I am an animal lover and I know that I sort of went into my feelings about them before in another blog, but I thought I would write another one. Just in case you do not know who PETA is you can go to www.peta.org to get the full aspect on PETA, but be warned, there is some graphic material on there. Basically PETA is "People for the ethical treatment of animals", which basically they state that animals should not be used for any kind of meat, fur, or be used in any way such as pulling farm equipment, having jobs, etc. Animals should have the same rights as humans and should be taken care of in a way that humans will treat them like a part of their family.

Why and if I agree with PETA, what my personal views are, and finally if I think PETA is going overboard and what should they be doing instead.
1. Animals should not be killed just because someone wants the fur, tusks, shell, etc. Animals should not be raised for this purpose alone either. There is NO sense in killing an animal just to have it skinned and then have everything else just tossed away in the trash. Also, the method in killing this animal is cruel, disrespectful, and downright disgusting. In this respect I do agree with PETA in fur usage. I do not think that animals should be killed or raised just because someone wants a fur coat, handbag, shoes, whatever.
1.1. I do, however feel that if the animal is going to be used for meat, then there is no reason that the skin, fur, feathers, etc. of that animals should be thrown away. If I decide I wanted to go buy a handbag and I find out that it is made out of a crocodile, then I want to be assured that the crocodile was killed because of meat and in a humane way, so this is something the company made with the left over "parts" and did not want to waste anything from the animal. Some people might argue the fact that prices would be going up, well I do not know about you, but I do not think that the average person could spend the money now to buy a crocodile handbag and if they do get one it is because they bought it on a credit card or they saved up for it. So, if the prices go even higher then maybe people will stop buying so many (the ones that can afford it) and the prices will go down. Either way, I can not bring myself to buy something that is made from an animal except for cows (leather). If animals are going to be used for meat, then EVERYTHING from that animal should be used and not go to waste.
1.2 I think PETA needs to try and pass a law stating that an animal should not be killed or raised just because of their fur, feathers, etc. It is illegal to kill an elephant because of its tusks even though poachers are still doing this. There needs to be stricter laws and people to enforce them. Where I think PETA goes to far is to say that no animal should be killed at all for human or even domestic animal consumption. Well, people are not going to stop eating meat overnight or drinking milk, so what PETA needs to focus on is banning fur farms and accepting the fact that people are still going to eat meat so work on using the entire animal and not just some. This would prove to be a big step. I also realize that people will still have fur farms, but with the right mentality and the right amount of fines, law enforcement will look into this more and bust them. People are going to do illegal things anyway, but some people will stop doing something because it is illegal. As for the people who run fur farms, have someone help them set up a shop to where they can sell the meat also.
2. PETA is totally again puppy mills because there are way too many puppy mills out there when there are millions of animals that need to be adopted through shelters. PETA wants to ban all puppy mills because either the “left over’s” are killed or sent to pet shops where they are not properly taken care of and shelters.
2.1. I am also against puppy mills for the simple fact that so many animals do get abused and thrown away like trash. If you go to shelters you can find purebreds. I also understand that some breeds might be endangered if humans stop breeding them. So, with that being said I think there should be breed specific companies that raise certain breeds but the simple fact of today is that anyone can go into this business. I know a lot of people personally who want to breed their animal and sell off the offspring and do not think twice about dumping the rest off somewhere. Also, I can not see why someone needs to pay upwards to $1,000 an animal. There needs to be more laws and regulations on these puppy/kitty mills or whatever animal they are breeding. As for sending these animals to a pet store, I think that should be outlawed as well. There are always going to be irresponsible people out there so the task of getting an animal should not be difficult, especially with shelters and people giving away animals. As for a specific breed, to me you are talking about a living creature, not a car. I personally like Mica Bella makeup so I would buy Mica Bella makeup, but when it comes to an animal, I do not look at it like, oh I want just this breed. I know I may be different but you should want an animal because you want to take care of him or her and love him or her not because of what breed they are.
2.2 PETA needs to start getting laws passed about puppy mills. I believe they are in the process of working on this but they do not come up with a solution on specific breeds. This is where I think their downfall is. No matter what they say or what I say, if someone wants a German Shepherd then they will get a German Shepherd, so with this being said, strict regulations and actually enforcing these regulations should be enforced to “Breeders” and not puppy mills.
3. Pet Shops: PETA states on their website that NO animal should be sold in pet stores because they are not being taken care of and it just promotes more funding for people to make a profit by taking animals out of wildlife and selling these animals. Most importantly they state are turtles, birds, and other exotic animals.
3.1. I do agree that this happens probably more than I would like to think about it. Problem is, I do not think that pet shops are going to stop selling animals. Do I think that pet shops should stop selling cats and dogs? Yes. Because cats and dogs need more interaction then fish and they are a lot harder to take care of. They can not be cooped up in a cage all day without being able to run around. As for turtles, hamsters, rats, fish, birds, etc; I believe that more regulations and rules need to make sure that the pet shops that do carry animals for sell be inspected on a regular basis. One of my favorite animal places to get supplies and to adopt animals is Pet Smart. According to PETA, their secret agents went in and worked at Pet Smart and found that animals were being abused so now Pet Smart is on their s*it list. Now, I am not saying that PETA is wrong on this, but I do not think that all Pet Smart stores abuse their animals. There are pet stores that abuse their animals and to me it does not take a rocket scientist to figure out if their animals are being abused. Do I know for a fact that my turtle was plucked from the wild? No. All I know is that she was brought to that nasty pet store and needed medical attention so I chose to do something about it. The rats that are being sold are domesticated rats, and you can tell if a rat was plucked from the wild or not by their mannerisms. Birds are probably, in my opinion, the animal that gets plucked from the wild the most. Do I feel that birds are a good pet? Not really only because their wings are clipped so they can not fly and I do not think that a bird should be in a cage. But I do think there are cases where the bird needs medical treatment or if they are being abused. It is better to rescue an animal that has no chance of living “free” then to let that animal suffer and die in a pet store.
3.2. As I said earlier, I think PETA needs to work more on making sure the animals are being taken care of and shutting down the stores where the animals are being abused, but also have a place to take care of the animals as well. They just simply cannot state that humans should stop all adopting processes of getting an animal through a pet store. They need to start with baby steps first. Maybe making more laws or enforcing laws that will stop people from bringing in wild animals to sell or to breed.
4. PETA wants everyone to go true vegan, meaning no meat, no dairy, nothing that comes from an animal or made by an animal. They do give information on how to go all vegan but from what I have read they do have little tolerance for people who are mostly vegan but not all the way. Not only do they want humans to go all vegan but they want domestic animals (cats, dogs, pigs, sheep, etc) to go all vegan as well.
4.1. I have no problem with people who are true vegans as long as they do not try to push it off on me, kind of like religion. It takes a LOT of effort, courage, and money to go true vegan so I am very proud of the people who can do this. But in reality, not everyone is going to do this. Some people’s jobs and lives depend on raising animals to make a living or to even survive and if there was a law or something passed saying that animals could not be killed for meat anymore, then I think that more hardships would incur. I do however feel that more laws and regulations should be enforced into how these animals are treated. People in my opinion consume way too much meat, and I also know that grocery stores throw away a lot of meat because people simply do not buy it all before it goes bad. I also know that a lot of times grocery stores and other food places will not donate to the local homeless shelter because too many people end up suing the company if they get sick. But something has to be done because if an animal gets his or her life taken away for meat, then that animal should be put to good use. As for having domesticated animals so all vegan, that is just ridiculous. There are numerous websites stating that cats have to have meat in order to survive and stay healthy and I am pretty sure these websites would say the same thing about dogs as well. If I put a plate of vegetables and a plate of meat down in front of my two dogs, they will go for the meat first, it is in their genes. The same for the cat to. I am allergic to all seafood but I went out and got a can of tuna (yuck) and no sooner did that can open she was all over it meowing like a crazy kitty needing her crack, LOL. So it is in her genes to and she has NEVER had seafood before.
4.2. PETA needs to target and place energy towards making sure the animals are getting treated well, not only for the animals sake, but also for humans and domesticated animals as well. They can still try and push the true vegan thing, that does not bother me because it is their view but in order for some people to care about animals, I believe they have to care about what they put in their body first. Also, there has to be something done with all the excess meat that is left over. Yes, it has to sell by a certain date, but as long as you buy it beforehand and freeze it, it can last up to 3 months. Do you know how much food that would provide for the homeless or people who are having a hard time buying food? Can you imagine actual food pantries that give away food to people because there is simply too much extra food from grocery stores? I have gone to a food pantry before; most of the items I received were expired for at least a year. I can buy something that is in date at the store and get sick from it, does not mean I am going to sue. Anytime you eat something, you can get sick from it. So PETA needs to work on this more. Buy helping people, they can raise awareness to help animals.

More personal notes: I do believe that you should get some kind of tax credit for having animals. If you can provide documentation about all the food and medical treatment you have paid for an animal then you should get something back. I personally think you should get a discount on supplies for taking care of your animals instead of just money; this would include medical visits to food to special needs. I also believe that more jobs can be made by having people go around and inspect people who have animals making sure they are not being abused. In my area we have a humane society, but all they do is show up, see if the animal is being abused, if the animal is being abused they take the animal and take it to the pound and then that animal will more then likely die within the 3 month period the shelter can “take care” of the animal. Most people do not want to adopt a sick animal. More information and one on one dealings with the people who have the animal needs to be enforced and maybe the person is falling on hard times and they have to make that very hard decision of feeding themselves or their animals. Government programs should be able to help out with people and animals in need. Of course people will abuse this, but people abuse the welfare and SSI all the time and get away with it, but what the government does not understand is that if they start hiring people to help out with the problem, they will save money in the end. Again, this is my own personal opinion.
Animals should be treated with dignity and respect. People need to find out exactly what they are getting into before adopting an animal. Animals are hard work, they are not something materialistic that can be just thrown away when the person does not want to take care of them anymore.
Overall, I think PETA could help out a lot more if they wanted to instead of telling people what they are doing wrong and by showing really nasty videos of animals being abused. I do not want to watch these videos and even though I think the public should be made aware of this, they also need to have more information on what you can do verses what you should not do.
I have personally applied to become a staff member at PETA in hopes that I can find someone within the organization to see my viewpoints and try to work together to save animals, not to badger people into things they have no interest in. I was turned down. PETA needs to help animals, not tell people what they need to do, they can offer solutions to people in how to help. Kind of like being green. I try to be green but I will admit that I am not a “green” person all the way, but I do what I can. I do not need an organization to tell me that I am a bad person because I took an extra 4 minutes in the shower, I need someone to tell me that they are happy with the fact that I turn the water off while I was brushing my teeth. It is a start and that is all we need.
Feel free to comment or ask me about my views on different subjects I am more then willing to share. Thank you for reading.