonies each for picking up animals at North Carolina shelters, euthanizing them, and dumping the bodies in a trash bin behind an Ahoskie grocery. Felony animal cruelty charges against the pair - Adria Hinkle, 28, and Andrew Cook, 26 - were reduced to misdemeanors by a judge who said the prosecution hadnt proved malice or motive, and then to a single charge of littering by a jury. The prosecutor left the courtroom without talking to reporters. But the words she used in the courtroom spoke volumes. Were here because the defendant, Miss Hinkle, went to the Ahoskie Animal Hospital and lied to get an animal and then kill it, District Attorney Valerie Asbell said during her closing argument. Its precisely that kind of incendiary talk - also heard in the community, in local newspapers, and in the Internets considerable anti-PETA presence - that made this trial such a thumping embarrassment. There were clear attempts to promote the story line that Hinkle and Cooks arrest proved that PETA was run by hypocrites. Except its no secret that PETA kills animals. Never has been. PETA euthanized 1,946 animals in 2005, the most recent year on file with the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. The organizations reasoning goes something like this: For some animals, a life of pain and suffering is worse than a quick end. Anyone who doesnt know that PETA euthanizes hundreds of animals every year simply hasnt been paying attention, either to the organization, what it says, or the public documents it submits. Some dont want to. PETA has made enemies of all manner of people who see it as one more nanny wagging her finger. From the cosmetics companies that dont want America to know they use rabbits to test eye cream to the folks who dont want to be told that barbecue is immoral, plenty of people have axes to grind against PETA. The judicial system, though, is supposed to be beyond such things. Despite the misguided efforts of the prosecution, Superior Court Judge Cy Grant, along with 12 members of a Hertford County jury, proved it was. Very truly yours, Jeffrey S. Kerr General Counsel and Senior Vice President of Corporate Affairs PETA Foundation 1536 16th Street, N.W. Washington, DC 20036 (202) 540-2171 (Office) (757) 573-7382 (Mobile) (202) 540-2208 (Facsimile) [email protected] PETAs statistics are also often used, as they are being used now, in a truly perverted way by some no-kill evangelists to try to turn people away from the evil of what is actually a dignified, merciful release from suffering. PETA At a time when the major animal protection groups have moved to a “no kill” shelter model, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals remains a holdout, confounding some and incensing others who know the organization as a very vocal advocacy group that does not believe animals should be killed for food, fur coats or leather goods. New York Times
Posted on: Wed, 16 Jul 2014 18:36:33 +0000
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