The Truth About PETA

PETA transport dogs from crowded animal shelters in Louisiana to Virginia for adoption!

2010-08-02T22:31:00.000-07:00

PETA is transporting some of the dogs who have been surrendered at animal shelters in oil-ravaged Louisiana because their guardians have lost their jobs or left the area, to Virginia for adoption:

Pamela Anderson traveled to New Orleans with PETA to walk and give treats to these dogs, Pamela decided to adopt two of the dogs on the spot and named them Gina Lollobrigida and Bardot. The rest of the dogs—almost 50 adult dogs and puppies—are en route to PETA headquarters. Feeling inspired by Pamela's kindness? Saving dogs and cats in shelters is as easy as always spaying and neutering your animal companions and adopting animals from shelters instead of buying them from breeders or pet stores. And if your dogs and cats are already fixed, please consider either donating to PETA's "Spay and Neuter Immediately, Please!" (SNIP) program or helping someone in a low-income area near where you live to get his or her dog or cat fixed. Pamela is poised to blow a kiss in your direction for these good deeds.

Photo credit: Luca Pizzaroni

Homeless Animals Receive Special Holiday Gift from PETA

2010-03-15T03:47:00.000-07:00

Some time back in Nov 2009 in Windsor, North Carolina, officials cut the red ribbon that wrapped PETA’s very special gift to animals in this small Southern town. For nearly a decade, PETA has been working with Windsor and other area towns to provide homeless animals in their care with better housing conditions and a peaceful end when euthanasia is the most humane option.

In 2000, PETA was alerted by a caring police officer to terrible suffering and appalling conditions at several “animal shelters” in North Carolina, some of which were nothing more than outdoor shacks, like the one in Windsor. Dogs and cats left inside these outdoor “coops” suffered without heat in the winter and air conditioning, or even fans, in the scorching summer. As a result, some animals literally drowned or froze to death at some town facilities. When no homes could be found for them, many were killed by gas poisoning or gunshots.

PETA representatives were joined by Windsor’s mayor, Robert Spivey, and several other county officials to celebrate the town’s new animal shelter, funded entirely by PETA, to ensure that homeless animals in Windsor are housed comfortably and humanely from here on out. Get ready for a pretty amazing reveal:

As for the old shack, PETA planned a very special demolition party!

Since PETA received that initial complaint nearly a decade ago, PETA has become a lifesaving presence in many impoverished areas near our headquarters in Southern Virginia. PETA have provided hundreds of doghouses, free and low-cost spay/neuter services, food, toys, no-spill water receptacles, and more to local citizens and their animal companions, and PETA regularly work with local law-enforcement officials to prosecute those who harm animals. Every dollar PETA spends helps to ensure that a needy animal receives warmth during winter, shade during summer, fresh food, and clean water. Considering the difficult economic situation and winter’s frigid temperatures, PETA-and animals-need your help now more than ever. Visit HelpingAnimals.com to learn how you can help neglected and homeless animals in your own neighborhood and beyond.

PETA and the Fly

2010-02-04T03:00:00.000-08:00

Despite misleading headlines prompted by a bizarre story on TMZ, PETA did not get “mad,” ”miffed,” or “angry,” or ever condemn Obama for swatting a fly. That is all made-up! What PETA did when hounded by the press was simply say, “He’s human, not Buddha,” and then the story took on a life of its own.

On the plus side, PETA's web site has been visited by literally millions of people curious about this story, who have then been able to see what PETA's real campaigns are about. Once, a blogger on Politics Daily summed it up this way:

"As ridiculous as much of it might sound, in a way it's brilliant from a public relations point of view. It might not inspire us to trash our fly swatter, run out and purchase a humane bug catcher, or change our driving habits, but it certainly created some conversation. I'm writing about it - you're reading about it. Some people might have jumped online and researched the organization and the less laughable causes it stands for. Heck, some might have joined or made a donation. All of it over a fly."

Fore more info: http://blog.peta.org/archives/tags/fly/

Why We Euthanize by Ingrid E. Newkirk

2009-04-16T05:31:00.001-07:00

In my first year working at a grossly substandard animal shelter in Maryland, I forced myself to go in early to euthanize dogs by holding them in my arms and gently helping them escape an uncaring world without trauma or pain and to spare them from being stabbed haphazardly—while they were fully conscious, terrified and aware—in the general vicinity of their hearts with needles blunt from reuse and left to thrash on the floor until they finally died by the callous people who would arrive later to do the job.

I always wonder how anyone cannot recognize that there is a world of difference between painlessly euthanizing animals out of compassion—aged, injured, sick, and dying animals whose guardians can't afford euthanasia, for instance—as PETA does, and causing them to suffer terror, pain, and a prolonged death while struggling to survive on the streets, at the hands of untrained and uncaring "technicians," or animal abusers.

Diamond was suffering from a painful facial tumor that was slowly eating away at his face

Sasha had a severely infected bite wound.

It's easy to point the finger at those who are forced to do the "dirty work" caused by a throwaway society's casual acquisition and breeding of dogs and cats who end up homeless and unwanted, but at PETA, we will never turn our backs on neglected, unloved, and homeless animals—even if the best we can offer them is a painless release from a world that doesn't have enough heart or homes with room for them. It makes it easy for people to throw stones at us, but we are against all needless killing: for hamburgers, fur collars, dissection, sport hunting―the works. PETA handled far more animals than 2,124 in 2008. In fact, we took in more than 10,000 dogs and cats and work very hard to persuade people to spay and neuter their animals and to commit to a lifetime of care and respect for them. We go so far as to transport animals to and from our spay/neuter clinics, where they are spayed or neutered and given vet care, often for free! Since 2001, PETA's low- to no-cost spay-and-neuter mobile clinics, SNIP and ABC, have sterilized more than 50,000 animals, preventing hundreds of thousands of animals from being born, neglected, abandoned, abused, or euthanized when no one wanted them. And on a national level, PETA is focusing on the root of the problem through our Animal Birth Control (ABC) campaign.

Big Girl was still alive when a field worker found her

If anyone has a good home, love, and respect to offer, we beg them: Go to a shelter and take one or two animals home. The problem is that few people do that, choosing instead to go to a breeder or a pet shop and not "fixing" their dogs and cats, which contributes to the high euthanasia rate that animal shelters face. Most of the animals we took in and euthanized could hardly be called "pets," as they had spent their lives chained up in the back yard, for instance. They were unsocialized, never having been inside a building of any kind or known a pat on the head. Others were indeed someone's, but they were aged, sick, injured, dying, too aggressive to place, and the like, and PETA offered them a painless release from suffering, with no charge to their owners or custodians.

Every day, PETA's fieldworkers help abused and neglected dogs—many of them pit bulls nowadays and many of them forced to live their lives on chains heavy enough to tow an 18-wheeler—by providing them with food; clean water; lightweight tie-outs; deworming medicine; flea, tick, and fly-strike prevention; free veterinary care; sturdy wooden doghouses stuffed with straw bedding; and love.

What we see is enough to make you lose faith in humanity. One pit bull we gained custody of, named Asia, looked like a skeleton covered with skin when PETA released her from the 15-pound chain she had been kept on for years. Asia suffered from three painful and deadly intestinal obstructions, which prevented her from keeping any food down. She faced an agonizing, lingering death, so our veterinarian recommended euthanasia to end her suffering. We pursued criminal charges against those responsible for her condition, leading to their conviction for cruelty to animals. That is just one of the dozens of cases we see every week.

The majority of adoptable dogs are never brought through our doors (we refer them to local adoption groups and walk-in animal shelters). Most of the animals we house, rescue, find homes for, or put out of their misery come from miserable conditions, which often lead to successful prosecution and the banning of animal abusers from ever owning or abusing animals again.

Santana had facial injuries so serious that his right eye was swollen shut and his jaw was ripped and hanging

This dog was suffering from advanced cancer

As long as animals are still purposely bred and people aren't spaying and neutering their companions, open-admission animal shelters and organizations like PETA must do society's dirty work. Euthanasia is not a solution to overpopulation but rather a tragic necessity given the present crisis. PETA is proud to be a "shelter of last resort," where animals who have no place to go or who are unwanted or suffering are welcomed with love and open arms.

Please, if you care about animals, help prevent more of them from being born only to end up chained and left to waste away in people's back yards, suffering on mean streets where people kick at them or shoo them away like garbage, tortured at the hands of animal abusers, or, alas, euthanized in animal shelters for lack of a good home. If you want to save lives, always have your animals spayed or neutered.

PART II: PLEASE NOTE: There's a picture below that is very disturbing, but for people who are concerned about animal suffering and homelessness, it's important to face the tragic reality of the overpopulation crisis and its consequences. Animals can't afford to have people look away.

Her name was Big Girl, but there was almost nothing left of her. She was so still, so slight, and so cold to the touch that field workers thought that she was already dead. But the tiny 6-month-old pit bull was still alive. Barely.

Big Girl never knew the love and care that we wish every dog experienced; by the time we arrived, she had endured prolonged, incomprehensible agony. When we found her collapsed on the ground, she weighed less than the chain she was tied to. She had clearly been starved—she was a pile of bones and had raw, mostly hairless skin with absolutely no body fat. A veterinarian later told us that Big Girl's stomach contained nothing but dirt, leaves, a piece of corn cob with two kernels on it, and a piece of dry, caked fecal matter. Big Girl had been left to suffer for so long that she had begun to decompose. Four different generations of maggots were eating away at her body. When we gently peeled her off the ground, she moaned. She could not see us or hear us, but we hope she knew that we were there to help her.

We sent Big Girl off to heaven with kind words and a gentle lethal injection. We wished we could have ended her misery much, much sooner. Those who condemn open-admission animal shelters and organizations like PETA for having to euthanize sick, injured, dying, and unwanted animals must look closely at the source of the overpopulation crisis—people who breed animals, those who neglect and abuse them, and consumers who choose to buy animals from breeders and pet shops instead of adopting from their local animal shelter.

No one hates the ugly reality of euthanasia more than the shelter workers who hold the syringe. Sometimes, especially when animals have known no kindness and are suffering, the best that we can offer an animal like Big Girl, Asia, and others is a painless and dignified release from a world that showed them no love or compassion.

P.S. The man responsible for Big Girl's horrific condition (as well as that of another dog, who suffered from a vaginal prolapse) was charged and convicted for the condition of both dogs, and he was prohibited from owning animals.

PART III: This blog post again may shock you with its bluntness, but it is the truth. It's also a call to action. This is your chance to weigh in and help the unloved, the unwanted, and the throwaways from our convenience-oriented society. I want to ask you to look at some photographs that may haunt you, but they may also prompt you to act.

After crawling inside a car engine, this kitten suffered gruesome injuries but was still alive and screaming in pain.

PETA never turns away an animal for being "unadoptable." Ever. In fact, in our area, as is likely the case in yours, the "no-kill" facility is usually full—full of dogs and cats who have been sitting in cages for months and, in some cases, years. And that facility, while basking in the glory of its "no-kill" pledge, often refers animals to us and to the city pound. We receive calls from desperate people who cannot afford the "no-kill" shelter's admission fee or can't cope with its waiting list. We do not turn our back on these animals. Never have and never will. So we take in the animals no one wants, and we ease their pain so that they don't languish unaided or fall into the wrong hands—which often would mean going right back to where they came from. We will always be here for animals who need and deserve a kind hand, a loving word, and a peaceful exit from a world that has treated them like trash.

A passerby called PETA after spotting this dog, who had a chain deeply embedded in her neck and reeking of infection.

Last year, PETA did many things: We helped countless dogs and cats in "our own backyard." Our phenomenal mobile spay-and-neuter clinics sterilized 8,677 animals (562 of whom we picked up for surgery and then took back home in PETA's Animal Birth Control van). We built and delivered more than 300 sturdy doghouses and delivered about 5,000 bags of straw to warm up cold dogs who were chained or penned outside in all weather extremes. We provided free veterinary care for animals with infections, wounds, and illnesses. And we did something else that made a difference: Our shelter of last resort took in 2,352 injured, ill, elderly, and unwanted animals for euthanasia. Our Community Animal Project staffers showered each of them with love and affection in their final moments, gave them their very first soft caress, in many cases, and told them, "Good puppy!" often for the very first time.

These two starving, abandoned puppies were suffering from a severe case of demodectic mange covering about 80 percent of their bodies. They were surviving off scraps that neighbors and passersby left for them. A veterinarian recommended immediate euthanasia to end their suffering.

No one feels anything other than crushed to euthanize animals; those who hate euthanasia the most are the truly kind people whose job it is to perform it—people on our staff and in other animal shelters. It's so easy for some people to turn away, to condemn, or to create the very problem that these brave souls deal with, but they are only cleaning up after the people who neglected those animals; who never showed them a shred of commitment or an ounce of compassion, who thought nothing of crating, penning, or chaining them up with a tractor-trailer chain because it was inconvenient to walk them or secure daycare for them; who didn't think twice about leaving them behind when their house was foreclosed on or dog food became expensive; or who left the door open and let the dog or cat get hit by a car. Our staff is grateful that people in our community know to call upon us when someone needs to do what's necessary.

This rat's guardian came to PETA to have the terminally ill animal euthanized after a local animal shelter turned her away.

The animals who come through PETA's doors are but a tiny fraction of the estimated 6 to 8 million homeless dogs and cats who are handed over the counter in animal shelters nationwide every year. These animals are abandoned, and many are left to languish in cages—waiting, looking up anxiously and hopefully at every person who enters, in the hope that he or she will save them and take them home. A whopping half of them will be "put to sleep" because that someone never showed up (the girl who stopped at the cage and giggled, the man who said, "Isn't he weird-looking?"—they moved on with their lives). The people who are kind enough to hold these animals and stroke their fur as they take their last breath are not to blame for any of it. The blame falls squarely on the shoulders of each person who refuses or "forgets" to have his or her cat or dog sterilized and everyone who has purchased an animal from a pet shop or a breeder instead of adopting from their local shelter.

After being hit by a car, this cat suffered a prolapsed eye and serious internal injuries but was still alive when a passerby found her.

PETA is calling on the governors of all 50 states to endorse mandatory spay-and-neuter laws that would require dogs and cats to be sterilized unless their owners purchase an annual breeding permit, the cost of which would fund low-cost spay-and-neuter services. You can help―you have a governor, and you may know a state senator or council member—or perhaps you could get to know one. Please join us in this effort, and please recruit everyone you know to do so as well. We will provide language for model legislation, but please, talk to everyone in the dog parks, at the vet's office, and on the street. Download our posters and fliers and hand them out and put them up; pick a low-income block and help the people there spay and neuter their animals; and please, go down to city hall or up to the statehouse and lobby so that next year the nation's homeless animal population will be lower. Individual dogs and cats would ask you to do this if they could.

PART IV: I know the photos are upsetting, believe me. But you have to understand a problem in order to fix it. And that's what we want you to do—to start understanding the real source of the problem. The killing of homeless and unwanted animals isn't going away, and it's not because animal shelters don't care (they do, and many workers pour their hearts into their work). The real reason—and here's the truly shocking part—is that many dog and cat lovers are the problem. That's right—the very people who should care the most are often the ones who create the problem.

It took several days to trap this hound, who likely had gotten lost while hunting or had been abandoned at the end of hunting season. He was suffering from a crushed femur, a dislocated leg, heartworms, hookworms, and Ehrlichiosis, which is similar to Lyme disease.

Shelter workers will tell you that dogs and cats come through their portals with embroidered blankets, painted toenails, or folders filled with "papers"—signs that the animals were once valued. Some were bought on a whim as Paris Hilton–style "arm candy," and others were surrendered because their guardians went off to college; went on vacation; moved north, south, east, or west; married someone who was allergic; got divorced; or couldn't be bothered to cope with the animal's barking, fur, size, or normal physical and psychological needs. (Surprise—animals actually need to be fed and walked, and their litterboxes need to be cleaned too.)

This feral cat was likely attacked by another animal; the attack left the tendon in her leg painfully exposed.

Many of the "dumped" are living, breathing testaments to the collapse of sub-prime mortgages and loans. We acquired beyond their means, so when times got hard, pink slips arrived, and bills mounted, thousands of Princesses and Peppers and Peaches ended up on the street, literally and figuratively. And they're still pouring through the doors of animal shelters—the ones, that is, who weren't left in abandoned houses, later to be found barricaded inside closets or on chains in backyards.

This dog's penis had been prolapsed for over a week and had become painfully infected. The dog's guardian had no money for vet care and called PETA to help ease the animal's suffering.

Some refugees from human failures and home foreclosures will languish in a shelter cage for life. You can see them, turning in ever tighter circles; barking frantically at every visitor, as if to recount their story; or sitting with their backs turned to the world, unresponsive to sweet talk, all hope gone. Every one of these anxious individuals must wonder how it is that this guardian or that family, their family, their person, who they believed would always be there to care for them, has vanished, leaving them confused and displaced in an unfamiliar and uncomfortable cell.

This cat's guardian allowed her to roam outdoors. She disappeared for several days, and when she came back her leg had been degloved and all the bones were exposed.

Unwanted dogs and cats are, in their own way, a bit like carbon emissions: They are invisible to most of us because they are kenneled in animal shelters that are often tucked away on the wrong side of the railroad tracks, in impoverished neighborhoods, or down country roads. They are hidden, unlike the animals in bright, shiny mall pet shops. Like carbon emissions, they are the product of careless and egocentric lifestyles and a reluctance to connect the dots.

A hoarder had allowed this kitten to suffer from a prolapsed rectum.

This year, animal shelters will be forced to kill millions of wonderful dogs and cats for want of one thing: a good home. Why? Because many of the people in your local dog park or veterinary waiting room—people who truly love their dogs and cats—have behaved irresponsibly by obtaining an animal from a pet shop or breeder and failing to have him or her spayed or neutered.

These are the people who are responsible for taking the lives of homeless animals—not your local shelter workers. For, just as buying clothes that were made in sweatshops supports child labor, buying a dog or cat from a breeder or pet shop contributes to the death rate in shelters. Let me be clear: There is no such thing as a responsible breeder.

When people buy a dog or cat, perhaps they think that homeless animals don't factor into their purchase, or perhaps they are honestly oblivious to the hundreds of thousands of animals who are waiting on death row at that very moment. I'm sure that such people don't see themselves as signing some animal's death warrant when they sign their credit card receipt, but that's what they are doing. They have room in their home and heart that could be filled by rescuing one of those wonderful, loving dogs or cats who were booted out, got lost, or fell victim to a human's accident or death. They would have felt that animal's gratitude for years to come.

This feral cat was found roaming the streets and suffering from serious neck wounds that had been left untreated.

There is one more way in which people add to the crisis, and that is by fooling themselves into thinking that it doesn't count if they breed their dog or cat just one time. But it does matter very much. Please join PETA in calling on the governors of all 50 states to endorse mandatory spay-and-neuter laws that would require dogs and cats to be sterilized unless their owners purchase an annual breeding permit—the cost of which would fund low-cost spay-and-neuter services.

Everyone who breeds their dog or cat believes that their friends will flock to take home the new arrivals. After all, that animal is the prettiest and smartest in the world. But again, a pound pup or shelter Siamese could fill that space (to say nothing of the spaces that will later be taken up by the descendents of those new puppies and kittens if they aren't spayed or neutered before they're given away). And if homes can't be found for all those adorable pups and kittens, people find themselves handing them over the counter at the animal shelter accompanied by those six conveniently guilt-shifting words, "You won't kill them, will you?"

PETA's Stand On 'Pets'

2008-11-04T02:10:00.000-08:00

PETA very much love the animal companions who share our homes, but PETA believe that it would have been in the animals' best interests if the institution of "pet keeping"—i.e., breeding animals to be kept and regarded as "pets"—never existed. The international pastime of domesticating animals has created an overpopulation crisis; as a result, millions of unwanted animals are destroyed every year as "surplus." This selfish desire to possess animals and receive love from them causes immeasurable suffering, which results from manipulating their breeding, selling or giving them away casually, and depriving them of the opportunity to engage in their natural behavior. Their lives are restricted to human homes where they must obey commands and can only eat, drink, and even urinate when humans allow them to.

Because domesticated animals retain many of their basic instincts and drives but are not able to survive on their own in the wild, dogs, cats, or birds, whose strongest desire is to be free, must be confined to a house, yard, or cage for their own safety.

This is a "best case" scenario. The truth is that millions of dogs spend their lives outside on heavy chains in all weather extremes, or they are kept locked up in tiny chain-link pens from which they can only watch the world go by. Millions more are confined to filthy wire cages in puppy mills—forced to churn out litter after litter until they wear out, at which time they are killed or dumped at the local animal shelter. Even in "good" homes, cats must relieve themselves in dirty litterboxes and often have their digits removed by "declawing," and dogs often have to drink water that has sat around for days, are hurried along on their walks, and are yelled at to get off the furniture or be quiet.

Most compassionate people never think that someone would throw a litter of kittens out the window of a moving car, and they would certainly be shocked by PETA's inches-thick files on cases of dogs and cats who have been shot with arrows, blown up with firecrackers, doused in gasoline and set on fire, cooked in microwave ovens, used as "bait" in dogfights, tortured in satanic rituals, beaten with baseball bats by bored kids, dragged behind cars to "teach them a lesson" for running away, or bound in duct tape to silence their barking. Abuses such as these happen to many animals every day.

Contrary to myth, PETA does not want to confiscate animals who are well cared for and "set them free." What PETA want is, for the population of dogs and cats to be reduced through spaying and neutering and for people to adopt animals (preferably two so that they can keep each other company when their human companions aren't home) from pounds or shelters—never from pet shops or breeders—thereby reducing suffering in the world.

Learn more from PETA about how you can provide full, interesting lives for your animal companions.

"I prefer the term "companion" to pet, as that is more respectful, don't you think? Semantics can be important in how we view others. It drives me wild to see Britney Spears and Paris Hilton acquiring dogs as arm candy, which is why I wrote a book called Let's Have a Dog Party! I wanted to draw attention to the fact that these dogs are individuals with needs and wants. They aren't fashion accessories; cigarette smoke, loud music, and being left alone to stare at the apartment walls bothers them—it isn't a real life. I ask that people stay clear of pet shops and breeders, who exacerbate the overpopulation crisis. But if a person has enough love, patience, understanding, time, and money for veterinary care, I would ask him or her to go to the animal shelter and get two dogs or cats—so that the animals can keep each other company when their guardians are at work or play." - Ingrid Newkirk

PETA and the ALF

2008-11-02T02:43:00.000-08:00

PETA is an activist organization working to educate the public about the horrors of animal suffering through totally “peaceful” means; PETA doesn't engage in activities in which anyone, human or other-than-human, is injured. ‘Some’ animal rights activists have broken inanimate objects such as stereotaxic devices (the metal contraptions that hold an animal’s head in place with screws into the skull) and decapitators and have burned empty buildings in which animals were tortured and killed. Some raids have provided proof of horrific cruelty that would not have been discovered or believed otherwise. They have resulted in criminal charges against laboratories and experimenters for violations of state and federal animal protection laws and, in some cases, have shut down abusive labs for good.

While these activists and PETA have very different approaches, PETA will certainly not condemn them for carrying out illegal actions in which no living being is harmed. They are acting on their overwhelming feelings of compassion when faced with evidence of violent acts being carried out behind closed doors—acts that, though more vicious and cruel than any we might inflict on our worst enemies during times of war, are nonetheless often very legal when carried out on animals in labs. Since current regulations are almost non-existent, and those that do exist often go unenforced, these actions are sometimes the only way hideous cruelties have been exposed and ended. On a number of occasions, activist break-ins have served to initiate investigations that expose violations of law on the part of the animal abusers that would otherwise have gone unnoticed and/or unchecked. PETA works very hard to stop cruelty to animals through pamphlets, billboards, letters, ads, articles, peaceful demonstrations, humane education in schools, and colorful campaigns.

What PETA do it's money is always legal and open to scrutiny. If any one of the PETA staff members has been arrested you can count on the fact it was probably for sitting down in a peaceful protest of animal suffering, in the time-honored tradition of Cesar Chavez, Gandhi, and Martin Luther King Jr. The $1,500 that PETA gave to the Earth Liberation Front press office a few years ago was to help with "legal bills" for a good animal protectionist whom PETA felt was being harassed unfairly for speaking his mind about animal abuse and who to this day has never been charged with anything!

PETA believes in the right to legal counsel, and that is what PETA have provided to humane people on a few occasions. One example is the case of 60-year-old school teacher Roger Troen, who took in some rescued rabbits who had been dropped on his doorstep one night and who was later charged with accepting stolen property when it was discovered that the rabbits had been taken from the University of Oregon. PETA turned that trial on its head, exposing the university’s hideously cruel practices, as well as the deaths of countless primates there. In the end, the judge said that he was ashamed to call the University of Oregon his alma mater.

Truth Behind PETAKillsAnimals.com

2008-11-02T02:31:00.000-08:00

Firstly you need to understand that this anti-PETA campaign is the work of a “front group” for Outback Steakhouse, KFC, cattle ranchers, and other animal exploiters who kill millions of animals every year, not out of compassion, but out of greed. These companies are worried because the progress that PETA is making forces them to take animal welfare concerns seriously, and they hope to scare people away from caring about animals by spending millions on ads like this. To learn more about anti-PETA activists from this group please visit www.ConsumerDeception.com. They’re hiding some pretty disgusting stuff, so try not to hurl while you read about them. (They have even launched a campaign against Mothers Against Drunk Driving! Can you believe that?!) After reading this message, chances are you’ll join the tons of other people who end up being even more motivated to work with PETA than ever before! So don't wait, Support PETA!

Despite a couple online rumors, PETA’s caseworkers have never been convicted of cruelty to animals, and they tirelessly rescue homeless animals from environmental dangers, as well as cruelty and neglect (www.HelpingAnimals.com/about_cap.asp). They crawl through sewers, poke through junkyards, climb trees, and dodge traffic in order to reach animals in danger. During floods and storms, they are out saving lives at all hours. PETA even pulled many staff members from their normal jobs in their office to rush to New Orleans area after Hurricane Katrina left countless animals without homes, food, or water! While some of the healthy, adoptable homeless animals PETA rescue are fostered in homes (often their own) or taken directly to local shelters to await adoption, the reality is that thousands of animals are euthanized every day across America for lack of good homes. This is sad, but it is the reality at most shelters as the alternative is to keep animals suffering by the millions every single day. Don’t you agree that a peaceful death is better than suffering indefinitely?

Since PETA hasn’t been set up as a traditional shelter, most of the animals PETA receive are so physically and/or psychologically abused that euthanasia is definitely the most compassionate choice (to learn more, please see PETA’s fact sheet at www.PETA.org/feat-overpopulation_crisis.asp). PETA provide free euthanasia services for local residents who have very sick or critically injured animals but can’t afford to take them to a veterinarian. For example, PETA’s caseworkers were able to gain custody of a dog (she was locked to a 15 pound chain!) who was starved. PETA had to carry her into the emergency clinic because she could barely walk. On the doctor’s advice, PETA gave her food and water in a comfortable room and monitored her progress overnight but, by the next morning, she couldn’t keep the food down, so they rushed her again to see a veterinarian. He recommended euthanasia due to the severity of her condition; she was in a lot of pain and faced an agonizing, lingering death otherwise. The most humane option for her was a peaceful and dignified release from her suffering. Would you want to keep this poor animal alive with no end to her pain in sight? Of course not! PETA pursued criminal charges against those responsible for her condition, leading to their convictions for cruelty to animals, though, and you can read more about this at www.HelpingAnimals.com/f-asiasstory.asp.

Here is more; PETA was first invited to help animals in North Carolina by a police officer who was appalled by conditions in area “shelters” - some are just shacks without heating in which animals were left to drown or freeze to death. PETA has helped countless animals in North Carolina and assisted animal control agencies and personnel with training, supplies and services. PETA has spent more than $240,000 in the past few years in one county in North Carolina alone, making improvements for animals. Each dollar spent means a needy animal helped—cold abated, shade provided, water and food given. PETA have also delivered hundreds of FREE, sturdy doghouses and straw in winter to dogs who have nothing or next to nothing to protect them from the elements—perhaps only a metal barrel or a tree during storms. PETA have also gone to the rescue of dogs and cats who need veterinary care for which PETA has then paid the bills; and PETA have even built a whole cat shelter from the ground up in an area where cats were previously set free into the woods to breed. As already mentioned, PETA has provided euthanasia services to various counties in that state to prevent animals from being shot with a .22 behind a shed or gassed in windowless metal boxes - both practices that were carried out until PETA volunteered to provide a painless death for the animals, free of charge. PETA believes that euthanasia is a kindness for dogs and cats who are born into a world that doesn’t want them, has not cared for them, and ultimately has abandoned them to be disposed off. PETA welcomes discussion of this issue because the sad fact is that there are far too few good homes to go around—people patronize pet shops where dogs and cats can be bought on a credit card or seek out purebreds from breeders who are adding to the population overload; and too few people spay and neuter their animals or keep animals for a lifetime.

Animal abusers are terrified of the strides that PETA is making, and they are trying every trick in the book to squelch our right to tell people the truth. It is a measure of PETA's effectiveness that they are feeling so threatened by PETA achievements, and it only inspires PETA to work even harder for animals. PETA will always say what they think and vigorously defend animals and the defenders of animals.

PLEASE HAVE A LOOK AT THIS VIDEO, You're sure to appreciate PETA.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eAPO4xiyniI

Sophie Monk Defends Her Vegetarian Stance

2008-10-20T08:01:00.000-07:00

Washington (ANI): Two months on from her controversial visit to KFC, Singer Sophie Monk, a self-confessed vegetarian, has described the incident as 'good deed gone wrong'. The stunner, who has posed nude for PETA, was slammed by activists after pictures appeared in August showing her coming out of the fast food chain (long accused of using battery chickens in its food). But, she has now defended her vegetarian stance saying that she was actually doing a good deed, which went all wrong. "I'm such an idiot - the thing was I was in there because this homeless guy was hungry. I went past and thought "I'm going to go in and get him some wedges." I was actually doing a good deed. It's so me to end up the other way around where I've done damage," The Daily telegraph quoted her, as saying.

Earlier, Monk had protested against KFC for their animal rights form, and has claimed that she is a committed vegetarian. After her PETA campaign, Monk said that she only ate at vegetarian restaurants as they have the 'best food'. She also criticised KFC eaters, saying: "I think the message to KFC eaters (is that) you should think about what you're eating. If you're eating deformed animals that are being induced by hormones, you know, it cannot be good for you."