This was a really interesting interview I saw a while back. The problem with PETA is that they don't want us to use animals for anything other than taking photos from a distance and the occasional cuddle!
While this interview is around the practice of muesling sheep (a practice that is being phased out by 2010), check out the interviewers comment:
"If Ingrid Newkirk (head of PETA) says she won't only hurt the profits of the wool industry, she's determined, she truly believes it, that she'll shut it down forever."
She want to get rid of sheep farming altogether - presumably so that she can release sheep back into the wild. !!!!
"It's tough talk, but don't underestimate Ingrid Newkirk's power. US retail giant Abercrombie & Fitch, with over 300 stores across America, has just announced they won't buy Australian wool. It's reported PETA threatened a campaign branding them 'Abercruelty & Fitch'."
Isn't that just plain blackmail - she's saying unless you stop doing one thing, I am going to deliberately hurt your business. We elect governments to make laws. If she believes she is right, she should run for government and change the law rather than being a vigilante minority that employs blackmail as her chief tactic.
Here's another extract regarding her views on animals:
IAN MCLACHLAN: When you understand that these people are all vegans — they don't approve of eating meat, they don't approve of any of these livestock ventures, they don't approve of pets or anything else — then it is for people to make judgments about them. I mean, you just can't sit there and take it because they happen to have some view of life that most people on earth don't have.
PETER OVERTON: In Ingrid Newkirk's ideal world, all animals will live free. No-one will wear or eat an animal product, including milk or eggs. The list goes on.
Fishing?
INGRID NEWKIRK: Hunting in the water.
PETER OVERTON: Horse racing?
INGRID NEWKIRK: No. I'm not in favour of that.
PETER OVERTON: What about swatting a fly?
INGRID NEWKIRK: Well, the jury is perhaps out on insects.
She also wants her body barbequed in front of people when she dies.
I've got no problem with the ethical treatment of animals but this woman is a complete nutter. But she's also an eco-terroist - and I hope someone sues her ass right after they throw her in jail...