Talk:PETA

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That small "e" is only in their logo, they refer to themselves as "PETA" on their own website, so I'm a gonna move it... ħumanUser talk:Human 21:00, 8 August 2008 (EDT)
I tend to use the small "e" to deingrate the word "ethical". It's childish and silly reasoning, I know. ArmondikoVmoral 11:04, 22 January 2009 (EST)

Arent they trying to get Fish renamed as water puppies or something equally odd ? Hamster 00:03, 6 April 2009 (EDT)

Water kittens, or some such. It's in the article already, I think. ħumanUser talk:Human 00:11, 6 April 2009 (EDT)

Contents

[edit] Honeybees

... these tiny animals are factory-farmed, much like chickens, pigs, and cows are. Excuse the daylights out of me? Honeybees were, are, and will always remain wild animals. If not allowed to fly free, they die (of constipation, since they are immaculately tidy housekeepers and will not poop indoors) and dead bees are useless for pollination or honey or wax production. A certain amount of mechanization may be applied to beekeeping, mostly to do with lifting and transporting hive bodies, as well as honey extraction and processing, but in the end, the action happens one colony at a time, out in a field or bee yard with access to a spread of suitable flowering plants, and plenty of them.

Old beekeepers say that "a man who hates his bees will not keep them very long." In Biblical terms, ISTR reading that honey is one of the two foods produced in a surplus, so that eating it does not cut off a life. The other, of course, is milk. A colony of bees is a remarkably complex process, considering that it is a collection of brainless insects. It seems that there are several ganglia that share the processing load, and it further seems that distinguishing the one in the head as the "brain" is anthropomorphic hubris. Good smelling, hard-working (hence the surplus) insects, but insects just the same. Sprocket J Cogswell 13:13, 13 September 2009 (UTC)

I am now designing in my mind a modern bee honey factory farm, it's quite fiendish. ħumanUser talk:Human 22:19, 13 September 2009 (UTC)
No need to reinvent every single wheel along the way. Check the bee journals and you'll find a scheme for bar-coding workers. Scanner at the entrance and you've got them under control. Sprocket J Cogswell 23:21, 13 September 2009 (UTC)
A general comment: I get the idea in the case of vertebrates and certain invertebrates (some crustaceans and cephalopods), who have nociceptors (pain receptors) and highly developped central nervous systems, but insects seem to have neither and are not in the list of animals suspected to feel pain. The case for insect suffering is no better than the case for plant suffering. Plants actually display signs of resistance against predators, even communication in order to fight them off. Drawing a line between animals who do not possess discernible analogies to the human pain perception system and plants or mushrooms is completely arbitrary. There is no more ethical justification for not eating or exploiting insects than there is for eating or exploiting (such as eating their fruits or fruiting bodies) plants or mushrooms, not to mention that even if bees could feel pain or even suffer similarly to a human being, there is little reason to suggest that keeping them would cause them a lot of additional suffering. --84.151.220.115 (talk) 19:29, 18 September 2011 (UTC)
My grandfather is a beekeeper. Bees live the same in nature as they do in an artificial hive, but better because measures are taken to ward against disease, parasites, and starvation.--"Shut up, Brx." 19:35, 18 September 2011 (UTC)
Thanks for the clarification. Let me just emphasise that the phrasing in my last sentence was intentionally excessively cautious; ironic understatement. --84.151.220.115 (talk) 20:19, 18 September 2011 (UTC)

[edit] PETA and euthanasia

I don't think that section "No fur, no meat, but euthanasia is OK?" is fair. PETA long-time openly argues against no-kill shelters & pro open admission shelters[1], and I don't think that their point of view is particularly weird, the question what's better for animals in fact is not so easy (see w:No-kill shelter#Controversy). And most of the fuss about euthanasia was created by "PETA kills animals" program of w:Center for Consumer Freedom, sort of scary organisation by itself, funded by food & tobacco industry. Trycatch (talk) 01:31, 12 November 2010 (UTC)

That link to PETA seems to be them just trying to justify themselves. It's like most of their tactics, they'll take a single incident, strip it of context and present it as the norm. The records show that PETA kills a pretty high proportion of the animals that pass into its care, perhaps the majority. Scarlet A.pngmoral 01:42, 12 November 2010 (UTC)
Well, I googled more on the topic, and now I think you are right. They killed 2352 animals and adopted 8 in 2009 according to Gary Francione (I have no reason not to believe him), these numbers are just unbelievable. Trycatch (talk) 02:25, 12 November 2010 (UTC)
I find those a little on the high side and they may be leaving out a few extra things to artificially increase the "kill rate". The Bullshit! episode on the subject gave a better breakdown. Although I can't remember the exact figures off the top of my head, it was definitely over 50% of the total animals that passed through PETA's "care". Anyway, the point isn't whether or not they do this or the rates or even whether euthanasia is a better option but the fact that a) they call themselves a great animal rights group that protect animals at all cost and even against the concept of pets and medical testing on animals and b) if they didn't spaff their money to the ALF and related groups or on stupid-as-fuck publicity stunts like the "sea kittens" and Pet Shop Boys campaigns they wouldn't have to do this at all. Whether it's the right thing to do or the kindest thing to do, their public face and mission statement isn't really compatible with it. Scarlet A.pngmoral 09:24, 12 November 2010 (UTC)
Well, 50% would have been reasonable, this is near to the average US euthanasia rate, I think. PETA openly bashes no-kill shelters all the time as cruel to animals, and argues for traditional shelters with euthanasia. It's not a secret, and it's in line with PETA realistic and somewhat conformist approach. So I don't think that euthanasia contradicts with their public image. But >2000 of killed animals with 7-8 adopted? And numbers of openly lobbyist http://www.petakillsanimals.com/ seems to be true, there are underlying reports from the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services published on that site (the reports are authentic, abridged versions available via virginia.gov site, e.g. [2]). I.e. looks like PETA don't bother about adoption (or transfer of animals to shelters) at all, and simply kills all the animals surrendered to them. Trycatch (talk) 16:34, 12 November 2010 (UTC)
This is undeniably correct: all of the kill numbers are available on the VDACS site. While PETA does not hide that they support euthanasia, their numbers are, yes, through the roof: the highest in the nation. And they lie about the state of the animals that they kill - they insist that all are hopelessly ill and incurable. (petakillsanimals.com is not a good reference, but there are numerous others, including a recent piece in the New York Times.) SillyRabbit (talk) 02:12, 30 July 2013 (UTC)

[edit] Sea Kittens

If fish are sea kittens, what are catfish then? And what about dogfish? Are there swordkittens then? Also, what is it with PETA and targeting completely arbitrary things in lieu of actual protesting? I'm talking about petitioning name changes and what not. Things that don't really matter. 95.109.102.252 (talk) 17:42, 18 April 2011 (UTC)

Getting some media attention . . . that's pretty much it. WéáśéĺóíďWeaselly.jpgMethinks it is a Weasel 19:41, 18 April 2011 (UTC)
Jellykittens! Sounds tasty. --Orcinus (talk) 17:17, 8 June 2011 (UTC)

[edit] Oh baby oh baby oh baby

http://www.stylist.co.uk/resource/cache/binary/30ed543c390f8d9394dd3b07715ad0f9/615x330_New-York-Times-chicken.gif?m=1317392079

that is all 68.116.168.154 (talk) 10:36, 4 October 2011 (UTC)

[edit] Position on Michael Vick

I despise these guys, but this strikes me as one of the few areas where PETA is entirely rational and consistent. Yes, the group is mostly wacky and hypocritical, but even sane people who care about dogs recognize that Michael Vick truly is despicable. Is he the worst guy in the whole league? This doesn't really matter - fact is that when it comes to animal abuse, he's about as ugly as they get. If you want the nauseating details of precisely how he tortured dogs, this is a rigorous source: http://www.nathanwinograd.com/?p=1789 I've removed the Michael Vick section of the PETA article, because it undermines the legitimate critique of Newkirk's idiotic organization: their position on Vick is one of the few things they get right - when you're all about protecting animals, it's reasonable to condemn animal abusers. If you're looking for hypocrisy/irrationality with regard to Michael Vick, your focus should be on the Humane Society of the United States. There's a group that pretends to the same concerns as PETA, yet has decided to make Vick one of their official spokesmen (after his team - coincidentally - gave them a $50,000 donation). THAT's disturbing. SillyRabbit (talk) 02:40, 30 July 2013 (UTC)

[edit] PETA Commercials

The 2004 superbowl ad that they ran (the pizza delivery spoof) did at least run in some markets. I remember it and was wondering about it when I saw it. — Unsigned, by: 50.161.178.182 / talk / contribs

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