# Okay, Now PETA's Trying To Be Funny . . . Right? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [April 23, 2003, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-now-petas-trying-to-be-funny-right/170595 "2003-04-23T14:58:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2003, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-now-petas-trying-to-be-funny-right/170595/41 "2003-04-23T20:25:27Z")
I’m confused. I recall hearing that hard-core members of PETA are against people owning pets so I went to Google to make sure. I found this: > [@](#): > > [http://www.animalrights.net/quotes.html](http://www.animalrights.net/quotes.html) > “In a perfect world, animals would be free to live their lives to the fullest: raising their young, enjoying their native environments, and following their natural instincts. However, domesticated dogs and cats cannot survive “free” in our concrete jungles, so we must take as good care of them as possible. People with the time, money, love, and patience to make a lifetime commitment to an animal can make an enormous difference by adopting from shelters or rescuing animals from a perilous life on the street. But it is also important to stop manufacturing “pets,” thereby perpetuating a class of animals forced to rely on humans to survive.” > -PETA pamphlet, Companion Animals: Pets or Prisoners? Huh? Many service animals _have been_ taken from shelters and rehabilitated. There are even programs which use prison inmates to rehabilite the animals prior to them going through the required training! Then we have what **Nichol** quoted above: “(Newkirk) regards the use of Seeing Eye dogs as an abdication of human responsibility and, because they live as ‘servants’ and are denied the companionship of other dogs, she is wholly opposed to their use.” WTF is that woman thinking? Service dogs aren’t tethered to their humans 24/7! Does she go after police dogs too? I’d think they get about the same canine-to-canine solcilization as a service dog, perhaps less. Oh, I also found this via Google: > [@](#): > > [http://www.maninnature.com/Pets/ww.html](http://www.maninnature.com/Pets/ww.html) > “The bottom line is that people don’t have the right to manipulate or to breed dogs and cats … If people want toys, they should buy inanimate objects. If they want companionship, they should seek it with their own kind.” > Ingrid Newkirk, co-founder, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PeTA), “Animals”, May/June 1993. I’d comment on that but I’m too dumbfounded; besides, this ain’t the Pit. ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2003, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-now-petas-trying-to-be-funny-right/170595/42 "2003-04-23T20:39:45Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by whiterabbit \* > \*\*I’m trying to figure out why a “perfect society” wouldn’t need service dogs??? \*\* Presumably because all blind people will get those nifty visors like Geordi on _Star Trek_. ---
**Author:** ![WolfpackJeep](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpackjeep/32/2921_2.png) [@WolfpackJeep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WolfpackJeep)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2003, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-now-petas-trying-to-be-funny-right/170595/43 "2003-04-23T20:53:04Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Nichol\_storm \* > **Later on the article quotes Newkirk as saying "I am opposed to having children. _snip_"** Probably the most well-thought decision Ms. Newkirk has ever made. I applaud her. ---
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2003, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-now-petas-trying-to-be-funny-right/170595/44 "2003-04-23T21:03:17Z")
From [PETA’s website](http://www.peta.org/alert/automation/AlertItem.asp?id=703): > [@](#): > > PepsiCo has been under fire recently for using baboons in a commercial for Sierra Mist (for more information click here). Reports indicate that now the company plans to use a live monkey for its upcoming promotion “Play for a Billion”—the monkey will pick the winning number on the televised finale of the contest. > > As is often the case when animals are featured in commercials, films, and television shows, the promotion is certain to encourage many viewers to acquire monkeys on a whim, only to discard them once the novelty wears thin and they become too aggressive to manage. What the hell? Since when do people rush out to buy any old animal they see in a damn commercial? Oh yeah, I’m going to rush right out and get myself a baboon! :rolleyes: Morons. ---
**Author:** ![Mama\_Tiger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/6de8d8/32.png) [@Mama\_Tiger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Tiger)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2003, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-now-petas-trying-to-be-funny-right/170595/45 "2003-04-23T21:07:41Z")
I don’t know why that link doesn’t work – like **whiterabbit** said, if you paste the url into your address line, it works fine. And it’s the identical url. And I agree that that law was passed because the man’s dog was harassed by another dog, which apparently the original article I’d read didn’t mention. (It’s been a while.) But in researching to find the non-functioning link, I read an article talking with the man whose dog being harassed by the other dog was the impetus behind the Washington law, and he commented about another blind friend of his who’d been stalked in a grocery store by an animal rights activist trying to “liberate” her dog. And I know I’ve heard cases of dogs actually being taken from their owners. I’ll dig around some more and see if I can find them. Bottom line: Anyone who doesn’t understand that working dogs work because they LOVE it and it’s what they WANT to do is crazy! But IMHO, that certainly is a good description of the PETA folks… ---
**Author:** ![Moirai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/96bed5/32.png) [@Moirai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moirai)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2003, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-now-petas-trying-to-be-funny-right/170595/46 "2003-04-23T21:09:15Z")
Ack. PETA never fails to provide a hideous sideshow. My BIL is a scientist who does genetic research using lab animals. While the work has never made me particularly happy, I almost wish I could email jpegs to Ingrid every day just to piss her off. So, not only can I not breed my dog, but I shouldn’t breed at all?!? Where was this philosophy in Ingrid’s mother’s day? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2003, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-now-petas-trying-to-be-funny-right/170595/47 "2003-04-23T21:30:02Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by EJsGirl \* > **So, not only can I not breed my dog, but I shouldn’t breed at all?!?** Hell, you shouldn’t even have that dog in the first place according to her. This woman would rather have all animals randomly breeding in the wild instead of their offspring being arranged by humans. Evidently, she would also rather have humans not breed at all. So she’s in favor of the human race dying out so the animals can take over? Which would most likely result in some other species evolving into humanoids and they’d have their own version of Ingrid Newkirk. Sounds like something Douglas Adams would write. ---
**Author:** ![ThatGuyWithPants](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/df788c/32.png) [@ThatGuyWithPants](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThatGuyWithPants)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2003, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-now-petas-trying-to-be-funny-right/170595/48 "2003-04-23T21:50:27Z")
I liked a quote I read on Fark the other day about the same issue at hand. > [@](#): > > “Why doesnt PETA just have some members dress up like bloody Zebras and go protest some Lions eating Zebras in Africa? I doubt the Lions would stop and debate their opinion in a reasonable manner. They would just eat them and get it over with.” ---
**Author:** ![Eats\_Crayons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/278dde/32.png) [@Eats\_Crayons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eats_Crayons)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2003, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-now-petas-trying-to-be-funny-right/170595/49 "2003-04-23T23:07:46Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Q.E.D. \* > \*\* > What the hell? Since when do people rush out to buy any old animal they see in a damn commercial? Oh yeah, I’m going to rush right out and get myself a baboon! \*\* Why just the other day I saw an ad for Frosted Flakes and said to myself “A tiger! That’s grrrrrreat!” So I ran right out and got one – damn thing tore my arm off! I guess I can’t complain. It’s my own fault for getting a jungle cat on a whim. _sigh_ ---
**Author:** ![Watcher\_of\_the\_Skies](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/45deac/32.png) [@Watcher\_of\_the\_Skies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Watcher_of_the_Skies)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2003, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-now-petas-trying-to-be-funny-right/170595/50 "2003-04-24T01:30:53Z")
Any organization that gets supermodels to pose naked can’t be all bad. ---
**Author:** ![SPOOFE](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c5a1d2/32.png) [@SPOOFE](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SPOOFE)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2003, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-now-petas-trying-to-be-funny-right/170595/51 "2003-04-24T01:59:38Z")
> [@](#): > > PETA’s philosophy is that they have nothing to lose: nobody who is not already going to do so will eat meat or torment lab animals just because PETA is a bunch of buffoons, but some people will be swayed–if not by the appalling public displays themselves, at least by consideration of the issues raised by those displays–enough to make a difference in the direction that PETA is hoping for. I dunno, every time PETA does something stupid, I eat a burger. Maybe THAT’S the reason I weigh 1,735 pounds. Maybe I should sue. ---
**Author:** ![Moirai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/96bed5/32.png) [@Moirai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moirai)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2003, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-now-petas-trying-to-be-funny-right/170595/52 "2003-04-24T16:49:39Z")
I am eating meat right now, and thinking of feeding Ingrid to those poor starving zoo animals in Iraq. Surely she would be willing to sacrifice herself for the greater good of animals everywhere, right? ---
**Author:** ![Quantum\_Butterfly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/e79b87/32.png) [@Quantum\_Butterfly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quantum_Butterfly)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2003, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-now-petas-trying-to-be-funny-right/170595/53 "2003-04-24T17:20:43Z")
PETA annoys me greatly. Scare tactics are the result of a crude and unimaginative mind. Plus, as many other posters have pointed out, they give _real_ environmentalists and animal rights folk a bad name. Anyone else tempted to spam Ms. Newkirk with the Love Hamster site? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Malacandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2003, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-now-petas-trying-to-be-funny-right/170595/54 "2003-04-24T21:51:48Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Watcher of the Skies \* > \*\*Any organization that gets supermodels to pose naked can’t be all bad. \*\* [hijack]WotS, have any new planets swum into your ken lately? [/hijack] ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2003, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-now-petas-trying-to-be-funny-right/170595/55 "2003-04-24T23:27:46Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Weirddave \* > \*\*Conclusion: > > Either Newkirk believes that a half breed human/something else baby is possible, or she’s starring in all of that “Farm porn” spam that get’s sent to my junk email addy. Possibly both. \*\* I thank you for this laugh. My keyboard, however, wants to talk to you about the Diet coke I sprayed all over it. 🙂 You know, I wish this thread was in the PIT so I could use the appropriate profanity. Damn idiots.:eek: [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-now-petas-trying-to-be-funny-right/170595.md?page=2)