California Court To Rule Whether SeaWorld Whales Are Illegal ‘Slaves’
Regardless of the slim odds of a favorable ruling, it’s a groundbreaking case in its use of the Constitution to fight for intelligent animals’ freedom. Via PhysOrg:
A California federal court is to decide for the first time in US history whether amusement park animals are protected by the same constitutional rights as humans.
The issue arises from a lawsuit filed by rights group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) in a San Diego court on behalf of five orcas named Tilikum, Katina, Corky, Kasatka and Ulises. The whales perform water acrobatics at the SeaWorld amusement parks in San Diego and in Orlando, Florida.
PETA argues that continuing the whales’ “employment” at SeaWorld violates the 13th Amendment to the US Constitution, which prohibits slavery. District Judge Jeffrey Miller heard arguments in the complaint Monday and reviewed the response from SeaWorld, which asked that the lawsuit be dismissed. His ruling is expected…
Are Whales Slaves?
PETA is asking … Hamilton Nolan reports on Gawker:
PETA has filed a lawsuit charging SeaWorld with violating the 13th Amendment by enslaving killer whales. This could be interesting.
The scorn heaped upon this lawsuit in the court of public opinion will be roughly equal to the scorn once heaped upon the ideas of abolition and female suffrage. Somebody please have Jay Leno read some Peter Singer before he starts to discuss this news.
The PETA XXX Porn Site
Elisabetta Canalis models for PETA
Ethical Porn? Ray Sanchez reports for Reuters:
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, no stranger to attention-grabbing campaigns featuring nude women, plans to launch a pornography website in the name of animal rights.
The nonprofit organization, whose controversial campaigns draw criticism from women’s rights groups, said it hopes to raise awareness of veganism through a mix of pornography and graphic footage of animal suffering.
“We’re hoping to reach a whole new audience of people, some of whom will be shocked by graphic images that maybe they didn’t anticipate seeing when they went to the PETA triple-X site,” said Lindsay Rajt, PETA’s associate director of campaigns.
PETA has been accused of campaigning for animal rights at the cost of exploiting women. A Facebook group, Real Women Against PETA, was launched after the organization paid for a billboard showing an obese woman with the message: “Save the Whales. Lose the Blubber.…
‘Free Human Vasectomy’ Offered In PETA Contest
Was this an April Fools’ joke or did PETA just enter WTF territory? Via PETA:
It’s a two-fer: Get your animal companion fixed, and get yourself fixed too! Human overpopulation is crowding out animal life on the planet, and dog and cat overpopulation is creating a euthanasia crisis that is a crying shame. Disappearing wilderness, vanishing water resources, and pollution is the price that future generations will pay for more human births, while losing their lives is the price that millions of homeless dogs and cats pay when guardians neglect to “fix” their companion animals.
Every year in the U.S., an estimated 6 to 8 million lost, abandoned, or unwanted dogs and cats enter animal shelters. The best way to combat the companion-animal overpopulation crisis is to have your cat or dog neutered. And with a global population of almost 7 billion humans, more of our species could use a (voluntary) snip too.
Now,…
PETA’s Banned Thanksgiving Day Commercial
[disinfo ed.'s note - Diggin' in the crates, this story is a couple of years old, but it's evergreen on Thanksgiving Day!]
PETA purchased ad spot airtime on NBC during the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, however the network rejected PETA’s ad because the “commercial does not meet NBC Universal standards.” I guess they found PETA’s take on Thanksgiving a little disturbing.
Whose Idea Was This? Testing Tasers On Meth-Head Sheep
You definitely can’t make this stuff up. Come on PETA, forget about the rich bitches in fur coats, get these sheep into rehab and away from the psycho scientists who dreamed up this “experiment,” reported at POPSCI:
Cocaine is a hell of a drug, but getting shocked with a Taser while riding high on methamphetamines probably beats any white-knuckled cocaine experience hands down. And that’s exactly what happened to some lucky sheep in a new study that tested the effects of Tasers on meth-addled targets, funded in part by Taser International.
There’s at least some scientific reasoning behind all the apparent madness. Growing abuse of methamphetamines has led to arrest-related deaths in situations where law enforcement officers used their Tasers on drug-intoxicated suspects. The latest study was designed to test whether electronic control devices (e.g. Tasers) can lead to dangerous cardiac responses in meth-intoxicated humans, with sheep standing in for people.
The less-lethal…
PETA’s Ad Plan Torn Apart by Tiger Woods’ Attorneys
Via the Boston Herald:
Animal-rights group PETA is backing off plans for a billboard about pet-population control that poked fun at Tiger Woods’ sex scandal — after hearing from the golfer’s lawyers.
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals’ message would have matched an image of Woods with this ad copy: “Too Much Sex Can Be A Bad Thing … for little tigers too. Help keep your cats (and dogs) out of trouble: Always spay or neuter!”
PETA told the Orlando Sentinel Wednesday that it was searching for an advertiser to put up the “fun, tongue-in-cheek” billboard near Woods’ home in Windermere, Fla., where his November car crash sparked a shocking infidelity scandal that led to last week’s public apology.
But yesterday a PETA spokeswoman said the plan was on hold “in light of conversations we have had with Mr. Woods’ attorneys.”
