PETA does get attention when they pull these stunts.
Why they continue to promote themselves as deranged extremists doesn't make a lot of sense to me. There isn't a lot of evidence that the organization is controlled by clueless idiots, (not to be confused with the clueless idiots who fund them with donations) so why do they insist on creating and then stepping into the wacko animal rights stereotype?
update On a less serious note - Wizbang is reminding us to commemorate Eat An Animal For Peta Day
Maybe it's designed to keep their fringe supporters entertained and contributing. Or, perhaps PETA serves as a distraction designed to divert the media and public from their more insidious agendas and infiltration of animal welfare organizations - such as the Humane Society of the United States, the Toronto Humane Society, and others.
The media and general public seem able to recognize these ludicrous campaigns for what they are. What they don't seem to notice is the bread and butter animal welfare issues are being distorted for political purposes. Today, the pet overpopulation problem is now largely myth. Some shelters have a shortage of adoptable dogs - and have been importing them from other countries.
"Animal shelters in the USA are casting a wide net - from Puerto Rico to as far as Taiwan - to fill kennels," reported USA Today. "Critics say many shelters have solved the stray problem in their own area - but rather than shut down, they become de facto pet stores. Some charge more than $200 per adoption for imported dogs."
Animal rights is not about population control and cruelty prevention. They believe that the ownership of pets is akin to slavery and should be eliminated. Their lobbists target dog breeders through proposed local and national legislation ike the HSUS sponsored "Puppy Protection Act".
Activist veterinarians have been working on the media and journalists, more often than not, misrepresenting the state of genetic health of purebreds (and inadvertantly spawning a lucrative market in "designer mutts").
The veterinary colleges have been infiltrated by the AR politic, graduating students who are hostile to dog breeders, largely disinterested in farm animal practice, and who have been indoctrinated against "medically unnecessary" cosmetic surgeries like tail docking and ear cropping - and evangelicly supportive of medically unnecessary spay and castration of healthy pets.
First the came for the seal hunters, then they came for the fur ranchers....
Today, they come for our pets.
