Posted by Tim, Oklahoma City on March 13, 2009:

Yes, I believe PETA is another crazy wacko organization. If people do not believe they are nuts; maybe this will be hilarious enough for them. Try this new idea from PETA: calling all fish "sea kittens" so we will not eat them. The presumption being that you would not eat a cute "kitten". It seems to be geared towards brainwashing children.

Posted by Patty in OR on March 13, 2009:

I'm liberal, as are most of my friends, and we are all anti-PETA and HSUS, while supporting local organizations that help animals, including spaying and neutering. I consider the classification of liberals as being pro PETA or HSUS a cheap shot. Not the ones that I know. The most proactive person I know in helping animals all over the world through personal international contacts with animal shelter workers is strongly liberal and extremely anti HSUS and PETA.

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For those who don't know, HSUS is the Humane Society of the United States, which is not to be confused with your local Humane Society. Wikipedia has more info. -rc

Posted by brigitte, rhode island on March 14, 2009:

I'm so glad you are speaking out against PETA! They ARE evil! I have to disagree with you on this point: "Some of what they do is great, like promoting spay and neuter programs which has dramatically cut down on the "need" to kill off "excess" dogs and cats." While promoting spay/neuter is a valuable cause, introducing and pushing MANDATORY spay/neuter programs is WRONG. They don't work; shelter populations and euthanasia rates increase dramatically after such ordinances are introduced. Ethical breeders are being punished for caring about their breeds, and breed with small gene pools are facing extinction. And let's not forget HSUS and their dozens of affiliated organizations: see ActivistCash for an eye-opener!

Oh, and PETA and their ilk want you to calls yourselves pet "guardians" (and we're so sensitive and it seems like a "gentle" way of being) so that they can introduce legislation that would basically strip you of all your rights and make pets wards of the state, as they recently did in Oklahoma. As someone else already pointed out: they want us to become vegans and have no rights to own animals of any kind!

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Don't read more into my words than is there (and there is already plenty!) I said that "promoting" spay/neuter clinics is a good thing. That's a FAR cry from supporting them as mandatory. If PETA has progressed from "promotion" to only advocating mandatory altering, then indeed they have crossed the line. -rc

Posted by Judith, Charleston, SC on March 14, 2009:

PeTA closed down the egg production at Mepkin Abbey recently by harassing the monks, screaming and yelling outside the abbey until they could not pursue their quiet lives. The egg production provided more than 60% of their livelihood and had for about 60 years.

The irony of this piece of idiocy is that within 10 miles of the abbey, including one across the road, there are 3 'hunt clubs' that hold canned hunts. Something that is truly horrendous and SHOULD be stopped. (But this is in the very rural south so you can just imagine trying to even make people realize what a travesty this is.)

I guess it was just easier to harass people who would meet you with silence or soft words and a prayer than those would meet you at the gate with shotguns.

Posted by Seven, Australia on March 15, 2009:

I have been asking PETA some questions also. One in particular about the cruel and wasteful shark fin industry and what was PETA doing about it. The reply; "I am out of the office right now..."

I have been blocked from PETA's facebook page because I have been asking similar questions. I was told that "It's not that Peta doesn't want to hear your oppositional opinion but it's that I personally don't like the confrontational manner in which you're doing it". And "No-one is forcing Peta down your throat so perhaps reciprocate this gesture".

When I responded and asked about PETA targetting school children leaving school property I was not given a reply.

If a group is on the up and up and has nothing to hide, why does PETA avoid so many questions and use distraction techniques?

I hope many people wake up to what PETA is really about.

Posted by Roberta, California on March 15, 2009:

I am sorry to say that seem to have missed the opportunity to read the original article on which this story is based, as it no longer appears to be on the Roanoke-Chowan News-Herald site.

I did read with interest your exchange with both Thomas from Pennsylvania and Daphna Nachminovitch of PETA. I was only able to skim the PKA site, as it is rather extensive.

I have noticed that in several places there is mention of the euthanasia being conducted in the back of the pick-up van. Is there any conclusive evidence that this is the case? Could the animals have been euthanized at some facility which did not have the means to dispose of the bodies?

While it is heavily implied, do we know for a fact that the animals being dumped are the ones which had been picked up from the North Carolina animal shelters? Identification of animals from the shelters should be fairly easy if they were only released earlier that day. I didn't see any sitings from the article saying that the animals had been identified.

I am also a little concerned about the method of euthanasia. You quoted the article's reference to a dog's autopsy: "The autopsy did reveal a puncture wound on the dog's front right paw. It is not known if that wound is consistent with a mark left by the insertion of a needle." Was the chemical that is used to euthanize animals present in the dog's system? The PKA site mentions walk-in freezers full of dead animals. Could these animals being thrown into dumpsters be the ones from the freezers? Conversely, could these animals have been frozen to death?

I do find it odd that the PETA workers chose to illegally dump the animal bodies into a supermarket dumpster. Where I live, you can bring a dead animal to the animal control shelter, where it will be cremated or buried in a mass burial. This alternative seems both more legal and more respectful to the dead animals.

I will not pretend to know PETA's agenda, nor do I support them in any way. I have my own, personal reasons for intensely disliking them, but I was raised by a family of lawyers, and I feel I need to have all my facts straight.

Thank you for bringing responsible animal care back into the minds of your readers, and thank you for making us all think a little harder about the organizations we support.

Posted by Gina, Georgia on March 15, 2009:

THREE different Dalmatian rescues tried to get Toby and Anna away from PETA but they refused and told the rescue groups that the Dalmatians were very adoptable. How do I know? Because I am one of those that called.

They killed the dogs, cats, kittens, all healthy and wanted. I saw the photos of the Dalmatians pulled from the dumpster and the black plastic bags pulled away from their dead bodes. These sweet Dalmatians were among several VERY placeable pets.

These were taken from press releases, etc.:

Dalmatian at protest over PETA killing Dalmations:
http://www.petakillsanimals.com/pressRelease_detail.cfm?id=129

PETA trial is over:
http://www.petakillsanimals.com/Trial_Day10.cfm

Hinkle and Cook "acted out of love for animals" and "had no criminal intent."

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Yep: as noted in that last link, the two PETA employees featured in the story were let off after PETA's attorneys argued that the animals "had no value" -- the felony charges of Obtaining Property By False Pretenses covers people who deceive in order to take possession of "money, goods, property, services, or other thing of value" doesn't apply because pets have "no value". Yes, that's PETA making that argument. Mind boggling, isn't it? Again, why would anyone who wants to protect animals be so stupid as to contribute a penny to PETA? -rc

Posted by Chris New York City on March 21, 2009:

I am an animal lover, and although I find this digusting by nature, I can only retain my faith in Peta being against the negative treatment of animals and believe there is a larger picture. Maybe it has to do with getting the animals out of the shelters and putting them to sleep so they don't suffer in cages where they might be mistreated? People are generally moronic and breed puppies to make a few hundrend, or a movie like 101 dalmatians is released and a bunch of bratty little kids bitch and moan until they get one, and then there are all of a sudden 600 extra dalmatians in shelters. That is just one of my thoughts. euthanasia by drug induced coma for only a minute or two VS suffering in a cold sterile cage with no loving hands to make the dog's life a happy one. I hate seeing animals suffer in cages or hostile unhappy environments. I hate seeing strays. As much as i love animals, maybe this is what Peta is doing, and although I could never do it and wouldn't have the heart to witness it, maybe it IS for the best. (If that is in fact the case) This is all speculation, of course, but seems like a sensible answer when Peta has been around for so long and are the epitome of what standing up for animals IS.

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You're rationalizing. READ what actually happened here. There is absolutely no excuse for their actions. They KILLED animals that had no medical problems that were destined for good, loving homes. They killed them with NO attempt to place them in those homes. How can you excuse such actions? If you love animals, I don't see how you can. Open your eyes and read. Open your mind and absorb. PETA's own records condemn them. End of story. -rc

Posted by William, Amarillo, TX on March 27, 2009:

If, as someone stated in a previous comment, PETA members believe that animals have all the rights of humans, those who killed the dogs and disposed of their bodies in dumpsters should be liable for prosecution for murder.

Posted by Erin, Jacksonville, FL on April 10, 2009:

They say meat is murder, but murder is also murder.

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The former might be a matter of opinion; the latter definitely isn't. -rc