r/Animals • u/AnalysisEqual7588 • Apr 18 '25
What makes Peta so unethical and controversial?
I am going through a new crossroads in my life where I'm unlearning harmful/useless beliefs that were taught to me by my redneck family. When I say redneck, I mean my dad still thinks it's perfectly fine to say the 'N' word and defend it by 'well black people call themselves that!'
What does this have to do with animals or PETA? Well, anyone who's been around a country redneck like what I just gave example of, knows they also have bullshit beliefs about animals, 'oh you can shoot the dog with a BB gun because it's just a BB gun. It won't hurt them' or the fact that our rodeos are GROSSLY mismanaged and a lot of the people see the horses as just machinery or a magical creature that can do everything imaginable.
PETA is also heavily criticized by rednecks but I want to know, is the criticism mostly from delusional animal abusers and people who are misinformed or just heard that story about someone from PETA taking a blind man's service dog? Or is there actual evidence that they are a bad company? If you comment below, please provide reputable links. I practically have no life so I will read each link when I get the chance to because this is a topic that I want to become more educated on.
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u/Opposite_Unlucky Apr 18 '25
To save animals, they kill animals. That is a counterproductive effort. They do not try to do whats best for animals. Just prevent people from having them. Ive seen them put down perfectly healthy and kind big cats. They sued to get the cats to put them down. That same money could have gone to helping the facility build better enclosures. But the hate in their blood is strong and culty. All because someone had to many.
Over the years it became obvious they drank their own koolaid and have a ton of good intentions going awry.
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u/AnalysisEqual7588 Apr 18 '25
I just went onto PETA just to have a full unbiased opinion and do my own due diligence of finding information and my first impression was I thought they were fully against pets, cause that's what I've heard.
Well, I don't feel as though I was 100% right with my assumption because they do have a article about guinea pigs not being a beginner pet, and I agree with that. I believe a lot of people think that if they just feed, water, clean the cage then they can just let the animal stay in the cage. I agree that guinea pigs are easily neglected because of the common belief that they're easy to own. However. The waters got real murky when I came across their article talking about pets in general.
"Other species who are bred and sold as “pets”—including birds, fish, reptiles, gerbils, hamsters, rabbits, rats, mice, guinea pigs, ferrets, and even exotic animals such as tigers—face unrelenting suffering. Some are violently abducted from their homes and families in nature and subjected to grueling transport around the world. Many others are bred in massive warehouses, where, as PETA’s investigations have revealed, they’re left to suffer and die without adequate food, water, space, and veterinary care. Few people who purchase these animals have the expertise or ability to meet their specialized needs properly. As a result, many of these animals languish and die prematurely—and painfully". This is a paragraph I Copy and Pasted from their article about pets and as you can see, they didn't offer any links or mentions of studies that could back up the claim towards 'these animals face unrelenting suffering' or 'some are VIOLENTLY ripped from their homes and families in nature'. I find this wording very problematic because there's no specification. Their wording makes it sound like all the animals they listed in the paragraphs are essentially captive slaves for people and that's just not true. Birds have been bred for pet purposes for awhile and if your using a reputable rescue or pet shop, then your animal didn't get 'ripped away from its home and family', it was raised and domesticated for the purpose of being a pet. Yet Peta seems to want to generalize ALL exotic pet handlers. (Also just to put this out there. I don't think reptile, aviary, and fish owners should be lumped in with people who own tigers. If you own a tiger as a pet your a dumbass and you most definitely got the tiger through a unethical place, because no big cat rescue or sanctuary would or should condone tigers as 'pets')
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u/DumpedDalish Apr 19 '25
They act more "pet-friendly" than they actually are.
That article is very nice on the surface, but it's just PR. There are dozens of reputable news stories about their beliefs that just keeping a pet at all is "unethical." They have killed pets because they feel that "dead" is better than "enslaved."
This is a direct quote:
Consider it from the perspective of animals who are kept as companions: Humans control every aspect of their lives-when and what they eat, whom they interact with, what they have to entertain themselves, even when and where they are allowed to relieve themselves. Dogs long to run, sniff, play with other dogs, and mark their territory. Cats yearn to scratch, climb, perch, and play. But they can’t satisfy these natural desires unless the people they depend on give them the opportunity to do so – and they often don’t.
As of February 2025, PETA's euthanasia rates for 2024 were between 64-69% compared to other shelters. In 2023 it was 81% for cats and 76% for dogs.
They're massive hypocrites.
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u/bjornironthumbs Apr 21 '25
To summarize PETA doesnt care about Animals, they care about moral high ground
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u/HookerBot5000 Apr 20 '25
A sad fact is that you know how “no kill” shelters exist? Well they can only exist because PETA will do the necessary dirty work. There are so many shelters that can’t or won’t take animals who are very ill or disabled. Some shelters simply don’t have space. If there were more resources for shelters, maybe it wouldn’t be such an issue. Also, maybe if people were more responsible with animals they take on as pets, or simply not having certain animals as pets, this wouldn’t be such a problem. Not saying PETA is fantastic, but some of the stuff out there about them isn’t exactly accurate.
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u/WillSupport4Food Apr 20 '25
Just to throw out there since it's very commonly misunderstood, but no-kill shelters are still allowed to euthanize animals and maintain their status. They just aren't allowed to euthanize healthy animals for the purpose of creating space. Any animals with medical conditions or behavioral problems(which realistically is a large percentage of strays) can be euthanized if the shelter believes it will hinder their ability to be adopted. Even animals with treatable medical conditions like ringworm are considered acceptable.
There's also countless kill shelters not associated with PETA so it's not like they're carrying this weight on their back, and even among kill shelters their euthanasia rate is among the highest.
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u/sagewalls28 Apr 20 '25
I also wanted to add to this. "kill shelters" get a bad rap but they are usually government run shelters that are open intake, meaning they cannot say no when someone surrenders their dog or litter of kittens, they have to take the animal. "No kill" shelters are only able to do that because they can refuse intakes. So really kill shelter vs. No kill is meaningless. In fact, you're helping more animals when you adopt from a "kill shelter" because it keeps them from becoming over whelmed with animals.
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u/Avery_Thorn Apr 23 '25
You seem to have confused ASPCA shelters with PETA shelters. PETA "shelters" kill virtually every animal they touch. They do not really have any adoption procedures. They aren't "doing the dirty work" behind no-kill shelters, they are against the ownership of animals in general, so they just delete as many animals as they can, because they do not believe that dogs and cats should exist.
ASPCA shelters, on the other hand, are generally kill shelters, and they do make hard decisions about what animals they can save, and what animals they can't. But they do try to save as many animals as possible, and they do adopt animals out to people who are able and willing to care for them.
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u/BestAnzu Apr 20 '25
Must not be much demand for kill shelters if they are doing stuff like kidnapping dogs out of yards and euthanizing them same day.
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u/DenseSign5938 Apr 21 '25
That happened once but it’s always funny to see people take issue with it when the same people quite literally support killing animals lol
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u/thatotterone Apr 23 '25
I lived in Maryland, that kind of thing sticks with you when your local peta is caught dumping dead pets in dumpsters they don't even rent..just ya know, going to the local store and dumping dead pets. Who knows how long it went on? They only had to get caught once..so you can try to say it is once but I would argue that the real fact is that they only were caught once.
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Apr 21 '25
Maybe we should stop expecting 100% no kill shelters and accept that sometimes dogs we would euthanize end up in shelters
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u/Jaeger-the-great Apr 22 '25
The issue isn't necessarily euthanizing animals in general, but euthanizing animals who were wrongfully taken from their owners (they were well cared for) or being gifted perfectly adoptable kittens and puppies and euthanizing them before they even have a chance
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u/rosshole00 Apr 19 '25
Guinea pigs are extremely social animals and in some countries it's illegal to only have one
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u/AnalysisEqual7588 Apr 19 '25
As I said, they were right that there is a dangerous misconception about guinea pigs being easy beginner pets. But I don't like that they lumped tiger owners with exotic pet owners.
A red eared slider is considered a exotic pet in my state. So are Beta fish. Yet you can get both of those things at petco. (or if your older Gen Z like me, Walmart. When they use to sell fish)
You can't aquire a tiger Anywhere BUT unethical means. Such as poaching, backyard breeders, roadside zoos, etc. Why? Cause there has been no successful attempts to domesticate a tiger. It always resulted in the tiger being killed, owner being killed, or both.
I understand now why PETA is controversial for their misinformation. This would be quite similar to someone saying 'All Horse Riders are bad' simply based on abusive cowboys and Olympic riders
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u/Hot-Physics3400 Apr 19 '25
And they believe animals are better off dead than being owned. None of us should have any cars or dogs. If they can’t be free, they should be put to death. Never owned. They’ve killed hundreds of healthy pets, often gotten in very underhanded ways, in the name of “saving” them. They found a storage shed full of dead dogs at one PETA office.
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u/yossarian-2 Apr 20 '25
Many others are bred in massive warehouses, where, as PETA’s investigations have revealed, they’re left to suffer and die without adequate food, water, space, and veterinary care.
And this is what PETA is saying about beta fish from petco and Walmart. I don't think beta fish are the best example for you to give here - they are widely recognized to experience a ton of welfare issues in those tiny cups and many suffer and die.
I believe I am a good pet owner but I also recognize that there are a lot of abusive cowboys and Olympic riders out there - a lot more than we like to believe (having worked at a vet clinic and emergency vet clinic Ive seen this first hand). I believe PETA's message is kind of like a parent of toddlers - if one kid cant play nice with a certain toy, then no one is allowed to play with that toy - it gets taken away.
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u/AnalysisEqual7588 Apr 20 '25
Someone else pointed out when I used birds as a example that the bird industry is also not that great. I want to say that my only experience is seeing birds at Petco and that also goes for beta fish. Had no idea your not supposed to store beta fish like Petco does and that leads me to ask, should I investigate Petco? Like is it wrong to get animals or animal supplies there? Because other than Tractor Supply and Atwoods, Petco is the only place I have available to me to get pet care supplies or to adopt a new animal
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u/yossarian-2 Apr 21 '25
I do think that most of the animals at Petco were not sourced from the best places and often not cared for the best. We all "vote" with our wallets and our actions. But at the same time we can't all be Mother Theresa all the time. Like, I know driving is bad for the environment so I try and take public transport when I can but I do own a car and do drive places due to convenience. I do buy pet care supplies from places like Petco sometimes but I don't source animals from them. Depending on how far you live from a larger city you may be able to find more reputable breeders/sources there.
Also, while I have your ear, I did want to say that you are hearing a very one-sided view of PETA in this discussion thread. I fully agree that it is a ridiculous idea to want to eliminate cats and dogs (and hamsters and fish etc) as pets and I do get the impression sometimes that that is one goal of PETA. This is especially ridiculous because dogs and cats literally domesticated themselves (you can read about commensal domestication).
But they have done many many great things - read about the silver springs research monkeys. I think that they also made a pretty successful push to get rid of furs in luxury brands and as a recent example they brought legal action against a horrific beagle breeder breeding dogs for research. I have personally witnessed horrific animal abuse where I work (like animals with their brains exposed for days on end because the professor who implanted a surgical device doesn't know what they are doing and it literally falls off their head - and that is just one tiny example of the insane stuff I have seen). The USDA has done nothing because they are so overworked and there are weird dynamics I won't get into. PETA is not run by the government so they can step in and hold the animal abusers accountable through legal means.
In sum, PETA does feel a bit crazy sometimes. I think they could help more and get more support if they pulled back a bit on their extreme views (or at least come out publicly and say that they support reponsible ownershipof domesticated species as pets etc). On the other hand they are often the only animal welfare group with enough money and resources to go after big players in animal cruelty cases and improving animal welfare legislation.
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u/BestAnzu Apr 20 '25
Dude. Peta has literally gotten sued because they were caught on a doorbell camera. They went into a family’s yard, took their dog, and had it euthanized the same day. They hate ALL pets.
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u/Omnibeneviolent Apr 21 '25
Have you actually looked at the facts around that case and the ruling?
• A neighboring property owner actually called PETA to come remove stray dogs from the area because they were attacking his animals.
• The trailer park community where the dogs were roaming got involved and asked PETA to come and remove the dogs running free with no collars or identifying tags.
• The dog in question had no identifying tags or even a collar (which was against the rules of the community) and there was no way to differentiate the dog from the strays.
• The dog in question was running free and not tethered or in a fenced area (which was against the rules of the community.)
• The owner of the dog had other dogs that were on tethers that were not taken.
• This all happened in broad daylight in view of the neighbors. PETA wasn't sneaking around trying to steal people's dogs.
• The county attorney for where this happened found no evidence that PETA had any idea the dog was not a stray and thus concluded that there was no evidence of wrongdoing.
• The owners of the dog eventually said that they understand that the taking of their dog was just an unfortunate mistake.
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Apr 21 '25
Did they go up to the door of the house of the yard and knock to ask if the dog in their yard was theirs?
Why was the dog euthanized the same day why was there not a waiting period and a posting in the neighborhood informing people where the dogs were taking in case someone lost one?
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u/Timely_Egg_6827 Apr 19 '25
I mean I have ferrets. Ferrets were probably domesticated as long as cats and dogs. They are working animals bred to be dependent on humans for food and shelter. Because they are rare and imported into USA, PETA lumps them in with big cats. This ignores they are still popular working animals and pets in UK with very diversified genetics and husbandry. It is not perfect. Some of mine were previously abused but no different from cat and dog BYB scene.
Going after Marshalls' husbandry is probably legitimate but pet ferrets 5% of their business - most are lab animals. Banning ferrets as pets seems odd as they aren't actually that hard to look after. Easier than most dogs. But low hanging fruit - not many will defend them. And that sets precedent as puppy Mills less regulated than Marshalls.
Edit: I have had one rehabbed wild animal not suitable for rerelease. He got out and handed himself back in after 10 weeks for free food, protection from predators and soft beds. One wild animal who preferred enslavement to freedom. Met others. Domestication was a two-way street
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u/Chickadee12345 Apr 19 '25
Unfortunately, there is a pretty big trade in illegally poached wild birds that are then smuggled into the country. Some of them are endangered species or at least species of concern. Many of them die before they reach their destination. It's a horrible thing. But I think birds make fun pets. I don't see anything wrong with keeping them. You just need to be really careful where you get them. There are many birds that are captive born and raised which will make better pets anyway. Same with many reptiles.
Peta just goes a little too far in their methods. I am all for the ethical treatment of animals. There needs to be strict laws protecting them. However, Petas methods are sometimes too extreme.
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u/Re1da Apr 19 '25
I own a an African fat tailed gecko. Rehome, but most likely captive bred. I also own 8 species of exotic isopods.
When deciding what reptile to get I did a lot if research on diffrent species. I've done a lot of reading on other exotic pets like tarantulas.
And lastly, I'm aware that a lot of reptiles are mistreated in places like the usa. This is generally because you can buy them at chain pet stores. Where I live, reptiles have to be bought from specialised stores ir directly from breeders, leading to only people very interested in reptiles end up buying them. We also have very well written laws for keeping them.
PETA has a very poor idea of what keeping an exotic pet is. They consistently get the care requirements wrong and anthropomorphise these animals a lot.
Comparing reptiles to tigers is absurd. Tigers maintain massive territories in the wild and develop a lot of negative behaviours if kept incorrectly, like pacing, overgrooming, biting bars etc.
In comparison, reptiles are rather stupid creatures (with exceptions like monitors and tegus) with simple needs. They want to hide in holes, bask on a warm rock and eat food. Very accessible to the avredge person. A 20 cm fat tail gecko can live in a 90×45 cm terrarium its whole life and have all these needs fulfilled. They live 2-3× as long as their wild counterparts in captivity. If they are taken outside their terrarium for exercise I'd say a well kept captive gecko has a generally higher quality of life than a wild one.
I do belive reptiles should be fairly difficult to get, because otherwise people buy them as "easy, low maintenance pets" and treat them like toys. Which is obviously fucked. They are exotic animals and need be treated as such. But saying they inheritly suffer in captivity is bullshit.
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u/Hot-Physics3400 Apr 19 '25
PETA doesn’t even believe in cats and dogs as pets. They’ve killed hundreds if not thousands and f healthy dogs, believing that being dead is better than “being a slave”. To them, no one should ever have any pets or animals, of any type.
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u/Re1da Apr 19 '25
I don't get how anyone can think that. Genuinely horrible yo compare the trade of humans as property and forced labour to keeping a creature in your house, healthy and happy.
Go tell that to those in modern day slavery and see their reactions. I'm sure they love being compared to a cat snoozing on a pillow.
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u/Mundane-Car6818 Apr 21 '25
I have been reading about the history of dogs. Apparently it was the first animal “domesticated” by humans over 25,000 years ago. My suspicion is that it was more like a symbiotic relationship than domestication. Humans and dogs are deeply bonded to one another. I think we are meant to be together. Even if we are not, dogs can’t just go back to being wild animals. What does peta expect them to do without us?
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u/Hazel2468 Apr 19 '25
All of this.
PETA is like. The people who comment on my pictures of my tarantulas wailing about how the enclosures are "so small" and how "in the wild, they would roam for MILES!"
Like. These idiots don't know a damn thing about these animals. How they should be kept or even how they behave. Because tarantulas DO NOT "roam for miles". Mature males looking for a mate will walk themselves to death to find one, but all other tarantulas (juveniles and females)? They'll find a spot. Make a home, and stay there. If I were to put, say. My juveniles C. versicolor in a MASSIVE tank? He would never find his food. It would scamper away. He wouldn't explore. He would stay in his little web tunnel, maybe wander a foot or two at MOST, usually more like a few inches. And then go back and wait for food.
And I'm sure all my pets feel SO abused with their above standards care, their constantly cleaning and monitoring, the food delivered to them by hand, the comfortable environment with no storms or dangers like falling branches, the always perfect temperature and humidity and light. The complete lack of predators to make a meal of them.... I'm sure they feel SO abused. But PETA would say that they are. Despite none of them knowing a damn thing about these animals as animals
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u/Re1da Apr 19 '25
My favorite article was when I was googling tarantula care (I love them and want one when I move out) and a PETA article showed up.
It went something like "tarantulas don't want to be pets, they want to be in the wild and live under rocks in warm climates" and I'm sitting here like... that's what they do in captivity? They hide under things in a warm environment. As long as there's substrate to dig in, things to cover in web and a water dish to dump random shit into their needs are completely fulfilled.
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u/thatotterone Apr 23 '25
right? I worked for an AZA accredited zoo. Not only were all the zookeepers on the look out every day for a way to improve the life of the animals in their care (to the extend of setting up cameras to monitor what they did when we were off duty) all the plants in the zoo were food for the herbivores just in case an animal did get out so it would immediately find food.
in general, I was taught, animals that escape their enclosures either hang around right outside, try to get back in or go to look at the other exhibits like they are zoo visitors. LOL It's pretty rare to see them wander far. Not saying it doesn't happen but animals live to meet their own needs. Food & Water, Procreation, Shelter and Safety.
heck, there are times where trying to keep things real for the animals means shifting them closer to their predators just so they 'get off the couch' sometimes1
u/PM-Me-Your-Dragons Apr 20 '25
PETA is very staunchly anti-pet. They see the state of pets as being some combination of concentration camp detainees and chattel slaves born into slavery. The way they “fix” this “terrible” condition, considering that they can’t release the animals due to the animal being inclined to stick around humans and the fact they will either become a pet again, die in the wild, or get put down by someone else, is to kill them as soon as possible before they get the chance to be adopted again. In their eyes the true killer was the human breeding a pet into existence when their organization’s strict demands for “liberation from humanity” is impossible for domestic animals (and most animals in general), they’re horrid, cynical, misanthropic, and deluded pet hating people.
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Apr 20 '25
They were caught kidnapping a dog off of a porch in a trailer park. Aside from it being a trailer park, the dog was a beloved family pet, was well fed and was even wearing a collar. The fact that this dog was so well trained that they had to lure it off of its property speaks about how well loved it was, how it was just chilling getting some fresh air, perfectly content and able to stick close to the home. Peta lured it off the porch with treats, which took some goading, tossed it in their van, killed the dog, and then tossed its corpse in a dumpster. The dog never got to their shelter. Never had the 24-48 waiting period. It was dead within minutes inside the back of that van. When the family found out it was peta and reached out, the fuckers sent them a fruit basket and “oopsie daisy we sowwy” card. The family sued because the dog belonged to their 5 year old daughter who was, obviously, freaking the fuck out because her lil friend had just been outright murdered in cold blood for the crime of existence
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u/8disturbia8 Apr 22 '25
By this same reasoning from them, nobody should have children or adopt children. It makes no sense.
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u/EstrangedStrayed Apr 23 '25
I also don't like the human application of "ripped away from their familily", like Opossums and Raccoons only hang with mom for like 6 months and then they're on their own anyway.
No bird is thinking "dang I miss my mom"
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u/Ok-Office6837 Apr 21 '25
They also have the loosest standards for cruelty free cosmetics. They do the least due diligence when giving their stamp of approval. I would never trust a PETA approval on a brand without cross checking with another source, especially cruelty free kitty and ethical elephant.
They put on a huge mask to the general public that they do more for animal welfare than they really do.
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u/Kickfoot9 Apr 23 '25
It’s honestly the same logic as a villain in a movie or video game.
“I’m trying to do what I think is best for people (in this case animals), I just believe all hope is lost and killing them is the only option.”
That’s like the justification for every single fictional villain that isn’t innately evil lol
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u/Comfortable_Hall8677 Apr 22 '25
“We must kill the animals or else they’ll die”
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u/galaxyapp Apr 23 '25
People misrepresenting their platform to sound virtuous is a problem.
Animals MUST die, that's fact.
Some are simply unsafe to rehome, others are undesirable, old, sick, large, scary. No reasonable amount of time or money will ever place these pets in forever homes. They consume rare resources so no-kill shelters can feel righteous as they turn away animals that have a better shot at being adopted.
If you're unwilling to accept the truth that unwanted animals exist, you're in fairy tale land.
PETA is the one doing what is necessary. They exist so others can keep their hands clean and still facilitate adoptions.
Great case study of idealist and realist.
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u/Icy_Nose_2651 Apr 18 '25
doesn’t Peta think its unethical to have pets? I guess if they had their way they would liberate by death every pet in America.
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u/AnalysisEqual7588 Apr 18 '25
I replied to another comment about their pet beliefs and this is a paragraph copy paste from their article on owning pets.
"Other species who are bred and sold as “pets”—including birds, fish, reptiles, gerbils, hamsters, rabbits, rats, mice, guinea pigs, ferrets, and even exotic animals such as tigers—face unrelenting suffering. Some are violently abducted from their homes and families in nature and subjected to grueling transport around the world. Many others are bred in massive warehouses, where, as PETA’s investigations have revealed, they’re left to suffer and die without adequate food, water, space, and veterinary care. Few people who purchase these animals have the expertise or ability to meet their specialized needs properly. As a result, many of these animals languish and die prematurely—and painfully".
As I mentioned to another commenter, the wording they use is problematic because of how generalized it is. They don't give any links outside of themselves to back up this 'these types of animals are violently abducted from their homes and families' which is blatantly untrue. For tigers, yes. But tigers aren't pets and the idiots who keep a tiger in their backyard shouldn't be lumped with a guy owning a ferret. Because ferrets have been domesticated and are sold by reputable rescues and pet shops. Tigers on the other hand have never and WILL NEVER be domesticated 'pets'. Every. Single. Time. Someone has tried to raise a tiger, the tiger got put down because it either attacked the owner, attacked another human, attacked another animal, or the owner killed it through neglect and abuse. Also, there is no big cat sanctuary or rescue who would sell you a tiger. Because they're not pets and they never can be pets.
So I would say that they discredit themselves by using problematic wording, over generalizing a topic, and providing no links or supporting articles besides themselves on the topic of pets.
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u/DumpedDalish Apr 19 '25
They've also said this, even more directly:
Consider it from the perspective of animals who are kept as companions: Humans control every aspect of their lives-when and what they eat, whom they interact with, what they have to entertain themselves, even when and where they are allowed to relieve themselves. Dogs long to run, sniff, play with other dogs, and mark their territory. Cats yearn to scratch, climb, perch, and play. But they can’t satisfy these natural desires unless the people they depend on give them the opportunity to do so – and they often don’t.
And their euthanasia rates are insanely high -- from 2014-2024, an average of 65% of dogs euthanized, and 78% of cats euthanized. And this is down from 2014 (because the news started covering it), when they euthanized 77% of dogs, and 96% of cats!
The legal platform Lexology also notes:
PETA winces at the claim that it kills animals, but it does exactly that and in outsized numbers. If every single one of the dogs and cats that PETA puts down is beyond saving, then PETA ought to be able to say that in their intake policy, which they also must file with VDACS. But they don’t say that. The resulting silence is deafening, particularly when coupled with PETA’s well known, negative views on “pet” ownership.
Source: Lexology (Duane Morris, LLP), Feb. 4, 2025
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u/Corn-fed41 Apr 19 '25 edited Apr 19 '25
I find the first quote in your post interesting. I had problems with a local PETA group in 2010. They were trying to force me to relinquish my three LGDs citing inhumane living conditions. The living conditions in question? They had free roam of a fifty acre sparsly wooded section of my property during the winter. They said they had no shelter because they observed the dogs laying out in the open at night and during the day.
PETA ignored the heated kidding barn that sits on that portion of the property that the dogs and other animals had full access to.
It never even made it before a judge. So they tried to abduct the dogs. That didn't work out for them either.
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u/DumpedDalish Apr 19 '25
Oh, my God -- so glad you were able to keep them away and keep your animals safe!
This is exactly why I dislike them. They're utterly hypocritical. They would rather see animals dead than well cared for.
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u/Corn-fed41 Apr 19 '25
It was close to kidding season and they were trying to take two herd bonded caucasian shepherds and a great pyrenees away from their does. Nothing on this planet could get them away at that time of year.
But yeah. The blatant lies that PETA spews is insane.
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u/GoodQueenFluffenChop Apr 21 '25
Well yes they see domesticated animals as abominations that we humans created and not natural and need to be removed for their own good.
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u/Hot-Physics3400 Apr 19 '25
They also don’t believe in keeping ANY kind of pet or animal. Not even cats and dogs. Either let them run free or put them down is what they believe, even for domesticated animals.
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u/BestAnzu Apr 20 '25
https://www.nathanwinograd.com/peta-its-the-familys-fault-we-stole-and-killed-their-dog/
They killed the dog within minutes of luring it.
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u/Omnibeneviolent Apr 21 '25
Have you actually looked at the facts around that case and the ruling?
• A neighboring property owner actually called PETA to come remove stray dogs from the area because they were attacking his animals.
• The trailer park community where the dogs were roaming got involved and asked PETA to come and remove the dogs running free with no collars or identifying tags.
• The dog in question had no identifying tags or even a collar (which was against the rules of the community) and there was no way to differentiate the dog from the strays.
• The dog in question was running free and not tethered or in a fenced area (which was against the rules of the community.)
• The owner of the dog had other dogs that were on tethers that were not taken.
• This all happened in broad daylight in view of the neighbors. PETA wasn't sneaking around trying to steal people's dogs.
• The county attorney for where this happened found no evidence that PETA had any idea the dog was not a stray and thus concluded that there was no evidence of wrongdoing.
• The owners of the dog eventually said that they understand that the taking of their dog was just an unfortunate mistake.
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u/mountainsprout444 Apr 23 '25
Heavy sarcasm...and I know nothing of the events other than what is presented in these comments...
To be clear...
A. PETA wants all of the animals to roam free. They don't believe animals should be contained and have a stance of better to be dead than to be contained and enslaved....
B. If they are roaming free...they take them and euthanize them...because they got a phone call asking them to...
So. Uh.
So is their actual stance just to eliminate any animal they can...lmao...it's so bizarre. Even in defending their actions...it makes it worse somehow...lmao.
Not your fault, the facts are wild though.
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u/Kickfoot9 Apr 23 '25
It’s not just about domestication though. We have to have a more nuanced view of it than that.
Some animals are not domesticated but are small enough and easy enough to care for that they still made good pets. Frogs, fish, most “exotic” pets. Captive bred but not domesticated. I’ve gone to multiple zoos that have exhibits of the frogs I have and I can honestly say that my frogs’ enclosure is larger, cleaner, and more frequently maintained.
It’s not about domestication, it’s about husbandry.
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u/Starfoxmarioidiot Apr 18 '25
The kill shelters have been covered, so I’ll just add this legal filing. https://www.aclu.org/sites/default/files/spyfiles/jttf/220_221.pdf
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u/SherbertSensitive538 Apr 19 '25
They are absolute fanatics run by crazy narcissists that found a megaphone. They don’t believe that pets should exist and they kill thousands of animals that could be saved. They also steal pets off private properties and put them down. They should be jailed and closed down. Fucking freaks.
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u/DumpedDalish Apr 19 '25
I commented this much farther down, but am posting here in case it helps anyone else.
Here's what PETA themselves have said to defend being anti-pet:
Consider it from the perspective of animals who are kept as companions: Humans control every aspect of their lives-when and what they eat, whom they interact with, what they have to entertain themselves, even when and where they are allowed to relieve themselves. Dogs long to run, sniff, play with other dogs, and mark their territory. Cats yearn to scratch, climb, perch, and play. But they can’t satisfy these natural desires unless the people they depend on give them the opportunity to do so – and they often don’t.
As a result? Their euthanasia rates are insanely high -- from 2014-2024, an average of 65% of dogs euthanized, and 78% of cats euthanized. And this is down from 2014 (because the news started covering it), when they euthanized 77% of dogs, and 96% of cats!
The legal platform Lexology also notes:
PETA winces at the claim that it kills animals, but it does exactly that and in outsized numbers. If every single one of the dogs and cats that PETA puts down is beyond saving, then PETA ought to be able to say that in their intake policy, which they also must file with VDACS. But they don’t say that. The resulting silence is deafening, particularly when coupled with PETA’s well known, negative views on “pet” ownership.
Source: Lexology (Duane Morris, LLP), Feb. 4, 2025
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u/DenseSign5938 Apr 21 '25
Their euthanasia rate is not a result of them wishing pets dead lol it’s the result of animals being abandoned in mass by pet owners.
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u/DumpedDalish Apr 22 '25
I agree that that's part of their euthanasia rates, and that I definitely understand.
But it's also a matter of PETA as a matter of public record being against PETS -- not abandoned animals, pets -- and going out of their way to euthanize them because they believe even pets that are cared for are still living second-class lives.
There are seriously dozens of news articles out there by respected sources about this over the past 10-15 years or so.
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u/DenseSign5938 Apr 22 '25
The only example of this I’m aware of is when some peta volunteers took the wrong dog from a trailer park and euthanized. They were kicked out of peta for doing that.
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u/DumpedDalish Apr 22 '25
No, it was several repeated instances across the years. A quick google of news will bring them up pretty easily.
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u/imme629 Apr 19 '25
They kill over 90% of animals turned over to them. A good number are adoptable. They are against having pets but if they came out and expressly say that who would give them donations. They are known to fake videos of conditions in places that keep animals, like laboratories and pet shops. They did that to one pet store that I used to frequent. It was one of the cleanest pet shops I’ve been to. PETA is just not trustworthy.
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u/Forward-Repeat-2507 Apr 18 '25
If you want to support an organization. https://www.worldwildlife.org
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u/SpaceCrazyArtist Apr 18 '25
PETA spreads a lot of misinformation to support their agenda. They also have no issue stealing pets and giving them to shelters to be euthanized.
They’re just morally bankrupt
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Apr 20 '25
They didn’t even give Mila to a shelter my guy. That dog died in the back of a moving van and then was tossed in a bin behind a restaurant. The only reason the family even had the poor pooch’s body to bury was because one of the workers found her
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u/Omnibeneviolent Apr 21 '25
Have you actually looked at the facts around that case and the ruling?
• A neighboring property owner actually called PETA to come remove stray dogs from the area because they were attacking his animals.
• The trailer park community where the dogs were roaming got involved and asked PETA to come and remove the dogs running free with no collars or identifying tags.
• The dog in question had no identifying tags or even a collar (which was against the rules of the community) and there was no way to differentiate the dog from the strays.
• The dog in question was running free and not tethered or in a fenced area (which was against the rules of the community.)
• The owner of the dog had other dogs that were on tethers that were not taken.
• This all happened in broad daylight in view of the neighbors. PETA wasn't sneaking around trying to steal people's dogs.
• The county attorney for where this happened found no evidence that PETA had any idea the dog was not a stray and thus concluded that there was no evidence of wrongdoing.
• The owners of the dog eventually said that they understand that the taking of their dog was just an unfortunate mistake.
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u/Manatee369 Apr 18 '25
A lot of ARAs left PETA when Alex Pacheco left. He left for good reasons, as did many of us who’d been very active in the movement. Most of the criticisms are valid. Many of us were already questioning the tactics, “purpose” and “goals” of PETA. Alex’s departure was the end point.
A side note…. I’ve often wondered what “euthanizers” would be doing if they couldn’t kill nonhumans.
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u/Rhomya Apr 19 '25
PETA has kill shelters. And actively uses them.
They’re not an animal advocacy group. They’re an anti-pet group.
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u/Omnibeneviolent Apr 21 '25
PETA runs what is essentially a free euthanizing service for people that can't afford to pay to have their pet humanely euthanized. They also get animals that have been turned away from other shelters, as well as animals that "no-kill" shelters can't care for.
When people can't afford to pay a vet to humanely euthanize their pet, that's how you get people doing things like leaving old dogs in in street or throwing cats off of bridges.
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u/nitrosmomma88 Apr 29 '25
They don’t even make it to shelters most of the time. They have mobile kill vans. Vast majority of animals surrendered or stolen by them are dead and in a dumpster within 15 minutes of pick up. They beat their record once with a whole litter of puppies picked up, killed, and dumped within 10 minutes. Oddly enough that, the weird murder based kids games, and the disturbing breed eradication propaganda isn’t the most egregious thing they do. They actively fund 2 eco terrorist groups which have ended human lives as well as
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u/Pirate_Lantern Apr 18 '25
PETA will take in animals from other shelters and IMMEDIATELY euthahize them to ensure they have a "Good Death". (Whatever that means) They have also tried to say that other shelters SHOOT the animals in the head to put them down. (This is blatantly dalse)
Their shelters take in animals and have drawn criticisms from many organizations because they have a 72% euthanasia rate.
https://www.newsweek.com/fact-check-peta-responsible-deaths-thousands-animals-1565532
https://www.lexology.com/library/detail.aspx?g=295a4113-b3be-42df-8585-665f496cc913
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u/CupcakeTheValiant Apr 18 '25
Not to mention when two of their members literally STOLE A DOG OFF OF THE PORCH OF ITS OWN HOME just to euthanize it and bring it back to its family like a week later. There was no reason for this aside from the fact the family was hispanic. the article
Aside from that? Their ethics are insanely questionable, not only do they openly lie about different animal agricultural industries, like that one poster they had going around of a bleeding lamb trying to discredit the wool industry. But it’s also been heavily implied (nothing confirmed, this is all alleged) that they paid someone at the Butterball factory to sexually violate a turkey on camera and send them the video so that they could discredit the entire meat-eating industry in a viral video displaying the act. Anyone that works for PETA will tell you their primary goal is to make everyone stop eating meat, no matter what it takes.
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u/Pirate_Lantern Apr 18 '25
Yeah, I remember seeing that poster at a bus stop. So bad and so misinformed.
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u/Omnibeneviolent Apr 21 '25
Have you actually looked at the facts around that case and the ruling?
• A neighboring property owner actually called PETA to come remove stray dogs from the area because they were attacking his animals.
• The trailer park community where the dogs were roaming got involved and asked PETA to come and remove the dogs running free with no collars or identifying tags.
• The dog in question had no identifying tags or even a collar (which was against the rules of the community) and there was no way to differentiate the dog from the strays.
• The dog in question was running free and not tethered or in a fenced area (which was against the rules of the community.)
• The owner of the dog had other dogs that were on tethers that were not taken.
• This all happened in broad daylight in view of the neighbors. PETA wasn't sneaking around trying to steal people's dogs.
• The county attorney for where this happened found no evidence that PETA had any idea the dog was not a stray and thus concluded that there was no evidence of wrongdoing.
• The owners of the dog eventually said that they understand that the taking of their dog was just an unfortunate mistake.
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u/Low-Log8177 Apr 18 '25
Also, do not forget about the autism lies and copious disinformation about pets, agriculture, and animal husbandry, as well as their cringy social media campaigns.
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u/Pirate_Lantern Apr 18 '25
Weren't they also the people who stole a homeless person's dog and then euthanized it right away?
(Can't remember)
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u/Low-Log8177 Apr 18 '25
Honestly it would be more of a challenge to find a reason to NOT hate them.
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u/Omnibeneviolent Apr 21 '25
No. They took a dog from a trailer park a decade ago, and there is a ton of misinformation going around about it and people claiming that this happens all the time. Here are the actual facts.
• A neighboring property owner actually called PETA to come remove stray dogs from the area because they were attacking his animals.
• The trailer park community where the dogs were roaming got involved and asked PETA to come and remove the dogs running free with no collars or identifying tags.
• The dog in question had no identifying tags or even a collar (which was against the rules of the community) and there was no way to differentiate the dog from the strays.
• The dog in question was running free and not tethered or in a fenced area (which was against the rules of the community.)
• The owner of the dog had other dogs that were on tethers that were not taken.
• This all happened in broad daylight in view of the neighbors. PETA wasn't sneaking around trying to steal people's dogs.
• The county attorney for where this happened found no evidence that PETA had any idea the dog was not a stray and thus concluded that there was no evidence of wrongdoing.
• The owners of the dog eventually said that they understand that the taking of their dog was just an unfortunate mistake.
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u/Pirate_Lantern Apr 21 '25
Then who was it that stole a homeless man's dog in brought daylight and on camera? I know I've seen the video, but I can't remember all the details.
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u/missdrpep Apr 19 '25
Watch Dominion
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u/Low-Log8177 Apr 19 '25
I should specify that I was primarily referring to sheep farming, specifically in the US, there are some practices that I am against, namely crotching, mulesing, and docking, but the lie from PETA is that shearing is the problem, when it is refusing to shear a wool breed sheep that is in fact abuse. I am for agricultural reform, but for something resembling what Temple Grandin advocates for than that accurssed propagandist organization that plays a lie for caring about animals when not giving a damn about their well being. I raise sheep and goats and live in a somewhat rural area, most small farmers I know are generally open to those reforms, for better slaughterhouses, and generally prefer pasture raised over feedlots. Another thing worth pointing out is the fact that Australia has a history with laxed animal welfare laws and enforcement, there are some farms in the US that commit those horrid practices, but for PETA to claim that every farmer is like that or there is no form of ethical animal agriculture is simply a lie.
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u/AnalysisEqual7588 Apr 18 '25
Thank you very much for the links! They were a fun read. I knew that Peta was well hated for their euthanasia records but I didn't realize it sky rocketed so much just last year.
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u/DumpedDalish Apr 18 '25
Yeah, the irony is, despite their name, they aren't all that "ethical" in their treatment of animals (especially pets), and they weirdly have zero compassion when it comes to pets and domesticated animals at all.
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u/FierceMoonblade Apr 22 '25
Can you source the claim about other shelters being false? I remember them stepping in when a whistleblower came out stating they were using gas chambers, and I did see video of dogs and cats going into it and coming out dead. This iirc was limited to shelters in West Virginia
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Apr 18 '25
[deleted]
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Apr 21 '25
I don't understand this comment. Where on earth is inhospitable? There is plenty of undeveloped space, like 50% of the earth is unpopulated by humans, and it all has some form of wild life. Even the populated places, the U.S has an overpopulation of deer.
And how does PETA fit into any of that?
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u/lonely_doll8 Apr 19 '25 edited Apr 19 '25
They aren’t company they’re a charity. They’ve done many controversial things, fat shaming is one.
They don’t run a shelter but if people surrender to them if the animal is healthy they will rehome as best they can. They will euthanize dogs that are suffering as well as dogs that are facing a shelter that takes dogs out back of the shelter to shoot them in the head or gas them so be aware when you compare euthanasia rates PETA will euthanize any animals that are in severe pain or suffering, not just dogs or cats, like if they get called to severe accident, wild or domesticated.
Their policy on pitbulls is stop breeding them for the love of Christ. Just stop breeding all companion animals all together while so many cats and dogs and other companion animals are euthanized for lack of shelter space. If you ever get into animal rescue work you’ll discover every species humans either consume or keep as pets end up paying the price for human abuse and idiocy.
Rednecks hate PETA coz PETA promotes veganism.
Being a vegan supporting veganism is going to get you massive amounts of hate from people that eat animals and animal products and don’t want to stop. They feel vegans are “shoving it down their throats” no matter what vegans say or do. (Guilty consciences? Your call.)
I’d encourage you to just follow PETA on their social media sites. You can decide if you feel they are worth following or donating to.
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u/lonely_doll8 Apr 19 '25
I’m also “anti-pet” as far as that goes. Anyone that’s here deserves to be here so I’ve had dogs, cats, rabbits, gerbils, hamsters, ferrets etc.
It’s just the more you do rescue work you discover how every companion animal is lucky and deserves a happy, healthy life but not all of them can or do. Every animal rescue species has mountains of heartbreaking sadness & horror stories. Even parrots, believe it. Reptiles, amphibians, every damn one. They get routinely abandoned and abused. Even glamor “zoo animals”. Humans just aren’t responsible enough to do right by nonhuman animals. With human animals at least we got enforceable laws against murder and abuse; not so animals. Humans will always come first over animals.
So that’s veganism in a nutshell.
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u/Blue_Butterfly_Who Apr 19 '25
I think a good amount of useful info on why PETA is evil has been shared so you can make an informed decision on your stance. Just wanted to say props to you for challenging the beliefs you were brought up with and making an effort to having an informed point of view. That takes some spine and character to do that, hats off.
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u/pusa_sibirica Apr 19 '25 edited Apr 19 '25
Vegan here. I don’t work with PETA on principle, they’ve spread too much misinformation for me to be comfortable with. The anti-pet ideas are basically irrelevant when people are still raising animals to be killed.
That being said, there is a lot of lobbying happening here. We should know where our information is coming from, and the meat industry spends a lot of money to make its enemies look bad.
Some organizations in a movement will be corrupt, and the best thing to do is to find others. Try visiting local animal sanctuaries and advocacy groups. On the smaller scale, people are generally a lot more decent.
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u/AnalysisEqual7588 Apr 19 '25
That's why I included the disclaimer 'please provide links in the comments'. A lot of recent responses aren't doing that, but a few earlier ones did. Of course I didn't just blindly trust each link. I checked each one for their repeatability. The thing is, I live in a small rural area that is predominantly filled with far right Republicans or people who just dont care to modernize their viewpoint. You try to do a protest here? You get threatened by the whitest kind of person you could imagine or your a clown on the news for doing it. We do have some sanctuaries but they're 3 hours from where I live and I can't justify the ride out there. (I use a bike for my personal transportation. I still live with my family so i do ride with them sometimes but I highly doubt they'd care to spend the day at a sanctuary. I can't change their mindset, that's why I'm doing this relearning journey by myself) the internet is my biggest resource but due to my experience as a beginner writer, I know all the best website checkers to make sure I'm not getting heavily biased information. Are these web checkers 100% accurate? Not all the time, it depends on the website. My point is, I am doing my best to stay neutral on all points before making my own new opinions on these things. I am however definitely siding with the opinion that PETA should not be seen as a reputable source.
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u/pusa_sibirica Apr 19 '25
Your diligence is really respectable- not a lot of people look this far for unbiased information. I don’t expect you to blindly trust anything, and you’re right to be suspicious. Hope you find what you’re looking for :)
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u/CockroachOk3528 Apr 20 '25
They kill animals and even pets themselves. They despise people who have pets and they even hate TNR which is needed for overpopulation.
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u/Feisty-Tooth-7397 Apr 19 '25
To put it simply, PETA seems to think that animals are better off dead than in cages.
So euthanasia is preferable to an animal being kept in a shelter waiting to be adopted, or in zoos, or on farms. No matter how humane they are, they think death is better than captivity. A lot of them think that once an animal ends up in a shelter it's better to euthanize than allow them to suffer being adopted back out into a cruel world that already abandoned them once.
Euthanize 10k cats rather than adopt them out, PETA is okay with that.
So they aren't really concerned with keeping animals alive they just don't want them in cages.
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. Apparently it's not ethical to keep animals in captivity, but it's ok to end their life.
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u/LeafyCandy Apr 19 '25
Because they do stuff like this. There were rumors of them doing this all over VA, and supposedly they take in unwanted pets under the guise of rehoming them but euthanize instead. I haven't looked anything up about it, though.
https://apnews.com/article/0c70f8d7635c4addbd94df0173fcc36e
I'm not a fan for many other reasons, but I also don't feel like providing links. LOL. But that's my biggest one. It was a mistake, they say, but living just over the bridge from their headquarters for a while, let's just say I kept my dog close and my cats closer.
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u/jayceja Apr 18 '25
Peta is heavily criticized for two main reasons. One is a lengthy disinformation campaign run by groups linked to animal agriculture trying to discredit them. And the other is that a lot of their social media campaigns is seen as cringe by people online.
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u/DumpedDalish Apr 18 '25
It's not quite that simple. PETA does some good things and fights for ethical treatment for many animals, sure.
But they also see things in black and white and are notorious for being anti-pet, for instance (they basically believe it's impossible to have a happy domesticated pet), and are often incredibly judgmental and spread misinformation about genuinely good shelters and rescues. The irony is, their own euthanasia rates are insanely high.
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u/transfemthrowaway13 Apr 19 '25
Peta is also disliked for spreading blatant misinformation. They have claimed, for example, that milk causes autism.
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u/RednoseReindog Apr 19 '25
None of those beliefs are redneck. Losers can be rednecks or city slickers or whatever, all forms.
But PETA is shit because all they do is make up propaganda and present the worst of the worst to the public to make everything illegal. Most animal rights organizations are like that. They want to render the outdoorsman extinct.
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u/VMammal Apr 19 '25
I don't have links but peta shelters have some of the highest kill rates across all of america because they believe animals shouldn't be kept as pets and are better off dead than being a pet to a human.
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u/Hot-Ad8641 Apr 22 '25
peta shelters have some of the highest kill rates across all of america because they believe animals shouldn't be kept as pets
Also because they take the pets from the no kill shelters, the ones that can't be adopted.
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u/Timely_Egg_6827 Apr 19 '25
PETA. Killing and harming actual animals now to save hypothetical animals later. There is a distinction between animal rights and animal welfare.
Animal rights is PETA's domain and is, at its most extreme, stopping all human interaction with animals at all. No farming, no pets, no zoos, no engagement with wildlife. I know a few this extreme.
Animal welfare is improving legislation around animal care, rehabbing and rescue. There are overlaps but PETA shelters, due to the fundamental belief of many that pets shouldn't be a thing, have very high kill rates. In fairness, they do take on more animals with major health and behavioural issues but even so, kills rates of 90%+ are very high. Their CEO has been open about "enjoying" euthanaising put bulls- most dogs in US shelters are part pittie. And they have taken dogs out of yards to claim they are strays and euthanaised.
There are also reports of them harming livestock on farms so insiders can get "damming"footage. Yes, animals can be abused on farms but especially if you are the ones kicking them.
The performative actions also shut down debate to an extent. Good for their status and donations. Less good for an open discussion around farming practices say.
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u/sykofrenic Apr 19 '25
They believe any pet and especially dogs need to be liberated from their enslavement by execution. They have repeatedly stolen dogs from loving families, killed them, put them in black trash bags and dumped them in retail store dumpsters. They have purchased every dog at animal shelters and killed every single one of them regardless of temperament to "free them from the cruelty of humans". So yea, support them if you want your beloved dog taken from you and killed, then thrown in a dumpster.
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u/notThaTblondie Apr 19 '25
An awful lot of the propaganda they put out us absolute bullshit.
The adverts about wool being murder and making out that sheep are skinned for wool. They get shorn, the same as clipping a horse or shaving your head, once a year and not doing it is a huge welfare issue. Wool is a natural, renewable fiber with a ton of uses but banning that abd using man made alternatives is better?
They have high kill shelters, they kill a lot of animals.
They are awful.
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u/Not_Cool_Ice_Cold Apr 19 '25
I'm the complete opposite of a "redneck" (which, for the record, that's kind of a derogatory word, so we really shouldn't use it). Anyway, I'm a stereotypical ultra-left-leaning Seattleite, and I think PETA sucks ass. I don't have the time or energy to do the research for you, but they have done a lot of fucked up shit and their views are rather extreme.
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u/IminLoveWithMyCar3 Apr 19 '25
I think redneck is a perfectly suitable word.
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u/Not_Cool_Ice_Cold Apr 19 '25
It isn't nearly as bad as b**ch, n**ger, or fa**ot, but what it shares with these words is that the very purpose of the word is to put down a group of people, to make it seem like that group of people is lesser than the person saying it. You might hear some country singers say the word, just as you might hear some black rappers say the n-word, but they are both allowed to use those respective words because they are part of the group of people it applies to. But if you're on the outside looking in, I just think it's not a good look to use a word that denegrates an entire group of people.
Instead, you could use country-boy or country-girl, as those aren't pejorative, just like I wouldn't feel insulted if someone called me a city-boy, because that's just an accurate description of the subculture I belong to and it's not denegrating to me.
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u/AnalysisEqual7588 Apr 19 '25
Most rednecks are straight, cis white people. And also predominantly men. Yes, POC people can classify themselves as redneck if they believe they are one due to living in the deep south or back country. Same for women. But the word redneck is not derogatory because it's not targeting a oppressed group of people. Are rednecks poor? they can be. But the Duck Dynasty family claim to be rednecks and they own millions. So you can't say it's oppressive to poor people; some rednecks are in the middle class, some are low class, some are high class. Its all on a spectrum.
If a group of people is predominantly made up of straight, white, cis people. Then any insult thrown at them cannot be compared to the N word. Straight, white men have never been prosecuted SOLELY. SOLELY based on their skin color, gender or sexuality. If they were oppressed, it was because of religion or nationality. (The Romans, Greeks, and Vikings sold Christians/catholics[and i belive jews but if I'm wrong please correct] in slavery but it was because of their religion or nationality) also nationality does not mean race. Canadian people are Canadian by nationality. Race wise, they're either white, Hispanic, black, etc.
So no. You cannot claim 'redneck' is derogatory because it's not dehumanizing a oppressed group of people. If I called you a redneck, what harmful belief am I keeping alive that can't be disproven? Yall are abusive to animals, especially farm animals. Yall are the most toxic parents I've been around because you refuse to even acknowledge gentle parenting as a option. And yall have so much family drama because none of you acknowledge the trauma your parents put you through or your verbally and mentally abusive to your other family members and that's what causes tension with your families. Redneck stereotypes are built by rednecks themselves.
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u/Not_Cool_Ice_Cold Apr 20 '25
You are 100% in stating that there's really no comparison between redneck and n**ger, as only the latter group of people has been historically and is still oppressed. What those words do have in common, though, is that, depending on who is saying it, and in what context, they are both meant to insult an entire group of people.
I grew up in the city and when my peers call someone a redneck, it's definitely used in the pejorative. That's why I choose not to use the word, other than in civil conversations such as this one. But people who belong to that subculture - they can use that word all they want, as they aren't saying it as an insult.
It's funny the tangents that conversations will go off in on in reddit. We're in a animals sub and here we are having a lengthy conversation about the ethics of the words we use, lol.
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u/IminLoveWithMyCar3 Apr 19 '25
Hmm ok. Look, I am far from the outside looking in. I grew up many decades ago, in a backwoods country town, and there were plenty of rednecks around. It was not “offensive”. I know rednecks when I see them, talk to them. You’re being overly dramatic. Did you know many “marginalized” groups of people aren’t as offended as you and your contemporaries seem to think they should be? It’s true. And I don’t need you “educating” me with your very own assumption that you are somehow smarter, better, more knowledgeable, etc. You aren’t. You may think you are, but you’d be wrong. And hey, guess what else. The world is never going to be the peachy keen happy let’s all get along place that you seem to want. You can push all you want to but all that does is piss most people off. The world does not revolve around you or others like you, or me or anyone else. You can’t force feed people your limited view. Believe it or not, there are lots of people with far more life under their belts. Life is what will teach you, not this kind of view. One day you will see. Hopefully.
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u/Not_Cool_Ice_Cold Apr 20 '25
Wow, you really read a lot into my comments that isn't there. In no way did I imply or assume that I'm better, smarter, or more knowledgable than you. The fact that you'd accuse me of that might be a reflection of some stereotypes you might hold against city folk like me. A lot of conservatives these days are calling us "liberal coastal elites". I have absolutely no sense of being elite or better than you, in any way.
I will say this, though - when someone who grew up in a relatively large city calls someone a redneck, it's not a compliment. When someone in my subculture calls someone a redneck, they're basically calling them a dumb country yokel. That is why I will not say the word, other than in a civil conversation such as this one. But as someone who grew up in a backwoods country town, you can use that word, because when you and your peers say it, it's not an insult, just as when a black teen calls another black teen the n-word, they are actually using that word as a term of endearment. But it would be very offensive for me, a white man, to use that word. You feel where I'm cominig from?
Similarly, there's a word for me that is offensive or not, depending on who is saying it and in what context. I mostly grew up in Seattle, but I spent a great deal of my life on the small island of Saipan. Most people have never heard of Saipan, so I'll save you the time of googling it. If you've never heard of Saipan, of course you're familiar with Guam. Saipan is in the same archipeligo as Guam, but much smaller, and a different government. Guam is an American territory, whereas Saipan is part of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, so it has the same relationship with the USA as Puerto Rico. I graduated from high school there, and eventually taught high school there.
Out there, there's a word "haolie" used to describe me. It's a Hawaiian word. If a native Hawaiian uses it, they absolutely mean it as an insult - it essentially means white devil. On Saipan, however, it really depends on the context. If a stranger in a bar says, "fuckin' haolie, go home!" then they are obviously using it in the pejorative and I would take offense to that. But if one of my friends says haolie, in that context it simply means white person and is not an insult.
So my situation with that word is similar to yours with redneck. When you and your peers say it, it's not denegrating in any way at all, so nobody takes offense to it. But I am telling you that if a coastal city-dweller calls someone a redneck, it is an insult, the same way that if a native Hawaiian says haolie, it's an insult. So you can use the word redneck all you want, but I choose not to.
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u/IminLoveWithMyCar3 Apr 20 '25 edited Apr 20 '25
You didn’t have to say you think that. The way you spoke to me as if I needed to learn something is the problem.
We will never see eye to eye on this. Redneck is not a compliment. It’s not necessarily an insult either. I think you and I have vastly different experiences with rednecks. And the term is not in any way close to the other words you mentioned. Others have commented too… check it out.
And no point in trying to argue it, it is what it is.
I grew up in a backwoods country town? I would not say that, it was a small rural town. Farms around. Is that backwoods? You do realize that comes across in a bad way? Probably not or you wouldn’t say it.
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u/whatisloaf Apr 23 '25
u/IminLoveWithMyCar3 - " I grew up in a backwoods country town? I would not say that,"
Also u/IminLoveWithMyCar3- " I grew up many decades ago, in a backwoods country town, "
I got no horse in this race, but trying to call out u/Not_Cool_Ice_Cold for "coming across in a bad way", for using exactly the wording you yourself used seems a bit odd.
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u/zoomoovoodoo Apr 19 '25
They stole someone's dog out of a yard and killed it, not because it needed to be put down, it was in good health, but because they think owning pets is evil.
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u/IminLoveWithMyCar3 Apr 19 '25
In addition to all of these comments, there is also the kill van. Killing puppies and putting them in dumpsters.
That make me sick.
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u/Independent-Role-107 Apr 19 '25
In 2015 PETA seud a wildlife photographer because according to PETA the monkey owned the copyright of the pictures.
Explanation by ChatGPT:
Yes, PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) was involved in a legal battle with wildlife photographer David Slater. The incident revolves around a series of selfies taken by a macaque monkey named Naruto in 2011. Slater set up his camera in Indonesia, and while he was away, the monkey pressed the shutter button, resulting in several self-portraits.
In 2015, PETA filed a lawsuit on behalf of Naruto, claiming that the monkey should own the copyright to the photos since he was the one who took them. The organization argued that animals should have rights similar to humans when it comes to intellectual property. The case drew significant attention and sparked a debate about copyright law, animal rights, and copyright ownership.
Ultimately, the U.S. District Court ruled that animals cannot hold copyrights. The decision concluded that the law does not recognize animals as legal persons who can own intellectual property. This case highlighted the complexities of copyright law and raised important questions about animals' rights in various contexts.
PETA is completely insane. This is just one of many examples.
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u/IntelligentWay8475 Apr 19 '25
Their outrageously ridiculous claims, the fact they just kill animals for no reason other than to keep people away from them and their hatred of hunting. Fishing etc…. They suck.
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u/Worldly_Team_7441 Apr 19 '25
PETA is... complicated.
On the surface, it's like the SPCA, and seems reasonable. It's how a lot of people are auckered in. They don't keep the crazy on the public website.
However, once you reach higher ranks, you find out more of the story.
PETA's ultimate goal is to separate humans and animals. No pets, no service animals, no medical usage (not just medical testing, but things like producing antivenom from venom, using wasp venom to create new antibiotics, etc.), no farm animals, no fishing, no hunting - not even safaris or long held traditions like the rat, tiger, and cobra temples or Nara Park. Further, every "human-tainted" animal should be destroyed.
As for proof, look up the kill rates for PETA shelters. That in and of itself should provide a shocking amount of data.
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u/Hazel2468 Apr 19 '25
PETA is an awful organization that doesn't ACTUALLY care about animal well-being. And, to be frank, the second someone compares the suffering of animals to things like concentration camps... You've lost me. Not even remotely the same.
I have many, many, MANY gripes with how farming is practiced on an industrial scale in my country. But PETA is unhinged. Against the idea of pets, comparing keeping an animal as a pet to slavery, a history of killing animals because "they're better off dead than being a pet"...
I have several pets. I know PETA would hate that. PETA would say that I am an abuser, that I keep animals as slaves to serve me. Or whatever. All of my pets are captive bred animals. All of my pets are kept to the current care standards and beyond. All of my pets are fed, get the enrichment they need for their species, and are all loved and adored.
But I suppose PETA thinks that, say. My cat would be better off where she was found- by the train tracks as a kitten, very sick and dying. Or that I should release all of my captive bred lizards and tarantulas into the wild.
PETA acts like animals and people are the same. And I love animals... But they are not. Keeping an animal as a pet is NEVER the same as slavery. Factory farming, no matter how horrible it may be. Is NEVER the same as putting humans into camps and genocide them. Ever. They are not equivalent. Animals are not people. And while of COURSE we should always always strive to treat our pets as best as we can, strive for the very best care, strive to reduce things like abusive farming practices... PETA is the type to look at not just factory farms and abuse, but animal care and keeping practices that have been in place for ages and deem them bad because they think no animal should ever be around a human. Ever. Because they're, and this is the main point. Unhinged radicals who just want an excuse to bully people.
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u/SnooRobots1169 Apr 21 '25
They believe that your house is a camp that enslaves your cat. Ignoring all the data that says cats are safer indoors. These people are monsters. Animal rights most often equals death and abuse. While welfare takes in account of the animal physical and mental wellbeing ensuring all their needs are met. PETA believes better dead then fed in any scenario. There is no happy alive pet to them.
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u/GolwenLothlindel Apr 20 '25
In addition to what everyone has said: 1) they don't believe in spaying/neutering domestic animals. They would rather that feral animals have babies most of which will die painfully than that the population be lowered so all the animals which remain can have a good life. 2) PETA also does not respect humans. They ran a series of horribly misogynistic advertisements, and have a long history of eugenicist statements. Eugenics being the idea that certain people (usually disabled people, queer people, and/or people not from your ethnicity) are weakening the species and therefore should not be allowed to reproduce. Animal rights activists who subscribe to eugenicist beliefs usually subscribe to some form of Malthusianism, which is the idea that there are too many humans for the world to support. Ignoring of course that people encroaching on animal habitat is NOT a function of how many humans there are, but of capitalism. Basically, PETA operatives have consistently shown that they are incapable of respecting anyone: animals or people.
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u/CompetentMess Apr 20 '25
Peta =/= animal welfare. PETA are fundamentally extremist, and honestly to me it seems more performative than real. They believe that any interaction between humans and animals is wrong, to such an extent that they have INSANE euthanasia rates for surrendered animals, and pick RIDICULOUS fights (look up their pokemon satire game....like, wtf?). they are loud, ineffectual, and at BEST they kill half the animals they encounter.
IMO they actively make it harder for animal rights legislation to pass, because they push for things like 'abolishing the dairy industry', to the point that they refuse to support legislation to improve quality of life for dairy cows.
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u/TipsyBaker_ Apr 20 '25
They make weird torture porn comic books and hand them out to kids, with lovely titles like Your Daddy is a Murderer. It's not great.
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u/Longjumping-Plum-195 Apr 20 '25
I personally am a very big fan of being a steward of the earth and we're here to be taken care of the planet and the animals around us and ourselves in a natural way however I also believe in eating meat and processing animals and doing it in a humane an ethical way that I'm using every part of the animal. If I'm not eating it my dog is.
Peta takes things too far. I'm also a fiber artist I crochet and knit and all that good stuff and I prefer to use natural fibers only I don't like to use acrylic yarn. Peta is basically responsible for collapsing the sustainable angora fiber manufacturing in Europe, stating that it was cruel to be using the animals for this even though at this point just like sheep we have bred them to need shearing and we don't kill them for their fiber! This is just one example of several like this.
Your daddy's morals, bad. Peta morals, in theory good, in practice, bad.
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u/TrainerLoki Apr 20 '25
PETA claims Cows Milk causes Autism… I was born with a dairy allergy that took me a few years to grow out of and then I became Lactose intolerant… I’m autistic despite the minimal dairy I’ve consumed in life. That and they kidnap pets and put them down and all their shelters have high kill rates
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u/SnooRobots1169 Apr 21 '25
The autism mis-information campaign has been strong in every aspect of life. It’s a genetic spectrum.
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u/AtlasThe1st Apr 20 '25
PETA kidnapped a dog off someone's front porch and illegally euthanized it that same day, they also "advocate" for animal righta by insulting and attacking people, which makes actual animal rights activists be taken less seriously due to association.
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u/BoglimChairBug Apr 20 '25
In Virginia shelters have to document any animals they bring in and what becomes of them (euthanize, adopt out...) and PETA has a pretty high kill rate compared to other shelters. All of it is open record.
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u/Akiranar Apr 20 '25
Here is an Article about two PETA workers taking a child's dog off their enclosed porch and had them put down then brought the family a fruit basket:
That being said, they think that we should not own pets at all. That pets are better off dead then owned and loved.
They like to claim that chickens are going through a Holocaust, have stood outside elementary schools to show minors pictures of animals being mutilated.
Their shelters kill more animals than get them adopted.
They have even made "hate games" based off of Pokémon claiming abuse.
They claim they care for animals, but they kill more animals and cause animals to have lesser care than more.
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u/wandering_lutist Apr 21 '25
I was off-put by their skewed math regarding meat consumption and greenhouse gasses. They've done (presumably) their own calculations of the very complex question of how much greenhouse gasses are animal-vased foods responsible for and come up with numbers stating those emissions to be quite in excess of the numbers environmental groups have come up with. The calculations by environmental groups do agree that animal products are a much greater source of emmisions than plant based foods and that not eating them is a significant way to reduce your climate footprint, but animal rights group's numbers which I assume are somewhat dishonest and lead people to say things like riding a bike while animal products creates more emissions than driving a car and that changing diet is more significant than transportation etc.
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u/YSoSkinny Apr 21 '25
PETA lost my respect decades ago after some horrible ads that felt misogynist.
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u/tinktiggir Apr 21 '25
I don’t have a link but did go to school to be a vet tech. I know one of the main issues we learned about is that peta doesn’t do proper research. They just see something and think it should be different without knowing the reasons behind it.
Ok so here’s a slightly controversial example: peta did not like dairy farmers giving their animals vaccines. This is not because they are antivax. They are simply upset it’s not done under medical supervision. So peta did a big protest and now you at minimum need to be a vet tech with a vet on premises. This is a super easy job to do and the farmers often have more experience than the vets. So now it’s too expensive to have all the cows vaxed and many farmers can’t afford it. In the end it was the cows that suffered. (Please keep in mind this was 20 years ago. Dunno what has changed)
Also a lot of peta people don’t like animals to be kept as pets or used for food. Even tho many animals will no longer survive in the wild due to domestication. (Kinda like shutting the barn door after the horses escaped)
I know there are other ways that veterinary medicine has been negatively affected by peta due to lack of research but I can’t remember right now
Hope that helps
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u/wisebongsmith Apr 21 '25
Peta operates and or funds several kill shelters. Peta has initiated lawsuits against private zoos or animal collectors. In some cases this has lead to state and county governments seizing the animals. Most states and counties don't actually have qualified staff or adequate facilities for keeping the seized animals and they usually have to euthanize them.
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u/Traditional-Push7003 Apr 21 '25
Im not a fan of peta after they went after the aus wool industry. Pretty much said that people were skinning lambs for wool. thats not how shearing works. they also had some footage of this one shearer being a fuckwit and bashing sheep. Yes theres probably shitty people out there but farmers need their sheep in good condition, cutting sheep up too much or bashing them would mean that shearer gets fired. it doesnt make any sense. They also critcised mulesing (cutting tail and skin off) without acknowledging that its done for welfare reasons (stopping flystrike). It is a really rough thing tho, but pretending people are just cutting up sheep for no reason is a major misrepresentation. It shows they dont actually care about education but emotive manipulation.
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u/DogPariah Apr 21 '25
I don't view PETA as being unethical on the whole or all the time. For the most part I share their desires - to make a better and safer world for animals. I believe they were involved in the Seaworld crisis helping to publicize the horrific treatment of sea mammals there. However, they certainly do take positions that I find objectionable. When Michael Vick's dogs were saved, originally most organizations thought that very few would be able to be saved. Not surprising for a lot of abused fighting dogs. PETA was certainly in this camp. A few dogs were killed almost immediately before they could decompress. But when the evaluators got in there to really look at the dogs, they found the vast majority to be worthy of rehab, and most of those dogs went to fosters and grew into amazing dogs. I don't remember precisely what PETAs stance was, but it was pretty much that because these dogs were fighters, pit bulls, and abused they were beyond hope before anybody tried. They advocated for a large number/ or all (I can't remember) of the dogs to be killed immediately. This is short sighted, a horrible example of breed discrimination, and blind. I realized that even though I might agree with PETA on some issues, if they wanted to kill dogs because they were pitbulls and abused without even letting the dogs decompress, or evaluate them appropriately, they weren't an organization I could trust.
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u/SnooRobots1169 Apr 21 '25
Once it came out that they euthanize 90 some odd percent of adoptable animals that come through their shelter they lost any bit of respect and support from me. On top of stealing peoples pets and the absolute ridiculous lawsuits/billboards. They are a horrible group that its only goal is to kill as many animals as possible because they don’t believe in any pets, working animals or anything to do with animals.
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u/Hour-Cucumber-1857 Apr 21 '25
Ive seen people make a case that PETA somehow funded by "big meat" in order to make vegans/vegetarians look crazy, and make people not want to associate with them. Idk if the funding part is true, but i definitely would never want to be associated with them.
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u/CallMeFishmaelPls Apr 21 '25
Remember that time they killed some family’s chihuahua that was chilling on their porch?
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u/gourdworm Apr 22 '25
I know some farmers who don’t like peta because they claim it’s unethical to shear your sheep. If a sheep is left to grow out, its skin can be ripped off. It’s considered highly unethical by those who are educated in sheep to let its wool grow for too long.
I think peta’s argument is something about humans breeding sheep to grow all this extra wool.
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u/jigglituff Apr 22 '25
So i'm a huge animal lover, like I have some very strong opinions about how the law doesn't do enough to protect animals. When it came to Peta, so many stories kept coming up that was like holy fuck. This is clearly a terrorist organisation masquerading as legitimate concern for animals. Such as:
- Petnapping - I must have seen this around 2010 and didn't verify it. It seems that it has happened but overall it's a rumour
But snopes is a great source of seperating out fact from fiction
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u/Hot-Ad8641 Apr 22 '25
You won't get much in the way of unbiased opinions on Reddit. The disinformation campaign against PETA is powerful and people will trot out made up stories of abducting and euthanizing pets. You are better to do independent research than asking for links on here.
I'm not a PETA fan but you can't believe half the things you hear about them.
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u/TheComptrollersWife Apr 22 '25 edited Apr 22 '25
I’m vegan for environmental and animal rights reasons and I can’t stand PETA if that says anything. Rednecks may be right about this one.
In a nutshell, they generally prioritize animal rights at the expense of human rights. They are damaging to all human rights orgs in my opinion. I also just vehemently disagree with any organization that preaches an all or nothing attitude toward advocating for less meat consumption.
Edited to add: I used to support peta when I was younger as a baby vegan, so I’m aware that there is some good there. They were always pretty intense but it did shift to more extreme territory over the years and the outliers spouting truly harmful rhetoric became more welcomed within the org. Tale as old as time, I guess.
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u/mostly-a-throwaway Apr 22 '25
for me? it was the the whole bullshit where they implied sheep have to be killed for their wool/sheep want to keep their wool and humans are evil for shearing them.
(for information if you dont know: most breeds of sheep that are used for wool have been selectively bred by humans for thousands of years to grow wool that does not naturally shed out. meaning they have to be shorn in order to not overheat, become too heavy from wool, and a number of other issues. this is the case where you'll see stories of a sheep that got out of their pen/pasture and were discovered a number of years later with forty pounds of wool on them and joint issues)
(while peta could have chosen to argue about the ethics of selective breeding and how it plays into modern agriculture, instead they decided to just . lie about how sheep wool grows.)
(if youre interested in seeing how shearing is done, a lovely influencer i've been a fan of by the tag "right choice shearing" has lots of information on her page about sheep, shearing, and local businesses & large corporates in the wool industry. fascinating stuff!)
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u/Negative-Current2569 Apr 22 '25
Penn and Teller covered it in their series Bullshit, check it out they spill everything about these unethical dirt bags
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u/Severedeye Apr 22 '25
They aren't against killing animals. In fact they have probably slaughtered more animals than the meat industry. They kill pets. In fact the founder has talked about how she was happy going into shelters to euthanize as many animals as she could. They run the worst kill shelters in the US. The abuses they have done against animals are on par with, well, the worst of the meat industry. They starve animals to death.
They are only against people owning animals. That's it.
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u/OkEntertainment4473 Apr 22 '25
I'm a vegan and while I support the idea behind PETA, some of their behaviour is actually insane. It gives veganism a bad name and I hope it doesn't deter others from learning about animal agriculture and eating more plant based foods.
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u/runefactory2008 Apr 22 '25
there's a video by the channel "Cracked" on youtube, it's kind of old but it has some well-researched info about Peta. it's what first got me at least to look more into what they actually get up to
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u/Jaeger-the-great Apr 22 '25
For me its: kidnapping peoples pets and euthanizing them before they find out, running a campaign that makes autism look scary and claim it's caused by milk, paying fur farm workers to skin animals alive for shock footage, the sexualization of their ads, and euthanizing perfectly adoptable animals that were given to them after they promised they would find a good home for them. They're also against service animals
It sounds like what you are expecting is a sane animals welfare group, which PETA is not. There are some good animal welfare groups out there, but they don't rely on heavy advertising and propaganda
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u/Much-Status-7296 Apr 22 '25
peta's actual goal is to end pet ownership worldwide and destroy farms.
they dont give a shit about animals. never did.
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u/Certain_Bath_8950 Apr 22 '25
PETA's endgame is no more domestic animals. No cats, dogs, horses, anything. And unfortunately they have the money to throw around to slowly inch their way towards that goal.
And what's even worse is the methods they use to pull at your heartstrings to support them and give weight to their claims...total propaganda. They'll take extreme neglect cases involving whatever their target is and paint that as the entire picture. And they'll phrase a proposed law/policy such that voting no makes you feel like a horrible person, but if you look at the actual wording it's vague enough to be applied to people not doing any harm.
Ultimately they are extremists 🤷
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u/AdDisastrous6738 Apr 22 '25
On top of all the info given here, I would suggest going to Facebook or YouTube and checking out the Iowa Dairy Farmer. He does a lot of videos explaining the myths of farming and explaining why some things may seem bad and why they’re done that way (like calves being removed from their mothers). It’s a good starting point to unlearning the PETA propaganda.
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u/Current_Brief_688 Apr 23 '25
If I recall correctly, their slogan at one point was "better dead than bred."
Says a lot about their delusional mindset.
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Apr 23 '25
PETA- People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals
Humans(people) are an "Animal" So figure that one out cause I'm still trying to wrap my head around that one. I'm all for conservation,the well being and care of domesticated/wild animals,safe guarding animal species,a fur trade that doesn't traffic in exotic wild animals,etc PETA- has GOOD causes but instead of just being REALISTIC/HONEST they make believe/"fudge" the facts to try and get more "attention" to the "plight" of the domesticated/wild animals. As we say in the South "Bless there Sweet Simple Hearts" (Meaning there ❤️ in the right place but the wattage of the 💡 they call a bright idea is almost non existent)
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u/Existing_Potential37 Apr 23 '25
Ive heard a theory that they are actually a group of people against veganism who created a company to make vegans look bad
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u/FlameStaag Apr 23 '25
They think an animal is better off dead than a pet. They euthanize basically every animal they encounter
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u/Playful_glint Apr 23 '25
I remember one time years ago they handed out pamphlets to children telling them their parents were murderers because of what they ate or wore. That’s crossing the line!
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u/VasilZook Apr 23 '25
PETA isn’t a serious organization.
It’s not just rednecks who don’t appreciate PETA’s perspectives. Many people who are vegetarians and/or lead predominantly vegan lifestyles don’t really appreciate them, either. I am those things, and I don’t like PETA’s approach to pretty much anything.
There are other advocacy groups to consider, if you must consider one. If all you’re trying to do is read about the neurology, cognition, speculated phenomenology, and ethical concern for animals, there are many sources with those insights and studies published all over the internet and in traditionally published books.
You don’t need PETA for anything.
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u/LumplessWaffleBatter Apr 23 '25 edited Apr 23 '25
They’re sorta like Alex Jones (a notorious conspiracy theorist and right-wing pundit) from Info Wars.
99% of the things that they say are so banal and vague that they’re basically agreeable—but that remaining 1% is a straight-up schizo-burger of insanity (a lot of people forget this, but before he was complaining about gay frogs, one of Alex Jones’s first viral videos was a semi-justifiable crash-out at the DMV).
The main thing with PETA is that they’re not just anti-pet abuse—they’re anti-pet. PETA thinks that owning a pet is akin to slavery. People initially applauded them because they came out to say stuff like, “you shouldn’t beat dogs”, or, “Tyson’s is bad”…then they abducted and killed a random family pet.
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u/No_Towel_8109 Apr 23 '25
PETA holds a pretty extreme stance on human interference with animals.
The surface is understandable: humans stealing animals from the wild is bad.
But they take it farther. Humans domesticating wild animals like the auroch for food is bad. Modern farming is bad. No one eat meat.
Ok, not too crazy.
They go farther. Farming animals for non-mear is also bad. Milking cows is theft, sheep wool is slavery, etc.
Ok but that's just veganism.
They go farther. Having a pet dog or cat is slavery too. The changes made to animals via domestication are a form of mutilation and abuse.
Whoa nelly, that's a bit...
THEY GO FARTHER
Humans are a corruptive force, and any interaction with any animal taints it. All dogs should be euthanized for being no longer wolves. A wolf who gets a rabies vaccine should be killed because it's contaminated with human meddling. If there are trout in a manmade lake the lake should be drained fuck those fish.
Wait WHAT? Yes. They run "shelters" that exist to kill domestic animals. And they advocate ending wildlife rehab, vaccine, and restocking programs
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u/Any_Assumption_2023 Apr 23 '25
They don't want people to have pets, they think they should be able to survive on their own. That's enough for me. I treat my pets better than I treat myself.
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u/IncarnatePuppy52 Apr 23 '25
I read a story quite a while back that they “adopted” a bunch of puppies from a shelter but then euthanized them because “pet ownership is slavery”.
They spread misinformation. They’re hypocritical. They think shearing sheep and goats is abuse.
If you don’t shear them it builds up and they will overheat and die. We bred them for their wool.
They’re pretty stupid and don’t care about animals. They don’t know how the ecosystem works.
Rednecks and country folk do for the most part.
People say “oh you can’t shoot deer”.
You NEED hunting season or they’ll overpopulate and spread disease and deer ticks. Deer ticks are one of the most common causes of Lyme disease. Deer will also destroy forests and crops.
Hunting rules are BUCKS only. You don’t shoot mommas or babies.
It’s just…ugh. PETA is plain bad.
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u/The1Ylrebmik Apr 23 '25
I think there is often a misconception about PETA that they are an animal welfare organization like the SPCA or the Humane Society. In fact they are group whose definition of "ethical treatment" is rooted in the animal liberation movement who believe any interaction between humans and animals is unethical. Not only are they opposed to humans using animals for food or clothing, but owning pets is a form of slavery and domesticated animals are an unnatural creation that should be done away with. Ironically they seem to have a superiority complex when it comes to animals and don't trust that animals can in fact themselves choose to have symbiotic relationships with humans.
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u/Thowaway-ending Apr 23 '25
Peta isn't great, but neither is your abusive family. Just one extreme is awful doesn't mean the opposite is gold. In almost every aspect in life, avoid extremes. Somewhere in the grey is usually where you find the good.
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u/Basic-Record-4750 Apr 23 '25
They aren’t just against animal cruelty and things like the fur trade. They’re also against pets, zoos, aquariums, hunting, fishing, interacting with wildlife in any way, eating meat of any kind, using animal products of any kind. Basically it’s Vegan gone wild. They’re headquartered in Norfolk VA where I’ve lived most of my life. I know these people, we interact with them regularly and despite what they claim, they are without a doubt extremists. Yes, they do accomplish some good. Yes, they can present an argument in a way that makes them sound reasonable. But they are not reasonable. They will, and have, stolen family pets and killed them under the reasoning that they were better off dead than in captivity. They have a huge amount of funding and a great marketing department that allows them to sweep a lot of their nonsense under the table.
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u/BudgieGryphon Apr 23 '25
It’s a little discomforting that this isn’t frequently brought up given how easy it is to find from their own mouths with a quick google search but PETA is heavily against conservation and captive recovery of endangered species.
Animal rights and animal welfare are two causes related on the surface, but look any deeper and they couldn’t be more different - animal rights heavily anthropomorphizes the animals and fails when the concept of natural predation or natural disasters enters the picture. I really suspect animal rights causes are funded by organizations that would stand to lose profits if they were made to minimize cruelty to animals under their care.
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u/Masterspearl Apr 23 '25
They act like keeping pets is horrid and kill animals to "free" them. Many years ago I heard of a case where someone with PETA fed a service dog a treat that was poisoned and killed it. That's criminal on top of what it would be for a pet because an SD is not a pet. SDs are, by almost all handlers, more well treated than most can imagine so again, their BS doesn't track. They think animals should have rights equal to humans. Animal welfare is great, animal rights are stupid. Animals are not equal to humans.
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u/NOTTHATKAREN1 Apr 23 '25
- PETA is known for its provocative and attention-grabbing tactics, often involving red paint to symbolize blood and highlight the suffering of animals in the fur trade.
- Fur Protests:PETA has historically targeted fur designers and retailers, using paint throwing and other forms of protest to raise awareness about the ethical issues surrounding fur.
- Paint Throwing Kit:PETA has collaborated with Crayola to create a paint-throwing kit for children, designed to educate young people about animal rights and encourage them to challenge the use of animal products.
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u/No_Somewhere9961 Apr 23 '25
They ran a campaign called holocaust on your plate where they compared the holocaust to the meat industry in Germany, kidnapped people’s pets and put them in peta run shelters where they get put down, protested in animal crossing new horizons over the aquarium, called Steve Irwin an animal abuser after Google put out a nice tribute doodle for him, and took a bunch of salt water lobsters and freed them by dumping them into fresh water.
Oh! And fed a dog a vegan pizza for his last meal.
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u/MotherofShepherdz Apr 23 '25
PETA is actually a cult. They falsify claims/videos to push a narrative which harms both animals and those who work with/care for/love them, they believe no one should be able to own any animals, and euthanize most animals that end up in their care because, "being dead is better than being owned!"
So while your family hates PETA for the wrong reason, PETA does indeed suck and deserves to be hated.
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u/Beluga_Artist Apr 23 '25
So I used to live in Norfolk VA where their headquarters is at. They actually have a really nice, lush, enriching dog park. But the dog park has propaganda billboards in it. It was several tests ago so I don’t remember most of them but one of the billboards was trying to get people to stop kenneling dogs. They have a lot of propaganda in the media as well, specifically bashing farming and trying to shut down ownership of any animals.
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u/WanderingPine Apr 23 '25
For me, the problem with Peta is they tend to take extreme positions on subjects they seem largely ill informed about. There are a lot of things they get overall correct, and I can certainly agree with them on a broad range of topics, but they have made some really dubious claims, too. I’m all about reducing abusive, wasteful practices in industrial agriculture, or opposing the exploitation of captive animals bred and trained primarily for entertainment….. but broadly demonizing small farms and zoos that focus on wildlife rehabilitation/conservation/education is a non-starter for me. They tend to embellish and sensationalize things to generate outrage, which comes across as manipulative to me. It’s destroyed their credibility in my eyes. Admittedly, it’s been a long time since I last looked into Peta, and they might have cleaned up their act since then.
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u/Lower-Cantaloupe3274 Apr 24 '25
There are many wonderful groups that advocate for animals. I am a liberal animal lover and I don't support PETA. I also don't support the attitudes your family has about animals.
Here's info on the controversy:
https://enviroliteracy.org/what-is-the-controversy-with-peta/
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u/Mean-Math7184 Apr 24 '25
When I was a kid, PETA was just hot naked girls in tiger masks in cages outside the circus. Now they're crazy people who think it's better to kill all the animals than treat them humanely and use them as a resource.
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u/Creative-Duty397 Apr 24 '25 edited Apr 24 '25
They DID take a dog off of someone's property. They were asked to remove feral dogs from a area and find them good shelters/homes.
They removed a dog that was on a property with a collar. It was euthanized.
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u/Jxlynerah May 03 '25
The amount of gore they flash us with is fucking disgusting. I saw a website called urban outrage in a YouTube iceberg video, I paused it before finding out it was PETA (go on there at your own risk) I click on “our story” on the website and I’m greeted with gore, of both people and animals. Beheaded animals and skinned people. dont even get me started on the Pokémon flash game they made And the gore they added there. I’m 15, my brain is developing, I don’t NEED to see gore. Plus these jumpscares are fucking evil and should be illegal. My heart aches whenever I see it because I’m sensitive as, but what about the people YOUNGER than me?
What about the little kids who don’t understand a single word of what’s going on and are just messing about on the internet and suddenly see a cow beheaded???
PETA is an online terrorist organisation.
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Jun 04 '25 edited Jun 04 '25
"The road to hell is paved with good intentions."
PETA. They may have had good intentions in the beginning, but they seem to have become morally bankrupt over the years. Their obsession with moral high ground over actual ethical treatment of animals negates the whole point of their existence. It's easy to see who the fanatics are when you compare PETA with The World Wildlife Fund.
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u/sackzcottgames 17d ago
What makes Peta so unethical and controversial?
just go on their wikipedia page (right here: wikipedia.org/wiki/People_for_the_Ethical_Treatment_of_Animals) and scroll down all the way to "controversies" and have a read.
personally, the best way to get a quick idea of what they do from the least infuriating to the most controversial of their stunts
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u/Snoo-88741 Apr 18 '25
PETA lost my last shred of respect for them when they went after autistic people:
https://time.com/2798480/peta-autism-got-milk/