
Good evening, Felinity Assembled!
Last month I presented a series of posts on the No Kill Animal Shelter Revolution.
In Chapter 7, I covered PETA, and its negative reputation in the Animal Welfare Movement, and my own correspondence with them, with regards to a single word. :-D
Several days after this post I got a couple of tips from a reader calling themselves "Ontario No Kill Advocate", who didn't leave a website for themselves, but shared some interesting links to more reports on PETA.
In March/April/May, Huffington Post Canada columnist Douglas Anthony Cooper did a terrific , 5 part, expose on PETA, culminating in a discussion of Nathan Winograd, & the No Kill Movement, as an altertanive to PETA, and the familiar Shelter procedures.
In Part 1 he writes: "Nobody does the euthanasia thing quite like PETA, Ingrid Newkirk's vaunted animal-rights organization. After long being dismissed as an outrageous slander -- just another right-wing slur -- this gruesome truth has finally gained traction in the mainstream press: PETA's headquarters in Norfolk has the highest kill rate in the nation. A rescued pet has the same chances of surviving PETA's sanctuary as it does of receiving genuine love and affection from Michael Vick."
His piece goes a lot further than just observing that nice Humans should not be taking off their clothes in support of euthanasia of pets at Animal Shelters. Fame and prettiness are potent gifts among the Humans, and should be flashed wisely, he says. nice Humans, he writes should not be convincing equally nice Humans to give their Green Papers to an outfit that "kills pets, indiscriminately, at a rate that would shock seal hunters."
Along the way he has a few choice words for even some of those organizations that lead the fight against PETA, apparently simply because their politics may differ from his, but I don't hold this against him, because he DOES acknowledge the good work they have done in exposing PETA.
He also provides links to exposes by other leading magazines.
READ: "PETA's Celebs: Naked in the Name of Mass Pet Slaughter."
In Part 2 he begins by sharing the truly touching story of how PETA founder Ingrid Newkirk rescued some Cats in 1972, and learned the shelter she turned them in to proceeded to kill them, leading her to soon found her organization....
"PETA, for reasons near impossible to comprehend, decided to devote itself to precisely the treachery that inspired Newkirk's mission in the first place. Her organization now routinely takes in animals, with the gentle lie that it intends to re-home them. It then exterminates them. Generally within twenty-four hours. All of them."
So what the hell happened?
Why does PETA conceal its intentions from rescuers?
Why does PETA do so much of what it does that is detremental to Animal Welfare efforts?
Why does PETA's literature "describe euthanasia in terms that can only be considered pornographic"?
Mr. Cooper goes into great detail, with links, to provide answers to these, and other questions.
His discussion of the beliefs of Newkirk, and how PETA doesn't give a damn for the helpless, is an eye opener.
READ: "Ingrid Newkirk's Death Wish."
In Part 3, Mr. Cooper writes a link filled expose of Nathan Winograd, & the No Kill Movement he leads...
The best way to explain why he goes to such lengths with this part of his story is written in his own words:
"Nathan Winograd believes that PETA's founder, Ingrid Newkirk, is mentally ill. That to him is the only credible explanation for her monstrous compulsion to kill healthy shelter animals. In contrast, I have argued that she is fully rational: Her viciousness has its own internal logic; moreover, it is counterproductive to psychologize evil.
This is a significant difference of opinion -- it goes to the heart of an important moral issue. Winograd is the leader of the No Kill movement, and in fact I disagree with him about many things: We've been having a lengthy email conversation, and it's remarkable how much we differ on crucial issues. Why then would I follow this man to the ends of the earth?
The answer is that it's not about being correct. It's not about his argument trumping mine, or his having the higher moral ground. It's not about us at all. It's about the animals. If what we do is right for the millions of abandoned creatures consigned to shelters, that's all that matters. Everything else is unimportant. And I have determined -- I am convinced -- that Nathan Winograd's No Kill program is the best thing to happen to the world's domesticated animals in my time. Perhaps ever. It is a genuine revolution, of the sort that it is a privilege to experience: we are living in one."
READ: "The Humane Alternative to PETA's Pet Slaughter."
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