Category Archive: Violence

  1. PETA’s Body Count: 50,000 and Counting

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    Few things in life are guaranteed in life except for death, taxes…and PETA killing cats and dogs. New figures filed by PETA with the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services confirmed this sad reality. PETA’s lone shelter, located at its Norfolk, Va. headquarters, killed 1,759 cats, dogs, and other pets in 2020.

    Even during a global pandemic that slowed lives to a near halt, PETA still managed to kill 10% more animals than it did the year before. Of the animals euthanized in private shelters across the entire state, PETA killed nearly three-fourths of them. What’s more, the average euthanasia rate of private animal shelters in Virginia is less than 6%. PETA’s is more than ten times larger.

    A state inspector once likened the shelter to a “euthanasia clinic.” During his investigation, that same doctor discovered most animals were euthanized within 24 hours of intake. 

    PETA only adopted out 41 pets, less than 2% of the total number of animals it took in last year. Such a low adoption rate is shocking–especially when considering most the country has faced a shortage of animals to adopt. Across the country, news headlines have been filled with stories of shelters “running out” of animals or how the pandemic has created a “thriving economy” for pet adoptions. 

    In 2015, a law defining the role of a private shelter was passed by the state of Virginia in direct response to PETA’s high kill rate. As recently as last year, similar legislation was introduced seeking to further curtail PETA’s kill shelter. 

    This year marks a grim accomplishment for PETA: Since records became available in the late 1990s, PETA has now officially killed more than 50,000 pets. Tell that milestone to anyone who mistakenly believes PETA stands for the “ethical treatment” of animals.

  2. PETA Blames the Victim

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    People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) sure has a weird way of showing what it’s all about. In a recent lawsuit against the organization, PETA is accused of stealing and murdering a Hispanic family’s beloved dog named Maya in southeastern Virginia.

    PETA’s response has hit a new low in hypocrisy and stupidity. It has filed several motions to dismiss the case on the grounds that the dog was legally worthless and that what they did was not “outrageous” conduct. This from the group that tried to make the case that killer whales housed at SeaWorld should legally be considered slaves and released because of the 13th amendment.

    PETA has even stooped as low as blaming the family for the death of their murdered dog. PETA has suggested that the family was “negligent” because “they did not keep the subject dog restrained and did not keep proper identification or marking of ownership which resulted in the dog being removed at the time.” (The dog was sitting on the owner’s front porch when it was stolen by PETA.)

    That’s like saying the burglary victim asked for it by leaving his back door unlocked. And the gross euphemism of “removed” highlights the contempt with which PETA has for people’s pets like the deceased Maya.

    Surveillance video of the theft shows that it was quite obvious that Maya was obviously not a stray dog. The footage shows a dog sitting on her porch, timid of the intruders, and only willing to leave the porch briefly because of the coaxing of the two defendants in this case throwing a biscuit to her. But like most dogs belonging to a family, Maya returned – to dismay of the defendants – to the safety of her porch.

    Unfortunately for Maya this did not stop the defendants from trespassing illegally onto the property and ripping her from her home.

    Maya was killed that very same day.

    Don’t mistake this tragedy as an isolated incident, PETA routinely engages in the activity of killing domesticated animals like Maya every year. PETA’s body count exceeds 30,000 animals and its sympathy seems nonexistent.

    Justice may be served in the end for the family of young Maya, but that will do little to rid them of the grief of a family and their young child losing their loyal furry companion.

  3. WATCH: I’ll Never Learn to Fetch

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    Humane Society of the United States isn’t the only deceptively named animal rights group. People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (which has the same radical animal liberation goals as HSUS) killed more than 2,324 cats and dogs in 2014 alone – an average of more than 6 per day – and an increase of 30 percent from 2013. This represents 88 percent of all pets PETA took into its shelter throughout the year.

    To draw attention to PETA’s appalling record of euthanization and the alarming fact that 33,514 animals have died at the hands of PETA since 1998, Center for Consumer Freedom released a parody of the controversial Nationwide Insurance advertisement that aired during the Super Bowl.

    This delusional animal rights group is talking out of both sides of its mouth – on one side preaching animal rights, while on the other signing a death warrant for 88 percent of cats and dogs in its care. PETA should be called a slaughterhouse, not an animal shelter.

    PETA’s kill numbers come from the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (VDACS), which requires such annual disclosures to be made. Most animals don’t even get a chance: A 2010 inspection conducted by a VDACS veterinarian of animal custody records discovered that 84% of the animals PETA took in were killed within 24 hours.

    Despite its $47 million budget, PETA fails to find homes for the van loads of animals it kills. PETA President Ingrid Newkirk previously indicated to The Virginian-Pilot that the animal rights group could stop killing pets. Of course, it would mean cutting down on press stunts and celebrity photo shoots: “We could become a no-kill shelter immediately. It means we wouldn’t do as much work.”

    For more information, visit www.PETAKillsAnimals.com.

  4. PETA Slew 2,324 Cats and Dogs Last Year

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    PETA MemorialsBetween 1998 and 2013, the radical animal rights group, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), killed nearly 32,000 dogs and cats at its Norfolk, Virginia headquarters. Sadly, the recent release of PETA’s 2014 kill numbers show that this disturbing trend hasn’t changed. In fact, it’s actually gotten worse. According to information provided to the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, PETA killed 30% more dogs and cats in 2014 than it did in 2013. More than 88% of the 2,631 dogs and cats taken in by PETA in 2014 were killed by the group—2,324 in total.

    These numbers are certainly shocking—but not as shocking as new allegations made by a former PETA employee this week.

    Former PETA field worker Heather Harper Troje wrote a blog post offering a scandalous in-depth look of what goes on behind the closed doors of PETA’s headquarters. In her post, Troje recounts numerous examples of Ingrid Newkirk, PETA’s president, ordering her to kill adoptable animals and to falsify records in order to enable the organization to cover their tracks and euthanize ever more animals. As Troje explains, “if you say the animal is ten pounds heavier than he is, you’ve given yourself room to euthanize another ten-pound animal off the books.”

    Troje highlights the story of Black Boy, a German Shepard mix she took from a yard one snowy evening and brought back to PETA headquarters. Upon Black Boy’s arrival at the group’s headquarters, he was immediately euthanized. The recent case of PETA employees allegedly stealing and killing a family’s Chihuahua indicates that Black Boy’s fate was perhaps not an aberration but rather the rule.

    According to Troje, “more and more I was euthanizing all the animals I brought in, and I could never bring in enough animals, or work enough hours, to please Ingrid.” If PETA’s most recent kill numbers are any indication, PETA’s kill-‘em-all attitude hasn’t changed one bit.

  5. PETA Employees Accused of Stealing and Killing Family’s Dog 

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    Since 1998, the deceptively named People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) has killed more than 33,000 animals. Now, a family on Virginia’s Eastern Shore is alleging that PETA has added another animal to its death toll: their family pet Maya, a Chihuahua.

    Wilber Zarate says that Maya went inexplicitly missing one Saturday afternoon, prompting him to check footage from his home security camera. According to Zarate, the video showed a van—branded with “PETA” on the side—back into his driveway. Two women then allegedly got out of the van, one of whom walked up to the porch, took Maya, and put the dog in the back of the vehicle.

    Zarate claims that two women from PETA returned to the house three days later, bearing a fruit basket and grave news: Allegedly, Maya had been euthanized.

    That’s right: PETA allegedly trespassed on private property to steal and kill a family pet.

    The local Sheriff charged the PETA workers with larceny (pets are legally property). Despite the video footage that would seem to collaborate Zarate’s story, the charges against the workers were dropped by state prosecutors for lack of evidence showing criminal intent.

    Still, if true, these horrifying allegations show PETA, a group that ostensibly demands the empathetic treatment of animals, stealing and then killing a family’s pet. It’s horrifying, but not new: PETA employees in North Carolina faced charges in 2007 for their conduct operating a mobile puppy-killing van and discarding the animals’ bodies in dumpsters.

    Just last week, PETA solicited its donors in a fundraising effort to buy “PETA’s next animal-rescue van!” A fundraising email explains: “Our animal-rescue vans allow our team to respond quickly to many of these calls, but if we don’t acquire a new van soon, our effectiveness—and animals—will suffer.” In light of these latest allegations and PETA’s sordid history, we have to ask: Will this so-called “animal rescue” van function as a vehicle for larceny and puppycide, as were the vans in North Carolina and allegedly in the sad case of Maya?

    PETA killed 82.4% of the animals it received last year. If valid, the new allegations chillingly show that PETA is aggressively seeking out even more animals to put under its “care,” using four-wheels to snatch and gratuitously dispatch our four-legged friends. Even for PETA, that’s a new low.

  6. PETA Finds an Animal It Won’t Kill

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    PKA syringe pic

    We recently reported on the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) campaign to systematically euthanize an entire populace of feral cats in an Arizona county. But when San Diego came looking for a solution to its feral pig problem, PETA had different views, protesting the county’s proposed lethal methods of pest control.

    Some background: Faced with an enormous overpopulation of feral felines, the Arizona county announced a program that traps, neuters, and then returns the cats to the wild. This method is designed as a way to control the feral population without killing the animals. In fact, according to county officials, implementing the approach will reduce the number of euthanized cats in the region by 30 percent.

    You would think that an organization posturing as an ally to animals would approve of this solution. But PETA criticized the program, arguing that the population of feral cats should be euthanized, instead. The so-called animal “liberation” group justified this recommendation of mass kitty-killing with its “better dead than fed” philosophy: PETA insisted euthanizing the feral animals was more humane than the TNR alternative.

    But when pigs rather than cats are on the line, it looks like PETA does a complete 180. For years, the city of San Diego has struggled to control a growing population of feral pigs that is contaminating rural reservoirs, destroying delicate ecosystems, and damaging local agriculture. In response, officials announced that the city would begin a coordinated campaign to put down the region’s feral pigs by trapping or shooting them. (We bet they would make nice prosciutto.)

    Given that PETA recommended systematic killing as a prescription for overpopulation of feral cats, it wouldn’t be unreasonable to presume PETA would approve of San Diego’s solution to its pig problem. Instead, PETA criticized the program. Speaking on the issue of feral swine, one PETA cruelty case workers explained: “No animal should be killed for [trying to survive].” Unless, evidently, you are a stray kitty. (Or an elephant.)

    Unfortunately, PETA’s hypocrisy comes as no surprise: The animal “activist” kills up to 97 percent of dogs and cats in its so-called animal shelter in any given year. In fact, PETA has killed more than 33,000 animals since 1998.

    But it looks like PETA has finally found one animal it won’t kill—at least for now.

  7. Put Down PETA

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    PKA syringe picAfter years of reporting on the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), you’d think the organization might show some true remorse about the thousands of cats and dogs it kills at its headquarters and try to make some changes. Instead, it’s doubling down. The animal “liberation” group kills up to 97 percent of dogs and cats in its so-called animal shelter in any given year, and PETA is now calling on local governments—most recently in Arizona—to adopt its philosophy of “better dead than fed” by systematically killing feral cats.

    Feral cats, formerly domestic cats that set up colonies in communities, tend to breed like rabbits, causing crowding or a strain on resources at animal shelters. Many communities use a program to trap, neuter, and return—also known as TNR—feral cats as a means of population control without killing. A county in Arizona recently implemented such a plan.

    You’d think that a group that thinks chicken farms are Auschwitzes (literally) would be on board with this, but no. In fact, PETA favors whacking each and every feral cat in Pima County and across the United States. Apparently a series of mass kitty executions is the “ethical” solution to population problems. But then again, PETA has killed more than 33,000 animals since 1998. But this is certainly escalation: There are an estimated 50 million feral cats in the U.S.

    Perhaps PETA should be “put down” instead. Sign our petition to take away PETA’s tax-exempt status and show the group that it should be held accountable for its actions.

     

  8. A Fiery Passion for Animals

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    130402_CCF_HeadlineImage_JudgeGavelFrom a Molotov cocktail attack on a police cruiser to vandalism at a gourmet taco restaurant, animal liberation terrorists are still active across North America. It’s in the shadow of these and other recent illegal acts that the American Bar Association will vote on a misguided and reckless push to roll back anti-animal terrorism laws.

    The New York City Bar Association has submitted a referendum to the ABA’s House of Delegates asking the ABA to push for repeal of the Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act (AETA) and calling on the Justice Department to cease enforcing the law. The law, passed in 1992 and upgraded in 2006 following the arrests of several SHAC activists—who were found guilty of animal enterprise terrorism—is an important law in fighting radical vigilantes.

    The AETA makes it a crime to damage or interfere with an “animal enterprise”—zoo, pet store, research lab, farm, etc.—by causing property loss or by putting someone in fear of death or serious bodily injury through using threats, intimidation, trespass, or vandalism. It’s an entirely reasonable law to push back against a terrorist movement whose tactics have involved not only targeting businesses, but associates of businesses and their employees and family members with actions including from bombings, death threats, office invasions, and computer attacks.

    Yet the NYC Bar, along with groups like the so-called Humane Society of the United States (HSUS), has claimed that the law creates a chilling effect on free speech. It’s a bizarre claim both on its face and in practice.

    The law explicitly contains provisions exempting protected activities, such as picketing or demonstrations. And the AETA in practice certainly isn’t stopping the likes of HSUS and PETA from attacking brands (or people, for that matter). PETA’s recent street theater opposing the circus and HSUS’s increasingly desperate kitchen-sink campaigns against livestock farmers demonstrate that the AETA is not having a silencing effect on free speech. In fact, in March a federal judge threw out a lawsuit brought by animal liberation activists against the AETA, finding that they couldn’t reasonably showing that the law chilled free speech.

    Let’s hope the ABA sees through this transparent attempt that serves only the animal-liberation fringe. There are still terrorists out there, but ski-mask-wearing radicals brazenly handing out “Wanted for Murder” sheets in neighborhoods seems to have become a thing of the past. Rolling back 20 years of legal protections for legitimate businesses only serves vegan vigilantes, not the meat-eating, leather-wearing public at large.

  9. Is PETA Going for the Gold in Terrorism?

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    People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) is well-known for its assaults on common decency, but its latest move in Canada may have significantly backfired. PETA took responsibility for an attack yesterday on Canadian Fisheries Minister Gail Shea, in which a protester smeared her face with a tofu “cream” pie with the accuracy of an Olympic marksman. Now, Member of Parliament Gerry Byrne is calling for PETA’s attack to be investigated as a potential act of terrorism:

    When someone actually coaches or conducts criminal behavior to impose a political agenda on each and every other citizen of Canada, that does seem to me to meet the test of a terrorist organization. I am calling on the Government of Canada to actually investigate whether or not this organization, PETA, is acting as a terrorist organization under the test that exists under Canadian law.

    Our friends up north can find a precedent from our own government. As we’ve pointed out, this “Facility Security Profile” questionnaire from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service describes PETA as a “Terrorist Threat,” listing it alongside notorious domestic terrorist groups like the Animal Liberation Front, Earth Liberation Front, and Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty. (See Page 4. While the USDA removed the form from its website after we started spreading the word, you can find a PDF copy preserved here.)
    We revealed back in 2002 that PETA gave $1,500 to the Earth Liberation Front. PETA, naturally, had a wide range of shifting explanations for this “grant.” And that’s not even getting into the group’s $70,000+ gift to convicted arsonist Rodney Coronado, along with other eyebrow-raising “donations.”
    Yes, yes. We know it was “just” a tofu dessert (if there really is such a thing). But the fact that a PETA wingnut can get close enough to a Canadian cabinet official to assault her (and the PETA activist was charged with assault) should give the Mounties some serious pause.
    A 2003 New Yorker  profile notes that “officially, PETA does not engage in violence, but its leaders wholeheartedly defend and encourage guerrilla groups like the Animal Liberation Front.” The sooner governments start recognizing this reality, the faster the projectiles stop flying toward government officials.