Tag: Ingrid Newkirk

The Observer’s Michael Specter wrote a nearly 6,000-word profile of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals chief Ingrid Newkirk that revealed her to be even more bizarre than her already bizarre media persona lets on.

Of course one accusation constantly leveled at animal rights activists (and vehemently denied by same) is that they care more about animals than human beings or are even outright misanthropes. Newkirk, however, always wears her misanthropy on her sleeves. Specter writes,

. . . When we were in Savannah, she told me, in the most unequivocal terms, that the world would be an infinitely better place without humans in it at all. I must have shown my astonishment, because by the time I got back to New York, later that day, she had already written thousands of words to me, of which this is only a sample:

‘There are a billion mean tricks of nature. And human beings, who aren’t “a thing apart” but part of nature, are cruel, out of sheer obliviousness if nothing else, but often out of malice or selfishness. A few clothes and a Jag and being able to read the NYT don’t separate “us” from or elevate “us” above the other species! . . . Why does feeling superior mean being able to treat those “beneath us” with contempt? That’s what the Nazis did, isn’t it? Treated those “others” they though subhuman by making them lab subjects and so on. Even the Nazis didn’t eat the objects of their derision.

It doesn’t come as any surprise then that not only did Newkirk have herself sterilized at the age of 22, but she actively opposes anyone having children,

I am not only uninterested in having children. I am opposed to having children. Having a purebred human baby is like having a purebred dog; it’s nothing but vanity, human vanity.

Apparently humans are outside nature, being the only species to reproduce simply for the sheer vanity of it all.

Some of Specter’s accounts are hard to believe. For example, we know from Newkirk herself that PETA doesn’t target children, but Specter seems to thing that it does,

Because circuses appeal so widely to the young, they arouse PETA’s particular wrath (circuswatch.com). One night in December, I stood in front of the Savannah Civic Center when the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus came to town. Newkirk and several colleagues were there, and they spent the evening bearing placards, dodging police and hectoring scores of families who were entering the coliseum with young children. (‘Elephants are mammals!’ they shouted. ‘Mammals have hair. Do you know how trainers remove that hair so the elephants will look good for you tonight? They burn it off with blowtorches. Please make this your last visit to the circus.’) The PETA video truck was parked nearby. With elegiac music playing in the background, a continuous loop of clandestinely shot footage ran on the truck’s two giant screens, each showing trainers beating, shocking, whipping and even shooting elephants. The children who saw the video were horrified, and their parents were furious.

This is impossible, since just last year Newkirk said that PETA never engages in that sort of behavior at circuses,

TUCKER CARLSON: Last spring, I took my children to the circus here in Washington. I had my four-year-old son, very nice boy, in my arms walking up to go into the circus. And some monster from PETA leans forward and shoves in his face a photograph of a wounded elephant, and says, “This is what the circus is,” to my four-year-old son.

NEWKIRK: I doubt it very much.

CARLSON: I watched it. He was in my arms. And I want you to apologize for that.

NEWKIRK: If anyone did that, I absolutely apologize.

CARLSON: Well, good.

NEWKIRK: Because everything we do is based at adults. We’re asking adults be responsible. You were telling me about giving your children meat and milk. They’re going to be to grow up to be tubs of lard. They’re getting heart attacks.

And the clearest example of what PETA is all about is Specter’s description of what greets visitors who enter PETA’s Virginia office building,

Inside, the building could have been designed by Dr. Doolittle. There is a quotation from Leonardo da Vacini chiseled into the lintel about the reception area. ‘The day will come when men such as I will look upon the murder of animals the way they now look upon the murder of men.’

Of course, like most everything that emanates from PETA, this is sheer fiction. Da Vinici never said or wrote that. Instead, it was put into his mouth by a novelist in the 1930s and has been misattributed to Da Vinci ever since Jon Wynne-Tyson messed up the attribution in a collection of animal rights related quotes.

Somehow it seems like a fitting thing for PETA to affix a fake quote from Da Vinici in their reception area. At least the group is consistently wrong.

Source:

Mother Nature. Michael Specter, June 22, 2003.

The following letter from Ingrid Newkirk giving advice to animal rights activists on how to deal with inquiries from law enforcement official has been circulating around the Internet for a few months now, and was worth reproducing in its entirety here.

It still amuses me to no end to watch someone like Newkirk who has openly applauded and encouraged violent acts by animal rights extremists whine about harassment from the FBI.

Recently, animal rights groups and even our own staff have reported incidents of harassment and information gathering expeditions by the FBI and Homeland Security, even by local police.

The incident below shows one way this works:

An FBI agent, who at first did not identify himself as such, made a call to one of our staff whose name he had simply read in the paper, assuring her that she was “not in any trouble” and asking her to call him back. Quite properly, she did not. It is dangerous to engage in even the most innocuous-seeming discourse with the FBI/ Homeland Security/ a local detective for, rest assured, if you do, you will become a notation in a federal file! The next day, the agent called her at home on her private number at 7:45 a.m. “to chat.” She properly told him she had nothing to chat with him about and told him not to call her at work or home again. That ended it.

As you may know, the FBI has a massive current investigation into the ALF and ELF and, by default, as with McCarthyism, into the entire animal rights community. As new Homeland Security laws make clear, law enforcement is using the climate of fear of real domestic terrorists to collect information on perfectly law-abiding animal rights activists. We should not allow this to happen in what is still supposed to be a free country. There is now a central data bank set up as a resource in the event of any break-in or liberation, i.e. to use to conduct a witch hunt, to harass and intimidate ordinary people. Don’t think this can’t happen, because it already has. Most importantly, please don’t contribute to it.

Many scholars have written regarding social cause movements, like the civil rights movement and the peace movements and the FBI’s crude and sometimes downright illegal tactics in dealing with them. PETA itself has a history of FBI and ATF harassment. We suffered through (successfully) defeating subpoenas to examine our membership and volunteer lists, and many of us were compelled to give handwriting samples and photographs and to appear before grand juries without lawyers present. Wire taps were put on our telephones (dollars to doughnuts they are there again now, and that’s not being paranoid, just practical), our telephone records were seized at source, and the postal authority turned over our mail for pre-sorting. All this happened because, unable to come up with real evidence and pinpoint anyone in particular, the FBI set out to “troll” through the most outspoken animal rights group and see if they turned up anything. Doesn’t sound very much like the America we know and love, but there you are.

I don’t say any of this to alarm you, for you will probably never receive any communication from the FBI/Homeland security/local law enforcement but to warn you that if you do, it is not at all smart to think you can outwit them, convert them, or just give them “harmless” information and they’ll go away. By allowing an FBI agent to write in his book, “Spoke for 20 mins to (your name here).” instead of “She had nothing to say,” you have helped keep the chain alive. If you talk to them, they write things like “(your name here) confirmed that she `knows all about the ALF’ and is familiar with the recent mink liberation,” when, in fact, you simply answered “Yes” to the question “Do you know what the ALF is?” and “Yes, I read about it in a newspaper clipping” to the question “What do you know about the mink liberation?” If you invite them in, talk to them, and so on, you will almost certainly be used in the future.

One reason people disregard this advice is because the first reaction most of us have is to think “well, we have nothing to hide, so what’s the harm?” Or, my favorite, “But, they seemed so nice!” How far would they get with us if they said, “I hate animals” or “I’m out to get you?” One of our staff recounts how an FBI agent came and sat next to him when he was detained after a protest. The agent was very friendly, slouched in his chair and called the police who had been at the demo, “jerks.” He acted as if he and our staffer were old friends and casually asked our fellow for his name, his age, how long he’d worked at PETA, if he traveled much in his work, if “higher ups” decided how a demo was going to go. When our person said he wasn’t answering and would need to speak to an attorney, the FBI agent acted offended and said, “Wow, we were just having a conversation here.” He then told our staffer that he’d heard him on the radio and that “you were articulate, fantastic. That one caller – he was an idiot.” When it was clear he wasn’t going to get answers, he left the room.

Here is exactly what seasoned attorneys suggest most strongly that you do if approached by an FBI agent, other Homeland Security or other law enforcement officer: who wants to “just chat: ” Say politely but firmly and without hesitation, “I have nothing to say” and then hang up, walk away, close the door. Do not be coerced or charmed into helping them by “just answering a few easy questions.” If anyone tries to detain you, ask “Am I under arrest?” If they cannot say “yes,” you are free to go. Walk or drive away.

If they ring or knock or approach you again, say “Please leave me alone. You are harassing me.” Say nothing more. It seems rude, but law enforcement officers are used to hearing it and won’t take it personally. They will go away. If you converse with them you will be called/visited again.

In light of the constitution, you have the freedom to associate with whomever you choose, and the right to say what you believes in without fear of reprisal, and they have no right to harass those who object to exploitation, war, racial discrimination, animal slavery and the like.

Thank you.

Ingrid Newkirk

Ingrid Newkirk managed to garner a fresh round of publicity by publicizing the conditions of her will. The stories centered on explicit instructions Newkirk’s will gives for the disposition of parts of her body. Below is the full text of her will,

DIRECTIONS FOR THE DISPOSITION OF THE REMAINS OF INGRID NEWKIRK#

As someone who has dedicated a part of my life to the alleviation of animal suffering in various parts of the world, it is my wish that upon my death, my body be used to further that same goal. It is with this purpose in mind that I make the following directions and designations relating to the disposition of my final remains. I make these directions and designations after thorough consideration and pursuant to my firm belief in the purposes for which they are made.#

1. Upon my death, it is my wish that my body be used in a manner that draws attention to needless animal suffering and exploitation. To accomplish this, I direct that my body be donated to People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), 501 Front Street, Norfolk, Virginia 23510, to be used in whatever manner it chooses in order to accomplish the specified purpose, with the hope that most of my body will be put to use in the United States, with parts also dispatched to awaken the public consciousness of governments and citizens in the United Kingdom, where I was born, in India, my beloved childhood home, and in Canada, Germany, and France.#
2. While the final decision as to the use of my body remains with PETA, I make the following suggested directions:#
1. That the ?meat? of my body, or a portion thereof, be used for a human barbecue, to remind the world that the meat of a corpse is all flesh, regardless of whether it comes from a human being or another animal, and that flesh foods are not needed;#
2. That my skin, or a portion thereof, be removed and made into leather products, such as purses, to remind the world that human skin and the skin of other animals is the same and that neither is ?fabric? nor needed, and that some skin be tacked up outside the Indian Leather Fair each year to serve as a reminder of the government?s need to abate the suffering of Indian bullocks who, after a life of extreme and involuntary servitude, as I have seen firsthand, are exported all over the world in this form;#
3. That in remembrance of the elephant-foot umbrella stands and tiger rugs I saw, as a child, offered for sale by merchants at Connaught Place in Delhi, my feet be removed and umbrella stands or other ornamentation be made from them, as a reminder of the depravity of killing innocent animals, such as elephants, in order that we might use their body parts for household items and decorations;#
4. That one of my eyes be removed, mounted, and delivered to the administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency as a reminder that PETA will continue to be watching the agency until it stops poisoning and torturing animals in useless and cruel experiments; that the other is to be used as PETA sees fit;#
5. That my pointing finger be delivered to Kenneth Feld, owner of Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus, or to a circus museum to stand as the ?Greatest Accusation on Earth? on behalf of the countless elephants, lions, tigers, bears, and other animals who have been kidnapped from their families and removed from their homelands in India, Thailand, Africa, and South America and deprived of all that is natural and pleasant to them, abused, and forced into involuntary servitude for the sake of cheap entertainment;#
6. That my liver be vacuum-packed and shipped, in whole or in part, to France, to there be used in a public appeal to persuade shoppers not to support the vile practice of force-feeding geese and ducks for foie gras;#
7. That one of my ears be removed, mounted, and sent to the Canadian Parliament to assist them in hearing, for the first time perhaps, the screams of the seals, bears, raccoons, foxes, and minks bludgeoned, trapped, and sometimes skinned alive for their pelts; that the other ear be removed, preserved, and displayed outside the Deonar abattoir in Mumbai to remind all who do business there that the screams of the cattle who are slaughtered within its walls are heard around the world;#
8. That one of my thumbs be removed, mounted upwards on a plaque, and sent to the person or institution that, in the year of my death or thereabouts, PETA decides has done the most to promote alternatives to the use and abuse of animals in any area of their exploitation;#
9. That one of my thumbs be mounted in a downward position and sent to the person or institution that, in the year of my death or thereabouts, has gone against the changing tide of societal opinion and frightened and hurt animals in some egregious manner;#
10. That a little part of my heart be buried near the racetrack at Hockenheim, preferably near the Ferrari pits, where Michael Shumacher raced in and won the German Grand Prix;#
11. That anything else be done with my body that PETA believes will serve to draw attention to and so abate the plight of exploited animals.#
3. As a resident of Virginia, and pursuant to Virginia law, including
   § 54.1-2825 of the Virginia Code, I designate PETA as the ?person? who shall make arrangements for carrying out the directions contained in this document for the disposition of my remains upon my death. If, at any time, PETA is unable or unwilling to carry out these directions, I designate, in the alternative, Daniel Mathews as the individual who shall make arrangements for carrying out the directions contained in this document for the disposition of my remains upon my death. If Daniel Mathews is unable or unwilling to carry out these directions as required, I authorize either of the two listed ?persons? in this paragraph to designate a third party to make arrangements for carrying out the directions contained in this document for the disposition of my remains upon my death.#
4. While I prefer that my directions be first executed in the United States, I also direct that parts of my body be transported to the United Kingdom, of which I also am a citizen, and to India, my beloved spiritual home, to be executed there. If my directions cannot be executed in any of these countries, I authorize the transport of my remains to any location where my disposition directions, in whole or in part, may be lawfully executed.#
5. I authorize the person carrying out these directions to deviate from them in any manner he or she deems appropriate to further the purpose expressed herein. If any provision or provisions of this document shall be held to be invalid, illegal, unenforceable, or in conflict with the law of any jurisdiction, the validity, legality, and enforceability of the remaining provisions shall not in any way be affected or impaired thereby.#

Source:

Ingrid’s Unique Will. People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals has been alienating people across the country with its “Holocaust on Your Plate” campaign. It’s nice of PETA to go out and make the anti-animal rights argument so clear. But it turns out — and this will certainly come as a shock for everyone familiar with PETA’s idea of integrity — that PETA apparently obtained the Holocaust materials it is using on false pretenses.

The Holocaust images PETA features in its campaign were obtained from the United States Holocaust Museum. The Holocaust Museum has released two letters this year accusing PETA of using “deceit” to obtain the materials and demanding that PETA cease using the materials immediately.

On February 28, 2003, the Holocaust Museum sent the following letter to PETA,

February 28, 2003

Ms. Ingrid Newkirk
President
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA)
501 Front Street
Norfolk, Va. 23510

Dear Ms. Newkirk:

The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (the Museum) has learned that PETA is using photographs and text obtained from the Museum for PETA’s “Holocaust on Your Plate” project. We demand that you immediately and permanently cease and desist this reprehensible misuse of Holocaust materials.

The Museum’s Photograph Use Agreement, which governs usage of photographic reproductions, states that “The USHMM reserves the right to restrict the uses of reproductions, to request prior review and approval of display formats and/or publication proofs, and to otherwise ensure that reproductions are used with respect and dignity.” Consistent with this provision, this letter constitutes actual notice that PETA is required to immediately remove from PETA’s website any and all photographic images and textual materials obtained from the Museum, and immediately cease using these materials in any pamphlets, public displays, and any other manner.

As America’s national memorial to the victims of the Holocaust, we find PETA’s exploitation of these materials a gross perversion of our mission. Furthermore, the use of these materials and citations of the Museum’s name on them improperly and incorrectly implies that the Museum, a Federal government establishment, endorses PETA’s project. Consequently, you are also instructed to immediately and permanently cease from using the Museum’s name on your website and in any other publicly displayed formats or materials.

By close of business Monday, March 3, 2003, please provide me with written confirmation of PETA’s compliance with the terms of this letter.

Sincerely yours,

Stuart Bender
Legal Counsel

PETA has apparently simply ignored this letter. On March 4, 2003, the Museum released the following statement from its chairman, Fred Zeidman,

The Chairman of the United States Holocaust Memorial Council, Fred S. Zeidman, today expressed his outrage over PETA?s desecration of Holocaust memory and released the following statement:

?The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum is appalled by PETA?s utterly shameless and contemptible public relations campaign equating the millions of men, women and children murdered in the Holocaust to animals.

?This organization has chosen to ignore common decency and desecrate the memory of Holocaust victims, survivors and their families in its perverted effort to generate headlines.

?We are especially offended that PETA has chosen to use materials obtained deceitfully from the Museum. We deplore this exploitation of the Holocaust and reprehensible misuse of Holocaust materials.

?We urge PETA to halt this campaign and find an appropriate way to build support for its goals. An organization so concerned about inflicting pain on animals should not be so oblivious to the pain it is inflicting on humans.?

Yeah, PETA really takes the prize for “ethical” behavior.

Source:

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Demands That Peta Stop Exploiting The Holocaust. United States Holocaust Museum, Press Release, March 3, 2003.

Chairman Fred S. Zeiman Expresses Outrage Over PETA’s Desecration of Holocaust Memory. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Press Release, March 4, 2003.