As many as 340,000 cows and steers have been left stranded by southeastern Colorado's most recent snowstorm, and National Guard units are helping ranchers in a frantic bid to save the freezing animals. Faced with 15-foot snowdrifts, rescuers are airlifting bales of hay and hoping for the best. But as Coloradans are learning, the wealthy People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) isn't about to lift a finger. Not forthose animals -- the ones destined to be flame-broiled, grilled, or roasted. Appearing on Denver radio station KRFX yesterday morning, Colorado Governor Bill Owens spoke for all of us. PETA, he declared, are "a bunch of losers" [click to listen] and "frauds" [click to listen].

The dustup started when KRFX morning hosts Rick Lewis and Michael Floorwax (yes, that's his real name) called PETA to ask if the group would help feed and rescue the snowbound herds. PETA spokeswoman Reannon Peterson took the call, and bluntly replied: "You're going to save them, and then in six months they're going to be killed and end up on someone's plate. So I don't know that it's really the most noble cause." [click to listen].

Peterson added that wild animals caught in the blizzard's wake -- the same animals PETA routinely criticizes hunters for bagging -- also weren't worth spending PETA's money to save. "It's an act of God," she said. "There's really nothing to be done" [click to listen].

Enter Governor Owens. In addition to labeling PETA "losers" and "frauds," he expressed amazement that "PETA doesn't want us to feed freezing cattle" [click to listen] and stated that "it's symbolic of what PETA stands for" [click to listen]. Finally, Owens declared that PETA is "a strange group of people. Don't send money to PETA" [click to listen]. Asked a few hours later by KRFX sister-station KOA-AM to reiterate his position on PETA, he put it plainly: "What a bunch of losers. Don't give your money to PETA." [click to listen].

We couldn't agree more. As we're telling the media today, the Colorado snowstorm is exactly the kind of emergency that should send PETA into action. But PETA -- whose president publicly wished for a foot-and-mouth epidemic in 2001 -- has a stubborn anti-meat bias. To this group of tofu-devouring loonies, seeing the livelihood of cattle ranchers evaporate is a cheap thrill. This may also be the reason why the vegetarian-oriented Humane Society of the United States isn't spending any of the $145 million it raised last year on Colorado helicopter rentals and hay bales.

To listen to the entire phone call with PETA, click here. Governor Owens' entire interview is also available, thanks to KRFX radio.