Peta tied to ALF, ELF, HSUS...

[K9soul]

I've been increasingly alarmed as I have looked more into Peta (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) and see how many organizations they have found to have ties with, including HSUS (Humane Society of the United States) which at one time I donated to not realizing they were supported and had ties with Peta. There are more and more organizations being uncovered that are discovered to have ties to Peta, gathering donations that end up going to Peta.

These foundations and organizations are basically fronts for Peta. For example, as I found in this article:
http://www.animalrights.net/articles/2002/000374.html

I found this article particularly shocking, regarding ALF, ELF, and Peta, Peta providing funding for ALF and ELF from their donations. The link is here: http://www.activistcash.com/org_blackeye.cfm?ORG_ID=21 .

Some quotes: "Bruce Friedrich, PETA’s “vegan campaign director” and third-in-command, didn’t seem to care when he addressed the Animal Rights 2001 convention in Virginia, telling a crowd of over 1,000 activists that “blowing stuff up and smashing windows” is “a great way to bring about animal liberation.”

“It would be great,” he added, “if all the fast-food outlets, slaughterhouses, these laboratories and the banks who fund them exploded tomorrow.”



" PETA also has given $2,000 to David Wilson, then a national ALF “spokesperson.” The group paid $27,000 for the legal defense of Roger Troen, who was arrested for taking part in an October 1986 burglary and arson at the University of Oregon. It gave $7,500 to Fran Stephanie Trutt, who tried to murder the president of a medical laboratory. It gave $5,000 to Josh Harper, who attacked Native Americans on a whale hunt by throwing smoke bombs, shooting flares, and spraying their faces with chemical fire extinguishers. All of these monies were paid out of tax-exempt funds, the same pot of money constantly enlarged by donations from an unsuspecting general public."

The rest of the article is equally apalling.

The scariest part of all this to me is the donations and cash these places receive from FRONT organizations. I don't know of many people who would support Peta but who would suspect some of the other foundations out there that don't seem extremist?

I'd strongly warn anyone I know if they are donating money to any kind of national foundation for animals that they be careful they are very sure about it, because it may just well be funneling all those donations right back to Peta.

Personally I would stick to the ASPCA and local organizations.

[Desert Arabian]

WHAT! I donate money to the Humane Society of the United States. Sorry, not anymore, I can't support Peta. No way!

However, I will def. still donate to ASPCA and my local humane society!!

[lizbud]

I don't see any reference to the HSUS in those links.


The one article speaks of a Washington (DC) Humane Society.
Do you mean to imply that they are one and the same as HSUS?

[K9soul]

I'm not really "implying" HSUS IS Peta (though some organizations are being found out to be fronts for Peta) but there are ties. All you have to do is a search on the net about HSUS and Peta and you will begin to find many ties between the two.

This link is where I first read about in particular about the ties between the two: http://www.arbreptiles.com/extremists.html

It's pretty disturbing to read about the salaries and fund allocations of them. This quote in particular brings to light some facts that has to make one wonder:

HSUS ties with PeTA

The HSUS employs several former PeTA employees, and Ingrid Newkirk, president and founder of PeTA has allies within the HSUS directors. One of Newkirk's allies would be Wayne Pacelle, vice president for media and government affairs. Pacelle was hired by the HSUS directly from Cleveland Amory's Fund for Animals. Amory is also interestingly the mentor of PeTA co-founder Alex Pacheco.Newkirk used the help of Amory in 1987 when she seized corporate and financial control of the anti-research New England Anti-Vivisection Society and its multi-million dollar bank account, the first of her moves to consolidate the animal movement under her influence.

Other former PeTA employees and associates who are now employed at HSUS include the chief computer programmer, the head of its national and international investigations who by the way, also oversees its lucrative Wildlife Lands Trust, two key HSUS investigators and many other people throughout the HSUS corporate structure, including its lab animal section, which handles the medical research issue.

A key thing to note about HSUS is: They do not run any shelters and are in no way associated with local Humane Societies and get most of their funding from their similar name, because people think that they are funding animal shelters and adoption programs. HSUS and PETA have been shown to have distributed false and/or misleading information.

The following link shows all the organizations that the HSUS has connections with, including PETA. http://www.activistcash.com/org_conn...cfm?ORG_ID=136

I found that link to be tremendously educational. It seems to be widely conjectured that the HSUS uses a bit more subtle and different tactics in order to raise funds for the same things that Peta does.

I admit when I first saw HSUS literature I too was fooled by the term "Humane Society" thinking that their funds went out to humane society programs, but they do not, and that is what I think people should be aware of if they are donating to them.

This article also explains how HSUS uses its funds, how it misleads people, and its ties, again, to Peta:
http://www.orlanelhasa.org/hsus.htm

There are many, many more articles about all of this. All one has to do to research more is do an internet search on PETA and HSUS. It's quite an eye opener.

[Cheshirekatt]

I've hated PETA for years and known about the link to ALF, but not the other links.

IMHO groups like PETA have set animal rights back years.

[lizbud]

The links I've seen so far are all "anti-animal rights" and "anti-
vivisection" groups. It seems logical they would attempt to
denigrate ANY animal rights/protection group no matter what
their name.

[K9soul]

Originally posted by lizbud
The links I've seen so far are all "anti-animal rights" and "anti-
vivisection" groups. It seems logical they would attempt to
denigrate ANY animal rights/protection group no matter what
their name.

They are "anti-animal rights" in the sense of these groups like Peta and HSUS, yes. They are not anti-ASPCA type groups. Also wherever the facts are published, they are facts and indisputable, inasmuch as where their funds are really going. If you don't like the particular links I happened to post do your own search. I came up with literally thousands of sites on it, everything I looked at stating the same thing. HSUS, Peta etc, do NOT use their funds to help a single animal shelter or adoption program.. they fund raids on Fast food chains and radical extremist protests. If that is what you would wnat to fund by donating to them, then you would be donating to the right place, however their literature leads people to believe they are funding shelters and such which they are not... Did you actually read the articles? They were not slamming legitimate organizations that help animals.

Also the next to last link in my second post is not an anti-animal rights organization either. It is a consumer awareness program that tracks nonprofit orgs and where they spend their funds.

Anyway, in the end it is up to you. I've spent enough hours looking at all the information and educating myself about these particular organizations. Anyone who is determined not to believe it will find a reason not to.

[CathyBogart]

My donations go to the ASPCA and privately run rescue groups. Now that I know more about the Humane Society and how INhumane they actually are, I won't go near them.

The one near me is absolutely horrid, there's one in the county that has DROP BOXES for ANIMALS!!! Since I started looking a little deeper and talking to the rescues that work near Humane Societies, I have learned nothing but bad things. (Plus, I cannot support any organization that wants to ban the captive keeping of reptiles. HS and PETA both do)

[mugsy]

PETA has always made me extremely nervous...I truly believe they are a terrorist organization. That being said, I have a dear friend who is a card carrying PETA member and defends them to the end, but, she's quite normal.

[DJFyrewolf36]

I've said it before...

if PETA is so concerned about "animal rights" *I use the term very loosely here* then why do they think that killing people and blowing up buildings will help the cause? I can only see one small advantage...if the building is gone, maybe a spotted owl can move in
Too bad you can't see sarcasim online...

[lizbud]

K9soul,

It seems that Activist Cash and their sister site Comsumer
Freedom are part of the same organization. Is that true? I've
honestly never heard of either one of these groups till now.

I did find this interesting. Under the "Key Players" (read Bad
Guys) is listed this info on Elliot Katz.

Elliot Katz

Background
In addition to his work with FARM, veterinarian Elliot Katz is the founding president of the animal-rights group “In Defense of Animals.”

Katz has been on the forefront of the move to replace the terms “pet” and “owner” with “animal companion” and “animal guardian.” He calls this language change part of a social “revolution,” and compares his cause to the women’s suffrage movement and 19th century emancipation.

Still, Katz recognizes that food animals are still classified as “mere property”; he and his organization aim to take meat off of our dinner plates by endowing animals with “human” rights. As he told one reporter, “Once a significant segment of society rejects the belief that animals are property to be owned, bought or sold, the status of animals will be elevated.”


Quotes
"It is time we demand an end to the misguided and abusive concept of animal ownership. The first step on this long, but just, road would be ending the concept of pet ownership."
- In Defense of Animals



I believe I'm in very good company to be a supporter of In
Defense Of Animals.

[mugsy]

Originally posted by DJFyrewolf36
I've said it before...

if PETA is so concerned about "animal rights" *I use the term very loosely here* then why do they think that killing people and blowing up buildings will help the cause? I can only see one small advantage...if the building is gone, maybe a spotted owl can move in
Too bad you can't see sarcasim online...

Much like the Right to Life bunch that blows up abortion clinics and kill doctors that perform abortions....

By what means does the vet get his "message" out? The message is benign enough...how he carries it out is what concerns me. PETA's idea is a good one, but they carry it too far and use questionable means to pass their message along.

[Aspen and Misty]

Originally posted by WolfChan


The one near me is absolutely horrid, there's one in the county that has DROP BOXES for ANIMALS!!!

I know one around her have cages (dog kennels) outside the Human Society's in which if, in the middle of the night people come to dump there animal they can put them in the cage instead of letting them roam free. Is this what you mean?

I don't know much about PETA, but what I do know, I dont' like!

Ash

[lizbud]

In looking further into the two groups that were most often
used to provide slanderous info on HSUS, I found this.

Rick Berman
Rick Berman is the owner of Berman & Company Inc., a public relations firm based in Washington DC which aggressively targets groups seeking to promote controls relating to alcohol, tobacco, food safety, animal rights or the environment.

According to Berman, 'Our offensive strategy is to shoot the messenger... Given the activists' plans to alarm beyond all reason, we've got to attack their credibility as spokepersons.'

Berman & Co. are behind the Center for Consumer Freedom , formerly known as the Guest Choice Network, known to have received a $200,000 donation from Monsanto. The Consumer Freedom campaign smears organic food as dangerous and promotes what it calls 'genetically improved food'.

Berman and his firm paint GM opponents as terrorists, asserting that 'anti-biotech extremists' are part of a 'growing wave of domestic terrorism'. They say the people we need to worry about are not just al-Qa'ida but 'the middle-class kids down the street.' (Terrorists On The March -- In America, USA Today)

Berman & Co. have even declared the charity of the British and Irish churches, Christian Aid, a 'far-left leaning' group that 'flat-out lies about GE foods', hiding 'behind a religious facade to more easily malign farmers, scientists, food companies, and even PR people who deal with GE foods.'.

Berman & Co's internet PR campaign also includes ActivistCash.com which claims to 'root out the funding sources' of 'the most notorious and extreme groups that conspire to restrict the public's food and beverage choices'. However, the Center for Media and Democracy says ActivistCash.com draws on information already largely public and mixes it with distortions and misinformation.

Curiously, Monsanto's $200,000 donation to Berman's PR activities only became public as a result of information from a whistle-blower. And Berman appears to take great exception to attempts to root out his own financial relationship with the various lobby organisations run by Berman & Co. He even threatened a lawsuit for defamation after attention was drawn to his 'funneling millions of corporate dollars - donated to non-profit organizations he runs - right into his own bank accounts. Berman pays himself the cash both directly and personally in the form of salary and benefits for his role as 'Executive Director,' as well as through payments he makes from the non-profits to his own corporation, Berman & Company, Inc., for 'consulting.' '
http://www.vegsource.com/articles/berman_release.htm
http://www.parentalfreedom.com/response2berman.htm

Berman was also implicated in a cash-for-favors scandal involving Newt Gingrich.


GM Watch MMII :: 14 February 2004 ::

This is quoted from Profiles of this group,

http://www.gmwatch.org/p1temp.asp?pid=2&page=1

[clara4457]

I have always been a supporter of the Humane Society of the United States, and I have to admit some of the articles that you have links to disturbed me. I am not, however, willing to drop my donations just yet. I have read many articles of groups that support the Humane Society, and I have personally used their services time and time again. I subscribe to their Sheltering Magazine, have taken classes offered on their online university, utilized their literature for our shelter, and so on. So I will be researching more and determining all sides and then deciding. I might decide to stay a supporter and write letters of protest on issues I do not agree with.

I am perfectly aware that they do not financially support shelters, but they do offer many services that shelters take advantage of. Services that if each individual shelter had to do for themselves - would be totally cost prohibitive.

I am also not disturbed that they occasionally support the same causes as PETA and ALF. Although I do not support every PETA initiative there are some that I do support. Just like there are Humane Society initiatives I support and those I don't. Let me ask you this - when you vote for a representative - do you support everything they do? or do you look for the representative that is the most reflective of your political views and then try to influence the rest?

I also financially support the ASPCA - mainly because they are our political lobbyists. They are our voice in both the state legislatures and federal government. That being said - for the last several years, there has been an animal activist group in NYC that has protested the ASPCA's animal care procedures. Can't find the link right now, but I could dig it up and post it later if anyone is interested.

I appreciate you posting the links - I will definitely be reviewing them further and decide what I will do.