What do you all think of this? Anti-PETA Billboard

[QueenScoopalot]

http://worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=44226

New billboard: 'PETA
kills animals'
Education effort points out nonprofit destroys 85% of pets in its shelter

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Posted: May 12, 2005
1:00 a.m. Eastern


By Ron Strom
© 2005 WorldNetDaily.com

A new publicity campaign run by a consumer-freedom organization is using a billboard in Times Square to expose the group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, or PETA, saying the nonprofit is a deceptive money-grabbing lobby that actually kills over a thousand animals every year.

The Center for Consumer Freedom runs a project it calls PETAKillsAnimals.com.


Times Square billboard (Click on link above to see the billboard)


"Hypocrisy is the mother of all credibility problems, and People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals has it in spades," states the new anti-PETA website. "While loudly complaining about the 'unethical' treatment of animals by restaurant owners, grocers, farmers, scientists, anglers and countless other Americans, the group has its own dirty little secret.

"PETA kills animals. By the thousands.


"From July 1998 through the end of 2003, PETA killed over 10,000 dogs, cats and other 'companion animals' – at its Norfolk, Virginia, headquarters. That's more than five defenseless animals every day. Not counting the dogs and cats PETA spayed and neutered, the group put to death over 85 percent of the animals it took in during 2003 alone. And its angel-of-death pattern shows no sign of changing."

While PETA in 2003 adopted out 14 percent of its animals, the Center for Consumer Freedom notes, other animal shelters had a much higher placement rate. That same year, the Norfolk, Va., SPCA found adoptive homes for 73 percent of its animals, while the Virginia Beach SPCA adopted out 66 percent.

The organization announced this week it had secured space on a 60-by-60-foot billboard in New York City's Times Square to publicize its anti-PETA message.

"We're out to tell the truth about PETA," said Center for Consumer Freedom research director David Martosko in a statement. "This group's duplicity knows no bounds. PETA accepts animal-lovers' donations with one hand while administering lethal injections to puppies and kittens with the other. That's not 'ethical.' It's hypocritical."

The website notes on PETA's 2002 income-tax return, it claimed a $9,370 write-off for a giant walk-in freezer. Why would vegetarians need a freezer? – " to store the bodies of its victims," states the site.

PETA could refrain from euthanizing so many animals, the Center for Consumer Freedom claims, but it would cost the organization more money to do so.

"PETA raked in nearly $29 million last year in income, much of it raised from pet owners who think their donations actually help animals," said Martosko. "Instead, the group spends huge sums on programs equating people who eat chicken with Nazis, scaring young children away from drinking milk, recruiting children into the radical animal-rights lifestyle, and intimidating businessmen and their families in their own neighborhoods."

The site also hammers PETA for giving "tens of thousands of dollars to convicted arsonists and other violent criminals," including the North American Earth Liberation Front – "an FBI-certified 'domestic terrorist' group."


PETAKillsAnimals.com further takes the group to task for its publicity campaign targeting children. One piece of kid-targeted PETA literature, the site says, tells small children: "Your Mommy Kills Animals!"

In addition to targeting PETA, the Center for Consumer Freedom says it "stands up to the 'food police,' environmental scaremongers, neo-prohibitionists, meddling bureaucrats and other self-anointed saints who claim to 'know what's best' for you."

[PJ's Mom]

I'd say it was about time!

PETA has been throwing their propoganda around for way too long. It's good that they're getting a taste of their own medicine.

[lizbud]

Not much.:rolleyes: Do you know anything about the group
putting out this stuff. Look up the center for comsumer freedom
and see WHO they really are. You might be very surprised at
their agenda and goals.

[K9soul]

What about this? PETA's records (http://www.petakillsanimals.com/downloads/PetaKillsAnimals.pdf)

[Suki Wingy]

I am sick of PETA focusing on the littelist things when there is so much other stuff t oconsider, like BSL.

[Lady's Human]

PETA's original mission and purpose was lost years ago. It's time for them to go the way of the dodo.

[lady_zana]

Originally posted by lizbud
Not much.:rolleyes: Do you know anything about the group
putting out this stuff. Look up the center for comsumer freedom
and see WHO they really are. You might be very surprised at
their agenda and goals.

I checked out their webpage and they have NO reference to where they got any of their sources, even quotes. I'm not a fan of PETA; I don't agree with much of their extreme ideas but neither am I a fan of people who try to present facts without giving legit sources for those facts. I never trust any thing like this if I can't find sources. Anyone can make a professional-looking webpage. I'll believe it when they tell me where they dug up their information so I can check it out for myself.

[QueenScoopalot]

http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Center_for_Consumer_Freedom
Hmmm...run by the tobacco/alcohol/ restaurant industries. Interesting. :confused: And they don't just slam PETA either..HSUS is on their agenda as well. :rolleyes:

[lizbud]

Originally posted by QueenScoopalot
http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Center_for_Consumer_Freedom
Hmmm...run by the tobacco/alcohol/ restaurant industries. Interesting. :confused: And they don't just slam PETA either..HSUS is on their agenda as well. :rolleyes:


This small special interest group also preachs that second hand
smoke from cigs doesn't cause cancer.So it's o.k. to smoke any
time & any where you want.(They are partly sponsered by Phillip
Morris Co.


http://www.consumerdeception.com/

[smokey the elder]

Definitely a dubious provenance.

[lizbud]

Originally posted by smokey the elder
Definitely a dubious provenance.


Definitely, but only available to those to chose to look past
the misinformation and downright lies, and question who or what
is making the claims. Some, however use their personal hated
of PETA to color their view on all claims against them.

[K9soul]

That's probably aimed at me, at least partially, but I am still wondering why no one has anything to say about the photocopies of the actual records from PETA that they provide. Are you then saying these are probably doctored or forged? Irregardless of the source, the records look real. However, if they were not, I would think PETA could file suit for forgery. PETA may have some explanation for their euthanization rate, but the numbers certainly appear accurate. As much as I cannot stand PETA, I still was skeptical to immediately believe the claims until having a look at the records provided that were allegedly filled out by PETA's shelter.

My feelings about PETA are not some sole product of reading anti-PETA propaganda. I've seen enough of PETA's fliers and information from their own website as well as interviews with Ingrid Newkirk to decide how I feel about them. I love having pets, and if there were no homeless dogs or cats, I would hope that there would still be (reputable) breeders so that we could still have companion animals. I believe in service animals, search and rescue dogs and seeing eye dogs. I believe it is not inhumane to ride a horse as long as the horse is treated with the utmost care and compassion. I also would not want to see family members who are dependent on insulin die rather than receive insulin (which comes from pigs).

[lady_zana]

Originally posted by K9soul
I am still wondering why no one has anything to say about the photocopies of the actual records from PETA that they provide. Are you then saying these are probably doctored or forged? Irregardless of the source, the records look real.

I don't know if they are forged or not but I refuse to believe any site or article that won't cite their sources...as an avid history buff, I've learned from experience that if you don't see any footnotes, don't bother reading it; it's probably not valid.

I want to see things for myself and when a website like this comes up, one I've never seen before, I simply want to check out info from a periodical of some sort that already has a good reputation and one I trust.

[K9soul]

I found a reply from PETA. They say the numbers are true, but claim all the animals are sick or have too bad of behavioral problems to adopt out (I'm sure Glacier has heard that before). They claim they comb the streets and the worst parts of town and get the animals in the worst shape. Apparently they automatically euthanize many of them on the spot (including any ferals) rather transport them and cause further "trauma and suffering."


Area shelters are overrun with animals, thousands of whom are euthanized for lack of good homes, despite the fact that most are young, healthy, and friendly. The "middle-aged" shepherd mix who literally climbs the walls trying to escape the presence of humans doesn't stand a chance--he will simply mark time cowering in his cage until his date with the needle. PETA opts to euthanize extremely sick or feral animals immediately, rather than subject them to the trauma of further transport and caging that will only, ultimately, end in death. We give them love and attention, food and soothing voices, and yes, a gentle death in our arms.

I have issue with that "middle-aged" shepherd example. Dogs like that CAN be rehabilitated with lots of time and love. I also found a post on a vegan board by a non-anonymous person that while he agrees with a lot of PETA's crusades, he worked at PETA for six months and saw (what he perceived to be) healthy animals being euthanized.

My feelings on it then are this:

Is it exactly as CFF is stating it? No, they are probably out to make it seem as if PETA is killing as many pets as possible because they are against the "pet industry."

Are there unnecessary euthanizations, when more could be done to prevent it? I believe so. I believe PETA would opt for the needle rather than put an animal through what they would consider a traumatic, drawn out rehabilitation.


This is the other side of the issue. I believe the truth lies somewhere in the middle, as it so often does.

PETA's reply (http://www.petrescueonline.org/newsinfo/petaeu2.htm)

[lizbud]

reply from PETA
to a letter inquiring about its euthanization decisions.

(Information forwarded by Bonney Brown of Best Friends, who received a copy from the original recipient.)

Thank you for your inquiry about the Associated Press article on euthanasia and overpopulation. The article's figures are accurate, but, unfortunately, it does not even begin to address the complex issue of animal overpopulation or PETA's role in combatting it, particularly the fact that we have saved thousands of unwanted animals from being born and subsequently finding themselves at the mercy of an uncaring world. PETA fights companion animal abuse and overpopulation aggressively and in a variety of ways. Through our undercover investigations and grassroots campaigns, we work to seek justice through the courts and educate the public about overpopulation and how to fight it. If you saw the recent Dateline piece on national television you will have seen how we are trying to wake the public up to the role puppy mills and pet shops play in flooding communities with casually acquired, and then often carelessly discarded dogs and cats. (For more information on our puppy mill campaign, please go to: http://www.helppuppies.com/index2.html).

Our Community Animal Project (CAP) rescues homeless animals directly -- crawling through sewers, poking through junkyards, climbing trees, dodging cars, and arguing with landlords to coax terrified abandoned or neglected animals to safety. We go into the very worst of neighborhoods to deliver food, doghouses, and bedding to pit bulls who have never known a kind word or touch; dogs who--thinking we are bent on doing them harm as all the other humans in their lives have--come at us with snapping jaws to defend the tiny patch of muddy earth they call home. We find starved corpses, dying animals, what is left of cats who have been used as bait for fighting dogs. In winter we see the dogs shiver and try to curl into the tiniest balls to keep warm; in summer we see them with their tongues dragging, water bowls overturned, panting to try not to succumb to the heat. In floods and storms, we are out there at all hours of the night saving lives. We push to have owners of severely abused animals prosecuted and the animals removed, but if we can do nothing else, we try hard to at least make the animals as comfortable as we can and sterilize them so more puppies won't freeze out there in winter or
burn alive in summer.

PETA takes in the animals nobody wants--the feral cat colonies descended from abandoned, unaltered house cats who are now thin and wild and often infected with deadly, ravaging diseases like Feline AIDS and leukemia. The stray dogs so disfigured by mange they are almost no longer recognizable as canines. The litters of parvo-infected puppies, wracked with diarrhea and vomiting--literally dehydrating to death. The backyard dogs who have known only chains, beatings, and neglect, and who have gone mad because of it. Some of the animals PETA takes in are eventually reunited with their families. We have caught and reunited some of the most elusive animals who other agencies have given up on. Some animals are fostered until homes can be found for them (PETA does not operate a shelter; we use veterinary boarding kennels and foster homes, including our own staffers' houses, and space is extremely limited). Other healthy and adoptable animals are taken directly to local shelters. Tragically, the only relief for the rest lies in oblivion.

Area shelters are overrun with animals, thousands of whom are euthanized for lack of good homes, despite the fact that most are young, healthy, and friendly. The "middle-aged" shepherd mix who literally climbs the walls trying to escape the presence of humans doesn't stand a chance--he will simply mark time cowering in his cage until his date with the needle. PETA opts to euthanize extremely sick or feral animals immediately, rather than subject them to the trauma of further transport and caging that will only, ultimately, end in death. We give them love and attention, food and soothing voices, and yes, a gentle death in our arms.

There is hope for abused animals, and it lies in prevention. We must persuade people to spay and neuter animals to stop the cycle of abuse. We must convince governments, like our own here in Norfolk--where we have already changed the ordinance once and are working to change it again--to accept responsibility instead of turning a blind eye to a problem that results in almost unimaginable animal suffering--not to mention taxpayer expense. PETA works very hard on this, educating the public about the need to spay and neuter through pamphlets, billboards, letters to the editor, ads, articles, and humane education in schools. We spay and neuter animals belonging to low-income families and the elderly poor for no charge whatsoever--we pay for every shot, surgery, blood and feces sample, and medication. Since January, 1999, PETA has sponsored more than 700 spay/neuter surgeries in the Tidewater area. But PETA and animal shelters can't do it alone. Everyone needs to do their part. Every one of us who cares about animals must work to help the animals in our communities. If a stray shows up on our doorstep, we mustn't tell ourselves that she has a home, or that "someone else" will take care of her. We must be that "someone else." Caring individuals must take homeless animals to shelters or, if they have the time, money, and space, spay them, vaccinate them, and foster them until loving, permanent homes can be found.

Each and every one of us can make a difference. If your neighbor's dog "keeps having puppies," offer to have her spayed. Write to your town councilperson and urge him or her to raise licensing fees for unaltered animals. Alert authorities if you witness an animal being abused or neglected. Boycott pet shops that sell puppies and kittens and adopt strays or shelter animals instead.

PETA can provide information, advice, educational materials, and assistance. For more information on our companion animal programs and literature, please go to: http://www.peta-online.org/cmp/ca.html. I hope this information is helpful and I hope you will continue to support PETA's vital campaigns. Thank you again for your inquiry and for all you do to help animals.

Sincerely,
Alisa Mullins
Correspondent



Just printing this out for future reference. (The type in the link is
much too small for these old eyes.:p )

[lizbud]

Originally posted by K9soul



I have issue with that "middle-aged" shepherd example. Dogs like that CAN be rehabilitated with lots of time and love. I also found a post on a vegan board by a non-anonymous person that while he agrees with a lot of PETA's crusades, he worked at PETA for six months and saw (what he perceived to be) healthy animals being euthanized.


Are there unnecessary euthanizations, when more could be done to prevent it? I believe so. I believe PETA would opt for the needle rather than put an animal through what they would consider a traumatic, drawn out rehabilitation.




I also have a problem with the fact that dogs with behavior
issues can't be helped individually. Dogs who have been starved
beaten or ignored & neglected all their lives cannot be turned into
model adoptable dogs overnight, if ever. The sheer number of
dogs without homes is far too great to even attempt rehabitation.

I hate it when I watch a show on Animal Planet by SPCA in some
city & they bring in a dog that is 20+ lbs. underweight(starved)
and put him to a test with a food bowl.Most dogs are set up to fail
the "food aggression" test. It could be a perfect dog in every other respect, but if it doesn't let someone mess with his food,
he's cut from the list of adoptable dogs. That's so wrong.

[K9soul]

I can't argue with true members of PETA, the only words they'll take into consideration are PETA's own words, and it even seems they turn a blind eye to some of those.

I can take a look at PETA's letter, a look a the opposition's claim, and understand the truth is probably somewhere in the middle. Looking at the reports, it appears the bulk of the numbers are cats (well over 1000 cats euthanized per year). Based on PETA's claim that they euthanize ferals (rather than TNR), I'm guessing a great many of the thousands are feral cats.

"Unadoptable" is all a matter of perception. I'm sure by their standard, Tommy would have been unadoptable if he had arrived at their facility. He most definitely would have cowered in the back corner and peed on himself every time a human approached. But put him in a house and with a bit of love and patience he became a wonderful companion.


The sheer number of
dogs without homes is far too great to even attempt rehabitation

I disagree. There are sanctuaries, foster homes, rescues, etc., devoted to that very thing. PETA could afford to do more in that area, but they prefer to put their money into their anti-meat campaigns.

That letter plays on emotions and mental images without really explaining much in my opinion. For all I know, they are claiming a dog with a runny nose is "extremely sick and better to put it down than subject it to further trauma." Or it may not be that way at all. The thing is, that is put out by PETA so of course they are going to put the best light possible on it. Blindly believing everything they say word for word would be no better than blindly believing what CFF says word for word. People were skeptical about the numbers at all, but I guess we can all realize that whatever the circumstances, the numbers were true.

edited to say:
Liz, I agree about the hand/food test. That is very sad. Because a dog may nip at some strange plastic hand coming into its bowl should not decide whether it lives or dies :(

[jesse_3]

Liz, I agree about the hand/food test. That is very sad. Because a dog may nip at some strange plastic hand coming into its bowl should not decide whether it lives or dies

I definetely agree with that! I would "bite" a plastic hand if it was comming towards my food! Also the little doll babies, of course the dog is going to think that it is a toy or something! It's not fair to a dog with all of these different tests.

I have been very annoyed with PETA for a long time. Finally, some truth came from "behind the scenes" I can believe every thing about the euthanizing! Don't get me wrong, not ALL people from PETA are out to get animals, some are actuelly nice, but some are, er......CRAZY!!!

[lady_zana]

GRRRR! That letter from PETA made me so mad! Feral cats too wild to find a home? Alley Cat Allies is working toward the time when TNR and other nonlethal control measures for managing outdoor cat populations are accepted everywhere. - From www.alleycat.org GRRR! GRRR! Why not neuter them and then allow them to live their lives in simple peace without the burden of overpopulation?????

[lady_zana]

Oh, and another thing - I'm really getting on my soapbox now, aren't it? - when my sister moved from Richmond, she took her three cats she'd adopted from the shelter to Beattyville with her. She rented a place and by the time she bought a house, her cat family had enlarged to eight - no litters, only ferals and strays that had become friendly enough to be housepets. A few like Oliver and Doppie tamed up almost immediately; others like Muffin and Mudpie took lots of love, food, and patience but they realized how great it was to have a furrever home. And on top of that, Julia has to take extra special care of Mudpie. He's getting better now but she used to have help with him with lots of normal activies; she had to carry him to the litterbox among other things. Mudpie is a sweet and sensitive cat and I can't imagine how horrible it would have been for him to be put to sleep just because he needed a little extra care.

I know my sister is only one person and can't take in every stray and special needs animal in the world. I know PETA doesn't have the money to just go out and feed every creature...but there are people like Julia and many, many of you on Pettalk. People foster kitties and puppies and other animals all the time. Many of you are willing to go that extra mile and carry the Mudpies to their litterboxes....

....I apologize for going off on this rant because I know that PETA has some wonderful members; not everyone who is a member of PETA is an extremist....I just hate to see little critters like Mudpie not being giving the chance to live because people don't want to take the time and effort they need.

(BTW, for those of you who saw Mudpie's picture with the horrible sore, I just want to say he's got peach fuzz covering it now! All that hair will be back soon. He can also go to the litterbox and jump on his own again. He's on the road to recovery!)