What is your opinion on PETA?

Question

What is your opinion on the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals? Be honest!

Answer 1

i love them sometimes they go a little overboard but they are the reason i became a vgan because of all there information, also it helps me to find out what im supporting when i buy some of the products like mars products they helped me see what mars was doing.

so yes i support but sometimes they do go overboard

Answer 2

Distorted or fabricated "facts" are their worst offense. It is ok to be opposed to the way animals are treated.

It is fine to be vegetarian.

But to be a leader and spokeswoman for PETA, decry the use of animals in lab tests, and then benefit from medicines that animal testing made possible? I am speaking of Ingrid Newkirk, of course.

PETA has used their contributors’ tax-exempt donations to fund the North American Earth Liberation front, an FBI-certified “domestic terrorist” group responsible for fire bombs and death threats.

PETA spends less than one percent of its $13 million budget actually caring for animals.

The list goes on... :)

Heck - even their defenders in this forum admit that they are dishonest "stretch the truth" and espouse policies that they do not agree with "I don't agree with everything.."

Answer 3

I think their group stands for a great cause but all the rumors Ive heard,and things ive seen add up. I mean I dont want to get to into it because im sure someone can defend it. I dont donate any money but I do recieve magazines and e-mails on tips and stuff. People call them extremists but sometimes its the only way to get through to people. Standing back saying please dont do that isnt really gonna stop someone from doing something they like or could care less about.

Answer 4

They are a good starting point for a lot of people looking to become vegetarians or get into animals rights but they could take things a lot further and stop being so sexist. I feel like they could do a lot more to help non violent direct action (as in they don't hurt humans or animals) groups like the Animal Liberation Front or Stop Huntington Animal Cruelty or the Earth Liberation Front or the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society.

Answer 5

Radical, unthinking extremist that are not above breaking the law, destroying either public of private property... basically hooligans, thugs and criminals.

Answer 6

I love animals, have a cat, but when my country was in a bad situation and many childs have no food, Bridget Bardo give so many money for bears ( Gypsy use they for attractions) in Bulgaria!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Answer 7

I'm 100% for treating any particular animal with the utmost decency and respect for life that is due to our fellow inhabitants of Earth, all up until the point where I have to eat them, but only if they happen to be tasty, of course.

Answer 8

I am a vegetarian, but I think PETA gives us all bad names. They are an extremist group that cares more about caring drama and getting coverage and not enough about actually making a difference.

Answer 9

I disagree strongly with PETA and their campaigns. I believe they confuse people about what is acceptable treatment of animals with their "welfarist" approach.

With regards to their recent "victory" in Canada, where they introduced CAK, they said PETA and KFC have “no differences of opinion about how animals should be treated”.

How can any group claiming to care about animals say such  a thing?!?!

By focusing solely on animal welfare as opposed to animal rights, PETA are sending the message that its ok to eat meat as long as they are killed in a less humane way.

Also, by pushing for people to turn vegetarian rather than vegan they are encouraging the myth that the egg and dairy industry do not kill animals. This is simply untrue. Males in both of these industries are routinely killed when they are very young. Also, as these are "industries" all animals are killed when they stop being "profitable".

PETA sends a mixed message and dilutes the true cause of the animal rights movement by its focus on welfare instead of abolition

Answer 10

"privately, eating the animals"?

Answer 11

Every "cause oriented" group has it's radical fringe.

I try to avoid extremism.

But wanting ethical treatment for animals is a worthy goal.

.

Answer 12

I think they are doing a lot of good things.  They are pushing for better animal-welfare practices by big corporations...most recently KFC Canada chickens will now be raised more humanely and the meat that will reach people's hands will be without hormones.  

They bring awareness to animal abuses worldwide which is a big plus for me.  I have heard about the pet euthanizations but the pets that they do take in are almost always heartworm-infested, fighting or attack dogs.  Sometimes the humane use of a needle is the most compassionate thing of all.

I don't agree with all their tactics, especially the more outrageous ones, but I am willing to look past that to see the good that are creating.

Check out "I Am an Animal: The Story of Ingrid Newkirk and PETA".  It's pretty good and the documentary is unbiased.

Edit** actually Vic, 82% of PETA's money actually did go to animal causes.  The rest went for fundraising and paying for the employees.  They are a non-profit outfit...if they only spent 1% on their cause, don't you think the IRS would've audited them and taken away their 501 Non-Profit licensing? Duh.

Answer 13

A group that is usually supported by the less than informed but well meaning people - or celebrities looking for free photo-op with them half naked or totally naked.

Considering all the negative that can be found out about them that goes directly against what they are suppose to stand for - see no reason to support such.

Answer 14

i suppot them, but them have their flaws

Answer 15

My oppinoin in a nutshell: Radical extremests that dont think.

Longer version:

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.

1) PETA president and co-founder Ingrid Newkirk has described her group’s overall goal as “total animal liberation.” This means no meat, no milk, no zoos, no circuses, no wool, no leather, no hunting, no fishing, and no pets (not even seeing-eye dogs). PETA is also against all medical research that requires the use of animals.

2) Despite its constant moralizing about the “unethical” treatment of animals by restaurant owners, grocers, farmers, scientists, anglers, and countless other Americans, PETA has killed over 14,400 dogs and cats at its Norfolk, Virginia headquarters. During 2005, PETA put to death over 90 percent of the animals it collected from members of the public.

3) 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.”

4) PETA activists regularly target children as young as six years old with anti-meat and anti-milk propaganda, often waiting outside their schools to intercept them as they walk to and from class-without notifying parents. One piece of kid-targeted PETA literature tells small children: “Your Mommy Kills Animals!” PETA brags that its messages reach over 2 million children every year, including thousands reached by e-mail without the permission of their parents. One PETA vice president told the Fox News Channel’s audience: “Our campaigns are always geared towards children, and they always will be.”

5) PETA has used a related organization, the PETA Foundation, to fund the misnamed Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM), a deceptive animal rights group that promotes itself as an unbiased source of medical and nutritional information. PCRM's president also serves as president of the PETA Foundation.

6) PETA runs campaigns seemingly calculated to offend religious believers. One entire PETA website is devoted to the claim-despite ample evidence to the contrary-that Jesus Christ was a vegetarian. PETA holds protests at houses of worship, even suing one church that tried to protect its members from Sunday-morning harassment. Its billboards taunt Christians with the message that hogs “died for their sins.” PETA insists, contrary to centuries of rabbinical teaching, that the Jewish ritual of kosher slaughter shouldn't be allowed. And its infamous “Holocaust on Your Plate” campaign crassly compares the Jewish victims of n**i genocide with farm animals.

7) PETA has repeatedly attacked research foundations like the March of Dimes, the Pediatric AIDS Foundation, and the American Cancer Society, because they support animal-based research that might uncover cures for birth defects and life-threatening diseases. PETA president Ingrid Newkirk has said that “even if animal research resulted in a cure for AIDS, we would be against it.”

Answer 16

I think PETA has gome overboard.Most PETA members do not know what they are protesting for.Let a rattel snake start to bite one and see if he/she does will they kill the snake or KISS it.

Answer 17

Well, I am a member. That says it all I think.

Answer 18

I support animal rights, but I do not support PETA. Did you know that they are sending Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen a coat made of human hair to protest fur wearing? I mean, what is that supposed to do? They have these ideas that they assume are right when they are just crazy! (Oh, and they are very rude. Some of the comments on their blog condemn all meat eaters like they are satan's followers or something.)

Answer 19

Well they are considerded a terrorist group, but what they stand for i think is cool and righteous.. but.. they have gone above and beyond the law at times to take action into their own hands.. and have defaced.. private property.. of homes..

if there is abuse you ahve to treat it the right way..

Answer 20

Hypercritical

Answer 21

My honest opinion is that there are a few things they do that I dont agree with, but I so support them, they get publicity, they get off their butts and they get results!!!

Answer 22

i dislike them. they are too radical, and traumatize kids with their disturbing propaganda. i support animal rights, but the way they go about it is not right, and makes everyone think animal rights activists are crazy nutjobs.

also, check out this website, peta KILLS animals: http://www.petakillsanimals.com/

Answer 23

I like to point and giggle while eating my turkey ham sandwich. They use their beliefs to commit petty crimes. It is very unhealthy to restrict 2-4-5 tryptophan from your diet. Most of them do not even take B12 and get skitzy.

Answer 24

I am a PETA supporter.  Yes - they ARE radical and extreme and sometimes silly; sometimes you have to be.  OR - should I say - EVIDENTLY you have to be - because I don't know of any other groups who have been as successful in bringing to light some of the mass abuses of animals - particularly farm animal abuses.  As someone who has had a chance to make the rounds with a Humane officer and see the conditions that are considered "acceptable" for livestock (still remember the horse who's teeth were so overgrown that it couldn't chew, so it was going hungry in a pasture) - I can only hope that if the average person knew the kind of misery that is being endured on a daily basis, then that average person might "get" it.