PETA: Masters of Hypocrisy

In July of this year, the small south Texas town of Jourdanton was rocked, yes rocked with scandal because the acting city manager was apparently having dogs "euthanized" by drowning them at the sewer plant. He said he did it to "save money," although money had been budgeted for this purpose.

PETA lost no time in issuing a formal protest:

August 11, 2005
Jourdanton, Texas--- This morning, PETA sent an urgent plea to District Attorney Rene Pena in Floresville, urging him to vigorously prosecute animal control officer Chantan Morin and other Jourdanton city workers who are reportedly being investigated for cruelty to animals. The city employees allegedly drowned at least five dogs on July 11 at the city's sewage treatment plant. According to news sources, one witness alleges that the animals were confined to cages and then lowered into the water. Those who escaped were evidently strangled with noose poles and then held under water, struggling and flailing, until they died.

"Animal care workers are trusted to protect animals from abuse, which makes the alleged actions of Morin and the others all the more troubling," says PETA Animal Sheltering Advisor Teresa Chagrin. "Mental health professionals and top law enforcement officials consider cruelty to animals to be a red flag."

I must say that I do not approve of "euthanizing" dogs by drowning them at a sewer plant. But if you want to talk red flags, I got your red flag right here (emphasis mine, as usual):

PETA has given tens of thousands of dollars to convicted arsonists and other violent criminals. This includes a 2001 donation of $1,500 to the North American Earth Liberation Front (ELF), an FBI-certified "domestic terrorist" group responsible for dozens of firebombs and death threats. During the 1990s, PETA paid $70,200 to an Animal Liberation Front (ALF) activist convicted of burning down a Michigan State University research laboratory. In his sentencing recommendation, a federal prosecutor implicated PETA president Ingrid Newkirk in that crime. And PETA vegetarian campaign coordinator Bruce Friedrich told an animal rights convention in 2001 that "blowing stuff up and smashing windows" is "a great way to bring about animal liberation."

There are lots of ways that PETA can be called for their hypocrisy. Some of their people have killed animals, probably with drugs that they weren't legally allowed to possess, and then disposed of the bodies in dumpsters that were not their property. According to some reports, very few of the animals that PETA accepts to be put up for adoption actually survive to be adopted.

I usually use the sledgehammer of sarcasm to state my position, but this time I'll just say it flat out.

PETA advocates and supports vandals, arsonists, and others who issue death threats. As far as I'm concerned, this makes them accessories, perhaps after the fact, but accessories in crime, nevertheless. They are nothing more than criminals, and should be treated as such.