What's disturbing to me is how many people mistake PETA for an animal welfare group. They're not - they're an animal rights group. Two very, very different things.
Animal welfare groups are concerned with just that - the day to day welfare of animals. Breed rescues, shelters and the like are all examples of animal welfare organizations. Many are underfunded, and grass roots.
Animal rights groups are concerned with the ethics of animals as they are used and/or interact with humans and society. PETA, Ark II and their ilk are animal rights groups. Most of them have zip to do with the feeding, re-homing or sheltering of animals.
Take the crisis in New Orleans, for example. While PETA used it for fund raising, ask me how many official, PETA sanctioned groups were actually there, on the ground, helping to rescue and place animals. Zero. And how much, out of the millions raised yearly, did PETA contribute to rescue efforts there? Again, zero.
While grass roots groups feed feral cats, re-home puppy mill rescues, and place stray dogs on donations from individuals and what they can fund raise or spare from their own pockets, PETA raises millions (and spends millions) with glossy ad campaigns featuring celebrities yelping about the evils of eating meat and de-crying the raising of bees for honey production. Some groups could fund themselves for a year on what PETA spends per month on magazine ads alone.
Sorry if I sound a little bitter, but as one of those afore mentioned grass roots group members myself, it just pisses me off.
Morgan
