I love animals, I believe they have rights and are not to be exploited, I am vegetarian myself, and I can occasionally become sligthly fanatic with issues to do with conserving wildlife,
But support PETA? - No. Plain and simple.
My Reason - I think PETA's values are right, but it is a failure as an organisation. PETA has their priorities wrong. Vegetarianism shouldn't come first. Protecting wildlife from poachers should coem first. Stopping the pet trade in illegal species should come first. Both of these issues are almost completely neglected by PETA.
On the zoo front, I think PETA's got their facts wrong again. I am a big fan of the San Deigo, Singapore and Johannesbrug Zoos, but the one zoo I really respect is the UWEC, or Ugandan Wildlife Education Center. It has only African animals, and not a single Elephant, leopard, hippo, giraffe or zebra, but all the animals there were either given homes better than their previous ones, or rescued, or bred in captivity. The carnivores and dangerous herbivores like buffalo and bushpig have GIGANTIC exhibits. The herbivores like Vervet Monkeys, antelope and Ankola Cattle move freely around the zoo, separated from the guests by a knee-high mud barrier. And it's thanks to the UWEC that a segment of the rainforest nearby was prtected, where De Brazza Monkey, Serval, Hornbills and Colobos Monkey live.
Lots of zoos have breeding programs, lots of them educate the public, zoos are tools for conservation.
I might be vegetarian, but I dont go around beating people up to stop eating meat. I LOVE milk and dont see how it harms the cattle.
Also, on the dogs and cats front, WHAT does PETA plan to do with all the dogs? I mean, they don't want them running around the streets, but they dont want them in caring homes either! You can't possibly finish an entire worldwide population of dogs by sterilizing them- PETA would have to KILL dogs to get rid of them. What would you want if you were a dog - A loving home with food, shelter and enjoyment, or DEATH!
There are 3 PETA India campaigns, however, which I strongly support.
1) Anti-Circus Campaign - Circuses should NEVER have animals perfroming. It isn't entertainment. It's torture. An undercover investigation proved that the elephants standing on their hind legs are trained using electric shockers on their feet, and big cats jump through hoops after being starved for days. Many seals and dogs recently died in the Russian Circus at Bombay.
2) Anti-Mumbai Zoo - The local zoo at Mumbai is what you'd call the real Prison. The animals live in cramped, unhygenic conditions, with inadequate food and water, illnessess rampant, shelters few and no enrichment for the animals. The last time I visited it was four years ago, but it hasn't changed much. The crocodiles used to walk around hopelessly searching for water to escape the heat of the sun while they lived in a temporary ditch as their exhibit was renovated. The peafowl are cramped in one concrete-type exhibit. The elephants were once held steady by iron weights tied to their legs, until they were recently given a slightly better exhibit. The most recent disaster took place with eleven Blackbuck, an endangered species, dying, though the reason is still unkown. There is enough evidence to declare that due to bad fencing, dogs entered tehir exhibit, chased them around causing them to panic, and led to them facing severe shock and injuries. Some gazelles also died and were injured due to construction taking place alongside their exhibit, allowing them no privacy and too much noise-caused stress. The monkeys are tormented as people tease them.
3) Anti-Madari - Madari is the Indian word for a person who captures a bear or monkey, attaches a hook thorugh its nose, forces it to walk on bruning tar roads, tugs the hook to make it howl and leap in pain, which people call 'singing' and 'dancing'. This is a cruel torture and PETA has relocated many if the animals faced by this.
So, since I support 3 of their many campaigns, I'll give it a No. But I much prefer organisations like WWF and other Wildlife Conservation orgs, plus SPCA also.
africanwilddog, while I neither agree nor disagree with your comments, please don't post such long comments. The MODs and Admins have to read every SINGLE post on the Forums, and really long ones are hard for us. Thanks.
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