PETA Begs to Differ: Letter to the Editor

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals media writer Amanda Schinke wrote Sunshine State News a letter to the editor taking issue with my blog of Feb. 27, "PETA, Pet Deaths and O.J. Simpson's House."

In the interest of fairness, I would like to print the body of her Feb. 29 letter here:

"We are writing about yesterday's post about the animals PETA had to euthanize in 2011. The statement at the end of your post "The PETA spokeswoman did not comment on the news " is misleading, as PETA is always available to comment on our work when asked. We simply were not asked about this subject, either for your post or for the post by Mr. Gellar that your story references. Please allow us to pass along the following information about our work and the group that is disseminating its misleading news release, which we ask that you use to correct the misleading sentence at the end of your post:

"As discussed in yesterday's Washington Post, the Center for Consumer Freedom is a deceitfully named front group for Philip Morris, Outback Steakhouse, KFC, cattle ranchers, and other animal exploiters who kill millions of animals every year and not out of compassion, but out of greed. The meat, tobacco, and alcohol industries fund the CCF to fight any attempt to educate consumers about animal protection and health issues. Among the CCF's targets are Mothers Against Drunk Driving and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Please take a look at BermanExposed.org and ConsumerDeception.com.

"The Daily Caller article referenced in your post, based on information sent out by CCF, was old news. PETA sent out a news release about this issue two weeks ago, and it was picked up by media at that time. So, as you can see, CCF is distributing old information.

"PETA has a small division that does hands-on work with animals, and most of the animals we take in are society's rejects; they are aggressive, on death's door, or somehow unadoptable. We have posted many blog posts about this over the years. The information that you received misrepresented the situation and the number of unwanted and suffering animals PETA euthanizes because of injury, illness, age, aggression, and other problems because their guardians requested it or because no good homes exist for them. As demonstrated in an undercover investigation into one no-kill "rescue sanctuary" which broke just today and resulted in the seizure of hundreds of animals and their owner's arrest there are some fates worse than death. We are glad to explain this to anyone who calls us for comment."