PETA Trial, Weekend Edition

Vox Populi and a Grassroots Antidote to PETA

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January 28, 2007 | The animal-cruelty trial of PETA employees Adria Hinkle and Andrew Cook has the weekend off, but it's still a hot topic. The Sunday Telegraph is sharing the story with its readers in Great Britain. And dinner-table conversations all over the North Carolina towns of Winton and Ahoskie are abuzz with news of the trial. So we spoke to some local residents to get their take. Here's what they had to say about the courtroom drama that has brought as many as eight television satellite trucks to their community at once.

"I think they're guilty," says Debbie from the nearby town of Aulander. She has been in the courtroom, listening to the trial. "I have three cats and two dogs, and I think they're guilty."

Did PETA's employees ever intend to find homes for the animals they ended up killing? "It doesn't appear that way," she replies. "I think it's just inhumane. It's wrong. I mean, it's a small town. There are a lot of animal lovers here."

That's true. Nearly everyone we've spoken to in this community has animals. Dogs, cats, rabbits, ferrets. You name it. Billie Jo is a resident of Ahoskie. She was in the jury pool but defense lawyers dismissed her after they learned she has four cats.

I feel very emotional about the trial," Billie Jo says. "It's very sad that someone could be so cruel."

The fact that PETA was involved stunned her. "It's very disappointing. I never expected that of PETA. I didn't think their employees would be involved in anything like that. But I guess they were."

What do Billie Jo and her circle of friends think about PETA now? "Cruel, very cruel. I just feel like PETA is giving a false face. I don't think they're true to what everyone thinks they are. They're entirely different from the image that they're trying to portray."

We met Matt in an Ahoskie convenience store, waiting in line to pay for a tank of gas. "Those folks messed with the wrong town," he said. "We love our animals down here."

Fascination with the PETA trial runs through Matt's entire family. "My mom was really bothered by all of this. She sent money to PETA. Not no more."

He adds: "I'm glad they caught 'em. We'll probably never know how long this was going on, or how many animals are, you know, buried, out in the county landfill."

Willie is also from Ahoskie. We flagged him down as he paid for a cup of coffee. In the immortal words of Arsenio Hall, Willie made us go "Hmmmm..."

"The PETA people? Well, it's kinda funny," Willie says. "PETA is supposed to be an animal rights group, but they're going around killing dogs. I mean, you know, we've had women's rights, civil rights, and now they have immigrants' rights, and so forth, but all the leaders don't go around killing the people."

Last, we'd like to share a few thoughts from Ann. She's been watching the trial along with her friends from a local animal-adoption program called PAWS of Hertford County. PAWS stands for "Protecting Animals Worth Saving."

"If PETA were taking [the animals] back up to a big-city area like Norfolk," Ann tells us, "they could find homes, especially for kittens and Dalmatians. They could have been turned in to a Dalmatian rescue. It really would not have been that hard. As soon as we found out these animals were dumped in the dumpster, everyone realized that they weren't given a chance at all."

We asked Ann about PETA's reputation in this part of North Carolina before Hinkle and Cook were arrested. "I had always heard 'PETA is coming down to help, PETA is taking animals to be adopted,'" she says. "This was the general knowledge around here, that they were taking animals back to Virginia where there is more of a chance to find them homes. Because at the time, we had no good adoption program of our own here."

Today, thanks to Ann and her friends, PAWS of Hertford County is a successful animal-adoption agency that finds homes for pets in the county shelter. It's a new all-volunteer nonprofit group, and they're doing great work.

Between August and December of 2006, PAWS of Hertford County found local adoptive homes for 182 animals. That's more than PETA adopted out nationwide in 2005 (the most recent year for which numbers are available).

And here's the kicker: PETA had a $29 million budget to work with. PAWS of Hertford County expects to operate with around $5,000 this year.

The Center for Consumer Freedom is making a $500 donation this week toward their work. If you'd like to follow suit, click here and check the box indicating that you're interested in "making a donation." Or click here for their mailing address. Donations are tax-deductible.

Defense attorneys are expected to begin calling witnesses on Monday afternoon. Check back here often for the latest updates on what's happening inside the courtroom.

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