The dog-hating zealots that parade as "humane" societies are at it again in seeking to have mandatory spay-neuter laws imposed in California. The utter crazies at PETA are the major proponents of such legislation. So how about some facts about PETA, an organization that also uses the word "ethical" in its name.
PETA KILLS 97% OF ANIMALS IN ITS SHELTERS IN 2006
State Average is under 35%
WASHINGTON, Jan. 10 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- "An official report from People for The Ethical Treatment of Animals ("PETA"), submitted nine months after a Virginia government agency's deadline, shows that the 'animal rights' group put to death more than 97 percent of the dogs, cats, and other pets it took in for adoption in 2006. During that year, the well-known 'animal rights' group managed to find adoptive homes for just 12 pets. The nonprofit Center for Consumer Freedom ("CCF") is calling on PETA to either end its hypocritical angel-of-death program, or stop its senseless condemnation of Americans who believe it's perfectly ethical to use animals for food, clothing, and critical medical research.
"Not counting animals PETA held only temporarily in its spay-neuter program, the organization took in 3,061 'companion animals' in 2006, of which it killed 2,981. According to Virginia's Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services ("VDACS"), the average euthanasia rate for humane societies in the state was just 34.7 percent in 2006. PETA killed 97.4 percent of the animals it took in. The organization filed its 2006 report this month, nine months after the VDACS deadline of March 31, 2007. 'Pet lovers should be outraged', said CCF Director of Research David Martosko. 'There are thousands of worthwhile animal shelters that deserve Americans' support. PETA is not one of them.' In courtroom testimony last year, a PETA manager acknowledged that her organization maintains a large walk-in freezer for storing dead animals, and that PETA contracts with a Virginia cremation service to dispose of the bodies. In that trial, two PETA employees were convicted of dumping dead animals in a rural North Carolina trash dumpster. Today in Southampton County, Virginia, another PETA employee will face felony charges in a dog-napping case. Andrea Florence Benoit Harris was arrested in late 2006 for allegedly abducting a hunting dog and attempting to transport it to PETA's Norfolk headquarters. 'PETA raised over $30 million last year', Martosko added, 'and it's using that money to kill the only flesh-and-blood animals its employees actually see. The scale of PETA's hypocrisy is simply staggering.' To speak with a spokesman contact Tim Miller at 202-463-7112. For more information about PETA's massive euthanasia [murder] program, visit http://www.petakillsanimals.com/.Center for Consumer Freedom."
This is yet another example of humans having the audacity to decide what is best not simply for abandoned pets, but for the owners of all pets. What gets lost in this debate is the irony that human overpopulation presents exponentially far more dangers to the world than any perceived over-pupulation. (Isn't American waging a war as we speak?) Yet again, many of these anything-but-humane organizations attempt to justify the barbarism inherent in mandatory spay-neuter laws on the grounds that "it's just a dog". (Hey, parents, soon they'll be saying that about your kids.) Thus, a reprise is in order:
Just a Dog
(Richard A. Biby)
"From time to time, people tell me, 'lighten up, it's just a dog', or, 'that's a lot of money for just a dog.' They don't understand the distance traveled, the time spent, or the costs involved for 'just a dog.'
"Some of my proudest moments have come about with 'just a dog.' Many hours have passed and my only company was 'just a dog', but I did not once feel slighted.
Some of my saddest moments have been brought about by 'just a dog', and in those days of darkness, the gentle touch of 'just a dog' gave me comfort and reason to overcome the day.
"If you, too, think it's 'just a dog', then you will probably understand phrases like 'just a friend', 'just a sunrise', or 'just a promise'. 'Just a dog' brings into my life the very essence of friendship, trust, and pure unbridled joy. 'Just a dog' brings out the compassion and patience that make me a better person.
"Because of 'just a dog', I will rise early, take long walks and look longingly to the future. So for me and folks like me, it's not 'just a dog' but an embodiment of all the hopes and dreams of the future, the fond memories of the past, and the pure joy of the moment.
"'Just a dog' brings out what's good in me and diverts my thoughts away from myself and the worries of the day.
"I hope that someday they can understand that it's not 'just a dog' but the thing that gives me humanity and keeps me from being 'just a human.'
"So the next time you hear the phrase 'just a dog', just smile, because they 'just don't understand.'"
They do, however, understand war, torture, poverty, devastation of the environment, dependence on oil soley for profit, the death penalty, and so much other hyprocricy that not enough bandwith exists simply to summarize it all. And they want the power to tell me that I must castrate my dogs? Big Brother and PETA in the same camp. Life does indeed present us with strange bedfellows. I suppose they're "just human" after all.
5 comments:
Many of us are willing to pay for a mandatory spay/neuter program, licenses that would affect loving, responsible owners/guardians as well as the irresponsible, cruel owners BEcause...nothing else has worked. Threat of monetary fines, or prosecution/jail, etc. seems to be the only answer to these uncaring people who don't take care of their animals, and turn them out in the street to fend for themselves when they get annoying, or too expensive. PETA is no different than your local county/state/city animal shelter in its few alternatives for rescued animals. Your shelter puts down that amount and more. Millions of dogs and cats die every year because of government's irresponsible attitude and funding for adequate shelters, employees and vets who could actually RESCUE and pro-actively adopt out these abandoned, deserving animals. Private rescue groups, shelters do their best to save as many animals a possible, but without proper funding, it is impossible. A law for neuter/spaying cannot possibly hurt, it will help the situation, and force out irresponsible owners and breeders, in my opinion. We have to do something - other than just complain. It is heartbreaking to know a dog you turn over to a shelter will die before the weeks out - put in a black plastic bag, refrigerated, then taken with the other poor victims of our society to the city dump. Animals are not trash, and PETA does a hell of a job to get this message out. What are you doing?
You really shouldn't believe anything that comes from the deceptively named Center for Consumer Freedom. They'll say anything as long as it supports the companies that pay them.
I believe in animal rights because I love dogs. I am vegan because I don't believe in killing dogs and eating them or killing pigs and eating them. I'm not crazy, just compassionate.
Anonymous -
You have the cart before the horse. If there is a pet overpopulation, it is because the government does not put restrictions on breeding. That is the simple and most basic answer to any such problem. But you don't even recognize it, and understand is the forerunner of cure.
Second, for you to even attempt to justify what PETA does is barbaric. It's President regularly boasts about how many animals she kills a year in the name of . . . ethics?? Moreover, you do not even attempt to rebut a single fact laid out in the article. PETA is an organization of freaks, self annonited to care for animals by killing them. If they used some of their money to educate and lobby the legislatures of the states to crack down on breeding, there would be little, if any, problem. But when you try to underwrite a bill that tells me I have to spay or neuter my dog, you've gone too far. Are you even aware of San Francisco's Dog Guardian Law, and how blatantly this legislation flies in the face of it, not to mention its spirit. Are you even remotely familiar with the studies showing no correlation between castration and aggression/health? I doubt it. But I'll meet you halfway: you give me the right to have the govenment castrate a kid who bothers me (and certainly one who commits a crime), and I'll grant you what you want. Otherwise, don't call yourself an animal rights advocate.
"Anon" is a sick coward. He believes only in killing. I dare say that we should be able, by his own standards, to judge his worth to society and then impose a death sentence upon him. Wonder how he's feel then.
Hey "Anonymous"
Here is some updated information about the ethics of PETA.
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, a group that complains bitterly when animals die accidentally in horse races or intentionally in slaughterhouses, killed more than 90 percent of the adoptable animals in its care during 2007.
Last year, PETA wrangled with the Virginia government for nine months before its 2006 records were finally made public. In a cynical bid to hide the outrageous percentage of animals that wind up in their giant walk-in freezer, PETA's leaders tried to lump the pets they spayed or neutered in with those they took in for more than an hour. That squabbling continues, but this year we decided not to wait for the dust to settle.
Instead, with the help of Virginia's public records law, we did a little digging. Responding to our formal legal request, the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (VDACS) has released PETA's 2007 "Animal Record" report. Although VDACS itself has still not relased this report, we're making it available to the general public.
PETA claims to be dedicated to protecting animals and treating them "ethically"—it’s right there in the group’s name. But killing animals that could otherwise be placed in adoptive homes isn’t terribly ethical, especially for a group whose $30 million annual income is more than enough to do the right thing instead.
In comparison, the Virginia Beach SPCA, right down the road from PETA’s Norfolk headquarters, managed to adopt out almost 70% of the animals in its care last year. And it did it on a relative shoestring budget.
Adding PETA's 2007 numbers to the mix, we can now document that the group has put down over 19,200 dogs, cats, puppies, and kittens. While it's possible that some of these animals were too broken or sick to be rehabilitated, humane societies in Virginia managed to save an average of nearly 65 percent of their animals in 2007. PETA found adoptive homes for less than 1 percent.
Post a Comment