PETA Outrage: Real or Fake?

June 19, 2009

When President Obama demonstrated his killer instincts this week by swatting a fly to death midinterview, PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) took the opportunity to send the president a humane bug catcher urging him to have compassion for insects and refrain from "executing" them. The organization said it supports all animals, even the least sympathetic ones.

Stories like this give PETA a reputation for extreme, and sometimes comical, support of all animals. I've rounded up some other examples and mixed in some fake ones, too. Find out if you can spot the difference!

Source: Getty

28 Comments

3 years 46 weeks

PETA are a bunch of animal lib hacks. "Oh my god we have corporate benefactors and we're going to take out glossy ads in people so celebrities can show people how socially aware they are." Sounds like horse-shit to me. Real vegans join ALF.

danakscully64 3 years 47 weeks

5/5. PETA's Holocaust campaign converted me to vegetarianism 5 years ago. While I agree some of their ideas are extreme, they aren't necessarily trying to do what their campaigns say, they just want people to think differently (like the breast milk ice cream) and raise awareness. Their message is clear is and reasonable.

danakscully64 3 years 47 weeks

"I recommend watching Penn and Teller's Bullsh*t episode about PETA." I normally LOVE Penn and Teller episodes, but I felt that it was SERIOUSLY slanted and many points were not brought up.

Natalie Love 3 years 47 weeks

I'm waiting until they rage war on hand sanitizers. Bacteria are living, breathing organisms, you know. I'm a vegetarian, and find them ridiculous. They give us animal-rights supporters a bad name.

MeiGaku 3 years 47 weeks

i support animal rights--but when those rights negatively affect people or could prevent the creation of life-saving drugs, i will forgo the thousand rats that takes to save one human being. extremists like peta give animal rights activists a bad name--they just make everyone seem loopy.

tlsgirl 3 years 47 weeks

PETA annoys the sh*t out of me. Honestly, I ignore most of what they say without even really listening anymore because the vast majority of their statements are so completely insane.

3 years 47 weeks

I def give PETA support for starting animal charities. but I cant support organizations that are complete extremists. consumerfreedom.org

PiNkY PiNk 3 years 47 weeks

I think it was unnecessary of PETA to make a statement about this particular incident with President Obama. Personally, I HATE bugs, insects, and rodents and would've done the same thing with a pesky fly around me.

xxstardust 3 years 47 weeks

Meike - I was unaware of the connection behind the people who ran the website. Thanks for the info! I do agree with you that they're obviously biased, and trying to make the organization look bad. I find it hard to believe that there was a reason to put down so many animals, though - surely not all, or even most, of those animals was sick. If they were sick, then it's most definitely warranted and a kindness to the animals. My aunt has a cat with FIV - she had 2, taken from shelters, but one had to be put down last year so he didn't suffer anymore. But for *all* of the animals who were brought to the shelter and left to be sick - that's awfully coincidental. Both sides are probably making things look worse then they are.

reesiecup 3 years 47 weeks

I'm all for ethical treatment of animals. But what's next, PETA? Persecuting all those who use bug spray? C'mon, there are people in the world dying of preventable disease and senseless violence every minute. Our economy and morale is in a rut. Maybe they should help advocate causes worth fighting for other than FLIES.

Meike 3 years 47 weeks

It seems my hunch was correct. Consumer Freedom was funded by Pilgrim's Pride who supplied KFC. Of course, it's a counter attack against PETA. http://www.nwanews.com/story.php?paper=adg§ion=National&storyid=39402 http://www.nytimes.com/2004/07/20/business/kfc-supplier-accused-of-animal-cruelty.html

Meike 3 years 47 weeks

I always thought PETA was loopy. However, I do believe their integrity remains intact although questionable. After reading more on your link to petakillsanimals.com xxxstardust, sorry but I have to say I disagree with the legitimacy of the website mostly after reading their 'about us' page which states the site is a project of Center for Consumer Freedom. On the 'about us' page for Consumer Freedom reads: "Who funds you guys? How about some "full disclosure"? The Center for Consumer Freedom is supported by over 100 companies and thousands of individual consumers. From farm to fork, from urban to rural, our friends and supporters include businesses, their employees, and their customers." Now, why would a lobbyist group like Consumer Freedom be against PETA? Pretty simple, the group probably is being funded and supported by some pharmaceutical companies who want to be able to conduct more animal testing or by a fast food giant like KFC who is undeniably a guilty culprit in their treatment of animals. I definitely do not trust Consumer Freedom, never have, never will. Especially when one of their primary supporters is Philip Morris. As far as the euthanization of these poor cats and dogs, the reasons aren't entirely clear. I have to point out that the stats you gave are a bit misleading compared to the 'facts' printed on the .pdf. Going off the 2007 stats from the .pdf, 5639 cats went through the Virginia clinic, 1026 of which were euthanized and another 4587 that were reclaimed by owners. Now, of course the question remains is why the 1026 were euthanized. I don't know if you're a cat owner but do you know that the Feline Immunodeficiency Virus (FIV) is highly contagious? FIV is basically like HIV for humans. It is an epidemic that affects more than 10% of the cat population world-wide. My husband's first cat, "Funny" suffered and died within 3 years of contracting the disease. I'm willing to bet that some of the cats were carriers of the disease.

genesisrocks 3 years 47 weeks

5/5 Go me! Well I don't know about the rest of you but I thought that was pretty easy. I'm sick of hearing about PETA being crazy. It's just a shame we need craziness to draw attention to animal rights issues.

xxstardust 3 years 47 weeks

Oh, lord - the records I posted are from 2001, not 2008 - I apologize for the mistake and for the multiple posts!

xxstardust 3 years 47 weeks

The records I was referring to can be found at http://petakillsanimals.com/downloads/PetaKillsAnimals.pdf. The website in general is pretty interesting, though extremely sad as well. Over 1,000 cats euthanized in one year, for no reason ..

xxstardust 3 years 47 weeks

PETA would be a lot more worthwhile if they weren't so ridiculously hypocritical. They run a shelter in Norfolk, Virgina, where they have euthanized over 21,000 healthy and adoptable cats and dogs since 1998. In 2008, they euthanized 95% of the animals they took in, and found homes for only SEVEN. The message PETA tries to promote - kindness to animals - is a good one; the organization itself is frankly disgusting. I know posts with links get held to be checked, so I'll post separately a link to records kept by the Virgina State Veterinarian (yes, I swear it's a real position in the Dept. of Agriculture, I'm not making it up) detailing the amount of animals euthanized in 2008, if anyone is interested in seeing the numbers.

xxstardust 3 years 47 weeks

PETA would be a lot more worthwhile if they weren't so ridiculously hypocritical. They run a shelter in Norfolk, Virgina, where they have euthanized over 21,000 healthy and adoptable cats and dogs since 1998. In 2008, they euthanized 95% of the animals they took in, and found homes for only SEVEN. The message PETA tries to promote - kindness to animals - is a good one; the organization itself is frankly disgusting.I know posts with links get held to be checked, so I'll post separately a link to records kept by the Virgina State Veterinarian (yes, I swear it's a real position in the Dept. of Agriculture, I'm not making it up) detailing the amount of animals euthanized in 2008, if anyone is interested in seeing the numbers.

margokhal 3 years 47 weeks

1/5. But all of those are believable...PETA has simply become synonymous with "cray-cray/insane" to me. Not that I'm not for the ethical treatment of animals...but a lot of what they do has been absolutely counterproductive and ridiculous.

bonchicbongenre 3 years 47 weeks

I'm all for the ethical treatment of animals, (I'm a vegetarian and I don't wear fur) but I feel that sometimes PETA's crazy antics take away from their message and just make them look batty.

Chouette4u 3 years 47 weeks

I recommend watching Penn and Teller's Bullshit episode about PETA.

CaterpillarGirl 3 years 47 weeks

I had some yummy raw sea kitten the other day, it was moist and flavorful and went great with rice.

sham28 3 years 47 weeks

But the emotion behind their craziness is perfectly understandable.

sham28 3 years 47 weeks

PETA are so annoying.

sham28 3 years 47 weeks

PETA are so annoying.

skigurl 3 years 47 weeks

i got 4/5 i knew they wanted to change the word Fish to Sea Kittens but i didn't think they asked the BAND Phish to do it too i still find that hard to believe

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28 Comments

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