PETA, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, is a very vocal and public animal rights organization that has become famous for celebrities, stunts and fanatic supporters. PETA often makes headlines by featuring naked models in glass boxes painted up as animals, public displays of animal testing enacted on human volunteers and for throwing paint onto fur coats. Supported by the liberal Hollywood elite, PETA enjoys millions of dollars a year in donations and all the publicity they want. It is great that an animal rights group has gained such success, right? I mean, they are People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. It says it right in the name!
In the pursuit of treating animals ethically, PETA euthanized nearly 90% of the animals that came into its Norfolk, Virginia shelter last year. According to the data submitted to the Virginia Department for Agriculture and Consumer Services, the Virginia PETA shelter euthanized 1,647 cats and dogs last year and only placed 19 in new homes. Bags of dead kittens were even found thrown into dumpsters outside the facility. PETA defended the numbers, stating that all euthanized animals were “society’s rejects; aggressive, on death’s door, or somehow unadoptable.” Those kittens were so vicious! In contrast, the national average euthanasia rate for US animal shelters is approximately 50%. Miami-Dade County Animal Services, which has received years of bad publicity and intense international pressure from animal rights supporters, has held an euthanasia rate of 63%.
Trash bags full of kittens euthanized by PETA workers thrown into a dumpster outside the Virginia PETA animal shelter.
As the Cofounder and Board of Directors member of an animal rescue, I was particularly appalled by this story. Considering PETA is supported by the self-absorbed celebrity left, it is the perfect analogy for modern-day American Liberalism. Any person would reasonably assume that people treating animals ethically would be helping them find life-long and loving homes free from abuse and neglect. However, the tale of PETA’s true nature becomes all too clear when their operations are made public. The Affordable Care Act, more commonly known as Obamacare, is supposed to make healthcare more affordable, but major US healthcare companies are warning healthcare premiums could double due to the legislation. The golden child of the left, Barack Obama, wins the Nobel Peace Prize for saying he wants peace with the Arab world and then he carpet bombs Libya.
Last month, PETA wrote a letter to Franklin, Tennessee’s Mayor Rogers Anderson urging him to put a “ban on the adoption/release of dangerous dogs and fighting breeds”. Essentially, PETA wants all Pit Bulls, Bull Terriers, Rottweilers, Doberman Pinshers, Chow Chows and other “fighting breeds” to be euthanized indiscriminately because they could be used for dog fighting. For all the UK readers, I know you have probably never seen a Pit Bull due to the ban, but they are some of the best dogs I have ever met. This outrageous demand from PETA sounds eerily similar to Democrats calling for strict gun control or the outright ban of civilian firearm ownership because a crime might be committed with a gun. There is a total disregard for the fact that disarmed areas, such as Chicago, suffer much higher crime rates. There is no consideration that Connecticut already led the nation in gun restriction. Don’t mention that Sandy Hook and the theater in Aurora, Colorado were gun free zones. Never mind the fact that criminals do not care about laws, much less gun laws. That’s why they are criminals.
If the activity of this so-called animal rights group wasn’t bizarre and backwards enough for you, PETA announced earlier this month that they will be purchasing its own fleet of drone aircraft. Each drone package, economically priced $13,000 per unit, would be deployed to “factory farms, popular fishing spots, and other venues… to collect video footage of any illegal activity, including drinking while in the possession of a firearm”. At least these drones will only be equipped with cameras, for now. But who knows, if Jay-Z can get a waiver to go to Cuba, I am sure PETA can pull some strings on that stipulation.
Donations at work! PETA’s new drone force.
While Liberals share similar values to Libertarians on the surface, such as foreign policy and civil liberties, Libertarians stay true to morality and being philosophically consistent. We recognize that taking the easiest path, like euthanizing “unwanted” animals and just giving people welfare instead of marketable job skills, is not the best way to solve the world’s problems. It is seen as loving and caring to gently stop the heartbeat of a perfectly adoptable family pet and to make disenfranchised minorities into dependents of the welfare state. Liberalism sucks people in with the flashy celebrities, charming names and misleading labels, but it seems almost planned that they stand for exactly the opposite. Libertarians must continue to point out the hypocrisy and blatant misrepresentations. We must continue to open up and covert minds while spotlighting the truth.
Follow me @SlavLibertarian
For more information on the truth about PETA visit www.whypetaeuthanizes.org