John M. Simpson of the law firm, Duane, Morris, LLP, recently authored an expose of the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) in a February 2nd article posted on Lexology Each year PETA criticizes the organizers of the Groundhog Day event featuring Punxsutawney Phil as a “cruel form of speciesism”. Besides being an ineffective predictor of weather, Phil is mostly semi- hibernational during the event and has yet to respond to his testosterone that harkens the advent of spring.
Attorney Simpson documents the euthanasia rate in the Norfolk Animal Shelter operated by PETA in comparison to the Norfolk Animal Care and Adoption Center and the euthanasia rate for all Virginia shelters combined. In 2022 PETA euthanized 74 percent of all animals taken in compared to 8 percent for all Virginia agencies. PETA destroyed 79 percent of cats and 66 percent of dogs surrendered or collected. Corresponding figures for all Virginia agencies
were 10 percent for cats and 7 percent for dogs. The 2,130 animals that PETA euthanized represented 11 percent of all animals disposed of in the Commonwealth of Virginia in 2022.
It appears that the unwritten PETA policy is that a dead animal is a happy animal.