[yorkiesmiles]

Since I learned of Oprah's show on puppymill's, I have been reading some of the msgs on her board. I came across this article posted and have since found it online. I thought I would post it here.

I thought it was interesting, given that the guy from the Humane Society played such a key interview role from the audience on Oprah's show. I just didn't understand why he didn't push things further. The Editorial below sheds some light - it's actually a bit overwhelming to read. It's long - I'll have to post it in 2 posts.


This article will first appear in the March, 2007 issue (Volume V Issue 2) of the Rocky Mountain Wrinkle, the newsletter of the Centennial Chinese Shar-Pei Club, Inc. Any reference to this article must give full credit to Rocky Mountain Wrinkle, and the Centennial Chinese Shar-Pei Club, Inc.
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Do You Know the Real PETA and Humane Society of the United States?

An Editorial by Alice Fix

You will not often see negative articles in our newsletters, but every now and again we are forced to make a stand, and to speak out about what we know is for the better good for all involved. This is one such instance. We can no longer stand back and watch to see what will happen. I think that it is past time to publicly expose the real agenda of the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) and their cohorts in crime, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), and the animal rights agenda.

For many years we have all enjoyed the companionship of our dogs and other animals. We have been busy playing with them, taking care of them, finding fun things that we could do with them, and generally just having a great time with all the animals that live in our houses. While we have been enjoying the love and fun that our animals provide to us, there have been groups out there organizing on a grand scale trying to get our rights to own those animals taken away. Yes, that is exactly what I meant. Make no mistake about it. These people have organized on a large scale to infiltrate many major city councils and governments in the country to spread their propaganda. Their agenda is easily defined and simple. Their main objective is to take away your right to own animals. They do not want you to have the companionship of any animal, whether that is a dog, cat, horse, mouse, frog, fish or any other animal that you can think of. They are pooling their resources to get this accomplished, and have millions of dollars in there war chest for this effort.

This is a statement made by Ingrid Newkirk, the President of PETA: "I don't use the word 'pet.' I think its speciesist language. I prefer 'companion animal.' For one thing, we would no longer allow breeding. People could not create different breeds. There would be no pet shops. If people had companion animals in their homes, those animals would have to be refugees from the animal shelters and the streets. You would have a protective relationship with them just as you would with an orphaned child. But as the surplus of cats and dogs (artificially engineered by centuries of forced breeding) declined, eventually companion animals would be phased out, and we would return to a more symbiotic relationship - enjoyment at a distance."? The Harper's Forum Book, Jack Hitt, ed., 1989, p.223.

It is interesting that Ms. Newkirk used the word "speciesist". Allwords.com defines that word as follows: 1. The discrimination against, and exploitation of, animals by humans in the belief

that humans are superior to all other species of animals and can therefore justify

putting them to their own use.

One of the animal rights mantras is that all animals are created to be equal to all humans, and should have the same rights as humans.

Just in case it still isn't clear to you what their agenda is, here are a few more quotes from Ingrid Newkirk:

"One day, we would like an end to pet shops and the breeding of animals. [Dogs] would pursue their natural lives in the wild ... they would have full lives, not wasting at home for someone to come home in the evening and pet them and then sit there and watch TV."?

- The Chicago Daily Herald, 3/1/90

"In the end, I think it would be lovely if we stopped this whole notion of pets altogether." Newsday, 2/21/88

Who is Ingrid Newkirk, and why should we care what she has to say about anything? In the 1970s, Newkirk worked for Montgomery County (Maryland), and then for the District of Columbia, as an animal protection officer and deputy sheriff, before becoming DC's first female Poundmaster in 1978. She co-founded PETA in 1980 with established animal-rights activist Alex Pacheco. (1) PETA stands for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, but in my opinion, there is nothing ethical in what they do.

Ms. Newkirk has very close ties with several groups identified by the FBI as known terrorists groups, such as Animal Liberation Front (ALF). The animal rights groups are very well organized, and when you check closely, you will see many of the same names sitting on the boards of these radical groups. They are intertwined and closely linked through their finances, and the work that they do.

PETA operates on an annual budget of $ 29,000,000. Most of this is from donations made by ordinary citizens that don't know the real work of PETA. Many people think that they are out to save the lives of animals after seeing all of their ads on TV and in the newspapers. That is why millions are donated to them each year.

In Virginia, the home state of PETA, in 2004, PETA adopted out 361 animals, and euthanized 2,278, according to their records. (2) Those figures aren't good. That means that they euthanized 86.3% of their animals and only adopted out 13.7%. These figures come directly from PETA's Annual Report and from their 2004 Tax Return. It doesn't seem like they used that $29 million for the betterment of the majority of the animals that they came in contact with. So where is the money going? It is being spent for publicity to raise more money for one thing. It is also being used for legislative purposes. They have placed key people in city governments all over the country to try to influence legislation to take your pet ownership rights away. And they are having a lot of success with it.

You need to understand the basic difference between the "animal welfare"? groups and "animal rights"? groups. Although the names might sound like they have the same objectives, there is a big difference. Animal welfare groups are working to see that all animals are treated humanely. Animal rights groups are working to see that all ownership of animals comes to an end.

As I said, PETA has close ties with many other organizations. One of those organizations is the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS). People donate millions to the HSUS each year, thinking that their money is going to save the lives of millions of animals. Nothing could be further from the truth. The HSUS does not own a single animal shelter anywhere in the country. Although many shelters have the words Humane Society in their names, they are not associated in any way with the HSUS. The HSUS does not sponsor any spay or neuter clinic anywhere in the country. They do donate a very small percent of the annual budget to a few local humane societies, around $2 million annually, which just happens to be less than the amount that they spend in travel each year. Their major money is sent on fund raising and legislative activity. In 2005 they spent $28 million for public mailings, $6 million in vegan education, $10 million in legislative campaigns and litigation. Their income for that year was close to $125 million.

The HSUS was founded in 1954 as an animal welfare organization. But in the early 1980's, just about the same time as PETA was founded, they began to change to an animal rights organization. In the 1990's the personnel began to change to better fit with their new purpose, and today many of the personnel at HSUS have ties to PETA, including the current President, Wayne Pacelle.

This is an interested quote from Wayne Pacelle: "We have no ethical obligation to preserve the different breeds of livestock produced through selective breeding ...One generation and out. We have no problems with the extinction of domestic animals. They are creations of human selective breeding."? - Animal People News (May 1, 1993) (3) When you combine other statements that he has made, with the above statement, in my opinion the meaning of this statement is that if we could spay and neuter all animals, we could eliminate pet ownership within one generation. "One generation and out"? would mean to me that they are gone and are eliminated in only one generation.

Quietly sitting back and maybe not being aware, we are now allowing the HSUS to make presentations at our local schools, with the definite purpose to education our children about how bad pet ownership is, to indoctrinate children to the thought that animals should be free and not kept as pets. They are doing this in the same way that they have infiltrated city councils and local governments all across the country, quietly and matter-of-factly.

"Shortly after taking office, Pacelle announced a merger with the Fund For Animals which have assets of over $20 million, and the Doris Day Animal League. The combined group estimated its 2005 budget at "political organization,"? which will "allow for a more substantial investment of resources in political and lobbying activities."? (4)

So that is where we find ourselves today. With the HSUS and PETA combined annual budgets of over $124 million for political and lobbying efforts to take away our rights to own animals. And that figure does not include the many splinter organizations that have been formed from these two major organizations. We are in an uphill battle now, and it will be the fight of our lives to keep our rights to own pets.