Nick Musick

Professor Sarah Hughes

English 1102-071
7 March 2016
PeTA, The Antihero of the Animal Rights
How much affection do you have towards animals? It doesnt have to be all of them. Just
take a moment to think of one animal that you really enjoy. It might be a cute little kitty just
learning to walk or an attention seeking puppy wanting to play. Now imagine being in a dimly lit
room that reeks of feces and urine and finding a large gathering of kittens or puppies huddled in
one of the corners of the room. Most of the poor animals in that corner have been mutilated with
many missing an eye, ear, leg, or tail. Now imagine that right now somewhere in the world a
room like this exists with many of the same animals being tortured and beaten the same way.
Hopefully at this point any affection you might have had towards that animal has been washed
away and replaced with misery. Its those emotions that animal organizations like PeTA want you
to experience. You see, when people like you have those kinds of emotions it makes you feel
guilty and when youre tricked into feeling guilty, youll want to help out in any way possible.
Of course that usually means donating some spare cash, and its your donations that aid in the
destruction of cruelty rooms. PeTA is just one of the hundreds of animal organizations that try
and eliminate animal cruelty all around the world, and one of most infamous. The problem with
PeTA however is that although they may want to help animals and end all cruelty, they do it in
the strangest ways imaginable. In fact, the first word that comes to mind when I heard this was
antihero. PeTA is the antihero of the animal organizations of the world.

Ill begin by defining what it means to be an antihero. An antihero is a person or

organization who has the intent on doing good in the world and making it a better place, but the
actions they take to make the world better are less than heroic. Lets say a cat is stuck in a tree, a
normal person might think to get a ladder to climb up and save the cat. An antihero on the other
hand might try cutting the tree down to save the cat in the tree. Both result in the cat being saved,
but one method is clearly nicer and safer for the savior and the cat. (Dictionary.com) It seems fair
to consider ending the cruelty toward animals as a heroic task, which means technically
organizations such as PeTA could be seen as heroes. However, even though their purpose might
be heroic the different actions each organization takes to reach their goal may be less than
expectable. One of the biggest faults in their methods is trying to convince people to go vegan
through the use of propaganda. PeTA has been known to use some really controversial pictures to
portray their ideals onto others. Some examples of this include claiming that drinking a cows
milk will lead to autism in your child, feeding kids meat is child abuse, and letting your kids eat
meat has an increase in heart disease and cancer. All of these images and more can be found
online just by typing in their name. PeTA has also been known to use partially to fully nude and
sometimes battered models to get the point across about animal abuse and not using animal fur.
Instead of opting for more of a safer approach to get their point across PeTA has gone to the
point of spreading propaganda and lies and backing it up with false scientific claims this is just
one of the many reasons way PeTA is the antihero of the organizations.
Ever wonder what PeTA stands for, and the E in PeTA is lower case? PeTA stands for
People for the ethical Treatment of Animals. The reason the E is lowercase is because ethical to
PeTA doesnt necessarily follow the definition of ethical. For all the preaching they spout about
how we need to end animal cruelty and how we need to get homeless animals off the streets, they

dont actually say what they do when they get a homeless animal off the streets. Recently PeTAs
2015 animal shelter killing record was released and it showed that in all 1,456 cats and dogs
where killed by PeTA as a method of removing homeless strays from the streets. (The Center For
Consumer Freedom) This shelter killing is nothing new. Since 1998 when the records began
PeTA has reportedly killed 34,970 stray cats and dogs. Of course its not just strays. In November
of 2014, a familys pet chihuahua was reportedly dognapped by PeTA employees and killed once
arriving at their shelter. (The Center For Consumer Freedom) They later stated that the dog was
mistaken for a stray, and as an apology to the family PeTA sent them a vegan gift basket. Heres
another reason why PeTA is the anti hero in the fight against animal cruelty. Instead of trying to
find homes for as many of the strays as possible and reuniting any lost pets they just end up
killing them.
With all the negative stigma around PeTA is easy to forget all the good has done for the
fight against animal abuse. For instance PeTA has saved hundreds of animals from poor living
environments and irresponsible owners. PeTA has also starting putting huge amounts of pressure
on zoos and aquariums all across the country. I know personally because I worked at a zoo for
over a year. I was given the job of an animal interpreter. Basically it was my job to teach guests
at the zoo all about the inhabitants that reside inside. One of the biggest things they drilled into
my head was to never talk about the living condition of the animals and why some animals went
off exhibit. They gave me a little slip of paper that contained a list of responses to those
questions for fear of receiving lawsuit from an organization like PeTA. With that in mind it
wasnt the lawsuit they feared it was the publicity around the lawsuit that would ruin the zoo. An
example of this is the movie Blackfish, a documentary about SeaWorld and how they exploit
their orcas, and in return the whales have killed some people. This movie crippled SeaWorld as a

business and basically alienated any guest that might have visited in the future. Time magazine
reported that SeaWorld Entertainment has faced an 84% drop in net second-quarter income,
from $37.4 million in 2014 to $5.8 million in 2015(TIME). Its this fear that PeTA instills in
zoos and aquariums. Also did I mention that PeTA is a shareholder with over $2,273.70 worth of
shares for SeaWorld, and not only that, they had bought more shares after Blackfish aired.(CNN)
The plan was to give themselves more of a voice at SeaWorld to try and free the whales.
PeTA has always had bad rap for doing things they believed necessary to end animal
abuse, but that doesnt mean that their goals are no less than heroic. Spreading false propaganda
in order to invoke fear into families to stop eating meat, killing animals to save more animals
who are in more trouble, or even buying shares in a company known to abuse animals in order to
control it. PeTA will try anything and everything to end animal abuse, but end it using the worst
methods possible.

Sources
Dictionary.com. Dictionary.com, n.d. Web. 04 Apr. 2016.
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/antihero

"Animal Rights Activists and Organizations." Speaking of Research. Speaking of Research, 18

June 2014. Web. 04 Apr. 2016.
http://speakingofresearch.com/extremism-undone/animal-rights-activists-organizations/
"Center for Consumer Freedom." Center for Consumer Freedom Atom. The Center for Consumer
Freedom, 2 Mar. 2016. Web. 04 Apr. 2016.
https://www.consumerfreedom.com/2016/03/petas-pet-killing-claimed-1456-victims-in-2015/
"Meet PETA's Rescue Team and the Animals They Help." PETA Investigations. People For The
Ethical Treatment Of Animals, n.d. Web. 04 Apr. 2016.
http://investigations.peta.org/petas-rescue-team/
Rhodan, Maya. "Seaworld's Profits Drop 84% After 'Blackfish' Documentary." Time. Time, 6
Aug. 2015. Web. 04 Apr. 2016.
http://time.com/3987998/seaworlds-profits-drop-84-after-blackfish-documentary/
PETA, That's The Message from. "PETA Takes on SeaWorld, by Buying Its Stock." CNNMoney.
Cable News Network, 23 Apr. 2013. Web. 04 Apr. 2016.
http://money.cnn.com/2013/04/24/news/companies/seaworld-peta/index.html?
sr=fb042413petaseaworld330p