Tuesday, April 14, 2009

Good job, Boys


People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals is no stranger to controversy, or stupidity. The group's latest lame-brained stunt involved asking the musical group Pet Shop Boys to change its name to the Rescue Shelter Boys to focus attention on the plight of animals sold in pet shops. The Pet Shop Boys threw PETA a bone, so to speak, by saying the group raised issues worthy of discussion, but they declined the organization's request. According to Agence France Presse, PETA, in its letter to the Pet Shop Boys, alleged that "most dogs and cats sold in pet shops are sourced from profit-hungry breeders who may have bred them in cramped, filthy conditions." Or maybe not. PETA, of course, offered no valid support for its accusations. Also, the group failed to mention that most often there is no information about the breeding of animals one might find at a rescue shelter. Someone who adopts an animal from a shelter really has no idea whether that animal might be susceptible to diseases or conditions arising from improper breeding practices. PETA's core mission, to prevent mistreatment of animals, is a good one. But the group has failed to win broad support because many people consider it an extremist organization and a running joke. Perhaps PETA should be the one changing its name. How about "Jagoffs with too much time on our hands"?

Labels:

15 Comments:

Blogger Ellipses said...

Do they still have pet shops?

April 14, 2009 at 2:12 PM  
Blogger Brant said...

None around here that I know of. I'm sure there must be some in the 'Burgh.

April 14, 2009 at 2:15 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

The Humane society's core goal is to prevent mistreatment of animals. PETA core goal is political and to promote a lifestyle that values human life equally with animal life. Hence all vegan lifestyle and such. There is a fundamental lifestyle.

BTW Petland is in Washington. You can tell you are not with the advertising department.

April 14, 2009 at 2:26 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Brant, all my pets have come from humane/rescue organizations and I am a big believer in that.

PETA, however, is another story. Do you remember the year PETA protested at the Washington County Fair because of a "cow bingo contest" that PETA claimed was an embarrassment to the cow? (The contest was simple...people bought a square and if the bovine 'marked' your spot, you won!) I was a photographer then and assigned to take a photo of the cow and the farmer who owned her. Sweet old man just could NOT understand what all the fuss was about and, quite frankly, neither could I!
christie campbell

April 14, 2009 at 3:00 PM  
Blogger Brant said...

That's the kind of sheer stupidity you get with PETA. They try to impose human feelings on animals. Anyone who knows me knows that I am the last person who would stand for a pet being abused. I'm not quite as concerned about a chicken that might not be allowed to run free. To the anonymous poster, when I mentioned the lack of pet stores, I was speaking in the framework of PETA's concern about dogs. I don't know if there are any area stores that sell a variety of dogs. The last time I was in Petland, I don't think that was the case, but I haven't been there in a long time. Most of the places these days seem to specialize in the little animals, along with a few cats.

April 14, 2009 at 3:08 PM  
Blogger PRIguy said...

I don't know if this is done in WashPa, but here in Richmond, the best place to get a dog or cat is right in front of one of the big box pet stores like PetSmart or Petco. Every Sunday, right outside the front doors, the Humane Society sets up shop and you can adopt a dog or cat right there.

PETA is nothing more than a group of zealots trying to push an agenda. I don't advocate cruelty to animals in any way, but I also think that cows, pigs and chickens were put here for me to eat.

April 14, 2009 at 3:39 PM  
Blogger Ellipses said...

I went to Petland's website, found the number to the Pittsburgh Mills store and gave them a call... I asked the lady (really nice lady) if they had any Shiba Inus... I assumed the answer would be no... but alas!

They have a 3.5 month old male shiba... Sooo... I started asking questions... First, how much? 1,300 bucks...

Ok... That is a ridiculous price for a Shiba Inu... but she assured me that it included all kinds of stuff... microchipping, neutering, vaccinations, "puppy kit" which I have no idea what's in that... and a host of medical care for a period of time... Nevermind that my shiba was immune to everything sans a buick and could eat razor blades dipped in arsenic and be happy as a clam...

Ok... so, "do you have information on the breeders"

Yes... everything you could possibly want to know about the breeder, the lineage, the sire, the dame... where the breeder is located, etc etc... she said specifically "we do not get our puppies from puppy mills"-- which doesn't mean anything... I mean, if you worked at Petland, would tell a stranger on the phone "Yeah, we stuff two dogs in a bucket and see what we end up with."

I would assume that from all the attention they would get from PETA and entities like that, Petland probably runs a pretty legit shop... they would be retarded not to... however, for 1,300 bucks, that dog needs to come with a guy who cuts the dingleberries out of his tail...

I understand some breeds are pricier for a variety of reasons (bulldogs come to mind)... but shiba inus are kinda like the rabbits of the dog world...

April 14, 2009 at 3:41 PM  
Blogger Brant said...

You, sir, are one funny S.O.B. But thanks for the info. I guess in the bigger stores you can get dogs. Maybe it has something to do with how much traffic the locations get. You know, is it worth the investment and the trouble to have dogs on site. And you're right about that price. Total B.S. We got our last dog at a very reasonable price from a breeder who had both the pup's parents on site and was more than happy to show us everything about his breeding process. The one dog we had who was a problem, we made the mistake of not seeing the ma and pa. That one was on us.

April 14, 2009 at 3:56 PM  
Blogger PRIguy said...

You watched doggy sex?

April 14, 2009 at 4:02 PM  
Blogger Cheryl Chamberlain said...

I guess I'm not understanding why they would ask them to change the name of their group. I never thought their name was about animals. With a name like "Pet Shop Boys", and their appearance, demeanor, I guess in my ignorance, I always figured it was just some underground homosexual club membership that I was not privvy to.

BTW.. I'm president of my own PETA group: People Eating Tasty Animals.. yum!!!

April 14, 2009 at 4:13 PM  
Blogger Ellipses said...

LOL! I thought the SAME thing!

"EVERYTHING" in the breeding process?

Shucks

April 14, 2009 at 4:14 PM  
Blogger Ellipses said...

On Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern this week, he was in China... apparently, donkey is BIG in china...

Now, normally, Andrew chokes down whatever godawful thing he finds in a back alley in Bangkok and then tries to describe its texture, saltiness, and gaminess while suppressing his gag reflex... or simply describes the tastes as "special"...

But he was ranting and raving about how delicious donkey meat is... to the point that I want to eat some ass asap! and yes, I know EXACTLY how that sounds! :)

April 14, 2009 at 4:17 PM  
Blogger PRIguy said...

I saw an episode where Zimmern was in Iceland. For almost all of the things he ate, he described the taste as, "livery, mineraly, irony (not the literary kind), gamey, and very strong." Pass.

I don't know if there are enough adjectives to make donkey meat sound good enough to eat.

April 14, 2009 at 4:24 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

The whole animal rights/vegan thing has never really moved or interested me all that much. I'm a carnivore, though I try to limit it to fish, chicken or turkey, and I was raised in a pet-free household - we never even had a goldfish - so I've always been relatively indifferent to them. If you find a cure for cancer by working on mice in a laboratory, I say go for it.

When you consider that people in many parts of the world still lack access to clean drinking water or live in garbage dumps, whether a chicken is free-range or not is not a pressing concern in my book.

--Brad Hundt

April 14, 2009 at 4:33 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I belive, the universe being as large as it is, that on a planet somwhere animals are wearing human- skin coats and using us as lab subjects, and a whole bunch of collies are really pissed about it.

April 15, 2009 at 12:19 PM  

Post a Comment

Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]

<< Home