PETA is Bringing Animal Abuse to World Attention
PETA’s animal rights campaigns are far reaching and include such things as ending the use of fur and leather, the consumption of dairy products and meat, hunting and trapping, fishing, factory farming, bull fighting and circuses, just to name a few. Often maligned by their detractors and joked about by late night talk show hosts, PETA really has done a lot in bringing about changes throughout the world in the way we look at animal rights and how we define animal abuse.
Seldom do you hear comments these days like “it’s just an animal” without incurring the wrath of well-intentioned animal lovers. The heightened sense of awareness is palpable these days. It wasn’t that long ago that the association was thought of as nothing more than a fringe group of fanatics, but with some forward thinking and clever tactics on their part they began to enlist the aid of some heavy hitters in the entertainment industry to raise awareness, and it’s worked.
Long before the call to arms was heard and it wasn’t yet fashionable, such former Hollywood starlets as Bridget Bardot and Doris Day were on board heading the charge. Both women have made it their life’s mission in their retirement to bring about greater awareness of the intolerable situations many animals endure in testing facilities that amounts to downright animal abuse. These days you’re just as likely to see such stars as Alec Baldwin, Pamela Anderson, Alicia Silverstone, Sarah McLachlan and many others taking part in their ad campaigns bringing heightened awareness to the cause.
PETA hopes to one day end the suffering of all animals and encourages change world wide in our consumption of them and our use of their byproducts in the form of pelts and leather goods, but so far it’s been met with a lot of resistance. Although it’s managed to slow the sale of furs over the years, in essence striking a blow to the industry by brow beating fashionistas who once thought nothing of wearing them publicly, their efforts to convert the masses to veganism have not met with as much success. The same holds true for leather.
But the advances they’ve made over the years can’t be denied. These days it’s not only not uncommon to find disclaimers on most any product you buy such as shampoos, makeup, dyes and dozens of others, it’s pretty much become the norm. The same holds true for the entertainment industry in that now during filming of a television series or movies where animals are involved they’re overseen by a representative ensuring that no animals were harmed during production. And there’s no denying the influence they’ve had with shows such as the heart wrenching ASPCA-related Animal Cops that are barely watchable.
Thankfully after repeatedly exposing such outrages ranging from chickens being punted like footballs by twisted workers for suppliers of KFC to the deplorable and inhumane treatment of monkeys for medical testing, the public’s perception of the group has improved over the years from the bum rap of being a group of crazies and bleeding hearts likened to tree huggers to compassionate beings with a legitimate cause.
Sources:
www.peta.org
admin @ July 11, 2012