The animal rights group gets comprehensive in its defense of all animal life: they're mad at President Obama for swatting that fly. Seriously:
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, calling it an "execution," wants the commander-in-chief to show a little more compassion to even "the least sympathetic animals." "Believe it or not, we've actually been contacted by multiple media outlets wanting to know PETA's official response to the executive insect execution," a blog on the group's website explained. "In a nutshell, our position is this: He isn't the Buddha, he's a human being, and human beings have a long way to go before they think before they act." The group has sent Obama a device that traps a fly so it can then be released outside. "We believe that people, where they can be compassionate, should be, for all animals," PETA spokesman Bruce Freidrich explained. Jeez (eyes rolling) ... Maybe PETA was simply responding to their outraged constituency? Meanwhile, the saga continues as PETA attempts to further explain its position (probably just to make the ridicule stop...) “As we all know, human beings often don’t think before they act. We don’t condemn President Obama for acting on instinct. When the media began contacting us in droves for a statement, we obliged, simply by saying that the president isn’t the Buddha and shouldn’t be expected to do everything right—if not for that, we would not have brought it up. It’s the media who are making a big deal about the fly swat—not PETA. However, we took the opportunity, when asked, to point out that we do offer lots of ways in which to control insects of all kinds without harming them. There is even a chapter in PETA President Ingrid E. Newkirk’s book, Making Kind Choices, about how to rid your home of “uninvited guests.” ‘ “We support compassion for all animals, even the most curious, smallest, and least sympathetic animals. We hope that everyone will take inspiration from Nobel Peace Prize winner Dr. Albert Schweitzer, who included insects in his realm of compassion and would stop to move a worm from hot pavement to cool earth.”
Well, at least their heads didn't explode like the folks at Newsbusters. Ohmmmmmm ...
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