PETA Kills 84% of the Animals Brought to their Virginia Center, Within 24 Hours

PETA, the acronym for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, bills itself as an "animal rights" organization. Founded in 1980 by Ingrid Newkirk, a former animal shelter worker and deputy sheriff, PETA is now an international group of purportedly 6.5 million members that has appointed itself the voice of animals who can't speak for themselves.

But with a voice like PETA speaking for you, you're better off mute.

The fact is PETA kills animals. They have killed tens of thousands of them. They claim to have reasons. They claim their shelter in Norfolk, Virginia, takes in the animals no one else wants. But the numbers make PETA's reasons hard to believe. And for an organization that claims to "speak for" the animals to give up on so many of them points to a voice that is badly broken, if not entirely repulsive.

What are the numbers?

PETA has killed 33,514 animals since 1998, according to a 2014 report by the Center for Consumer Freedom (CCF). They have certainly killed thousands more since then. PETA killed so many of the animals that came to its shelter in Norfolk that the CCF formally petitioned the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (VDACS) in 2008 to designate the place a slaughterhouse. PETA was euthanizing nearly every pet taken to it for adoption. Their record on this score has not changed. In a 2015 article in The Washington Times, the kill rate at PETA's Norfolk, Virginia facility was noted at 88 percent.

The State of Virginia requires and records of the disposition of animals at shelters, or we might not know any of this. In a 2010 inspection, VDACS found that 84 percent of the animals brought in to the PETA shelter were killed - within 24 hours. In some years, PETA's kill rate was higher than 90 percent. By contrast, other animal shelters in Virginia had kill rates of less than 50 percent.

Unsurprisingly, PETA performs pitifully in securing adoptions for animals. In 2014, PETA only found homes for 1.5 percent of the dogs and cats brought in. PETA has euthanized pets without giving owners a chance to find them and without taking any action to attempt to find the owners.

These statistics may seem puzzling regarding an "animal rights" organization, but the cause is actually quite simple.

PETA believes animals, even pets, are better off dead than with a human. The root belief of the organization is that there should exist zero connection between human beings and any other sort of animal.

On PETA's website, a lengthy discussion of 'pets' (quotation marks by PETA) begins with the statement that "we believe that it would have been in the animals' best interests if the institution of "pet keeping" - i.e., breeding animals to be kept and regarded as "pets" - never existed." They go on to claim that "This selfish desire to possess animals and receive love from them causes immeasurable suffering."

Though PETA claims on their website that it's a "myth" that PETA wants to confiscate and set free well cared-for pets, it is just as clear their end goal all the same is to end all pet ownership. (It is also true that their workers have, in fact, stolen animals from private property and then euthanized them.)

In a 1998 article in the St. Petersburg Times, founder and leader Newkirk stated her vision of the future of 'companion animals:'

"If people had companion animals in their homes, those animals would have to be refugees from the animal shelters and 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."

According to PETA, there should be no connection or contact of any sort between humans and animals. In a comment to a reporter from The Atlantic, PETA spokesman Amanda Schinke told him, "euthanasia is a product of love for animals who have no one to love them...a painless release from a world in which they were abused and unwanted." But it is clear from PETA's pitiful adoption rate that they would rather kill the animal than try to find it a loving home. On their website, PETA derides the idea there could exist a "good" home for any pet (quotation marks theirs).

The organization is so committed to breaking the human/animal bond that they don't even want wild animals re-introduced to the wild, in large part because this would necessitate at least some time the wild animal would be in contact with a human being. With no apparent awareness of their absurdity, they also note the trauma that might be caused to the animals already living in nature by the reintroduction of once-native predators. These animals, PETA says, "suddenly find themselves being stalked and attacked."

For an organization that touts the value of animals being free and free to follow their basic instincts, PETA shows remarkably little understanding of how animals behave in the wild. News flash: they eat each other.

But undoubtedly the most disturbing aspect of PETA is its current infiltration into local and even federal legislation. With 2018 revenues of over $56 million, PETA spends much of it on public campaigns and lobbying, though they decline to cite on their website exactly how much of their money goes toward trying to affect legislation. Nevertheless, the effect of their efforts is clearly visible. In cities across the country, laws get proposed that limit pet ownership and restrict many reasonable interactions between people and animals.

Here in Santa Monica, when the City Council wanted to do something about the hucksters on the pier using snakes and birds to entice tourists to pay for photos, PETA inserted themselves to advocate for an overly broad law that did far more than protect the "wild animals" on the pier from exploitation. Now no owner of a pet other than a dog or a cat can bring their animal to any public park, not even for sun and fresh air. This law is absurd and deprives owners of non-traditional pets access to the same amenities enjoyed by other pet-owners.

In reality, PETA knows that so-called exotic pets, called that for precisely the reason that a minority of people keep them, are the low-hanging fruit. Most people don't keep them, so most people won't be too upset or care if these pets get restricted.

But they're moving for your cat or dog next. And they don't care if it's dead or alive.