PETA sucks (and isn’t.)
It isn’t for the ethical treatment of animals, because how in the hell this ethical??
It seems PETA is going to be punished for taking and killing Maya, a little girl’s pet chihuahua. The putative “animal rights” organization — which hauled in $50,000,000 in donations last year — will be forced to pay a $500 fine.
From the HuffPo.
PETA has a history of this kind of behavior, grandstanding and trying to prove that pets are better off free from people…by being the people that put them in danger. They have an insanely high euthanasia rate at their “shelters”.
The Humane Society of the United States is almost as bad, with that whole being not allied with any actual shelters or humane societies and giving about 1% of their funding to such places.
So where’s a pet lover to donate?
Think local, looking into your local shelter, rescues, and humane societies. If there is a free or low cost clinic or spay/neuter program in your area donate there.
Here in Louisville I’ve personally interacted with and liked a lot of the programs run by Saving Sunny (a pitt bull rescue that is also currently running a special project to help low income neighborhood with everything from dog food and leashes to spaying, neutering and training.) Woodstock Animal Foundation (which adopts out through the Westport Rd. Petsmart) and South West Ohio Doberman Rescue (I have never seen these people give up on dogs!)
And while I have complaints about Petsmart (erm, they really could donate returned or damaged food instead of destroying it) their Charities program is excellent and helps out not just with homeless pets, but in bringing pets to classrooms and sending aide to people and pets who have faced natural disasters.
Even your local zoo can put used or new pet supplies to good use, and a new model catching on is thrift shops who donate their proceeds to shelters and rescues, so it doesn’t even have to be pet care items you donate.
If you’re more looking to support exotics the first step is to ask an exotics vet in your area who they recommend. There’s also places like Tiger Haven, P.A.W.S. and Black Pine Animal Sanctuary.
With more and more stories of PETA using your funds to burn down college research labs (I’m not for all research, but how is firebombing them helpful??), to steal and euthanize animals and…well this story speaks for itself. You’d better serve animals by burning the money than giving it to PETA.