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PETA May be Held Responsible for Mistreatment and Deaths of Exotic Animals
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PETA: An organization that promotes the ethical treatment of animals—or is it?
Over the years, PETA has faced a lot of complaints, controversy and lawsuits that would strongly suggest they are not quite the animal lovers they claim to be and it would seem that they’ve found themselves in the hot seat yet again. U.S. Global Exotics—a company that specializes in global delivery of exotic animals—has taken PETA to court in an attempt to regain custody of more than 26,000 animals seized by the city on December 15th.
PETA suspected that US Global Exotics were mistreating the animals in their care, and so they sent one of their own in to investigate. Howard Goldman applied for a job as a snake caretaker with the exotic animal supplier. However, what the company didn’t know at the time was Goldman was being paid $135 for every day he sent any information to PETA that showed how the animals were mistreated.
The funny thing about sending information in is it can be quite hard to do when there’s nothing available; no evidence to speak of. Lance Evans, an attorney for the owners of US Global Exotics, claims that Goldman could have done more to provide food, water and care for the very animals he [Goldman] claimed were being mistreated; but instead he spent more time taking photos and sending daily reports to PETA than doing the work he was hired to do, which (funnily enough) involved the care of animals.
Evans also stated that “he was more concerned about helping PETA achieve its goal of putting US Global out of business than actually aiding any animals that he felt were in distress.”
The president of PETA, Ingrid Newkirk, has a different take on the matter, claiming Goldman did all he could to help the animals, plus accusing US Global Exotics of trying “to pin the blame for a litany of horrors on the one person who actually cared about the animals.”
A raid done by Arlington officials did certainly come up with some nasty evidence of mistreated animals: starving snakes, hundreds of reptiles packed in crates and rodents that had killed and eaten each other. The question is: who is really to blame for this?
Goldman claims that anywhere between 1,500 and 3,000 snakes were in his care and that he did everything he could for them, but that the owners would not pay for food, medical or other supplies he requested.
“We never had the proper amount of food. The snakes would go two or three weeks without even being offered food. There were days I found hundreds of snakes dead.”
Evans, however, counters these claims and asked Goldman why he did not follow a posted list of duties and let the snakes go for weeks without food or water or clean cages. Paul Boiko, another US Global employee also backs this up, testifying that most animals were fed and watered regularly, not to mention that a veterinarian visited them every week. He also explained that some animals were not fed before being packaged to avoid shipping problems; and also that certain reptiles were kept in cold conditions to force hibernation so they wouldn’t eat or move much, as a standard practice in the industry.
Did Goldman intentionally not follow the animal care procedures in order to provide PETA with information? Or did US Global owners really ignore his requests for adequate amounts of supplies? A ruling is expected to come out later this week to determine who the animal custody will be granted to.
By Heidi Marshall
Tags: animal cruelty, controversy, exotic animals, mistreated animals, PETA, reptiles, snake care, US Global Exotics
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Peta has a shelter in the US with the highest euthanasia rate in the country. They claim these animals are euthanized do to severe abuses. Really? What are the abuses? Where are the photos? Why is it that animal control facilities across the country have been able to reduce euth rates? Peta’s ultimate goal is no pet ownership. HSUS has similar views in regards to everything but cats and dogs.
YES the Peta employee should be charged. If the abuses were present both the employee who had direct care of the animals and the owners should face charges. Seriously? It took 9 months to prove neglect? While I am not fond of the company as a whole, I am lead to ask how bad was it before Peta arrived and how bad was it after 9 months?
Now this is the perspective of someone who works in the animal rescue field. I believe in animal WELFARE not animal rights and that there in lies the difference of me and organizations like PETA and HSUS.
Casey, what should animal rights groups do then? It’s an honest question, not a rhetorical one. I honestly think that PETA or the Humane Society would happily “go out of business” if it meant there was an end to cruelty to animals, but we all know that won’t happen any time soon. Are you against animal rights just PETA-style or wholesale?
PETA kills animals…that is often the war cry of animal welfare folks who truely understand what PETA does and does not do. There is a major difference between animal “rights” and animal “welfare.” PETA is the “poster child” for the “rights” side, and the HSUS is its “in a suit and tie” brother organization. Both of them will go out of business when there are no more animals benefiting humanity…
I support PETA, but that doesn’t mean I’ll agree with everything they do. Nor will I judge them wholesale if one of their employees acted in bad faith – which hasn’t been proven yet. It’s just a ‘he said-she said” thing right now, and I see no need to simply accept what the lawyer for the giant pet company says about the case.
PETA has an ideology and do their best to do practical things, which may often be controversial and not in everyone’s taste, but they call lots of attention to animal rights issues. They are not some huge money making corporation. I have visited their HQ and sanctuaries – not exactly Walmart.
Also, anti animal rights people love to equate PETA with direct action groups like ALF, who might release minks that die in the wild, but at least won’t be raised in a cage only to be slaughtered for some rich person’s coat. By the way I’ve seen feral minks living by docks and streams – they are not exactly angora rabbits or guinea pigs when it comes to surviving in the wild. Furthermore, PETA euthanize to ease suffering because there is a huge pet business that creates large amounts unwanted and abused domestic animals. Perhaps they should be let go instead like the minks?
I will have to agree that they certainly have a history of taking hypocritical actions. In the past there has also been evidence that suggests they’ve also funded animal lab tests and possible even conducted them, themselves. It’s a horrible thing to see animals used in such a manner.
PETA should absolutely be held responsible for the abuse and neglect to those animals! They are known for staging this type of thing, and the animals don’t matter at all. This is similar to AR-ists releasing minks and other animals and those animals cannot fend for themselves and DIE! People need to realize that PETA is not about helping animals. Look at their euthanasia statistics, they are deplorable! It is about sensationalism, power, and most of all money! This is more of a ‘cult’ than an organization that helps animals.