PETA favors lethal injection
Now that the official numbers are in regarding PETA-run animal shelters, the news is not pretty, in fact it's pretty bleak. With a couple of employees facing felony charges in North Carolina for dumping euthanized animals in a rural dumpster, it looks like PETA has suffered a pretty good fall from a pretty high horse. Of the 3,061 animals it received at its shelters in 2006, only 12 found homes -- 2,981 were given the death penalty. Those are the numbers form PETA's official report, posted on PETA Kills Animals, a site attacking the famously outspoken organization. I guess PETA's years of taking cheap shots at everyone from fashion models to farmer Fred has created at least a couple bitter enemies. Their seemingly hypocritical track record, i.e. killing 97% of the animals it takes in, has drawn some major fire from no-kill organizations. In a statement from PETA's founder Ingrid Newkirk, she describes euthanasia as "the kindest gift to a dog or cat unwanted and unloved."
Ok, it's not my goal to twist her quote into some kind of insane rant 'a la Charlie Manson -- although it would be easy to do. The question I'd like to ask Newkirk is: how does this make PETA's shelters any different than old school kill shelters or worse? This seems to be a pretty clear cut case of 'you've become what you're fighting against,' -- a re-branding of the 'Old Yeller' mentality. Maybe PETA should get out of the animal shelter business and quick, before they lose all credibility.














