Consumer
Group Asks Virginia Government to Reclassify PETA as a Slaughterhouse
New Data Shows PETA Killed 97 Percent Of Dogs And Cats In 2006
01/16/08 WASHINGTON, DC- Yesterday the nonprofit
Center for Consumer Freedom formally petitioned Virginia's Department
of Agriculture and Consumer Services (VDACS), requesting that
the government agency officially reclassify People for the Ethical
Treatment of Animals (PETA) as a slaughterhouse.
An official report filed by PETA itself shows
that the animal rights group put to death nearly every dog,
cat, and other pet it took in for adoption in 2006. During that
year, the well-known animal rights group managed to find adoptive
homes for just 12 animals. Not counting pets brought to PETA
for spaying or neutering, the organization killed 2,981 of the
3,061 “companion animals” it took in. According
to VDACS, the average euthanasia rate for humane societies in
Virginia was 34.7 percent in 2006. PETA's "kill rate" was 97.4
percent.
“It is absurd to classify PETA as a ‘humane
society’ when its employees are slaughtering nearly every
companion animal they bring in,” said CCF Director of
Research David Martosko. “PETA has killed over 17,000
pets since 1998. Given the group's astonishing habit of killing
adoptable dogs and cats with such ruthless efficiency, it's
only fair that the state of Virginia refer to PETA as a slaughterhouse.”
CCF’s letter to VDACS Commissioner Todd
Haymore reads as follows:
Dear Commissioner Haymore,
The Norfolk-based People for the Ethical Treatment
of Animals (PETA) enjoys nonprofit status as a “humane
society” and “releasing agency” as defined
in Virginia Code § 3.1-796.66. But when PETA filed its
required online “Animal Record” report for the year
2006, it reported something startling.
Setting aside the dogs and cats the group sterilized
that year, PETA euthanized (killed) 97.4 percent of all the
domestic animals it took in.[1] This percentage has been steadily
increasing each year since 2001, when PETA’s “kill
rate” was 72.4 percent. In 2006, the state average for
“humane societies” was less than 35 percent.
In 2006, PETA employees killed 2,980 dogs,
cats, and other pets; they transferred 46 to other Virginia
releasing agencies; they adopted out only 12.
During a 2007 criminal trial in North Carolina,
a PETA manager testified that her organization maintains a large
walk-in freezer for the storage of animal carcasses. She testified
that PETA employs a crematory service to periodically dispose
of the bodies. And she also affirmed that (despite its $32 million
budget), PETA does not operate a public “shelter”
where members of the public may select dogs or cats and adopt
them into their homes.
Given PETA’s apparent practice of killing
animals shortly after they come in the door (or, in the North
Carolina case, inside a cargo van), without making a good-faith
effort to find them adoptive homes or provide necessary long-term
veterinary care, its classification as a “humane society”
and “releasing agency” seems inappropriate.
Accordingly, I am requesting as a resident
of Virginia that your office strip PETA of these designations,
and regulate it instead in the future as a “slaughterhouse.”
I recognize that Virginia law presently provides
only for the regulation of slaughterhouses, packing facilities,
and stockyards which handle animals defined as “livestock.”
I respectfully suggest that you should also amend your regulations
to account for the fact that at least one Virginia institution
(PETA) already operates a slaughterhouse for dogs and cats.
Sincerely,
David Martosko |
