PETA WATCH

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TIGER WOODS has threatened legal action against the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) if it pursues a plan to erect a billboard mocking his recent sex scandal.

The vegan lobby was planning to erect a billboard close to the golfer's Florida home that linked the golfers infidelity with its militant 'Spay or Neuter' campaign.

But after the golfing great threatened to sue the lobby it quickly backed down.

A PETA spokesperson confessed: 'In light of conversations we have had with Mr. Woods' attorneys, plans to run our billboard are on hold at this time.'

Pity you cannot sue for bad taste.

(via Lucy)

FLAMBOYANT American figure skater Johnny Weir, now best friends with Aussie media personality Eddy McGuire, says he has been unfairly targeted by militant pressure group PETA for wearing a pelt of white fox fur on his shoulder and leather skates.

But in defiance to the lobby Weir claims he won't be caving in to PETA's perpetual pontificating.

'I like fur and I like things that come from dead animals,' he said.

Weir believes he has been unfairly targeted by the lobby at the Vancouver Olympics because nearly all skaters are wearing leather skates.

In other FUR news, the Independent reports that the forthcoming New York Fashion Week will be awash with fur. Designers had better be on the watch for the inevitable red paint...

VULGAR vegan lobby People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) has labeled Australia's peak wool growing body Australian Wool Innovation (AWI) a 'maggot in the sheep farmers' backside' in a full page advertisement in Fairfax media's Farm Weekly newspaper.

In a move that seems to be an attempt to drive a wedge between Aussie wool growers and AWI, the ad which is titled The Future of Australian Wool Is in Your Hands makes the claim that 'AWI has wasted farmers' time and money by clinging to crude and inhumane mutilations. It has become a maggot in the sheep farmers' backside.'

'It is up to Australian sheep farmers to save their arses and the sheep's by taking the initiative to end cruel mulesing mutilations themselves.'

But Australian Wool Growers Association chair Martin Oppenheimer said he was surprised at PETA's latest attack against AWI and believes it will fail. He said the industry was working more closely with most animal welfare groups than in the past and was taking the issue seriously.

Hollywood beauties Catherine Zeta-Jones and Kate Hudson must be reaching for the prozac after being labelled 'worst dressed celebrities' in PETA's latest publicity-seeking stunt.

Zeta-Jones and Hudson unashamedly wear fur, with Zeta-Jones being singled out by the lobby for her 'fetish for wearing anything that once moved'.

That reminds us of PETA co-founder Ingrid Newkirk's prior confession that in her twenties "...I was eating my way through the animal kingdom, and what I didn't eat I wore."

Well if it was once good for the goose...

(via Lucy)

* PETA has paid yet another porn identity to feature in one of its tiresome campaigns. Sasha Gray joins other illustrious sex identities such as Heidi Fleiss and Jenna Jameson who have been paid by the 'charity' to front its campaigns. This one continues the group's efforts to lecture pet-owners to de-sex their pets.

* A pig race being conducted for the Australian Liver Foundation in a Brisbane, Australia pub has come under fire from PETA who has predictably branded it 'barbaric'. The event is being overseen however by the responsible animal welfare group RSPCA and the pub spokesperson Damian McGuire has assured the pigs will be more than well looked after.

* Another organization has caved to PETA pressure because of a mistaken belief that the radical group really cares about animals. The Neumann University Alumni Association says it will stop distributing discounted tickets to the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus in response to PETA’s latest protest. The alumni association was offering discounted admission to the February 27 show in Philadelphia.

* Your team at PETA WATCH is lazing around in burger-friendly San Diego. This town ain't vegan friendly folks.

Extremist vegan lobby People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) has claimed it is opening an office in Australia this year despite saying exactly the same thing last year.

Its current "office" runs from a suburban Adelaide home. It has other staff based in Manila.

The ABC network in Australia quotes PETA mouthpiece Jason Baker as saying the lobby will set up an office in Australia this year, but no details of its location and address have been supplied.

Baker says the lobby will 'pressure Australian industry and companies, but doesn't rule out targeting individual farmers'.

'When we write to a company, they know if they don't listen to PETA they're probably in for bigger troubles,' he claimed.

'That's why most companies do sit down with us and do talk to us.'

This site will keep you up to date on all PETA's tactics and tricks in Australia- if indeed the claim turns out to be true.

It seems the city of San Francisco isn't a huge fan of the violent vegan lobby People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA).

The team at PETA WATCH has spied some crabtastic seafood at the Fishermans Wharf precinct and despite the Californian recession hordes are tucking in to huge bowls of clam chowder and local fresh crabs with gusto.

The precinct also hosts an artisan baker who is famous for shaping its delicious sourdough into breads that look like crabs.

But when we got talking to the locals about PETA and its campaign to change the name "fish" to "sea kittens" the locals were broadly unimpressed.

"That won't catch on around here, no way", said a pragmatic fellow working at a store.

"What do I think of the idea? Its stupid. Who wouldn't think it was stupid? Fish are fish and crabs are crabs and that's that as far as I'm concerned."


"I love these crabs and I'm gonna be eating em' for as long as they're here", remarked a lady with her husband.

"PETA are nuts", said another worker through a laugh that suggested both disbelief and belief at the idea at the same time.

Looks like the locals will be enjoying their tasty bay-side offerings without guilt for a long time time yet!

And PETA Donors who payed for its campaign can see how effective it has actually been.

News just in from Canada:


26 January 2010

A PETA activist, unhappy with Canada's seal hunt, was arrested yesterday after striking Fisheries Minister Gail Shea in the face with a pie moments after she began speaking at an event in Burlington. Ms. Shea said she was shocked when she was hit by the tofu cream pie. She said she remains steadfast in her approval of the controversial seal hunt. "This just strengthens my resolve to support the seal hunt and Canadian sealers," Ms. Shea said. Sergeant Brian Carr, a spokesman with the Halton Regional Police, said New York resident Emily McCoy, 37, is charged with assault.


27 January 2010

An incident in which the federal fisheries minister was hit with a tofu cream pie by a PETA protester should be seen as a terrorist act, says a Liberal MP. Gerry Byrne made the comment to Newfoundland radio station VOCM after Gail Shea was hit in the face on Monday by an American animal-rights activist, unhappy with Canada's seal hunt.

29 January 2010

A People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) protester was on the receiving end of a pieing on Friday. Emily Lavender stood outside a hotel where Prime Minister Stephen Harper was slated to talk Friday before meeting with Newfoundland Premier Danny Williams. Dressed as a seal and protesting the hunt, Ms. Lavender was accosted by the dog mascot for Downhome Magazine who came up behind Lavender and pulled her around, tripping her in the process. Her seal head went flying and, as the dog mascot helped pull Lavender up, he pied her in the face and ran off down the street.

Some extracts from a recent NYT article:

...[B]efore we cede the entire moral penthouse to “committed vegetarians” and “strong ethical vegans,” we might consider that plants no more aspire to being stir-fried in a wok than a hog aspires to being peppercorn-studded in my Christmas clay pot.

The more that scientists learn about the complexity of plants — their keen sensitivity to the environment, the speed with which they react to changes in the environment, and the extraordinary number of tricks that plants will rally to fight off attackers and solicit help from afar — the more impressed researchers become, and the less easily we can dismiss plants as so much fiberfill backdrop, passive sunlight collectors on which deer, antelope and vegans can conveniently graze.

Plants:

-“forage” for resources like light and soil nutrients and “anticipate” rough spots and opportunities

-respond to touch, sight, hearing, speech, recognize different wavelengths of light, listen to chemical signals and "talk” through chemical signals.

-Cry for help. Some of the compounds that plants generate in response to insect mastication — their feedback, you might say — are volatile chemicals that serve as cries for help.

PETAWATCH ethical dietary tip for PETA supporters: try dead twigs and sticks.

This site will be reporting exclusively from the US over the next few weeks.

Stay tuned.

A KIWI couple in Texas who are facing animal cruelty charges have claimed that one of their employees - an undercover PETA worker - set them up by willfully neglecting animals.

New Zealand couple Jasen and Vanessa Shaw own US Global Exotics, a business based in Texas that was raided just prior to Christmas. Over 26,000 animals were seized.

The couple's lawyer Lance Evans has said one of the businesses 'snake carers' was PETA employee Howard Goldman who deliberately neglected animals to further his agenda as an undercover investigator for the group.

Mr. Goldman 'could have done more to provide food, water and care for the animals that he said were being mistreated' but instead 'secretly took photos, reported daily to PETA and never called authorities in the seven months that he worked for the business'.

He was more concerned about helping PETA achieve its goal of putting US Global out of business than helping animals he felt were in distress, said Mr. Evans.

While the company is fighting to regain custody of the animals seized it has been revealed PETA paid Mr. Goldman $135 for each day he turned in a report while working at the business.

A fellow employee of the business Paul Boiko told a court hearing most animals were fed and watered regularly and a veterinarian visited weekly.

(Via APBTA)

THE WHITE HOUSE has been angered by a sneaky move by the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) for using a picture of US first lady Michelle Obama in a campaign against fur without her consent.

The ad features model Tyra Banks, Oprah Winfrey, singer Carrie Underwood and Michelle Obama with the strap line 'Fur-Free and Fabulous!'

'We did not consent to it,' said Semonti Stephens, spokeswoman for the wife of US President Barack Obama.

She declined to comment further.

PETA mouthpiece Ingrid Newkirk told ABC news 'We haven't asked the White House to fund or promote the campaign, as they can’t do such things, but the fact is that Michelle Obama has issued a statement indicating that she doesn't wear fur, and the world should know that in PETA's eyes, that makes her pretty fabulous'.

So if I like chocolate, does that mean Hershey's can use me in a campaign munching on it without my permission?

Click here to see Oprah Winfrey's aversion to fur and here for Tyra Banks' thoughts on PETA's vegan agenda.

A Trappist monastery in a tiny town in Canada has been attacked by militant vegan lobby People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) for the cardinal sin of running a farm.

The Our Lady of Calvary Abbey based in Rogersville, New Brunswick raises chickens and cows on its property and was awarded 'Farm of the Year' in 2008 by the National Farmers Union.

But the animal rights group has loudly protested the operation and wants the farm to be shut down. The tiresome mantra that all 'factory farming' is 'inhumane' has been cried alongside the bizarre claim to 'stop denying god'.

The local president of the NFU Jean Eudes Chiasson however says the monk's animal husbandry practices should be commended.

'That farm has won awards and is certainly not any different than any other chicken farm in Atlantic Canada,' he said. 'I think the complaint is completely unfounded and that PETA chose to target them because of who they are'.

Monastery Abbot Bede Stockill has been forced to respond to the inevitable media coverage by assuring that the farming methods adhere to all government and veterinary approved guidelines.

The methods have not changed since they bagged the award in 2008, he said.

Virginian resident Lydia Netzer has told the Washington Post she has killed her cat after fearing the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) would take him instead.

Lydia Netzer, who unfortunately lives next door to PETA's Norfolk head office office, says she put 'Hoity' the cat down, after months of lectures from her neighbors about letting him outside.

In the end she feared PETA would take him.

“Every time a new intern moved in, they would come over and say they needed to talk to me about the dangers of cats living outside," said Ms Netzer.

"I would have this parade of pierced, tattooed vegans at my door.”

However Netzer says that her cat would go insane when she tried to keep him indoors but the lobby wouldn't listen.

Better she did it we suppose than PETA.

(original post here)

A recent attempt by a bunch of car racing fans to set a world-record for the largest group 'chicken dance' has met a killjoy hurdle: a letter by the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) sent to the Guinness World Records insisting the attempt be declared invalid.

Around 125,000 people gathered at the Talladega Superspeedway in Alabama on Sunday in an effort to beat the previous record set of 72,000 people in 1996. The dance involves the use of hands to form a chicken beak, arms to flap wings and hands and arms to make a tail feather.

But the attempt has turned sour after the vegan pressure group wrote to Guinness and demanded the attempt be rejected because the sponsor of the event was Kentucky Fried Chicken.

The letter read in part:

Dear Mr. Glenday,

On behalf of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) and our more than 2 million members and supporters worldwide, I am writing regarding the upcoming attempt by fast-food giant KFC to set the record for the largest group“chicken dance” at Talladega Superspeedway. In the past, Guinness has rightly stated that it will “not accept records based on the killing or harming of animals.”

"I urge you to go a step further and refuse to accept any records from companies that have refused to adopt even modest humane reforms that would reduce the needless suffering of animals killed for their fast-food restaurants."

In a win for common sense however Guinness calmly replied: "Recognizing a mass participation record for the most people doing the Chicken Dance is completely separate to any issue of animal cruelty".

(Original post including footage of the chicken dance here)

Best comment from original post: 'The Chicken Dance has nothing to do with animal cruelty. It is an affront to HUMAN dignity, and that is why it should be banned'.

A Connecticut based member of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) has spoken out about her despair after she realised the 'dream property' she was about to purchase was on a street named Roast Meat Hill Road.

PETA member Joan Hinchcliffe purchased the small farm several years ago in Killingworth Middlesex County but was horrified when she learned of the street's name.

"I considered not buying it," Hinchcliffe said. "But we wanted our horses, and it was an affordable farm, so here we are on Roast Meat Hill Road. I wish it was called Cucumber Hill."

The vegetarian to this day has still not come to terms with the street name.

"It goes beyond dislike; I despise it...I hate it to this day and try never to tell anyone where I live."

(Original post here)

Pressure group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) celebrated its 10th anniversary in India last week, against a backdrop of rising meat consumption in the country.

A self-congratulatory 'gala' event was held recently with a handful of Bollywood faces attending.

But amidst the vegan cheer and unhealthful sanctimony one fact appears to have slipped under the radar: the country's meat consumption has been rising for years.

According to a Dehli-based 'consumer profiler' as of 2007 meat consumption has been growing at about 4.8% pa, with poultry topping the list as consumer favorite.

If this trend continues, PETA India's 20th birthday could coincide with a meat consumption rise to nearly 10% pa.

A pastor at the Morningside Presbyterian Church in Iowa has slammed animal rights group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) for trying to grinch the Christmas spirit.

In a letter to the Sioux City Journal the killjoy group complained about the churches annual nativity scene that portrays Mary and Joseph alongside live sheep, llamas and donkeys.

Jennifer O'Connor from the lobby made the blanket claim that using animals in seasonal displays is 'stressful and frightening' for the animals and 'at odds with Christian values'.

But the Reverand John Pehrson from the Westminster Presbyterian Church has ridiculed the notion, saying that the animals are on display for a mere two hours and that no mistreatment takes place.

'Live animals are simply tied up there, and they're given hay to munch on,' he said. 'There's no mistreatment of animals taking place'.

The Pastor then curtly told the group to 'get over it'.

This site is going into 'leisurely mode' over the festive season.

Postings will be less frequent than usual.

A PETA subscriber has told this site that in the lead up to this years festive season the animal rights group's pleas for cash have been 'relentless'.

The subscriber has received seven separate emails within the space of a few weeks asking for money.

PETA has a donated annual budget of over US$30 million, which it uses in controversial ways to market the idea that all humans should be vegan.

Check out some of the questionable ways the group uses its donated cash.

Pop singer and PETA activist Pink is annoyed after sending lecturing letters to members of Britain's royal family and not receiving a reply.

The singer has lashed out at Prince William for ignoring her anger about his penchant for fox hunting and taken a swipe at the Queen for ignoring her demand to not use bearskin for her guards' hats.

The singer told Q magazine, 'I wrote to him (William) to protest about foxhunting and I figured he would be this stuffy, privileged a**hole. But he's like a redneck from the south....'

The singer was perplexed when the Queen declined to respond to another letter she sent.

'To be truthful I was really surprised I didn't get a reply to that one. I wasn't just writing in and complaining, and it certainly was not a publicity stunt. I actually proposed a plan. Stella McCartney had designed these replacement hats for the guards using fake fur. I felt we were solving the problem for her and offering a viable solution.'

Pink in the past has assumed a vocal role as animal husbandry specialist, only to back-track when supplied with actual facts on the issue at stake.

Vegan cult People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) has taken yet another swipe at Aussies by claiming Australia is cruel to its animals and that this cruelty 'takes many forms'.

The bizarre claim has been made against the backdrop of the recent filming of British reality show 'I'm a celebrity get me out of here' in Queensland.

The show had been taken to task by local animal welfare group RSPCA for killing a rat and creating a rodent 'risotto'.

Adding a gratuitous comment on the episode, the lobby hit out at Australia on its website by claiming "Australia dishes up cruelty to animals in many forms".

Naughty British TV Executives = Barbaric Australia.

FUR is making a huge comeback in the fashion stakes according to a columnist for The Guardian newspaper and PETA founder Ingrid Newkirk isn't happy about it.

'Fur has never been more popular', says a spokesman for Origin Assured, in the article.

'From 1998 to 2008 there has been year-on-year growth in global sales for fur. People now are more comfortable showing their love of fur'.

But militant PETA mouthpiece Ingrid Newkirk is angry and is now resorting to accosting women on the street if she sees them wearing fur.

'...I say: 'That's a beautiful fur. You'd look so much better without it. It makes you look cold-hearted,' she has said.

Newkirk has previously offered brain scans to high profile celebrities after spying them wearing fur.

'There is this thing called a 'mirror neuron' that allows you to empathize', a smiling Newkirk has said.

'In some people it's not developed, so I [have] said: 'If the result comes back and it's not developed, then it's not your fault that people loathe you'.'

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) has been classified as as a terrorist threat by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

The militant animal rights lobby is listed alongside groups such as the Earth Liberation Front (ELF) and Animal Liberation Front (ALF) in a recent document created by the USDA. The group is listed under the heading 'domestic special interest terrorists'.

The FBI also regards such groups as the The ALF as a domestic terrorist threat for a history of violence that include arson attacks against a range of businesses. PETA has in the past supplied cash to the organisation to help fund legal action.

PETA founder Ingrid Newkirk makes no apology for activists who break the law, claiming in the past that 'no movement for social change has ever succeeded without the militarism component'.

Regarding the ALF she has written: 'Thinkers may prepare revolutions, but bandits must carry them out.'

Despite this PETA continues to portray itself to the media and public as a fuzzy, compassionate organisation.

* ECORAZZI is reporting that PETA is beefing up its LA division to enable the group to have greater visibility in the Hollywood scene. The self-described 'press sluts' will move 40 employees from it’s Norfolk, Virginia Headquarters to LA to cozy up to as many celebrity puppets and media outlets as possible.

* PETA is demanding that the Georgia Bulldogs football team replace its recently deceased bulldog mascot for a robot. The group has '... asked the school's athletic director, Damon M Evans, to replace the mascot with an animatronic dog - or to rely solely on a costumed mascot....' 'Bulldogs are prone to breathing difficulties, hip dysplasia, heart disorders, and other congenital ailments, and acquiring a dog from a breeder perpetuates the animal overpopulation crisis...' the lobby claimed.

* Controversial Lucas County Dog Warden Tom Skeldon has resigned after coming under fire for
presiding over a shelter with a high animal kill rate and low adoption rate. Unsurprisingly PETA applauded his efforts, noticing a synergy with his shelter and their own slaughter house that has killed over 20,000 animals to date. Skeldon had also been widely criticized for his affirmative position on breed specific legislation.

* A nearly nude PETA staffer shivered on a Kansas street last week while promoting veganism. One on-looker, environmentalist Jessica Willard was dismissive: 'I believe there has to be balance in life,' she said. 'We eat animals. It is how we were designed. We did not evolve as vegetarians. We cannot function as a species without meat and products from animals. It is essential for our survival'.

Manipulative vegan lobby People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) has created outrage for hiring a playboy model to stand naked with a crucifix in an ad.

The advertisement features Joanna Krupa wearing nothing but a crucifix and a seductive smile in a campaign designed to promote the adoption of pets from rescue shelters.

'It's totally inappropriate,' said Deal Hudson, publisher of InsideCatholic.com, an online magazine.

'It's another instance of disrespect toward Christianity and another example of the kind of abuse that would never occur with any other major religion, because the outcry would be so immediate and so loud that the people behind it would immediately retreat.'

Catholic League President Bill Donohue was equally appalled:

'The fact is that cats and dogs are a lot safer in pet stores than they are in the hands of PETA employees,' he said. "Moreover, pet stores don't rip off Christian iconography and engage in cheap irreligious claims.'

The lobby is renowned for deliberately creating controversy in an attempt to acquire media coverage. The tactic routinely works with many media outlets devoting columns to its activities.

Eva Mendes is continuing as a PETA mouthpiece in a rehashed campaign against fur.

The actress is not entirely fur-adverse - as this previously published picture shows - and still eats some animal products.

As Australia's outback continues to be ravaged by an explosion in the feral camel population, animal rights lobby People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) has weighed into the control debate claiming the looming necessary cull is 'inexcusable'.

Camels were introduced into Australia in the 1840's and there are now over a million feral camels at large.

The animals kill native flora and fauna and in their quest for water damage remote community supplies and underground sewers.

The small town of Docker River, which will be carrying out a cull to stop the damage shortly, has seen camels butting water tanks, approaching houses and knocking down fences at the local airport runway. Carcasses of camels killed in stampedes at water holes have contaminated the town's water supply.

'This is a very critical situation...it's very unusual and it needs urgent action," said chief executive of Macdonnell Shire council, Graham Taylor.

But the move has drawn bizarre criticism from the militant pressure group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA).

A spokeswoman for the group told the Guardian newspaper that the 'trigger-happy response from Australian authorities [was] inexcusable", and stressed alternative measures were available.

"There are humane solutions to every problem, and authorities just need to be compassionate enough to employ them," she claimed.

"There's no question that shooting thousands of wild animals is going to lead to terror and massive suffering. It's human action which has led to this problem because people introduced camels to this environment – it's not the camels' fault and they shouldn't pay a fatal price for human failures."

This site waits with great anticipation for PETA to announce the alleged 'humane alternatives' to the problem alongside seeing a portion of its US$30 million annual budget to assist in implementing them.

Pictured here is PETA member Dani Lugosi successfully converting Sydney construction blokes to veganism.