Animal rights profiteering is not the answer

The reason I got involved in the media business 21 years ago was quite simply because I saw the danger of the animal rights groups that were attempting to mislead the public about the ownership of animals.

I have long said that when 84% of pet owners consider themselves the mother or father of their pet, the human race is in jeopardy. Folks, jeopardy has arrived. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and Chief Medical Advisor to the president, is now being called out because he allegedly did cruel research on puppies. The end does not justify the means, in my mind.

I will not make the assumption that everyone knows about recent discoveries of Fauci’s research on live puppies including removal of their voice boxes to control barking while bacteria were allowed to consume these dogs alive.

What bothers me most is the folks that are turning to the animal rights groups for an explanation of the cruelty. Yes, even Fox News and Tucker Carlson hosted a vice president of the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals to explain the dangers of Fauci conducting cruel experiments on dogs. Animal rights organizations like PETA have zero concern about animal care; they only care about using media for their donations.

How much does an animal rights group like PETA truly care about animals? The data may be shocking to some. The Center for Consumer Freedom has published a tremendous amount of factual information about this very topic in recent years:

“Ridiculously, PETA has argued that outdoor cats should be summarily killed instead of allowed to live. In a 2014 interview with the Washington Post, Newkirk argued that outdoor cats would be better off dead because they might contract a future illness or be hit by a car in the future.”

In 2009, 97% of the pets donated to PETA were killed by the organization, according to the Center for Consumer Freedom, a nonprofit group that promotes personal responsibility and protecting consumer choices. Due to public awareness by the Center for Consumer Freedom and Virginia “sunshine laws,” PETA had to reduce the number of animals directly donated that were killed but the number is still 67%.

Here is the bad news, PETA is one of the lightweight animal rights profiteering groups in the country, as its revenues are less than $100 million annually. The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals has annual revenue in excess of $250 million and the Humane Society of the United States is at over $150 million each year. I do not understand the double standard; these groups talk about animal rights, but they all kill animals.

For example, in May 2019 transportation of 20 dogs by the ASPCA from Louisiana to Wisconsin resulted in the death of every single dog, yet nobody was held accountable. Why the double standard? More importantly why are folks who should know better turning to these animal rights profit mongers and giving them any credibility whatsoever?

I don’t believe animal rights groups who mislead the public for profit on a daily basis should gain any credibility.

Editor’s note: The views expressed here are the author’s own and do not represent the views of High Plains Journal. Trent Loos is a sixth generation United States farmer, host of the daily radio show, Loos Tales, and founder of Faces of Agriculture, a non-profit organization putting the human element back into the production of food. Get more information at www.LoosTales.com, or email Trent at [email protected].