PETA is neither kind nor gentle

By: David Martosko
Newspaper: Tallahassee Democrat

The modern animal rights movement parted ways with the warm and fuzzy kitten huggers years ago. And with its long history of supporting animal-rights violence, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) is the poster child for what's wrong with the movement.

In 2001, PETA actually wrote a check to the Earth Liberation Front, the arson-happy ecoterrorists who frequently torch SUVs and construction sites. During the 1990s, PETA donated $70,000 to a convicted arsonist who burned down a research lab at Michigan State University - a crime in which PETA's president was also implicated by a U.S. attorney. In 1989 PETA gave $7,500 to a woman who pleaded guilty to the attempted murder of a medical-research executive. PETA even has a "fact sheet" praising the terrorist Animal Liberation Front as an "army of the kind."

During one recent animal rights convention, PETA's vegetarian campaign director proudly boasted that "blowing stuff up and smashing windows" is "a great way to bring about animal liberation ... Hallelujah to the people who are willing to do it."

If this is "kinder" and "gentler," I need a new dictionary.