PETA - WTF?

[EvilMonkey]

http://www.wavy.com/global/story.asp?s=348...tType=Printable

 

PETA President Denounces Dumping, Defends Accused Workers

 

 

Adria Joy Hinkle

 

Andrew Benjamin Cook

 

 

By SUE LINDSEY

Associated Press Writer

 

(AP) - Dumping the bodies of dead dogs and cats in the garbage is wrong, but the president of Norfolk-based People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals said Friday that animal cruelty charges against two employees won't stick.

 

"It's hideous," Ingrid Newkirk, president of the animal rights group, said of the dumping. "I think this is so shocking it's bound to hurt our work."

 

But she told a news conference there was no indication of "pain or suffering" among the 18 animals that police in Ahoskie, N.C., found in a shopping center garbage bin or the 13 found in a van registered to PETA. The animals received lethal injections, Newkirk said.

 

Adria Joy Hinkle, 27, of Norfolk, and Andrew Benjamin Cook, 24, of Virginia Beach, appeared Friday in Hertford County District Court and their trial was set for July 19. Each faces 31 felony charges of animal cruelty and nine misdemeanor counts -- eight of illegal disposal of dead animals and one of trespassing.

 

Each felony charge carries a maximum of 15 months in jail, and the maximum term for each misdemeanor is 60 days.

 

Investigators arrested the two workers after staking out a garbage bin where animals had previously been dumped, police said Thursday.

 

Newkirk said the workers were picking up animals to be brought to PETA headquarters in Norfolk for euthanization.

 

Veterinarians and animal control officers said the PETA workers had promised to find homes for the animals rather than euthanize them, according to police.

 

"PETA has never made a secret of the fact that most of the animals picked up in North Carolina are euthanized," Newkirk said.

 

Neither police nor PETA offered any theory on why the animals might have been dumped. Newkirk said no one from PETA noticed that over several weeks Hinkle was returning from her weekly trips to North Carolina without animals to be euthanized.

 

Ahoskie Police Chief Troy Fitzhugh said at least 60 to 70 animals were dumped in the garbage over four weeks.

 

"It just gets to you after awhile," he said.

 

PETA spokeswoman Colleen O'Brien said the organization euthanizes animals by lethal injection, which it considers more humane than shooting or gassing them in groups, as some counties do.

 

Hinkle was suspended following the arrest, but Cook, a new employee, was not. Hinkle has been with PETA for two years in its community animal project division.

 

Neither Hinkle nor Cook had any comment as they left court.

 

Newkirk said PETA also runs a program in the three North Carolina counties to sterilize animals, and has encouraged them to set up programs for animal adoptions.

 

PETA has euthanized animals for years. In Virginia last year, the activist group euthanized 2,278 animals, sterilized 7,641 and found homes for 361.

 

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I wonder how many of the PETA wackos know that PETA actually kills animals themselves? Or are they OK with it because they do it 'humanely'? Dead is still dead.

[FlaSoxxJim]

I wonder how many of the PETA wackos know that PETA actually kills animals themselves? Or are they OK with it because they do it 'humanely'?  Dead is still dead.

Most PETA supporters understand that many of the animals they pick up are euthanized, but that doesn't excuse the gross misconduct in this case. And from the report, these employees were not being forthcoming with the local vets and animal control officials as to the fate of the animals.

 

No. It's not ethical.

[Balta1701]

Just remember this...if you were to pick an issue and then imagine the single worst group of people possible to serve as advocates of that issue, it would probably look something like PETA and animal rights.

[Texsox]

Just remember this...if you were to pick an issue and then imagine the single worst group of people possible to serve as advocates of that issue, it would probably look something like PETA and animal rights.

 

You are so right. There are many issues like that. I believe most Americans have a very difficult time identifying with either side in the abortion debate. Killing Doctors and 8 1/2 month term babies are difficult concepts to embrace.

[EvilMonkey]

You are so right. There are many issues like that. I believe most Americans have a very difficult time identifying with either side in the abortion debate. Killing Doctors and 8 1/2 month term babies are difficult concepts to embrace.

I think hell just got a little bit colder. I agree with that statement comlpetely.

[Texsox]

I think hell just got a little bit colder.  I agree with that statement comlpetely.

 

LOL

[WilliamTell]

Just remember this...if you were to pick an issue and then imagine the single worst group of people possible to serve as advocates of that issue, it would probably look something like PETA and animal rights.

 

 

No kidding, I can't stand them and what they do. I don't mind their idea, I don't think there should be cruelty to animals, but they take that to an extreme and then add completely different subjects to the matter.