Animal Rights or Terrorism?

[missmacabre]

PETA President Ingrid Newkirk's Will

2. While the final decision as to the use of my body remains with PETA, I make the following suggested directions:

a. That the “meat” of my body, or a portion thereof, be used for a human barbecue, to remind the world that the meat of a corpse is all flesh, regardless of whether it comes from a human being or another animal, and that flesh foods are not needed;

b. That my skin, or a portion thereof, be removed and made into leather products, such as purses, to remind the world that human skin and the skin of other animals is the same and that neither is “fabric” nor needed, and that some skin be tacked up outside the Indian Leather Fair each year to serve as a reminder of the government’s need to abate the suffering of Indian bullocks who, after a life of extreme and involuntary servitude, as I have seen firsthand, are exported all over the world in this form;

c. That in remembrance of the elephant-foot umbrella stands and tiger rugs I saw, as a child, offered for sale by merchants at Connaught Place in Delhi, my feet be removed and umbrella stands or other ornamentation be made from them, as a reminder of the depravity of killing innocent animals, such as elephants, in order that we might use their body parts for household items and decorations;

d. That one of my eyes be removed, mounted, and delivered to the administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency as a reminder that PETA will continue to be watching the agency until it stops poisoning and torturing animals in useless and cruel experiments; that the other is to be used as PETA sees fit;

e. That my pointing finger be delivered to Kenneth Feld, owner of Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus, or to a circus museum to stand as the “Greatest Accusation on Earth” on behalf of the countless elephants, lions, tigers, bears, and other animals who have been kidnapped from their families and removed from their homelands in India, Thailand, Africa, and South America and deprived of all that is natural and pleasant to them, abused, and forced into involuntary servitude for the sake of cheap entertainment;

f. That my liver be vacuum-packed and shipped, in whole or in part, to France, to there be used in a public appeal to persuade shoppers not to support the vile practice of force-feeding geese and ducks for foie gras;

g. That one of my ears be removed, mounted, and sent to the Canadian Parliament to assist them in hearing, for the first time perhaps, the screams of the seals, bears, raccoons, foxes, and minks bludgeoned, trapped, and sometimes skinned alive for their pelts; that the other ear be removed, preserved, and displayed outside the Deonar abattoir in Mumbai to remind all who do business there that the screams of the cattle who are slaughtered within its walls are heard around the world;

h. That one of my thumbs be removed, mounted upwards on a plaque, and sent to the person or institution that, in the year of my death or thereabouts, PETA decides has done the most to promote alternatives to the use and abuse of animals in any area of their exploitation;

i. That one of my thumbs be mounted in a downward position and sent to the person or institution that, in the year of my death or thereabouts, has gone against the changing tide of societal opinion and frightened and hurt animals in some egregious manner;

j. That a little part of my heart be buried near the racetrack at Hockenheim, preferably near the Ferrari pits, where Michael Shumacher raced in and won the German Grand Prix;

k. That anything else be done with my body that PETA believes will serve to draw attention to and so abate the plight of exploited animals.

I am all for animal rights but PETA has been giving sane people like myself a bad name. I'm officially sick of it. Ingrid Newkirk's will is pushing it, bordering on terrorism. Might be the fact that I currently have the flu, but reading this made me sick. I understand that that is the point, that when we think of human flesh being used to make purses we feel ill, but we are okay wearing a leather jacket. This is still disgusting, and I think this woman should be hospitalized immediately.

What do you think?

[scouse mac]

Im all for animal rights and I completely understand how easy it can be to become irrationally passionate about the subject.

This will is certainly extreme but I wouldnt say its bordering terrorism. I actually think her idea is quite clever as it will get alot of publicity and create alot of discussion.

Back in the day I was an active Animal Aid member and although i calmed right down, when student ideals were swallowed up by the reality of everyday life, I still have alot of sympathy for people who work endlessly for the rights of animals.

You're right about how the message is relayed though. Ramming opinion down peoples throats is no way to get things changed and certain extreme members of groups like PETA need to learn this.

[Elvis_Christ]

I wouldn't worry about people who are a bit more extreme in their views making the right thing to do seem wrong.

PETA really come across as dicks a lot of the time and really make a joke of the decision(s) people make not to eat meat or use animal products.

"Terrorism" is such redundent term, guess I must be one too because I'd rather speak out/take action to change shit that I think is fucked up about the world than do nothing.

The selfishness of this world makes me fucking puke and eating meat is a big part of that. But yeh people go about things the wrong way and achieve nothing... change nothing... so this cesspool is going to burn in a fire fueled by intolerance, apathy and ingnorance.

[Papillon Noir]

PETA is evil. They do not practice what they preach at all. They kill a significant amount of animals instead of providing homes for them. Last year they only found homes for 7 pets out 2,216. There are several websites about this, http://www.petakillsanimals.com is one. Penn & Teller's Bullshit show also did a segment about the evils of PETA.

[milktoaste]

Originally Posted by Papillon Noir

PETA is evil. They do not practice what they preach at all. They kill a significant amount of animals instead of providing homes for them. Last year they only found homes for 7 pets out 2,216. There are several websites about this, http://www.petakillsanimals.com is one. Penn & Teller's Bullshit show also did a segment about the evils of PETA.

I was hoping someone had already brought that up.

I say go ahead and make furniture out of that lady-who cares? It's not like she's an endangered species.

[Elvis_Christ]

Most animals put in shelters get put down... those places don't often have happy endings.

[milktoaste]

Originally Posted by Elvis_Christ

Most animals put in shelters get put down... those places don't often have happy endings.

Not 7 pets out 2,216 often.

[Rayne]

I notice she didn't mention her brain...She appears to have already lost that...

[Elvis_Christ]

Originally Posted by milktoaste

Not 7 pets out 2,216 often.

What type of animal? Over how long of period? Not many people get into having farm animals as pets.

[Papillon Noir]

Originally Posted by milktoaste

Not 7 pets out 2,216 often.

Yeah, that's not even 1%. SPCA has a much smaller budget and the amount of homes that they find animals for is much, much larger. I mean just seven pets out of the whole year with all the money PETA has? That's just crazy.

This is from the Center for Consumer Freedom website http://www.consumerfreedom.com/news_...headline/3166:

We Spell Hypocrisy P-E-T-A

Sometime today, two employees of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) are expected to turn themselves over to Southampton, VA police to face charges of grand and petty larceny. Earlier this week, Carrie Beth Edwards and Andrea Florence Benoit, riding in a PETA-owned van, allegedly snatched a hunting dog from the side of the road. A witness alerted a local animal control officer who stopped the van and forced the two to hand over the kidnapped canine. The dog's radio tracking collar had been removed and thrown into the street. That collar, plus what a police detective described as "markings on the side of [the dog] indicating that it belonged to a specific person," clearly showed that it was not a stray in need of a home, but a hunting hound set roaming the countryside -- a practice that's perfectly legal in Southampton County.

Given PETA's well-documented habit of killing the animals it takes in, the captured pooch would likely have met the business end of a euthanizing needle in no time flat if law enforcement hadn't intervened. Between 1998 and 2005, the very group that claims to advocate for animals' "rights" killed over 14,400 dogs, cats, and other "companion animals." Since they only took in about 17,800 animals, that amounts to a death rate of about 80 percent -- nearly three times higher than that of the Norfolk (VA) SPCA, located less than 4 miles from PETA's headquarters.

These new legal troubles couldn't have come at a worse time for PETA. On November 13, two other employees of the Virginia-based animal rights group will (finally) be tried on 22 felony counts of Animal Cruelty and 3 counts of Obtaining Property By False Pretenses. In June 2005, PETA workers Andrew Cook and Adria Hinkle were arrested in Ahoskie, North Carolina after police observed them throwing bags filled with dead dogs and cats into a trash dumpster. As witnesses from the Bertie County (NC) Animal Shelter and the Ahoskie Animal Hospital later confirmed, Cook and Hinkle had collected the animals earlier that day with the promise that PETA would find them adoptive homes.