Why "no kill" and 90% of what P.E.T.A says is bullshit

[PortraitOfSanity]

First off, I'm for animal rights. I love animals, and I think more needs to be done to ensure that animal cruelty is eliminated in all its forms to the best extent it can be.

Anyway, the reason this topic comes to mind. I work at a local Humane Society (kennel, animal shelter, whatever you want to call it). It's a fairly big facility by suburban standards, though I guess it's not that big for the Chicago area. We have something like 40 dogs, about twice that number of cats, and other assorted animals, we're about to see the Easter rush of rabbits up for adoption.

Today's warmer weather saw the reemergence of the silly misguided protesters. You see, P.E.T.A and several other animal rights organizations advocate a policy known as no-kill. That means just what it says, absolutely no euthanasia. Now, this requires some explanation, since P.E.T.A would have you believe that vets at animal shelters run around like lunatics gassing all the poor fuzzy animals they can get their hands on.

Ok so I exaggerated. The main P.E.T.A lie about euthanasia is that it's done mainly when a shelter has no room for more animals. This is absolute bullshit, and P.E.T.A knows it. First of all, the only reason a liscenced shelter performs a euthanasia is if: A. An animal is mentally or behaviorally beyond help. That includes cage-sickness (some animals, regardless of how long or how short a period they're kept, will have mental breakdowns in a shelter setting), unrepairable aggression (you'd think that would be a loose term, but you mainly see it with rescued dogs trained for fighting).

Or B. if a fatal medical condition causes suffering to the animal. This does not mean if a dog or cat has untreatable cancer, that they get euthanized. If it's a condition where the pain can be treated, but the animal will still die, it won't be euthanized. This is something PETA usually takes issue with, and frankly, lies to the public about.

And really, if you think for a second, if a shelter were overcrowded and underfunded, why would they pay about 500 dollars to euthanize animal when we have this really nifty invention known as an automobile. Our shelter took in over 200 animals from New Orleans after Katrina (not all at once, obviously). It's far more cost effective to relocate an animal than to euthanize.

I was a full-fledged member of P.E.T.A for 5 years. When I started working at the shelter I began to realize how impractical PETA's ideas really are. If you can honestly say that you are for animal rights, there is no justifiable reason to support the idea of no-kill. PETA justifies this policy with misinformation in order to prove a political point, and they would see animals suffer to make that point.





I wish I could put a link to our shelter's site here, but I probably legally shouldn't.

[Raptor]

Plus recycling old abuse footage as "proof", sea kittens, etc

At least sea kittens are funny.

[Beneath the Shadows]

I prefer war kittens.

[JCC]

P.E.T.A. have the largest euthanasia rate of any animal shelter. They kill nearly all of the animals that they take in. In 2006, it killed 97% of the animals that were taken in for adoption and found homes for 12 of them.

[isobel black]

Originally Posted by JCC

P.E.T.A. have the largest euthanasia rate of any animal shelter.

I heard that too. Being in Europe, I'm not too familiar with them, but I noticed around the internet that a lot of vegetarians/vegans and animal lovers deeply hate P.E.T.A., mainly for this reason I expect.

This sort of lead me to believe that euthanasia due to lack of space was unavoidable, I'm glad to learn your facility only uses it when it's in the animals' best interest.

[Joker_in_the_Pack]

I just go there for the food recipes. There are far more level headed vegan organizations out there.

[PortraitOfSanity]

Originally Posted by isobel black

This sort of lead me to believe that euthanasia due to lack of space was unavoidable, I'm glad to learn your facility only uses it when it's in the animals' best interest.

That's the case in almost all shelters in the States (as far as I know).

And JCC, I hadn't heard that, thanks for the stats.

[Godslayer Jillian]

Damn. JCC beat me to it. But yeah it's true.
And not only that, but they also do that because according to the PETA ethos, pets are an aberration of nature as they wouldn't have existed had it not been because of us.
So it's not that they kill them because they have no space. It's that they kill them because they don't think your precious golden retriever ever deserved to live.
Next time you see bullshit PETA protesters, please tell them that. They are merely pawns. Seriously; the stupid people that protest against animal shelters in the name of PETA obviously don't know enough about their own organization's goals, and PETA only sends them to make themselves look better.

[Joker_in_the_Pack]

Jillian, JCC, I would love sources. I believe you both, but there are a few peta freaks I would love to give a good r@ping with these facts.

[Godslayer Jillian]

Here's the best site for that:
http://www.petakillsanimals.com/

And here's an article on a newspaper so that it looks more objective:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/articl...DG11DC9BK1.DTL

And here's PETA's stance on pets:
http://www.peta.org/campaigns/ar-petaonpets.asp

That last one, honestly, sounds all fine and ok, right? Personally I can respect that philosophy of them. We humans playing god with pets so that we can possess them and mistreat them is terrible.
But more of us would treat these animals just as well as any other family member. And if other animal shelters can find real loving homes for pets in a success rate of about 3 out of every 4, it's bullshit that PETA would not want this for the pets that are at least currently alive.

[PortraitOfSanity]

Originally Posted by Godslayer Jillian

Here's the best site for that:
http://www.petakillsanimals.com/

And here's an article on a newspaper so that it looks more objective:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/articl...DG11DC9BK1.DTL

And here's PETA's stance on pets:
http://www.peta.org/campaigns/ar-petaonpets.asp

That last one, honestly, sounds all fine and ok, right? Personally I can respect that philosophy of them. We humans playing god with pets so that we can possess them and mistreat them is terrible.
But more of us would treat these animals just as well as any other family member. And if other animal shelters can find real loving homes for pets in a success rate of about 3 out of every 4, it's bullshit that PETA would not want this for the pets that are at least currently alive.

Thanks Jillian, these are going on the bulletin board at work tomorrow!

[PortraitOfSanity]

You know the most harmful effect of PETA though? On the rare occasion that they support a legitimate organization's campaigns, they actually impair it by the mere fact the the PETA name appears as a supporter. No one is going to accept animal rights as a mainstream idea as long as PETA is the first organization people think of when they hear "animal rights".

[Saya]

Originally Posted by Raptor

Plus recycling old abuse footage as "proof", sea kittens, etc

At least sea kittens are funny.

Dude, there are tons of recent animal rights videos, I don't know about PETA but the Humane Society puts out new ones regularly, and last year saw the biggest beef recall ever because of a release of videos showing inhumane treatment of downer cows, and an uproar here in Canada over a video of horse slaughter. But yeah, sea kittens and they're whole "vegetarians have better sex" stuff is what gets my goat.

Like JCC and Jillian said, PETA puts down a lot of animals, ever hear of Aspen Hill?

In 1991, PeTA had a non-human animal “sanctuary” called Aspen Hill where it killed healthy rabbits and turkeys. PeTA said it did this because it wanted to spend the money that would have been required to house the rabbits and turkeys on its other campaigns. At the time, PeTA’s budget was over six million U.S. dollars per year.

http://www.abolitionist-online.com/a...eff.perz.shtml

It just boils my blood that they put down the animals they take in and turn around and waste money on a Superbowl ad they KNOW will not get aired and paying girls to make out in public because "vegetarians have better sex lives", and buy stock in meat companies, yet where are the animals in all of this? Dead in a PETA cemetery.

Hey JCC and Joker, ever listen to Vegan Freak Radio?

[Underwater Ophelia]

Wait...vegetarians have better sex lives?
Why?

[Saya]

PETA was quoting this study that I never really checked out, but I do know that vegans have a lower risk of getting erectile disfunction because the diet is typically low cholesterol (high cholesterol is the most common cause of ED).

So why they didn't get a vegan dude to stand in public with a boner that lasts for hours instead of hiring lesbians to make out and making commercials of women using broccoli as a dildo I have no idea, as far as I know lesbians can't get ED.

[Underwater Ophelia]

Yeah, that's fucking stupid.

[Godslayer Jillian]

The vegan thing is true and all. But yeah, in my city for St Valentine's they just put a heart-shaped bed in the middle of the important downtown plaza and put two hot girls so that they would make out with each other while other two women held signs about how vegetarians are better lovers.
Fucking cunts.

[Joker_in_the_Pack]

I went to a farm the other week to play with the chickens. Do that for an hour and you'll never eat meat. They're fun.

[Underwater Ophelia]

Originally Posted by Joker_in_the_Pack

I went to a farm the other week to play with the chickens. Do that for an hour and you'll never eat meat. They're fun.

Not true.
I grew up on a farm and not only ate chickens and sheep, I ate MY chickens and sheep.

[CptSternn]

Just seeing the HQ they built in Va Beach makes you wonder. Its a 10 storey huge fuck off building that looks like a bank or other major corporation HQ. It has their logo in a big sign design on the top so the world can see it from miles away.

Makes you wonder how they can afford something like this. I mean, not only is the building large and expensive, located in one of the most expensive areas on the East coast, they have a 10 storey high rise fully staffed. And thats just one of their locations, its not even the largest.

When 'non-profit' organisations start opening multi-million dollar custom built high rise office buildings and advertising during the superbowl at a cost of $15 millon for 20 seconds, it's safe to say they no longer are sticking to their non-profit roots.

Most people don't know that non-profits just means the company itself can't make a profit (i.e. sell stock). They still bring in rakes of cash and pay their executives, with bonuses, just like every other company in America. The more money they raise, they more money the executives get.

Don't even get me started on United Way. Only 15% of the money given to them actually makes it to the impoverished people they claim to support. 85% goes to paying for their corporate jets, lavish lifestyles, and the kind of shite ye see on the news these days the bankers are using the bail out money for.

Peta is no different.

[Saya]

Originally Posted by Joker_in_the_Pack

I went to a farm the other week to play with the chickens. Do that for an hour and you'll never eat meat. They're fun.

Some people just don't care. There was a cow back in my hometown and me and my friends would go into its field and play fetch and feed it apples, and yet they still eat beef.

I don't know what it is, but a lot of people just aren't bothered by all the suffering, exploitation and environmental damage meat eating causes. Apathy kills, and nobody cares.

Its funny, people will say "I don't care if there's shit in meat or pus in milk, I do kinda feel bad about the suffering and pain of the animal but the meat I eat probably didn't come from bad slaughterhouses". All that horror and pain is too trivial to think about or investigate, and yet today when we were discussing the potluck we're having at work on Sunday it came up that I'm vegan, and everyone flipped. "So you don't eat cheese? I'd DIE without cheese! You don't eat egg? I'd DIE without egg! So what DO you eat? Steak is SOOOO good, I'd DIE without it!" as if the lack of cheese in one's life can compare to the suffering of animals and the impact on the enviroment (and your colon), and last weekend my friend's boyfriend flipped when he found out (I keep it to myself unless I have to let someone know I won't eat something). "You're gonna die ten years before anyone else you know", he said, and I was just flabbergasted, this guy is obese, has putrid breath and wheezes when he has to walk fifty paces. I'm not in the greatest shape ever but I'm healthier than he'll ever be. I used to say "I can't live without cheese", but now after being vegan for a while I can't believe how attached I was to a food, even after watching things like Earthlings and playing with cows.

I don't know where I'm going with that rant, but I just don't understand that behavior, even when not that long ago I was saying the same thing about cheese and milk chocolate. I'm really ashamed of being that lazy and selfish.

[jack_the_knife]

What I think is hilarious that if you inform a pro-PETA person about these inconsistencies , they'll still be in denial, saying that it can't be true and that it's all propaganda. Why do these people find it so hard to believe that PETA is a profiteering organization like any other one, and in my opinion, worse than your standard slaughterhouse as they aren't killing the animals for food.

[CptSternn]

Originally Posted by jack_the_knife

PETA is a profiteering organization like any other one, and in my opinion, worse than your standard slaughterhouse as they aren't killing the animals for food.

Big bovine pimpin'.

[viscus]

Originally Posted by Saya

...it came up that I'm vegan, and everyone flipped. "So you don't eat cheese? I'd DIE without cheese! You don't eat egg? I'd DIE without egg! So what DO you eat? Steak is SOOOO good, I'd DIE without it!"

I would just shrug and say "That sounds like a personal problem." But I'm also kind of an asshole.

Anyways, I don't think meat and dairy consumption are bad in and of themselves. It's the sheer volume of it that people engage in, and the industrialized process that it's production has become that is where the problem lies.

[Raptor]

Originally Posted by Saya

Dude, there are tons of recent animal rights videos, I don't know about PETA but the Humane Society puts out new ones regularly

I didn't say there aren't new videos. I still wouldn't rate any that are by PETA.