Tag: Dan Mathews

Massachusetts Judge Dismisses Indecency Charge, But Fines PETA Activist for Disturbing the Peace

The Harvard Crimson reported in September that a district judge dismissed indecency charges against six activists with People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, but upheld a charge of disturbing the peace against PETA’s Dan Mathews.

The case stems from a March 1 protest in which the six activists stripped to their underwear in Harvard Square to protest fur. At the protest, Mathews shouted,

We’re here because we care. We’re bare in Harvard square. Wearing fur’s not fair. WeÂ’re in our underwear.

In addition to Matthews, those arrested were Aryenish Tiraz Birdie, Amy Thomson, Brandi Valladolid, Kristin Waller and Karla Waples.

Except for Mathews, the disturbing the peace charges were “continued without a finding” meaning that as long as the activists aren’t arrested in Massachusetts again over the next six months, the charge will be dismissed. Mathews chose to plead guilty to the charge, according to his attorney, because he doesn’t want the restraint of being arrest free for the next six months. In addition, Mathews said that he has had to travel to Cambridge repeatedly for time consuming court hearings and it was easier to just pay the $300 fine.

The Crimson reported that Matthews said he has been arrested more than 20 times since he joined PETA.

Source:

Court dismisses PETA charges. Joseph Tartakoff, Harvard Crimson, September 17, 2004.

PETA Protest Ends in 6 Arrests. Faryl Ury, Harvard Crimson, March 2, 2004.

Pamela Anderson Featured on PETA's New Anti-KFC Billboard

After its outrageous billboards against eating meat, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals’ new anti-KFC billboard featuring Pamela Anderson is a major let down,

Wow, “Boycott KFC.” I’m sure the nation’s omnivores will foreswear chicken completely with that message.

Apparently PETA’s creative juices only get flowing when they’re calling meat eaters child abusers or making videos showing women being assaulted.

It is interesting to note, though, that in a letter Anderson wrote to Yum! Brands chair David Novak last October, Anderson requested a meeting with Novak saying,

Please contact me through Dan Mathews of PETA at 757-622-7382, extension 1308, or via e-mail at [email protected]. Thank you for your time and attention to this important matter, and I look forward to hearing from you soon.

So Anderson “care[s] so much about the pain and misery of these abused little animals” as she writes in her letter, but could care less about associating with a man who celebrated the murder of fashion designer Gianni Versace. I guess a celebrity only has time to care about so many things, and worrying about those who celebrate serial killers just isn’t on Anderson’s radar.

Sources:

Letter to Michael Novak (PDF). Pamela Anderson, October 27, 2003.

More on the Absurdities of British Animal Rights Terrorism

Here’s the full text of a notice that Save the Newchurch Guinea Pigs posted on its website in February in its continued harassment of David Hall and company.

SNGP New Target – Calor Gas

Calor Gas supply the Halls with gas for use in their central heating systems. With winter well underway it is time to freeze the killers out and ensure Calor Gas sever all ties with this animal killing family.

We need to remind the Halls (as if they could have forgotten!) that anyone who has anything to do with them will have to face the anger of the animal rights movement and we need to show Calor Gas that those who deal with the business or personal life of animal killers such as the Halls will not be allowed to do so any longer.

Contact Calor Gas TODAY and let them know what you think of them dealing with a family that sends animals to torture and death in laboratories and breaks the necks of guinea pigs with their own bare hands!

Email them, phone them, fax them, write to them, and organize demonstrations against them — whatever you do do it loud and proud safe in the knowledge that you are hammering another nail into the coffin of the vile vivisection business of the Hall family.

Source:

SNGP New Target- Calor Gas. Save the Newchurch Guinea Pigs, February 2004.

PETA Brings Holocaust Campaign to Europe

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals has brought its Holocaust-On-A-Plate campaign to Warsaw, Poland, where so many Jews were slaughtered by Nazi Germany. Needless to say, the campaign isn’t going over well with local Jewish leaders.

PETA is running an advertisement that the Associated Press describes thusly,

The television ads, showing the outside world as seen through the slates of a boxcar, with a voice describing the plight of being transported with no food and water . . .

Organizers say they hope to protest against the brutality of transporting live animals for slaughter by invoking the suffering of hundreds of thousands of Jews carried in inhumane conditions to death camps in Europe and chose Warsaw for their launch because so many Polish Jews perished in the Holocaust.

According to the Associated Press, PETA hopes that MTV Poland will run the ad in order to target the youth market.

The kicker to the entire story, however, was PETA’s Dan Mathews telling the Associated Press,

I know the ad is provocative. But for me, one of the lessons of the Holocaust is to recognize other atrocities.

Mathews forgot to mention the other lesson he learned from the Holocaust — his admiration for serial killers.

Source:

Animal rights ad evokes Holocaust. Associated Press, July 15, 2003.

PETA's Turkey Terrorist Television Ad

Just in time for Thanksgiving, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals produced a television commercial that draws on fear of terrorism to sell the vegetarian message.

The ad shows terrorists taking over a supermarket, with the store manager bound and gagged and shoppers cowering in fear while an unseen terrorist declares that innocent creatures will be beaten, scaled and dismembered if anyone resists.

At the end of the commercial, the terrorist is revealed to be a turkey puppet whose demand is that people stop eating meat.

Well, it is certainly consistent with PETA’s message that it is okay to use both violence and threats of violence to further the animal rights movement. After all, when serial killer Andrew Cunanan murdered fashion designer Versace, it was left to PETA’s Dan Mathews to proclaim that he admired Cunanan for finally getting Versace to stop using fur.

PETA’s Lisa Lange told The New York Times that,

A fake supermarket takeover has zip to do with the events of Sept. 11. You’d really have to be a big grump not to see the humor in all of this.

A big grump? Or perhaps someone aware of the numerous statements and actions by PETA staffers in sympathy with and support of animal rights violence.

Fortunately, only a single television station actually accepted the commercial, and PETA tried to gain a bit of additional press by announcing their “withdrawal” of the advertisement before it could be shown on that station.

Source:

‘Turkey Terror’ Ad by Animal Rights Group. The New York Times, November 28, 2002.

Supermodel Gisèle Harassed by PETA

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals garnered some media attention for itself by sending four people to jump on stage and harass model Gisèle during a Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show.

None of the outfits on display at the show used fur, but PETA’s Dan Mathews had been threatening for weeks to make Gisèle pay for modeling furs for a mink cooperative.

Fur Commission USA had the best description and commentary on the disruption.

Of course the obvious question raised by FCUSA is why on Earth does a group like this still have a nonprofit status? Why should taxpayers still be helping to subsidize this sort of activity? And more importantly, why doesn’t the media ever focus on that angle? You can bet that if this were an anti-abortion nonprofit endorsing these kinds of actions, for example, that they would not have that status for long.

FCUSA also has a rundown on each of the PETA activists involved in this protest, with their profile of Kayla Rae Worden raising an eyebrow,

Kayla Rae Worden (who calls herself “Stripper for a Cause”) followed Gisèle all the way down the runway holding a sign, appropriately made of vinyl (plastic), which personally attacked the model. The vinyl sign was emblazoned with the PeTA corporate logo, leaving no doubt what company sponsored the attack.

PeTA employee Kayla Rae Worden started life as Kevin Worden. During a 2002 appearance on the Howard Stern Show, Kayla/Kevin stripped when he threatened to kill insects and fish if the three PeTA-phile guests didn’t show him some boob. Kayla/Kevin was quick to reveal her set and Howard complimented Kayla/Kevin on her commitment to the cause and her “nice, natural breasts”. That’s right – without surgery perfected on animals and daily hormone therapy developed on animals, Kayla/Kevin would be sporting full body fur and a moustache. Isn’t it amazing what a little animal-tested hormone therapy can do?

And working for a group that opposes AIDS research in animals.

Source:

Plastic People Fail to Fluster Super-composed Supermodel. Fur Commission USA, November 20, 2002.