True Green Report

PETA'S Ingrid Newkirk: Starring in a latter day 'Fairytail'

March 3, 2003

Brian Tubbs of the Capital Research Centre provides the makings of a modern day fairytale in the biography of PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) executive director Ingrid Newkirk.

But fairytale in this case should be spelled 'fairytail.'

If you had to guess Newkirk’s background, you might guess that she was a high wire walker in her hometown circus, or perhaps once a frustrated veterinarian.

You’d be closer to the bullseye if you chose the second.

Born in England 52 years ago, Newkirk grew up in India in a home filled with ailing people and animals. Eventually she made her way abroad to Montgomery County, Maryland, where she worked as, of all things, a deputy sheriff.

Newkirk said she was drawn to the animal rights issue after seeing conditions at an animal shelter where she dropped off stray pets, but soon she wanted to do more than improve animal welfare. Operating out of her home, Newkirk and fellow activists handed out vegetarian recipes and printed lists of companies manufacturing non-leather shoes and wallets.

Soon they moved from this hokey kitchen table operation to the bigger mission of planning protests against slaughterhouses and government agencies overseeing animal research.

Bigger meaning lucrative. In its original growth pattern, PETA grew to over 300,000 members with a budget in excess of $7 million. Throughout the 1980s and ‘90s, PETA was centre-stage in the worldwide debate over animal rights. By 2001, its budget exceeded $13 million, it boasted a membership of 700,000, and it had offices in countries from Spain and South Africa to India and Taiwan. While most PETA revenue comes from small individual donations, its average amount of that is twice that of the American Humane Society, one of the nation’s oldest animal-related organizations. A donation of $16 or more entitles members to many benefits including a free subscription to PETA’s quarterly magazine Animal Times. In 1996, PETA moved its headquarters from the Washington suburbs to a $2.2 million four-storey building overlooking the Elizabeth River in Norfolk, Virginia. It has 132 fulltime employees, 96 in Norfolk.

According to Tubbs, "By most accounts, PETA is an unpleasant place to work and Newkirk a harsh taskmaker. Says John Newton, a Norfolk area animal lover. ‘They’re brutal on their people.’ Using the word ‘cultlike’, Newton says, ‘If you’re not radical enough, they’ll drive you out.’

"Newkirk acknowledges that she drives her people hard: ‘It is true, I am tough. I believe we should be… a mean, lean fighting machine. This is not a rest home for people who just have warm feelings about animals.’

"PETA argues that animals have the same rights as humans. In Newkirk’s words: ‘When it comes to feelings, a rat is a pig is a dog is a boy. They are all mammals. They all feel pain. There is no rational basis for saying that a human being has special rights.’

"PETA excels at creating publicity stunts and making outrageous claims.

"It erected billboard ads claiming ‘Jesus was a vegetarian. Show respect for God’s creatures–follow Him.’

"It urged terrorist Timothy McVeigh to reconsider his life–and become a vegan, pleading with McVeigh to select a last meal that did not ‘involve bloodshed and the slaughter of an unwilling victim.’

"When an 8-year-old boy lost his arm in a violent shark attack in South Florida, PETA put up a billboard asking: ‘Would you give up your right arm to know why sharks attack? Could it be revenge?’ Public outrage forced the organization to cancel an advertising campaign.

"In September 2001, PETA put up a billboard in Canada telling people to ‘Eat the Whales’. Its point was to criticize anti-whaling environmentalists for not supporting the animal rights movement. ‘They’re always ready to condemn…whalers…while ignoring the greater suffering from the buckets of chicken wings or fish sticks that they harvest at the drive-through or haul home from the file meat counter,’ explained PETA spokesman Andrew Butler.

"After Mayor Rudy Guilani announced that he had prostrate cancer, PETA responded to his participation in the ‘Got Milk?’ campaign by putting up billboards depicting the mayor with a milk moustache and the caption ‘Got Prostrate Cancer?" Guiliani threatened to sue PETA and taunted it by drinking milk on TV while praising its health benefits."

But Ingrid Newkirk, star of this modern day fairytail is no Cinderella or Snow White, she’s much more like the wicked Witch of the West–with scads of other people’s money with which to play.

by: Cindy Moustakis

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A couple is suing the franchise of a McDonald’s restaurant in Panama City Beach, Fla., saying an improperly prepared bagel damaged the husband’s teeth and their marriage, AP reports.

John and Cecilia O’Hare sued for more than $15,000 in unspecified damages. They say that the McDonald’s, owned by Johnstone Foods Inc., was negligent and violated an "implied warranty that the food was sold reasonably fit for human consumption."

They contend in the suit that Mr. O’Hare broke teeth and bridgework on Feb. 1, 2002, when he bit into the bagel. The suit did not detail what was wrong with the bagel.

The suit said the wife "lost the care, comfort, consortium and society of her husband."

Tracey Johnstone, owner of Johnstone Foods, said she never before had a bagel complaint and had no idea how it could have been prepared in a way that would damage teeth.

"It’s a bagel," she said.

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) President Ingrid Newkirk lectures everybody else, so why not Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat?

Newkirk sent a deferential letter to Arafat about a Jan. 26 bombing in which a donkey--but no human beings--died after being strapped with explosives and detonated.

"Your Excellency," Newkirk wrote in a note faxed to Arafat’s Ramallah headquarters, "We have received many calls and letters from people shocked at the bombing…All nations behave abominably in many ways when they are fighting their enemies, and animals are always caught in the crossfire."

Newkirk informed the Palestinian leader that "the U.S. army abandoned thousands of loyal service dogs in Vietnam", as if Arafat would really care.

"Al-Qaeda and the British government have both used animals in hideously cruel biological weaponry tests. We watched on television as stray cats in your own compound fled as best they could from the Israeli bulldozers…If you have the opportunity, will you please add to your burdens my request that you appeal to all those who listen to you to leave the animals out of this conflict?"

Newkirk was asked if she considered asking Arafat to persuade those who listen to him to stop blowing up people as well. "It’s not my business to inject myself into human wars," she replied.

Israeli Embassy spokesman Mark Regev declined to comment on PETA’s plea, but said: "I find it ironic that the Palestinian leaders choose to send donkeys to kill civilians. Surely, the Palestinian people deserve better than the current bunch of asses who run their affairs."

Meanwhile, Newkirk shouldn’t hold her breath waiting for an answer from Yasser Arafat.