This weekend, the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) decided to take their battle against Canadian seal clubbing online.
“Making Azeroth their battleground,” the animal rights group encouraged World of Warcraft players to travel to the Howling Fjord region of WoW’s Whisperwind server in order to wage war against four leather-clad Horde players, who would be attempting to murder the region’s baby seal population with giant clubs.
While it’s hard to deny the allure of running around firing lightning bolts at virtual poachers, I can’t help but feel there are better things PETA could be doing with its more than $30 million in revenue.
PETA has always served as a methodological anomaly in the realm of liberal activism, preaching healthy social policy toward animals with one hand, while throwing buckets of red paint with the other. But is their biggest hypocrisy also their most sinister?
PETA was founded in 1980 by Ingrid Newkirk under the slogan, “Animals are not ours to eat, wear, experiment on, or use for entertainment,” and claims to be the largest animal-rights group in the world “with more than two million members and supporters” worldwide.
The organization largely focuses its attention on liberating animals from farms, laboratories, the clothing trade and the entertainment industry through public education, protest campaigns and animal rescue.
And then there’s what they don’t want you to know.
Ironically, PETA has come forth as a large proponent of euthanasia and puts down the majority of the animals surrendered to them.
According to Newsweek, PETA has killed more than 17,000 animals between 1998 and 2008, nearly 85 percent of all those it has rescued.
This compares to the ASPCA’s Adoption Center, which, in 2008, euthanized only 7 percent of the 3,500 animals they took in that year.
Some figures are even more staggering; PETA’s annual report to the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services indicates that, in 2008, the organization killed 95.8 percent of the 2,216 animals it received.
But hey, it did find loving homes for seven of them, while also finding the time to tell us what not to eat, wear, etc.
It appears controversy is PETA’s main priority as it funnels thousands of dollars that could be used to save abandoned animals to promote brand awareness. Earlier this year, the nonprofit paid for scantily-clad supermodels to prance around with steamed vegetables.
“Studies show … vegetarians have better sex,” the ad proclaims.
The “Veggie Love” commercial, originally designed to be shown during the Super Bowl, cost hundreds of dollars to produce, but was never aired for obvious reasons. In addition, the campaign featured nude partners of various sexual orientations posing romantically in public locations under the banner of “vegetarians make better lovers.”
While PETA still exists as a haven for vegetarians and animal-rights propaganda, the organization appears more interested in shock coverage and advertisement than actual results.
Why would they spend the extra money housing and feeding abandoned animals when they can pay for nude protests as part of a “vegetarians have better sex” campaign?
PETA brings more than $30 million a year from people who think they’re helping animals. Ask them where the money is really going.
Hal almost spilled his quarter-pound cheeseburger on his fur-lined keyboard when he wrote this article. Send him your thoughts at hscohen@asu.edu.
