This Brutal Thread About Why You Shouldn’t Support PETA Actually Makes A Lot Of Sense

If you happen to be friends with any avid animal lovers on Facebook, then there’s a decent chance that you’ve encountered more than a few unwelcome PETA links on your feed.And while the charity’s shock tactics are disconcerting, they’re not the only reason why this organization is problematic.

YouTube vlogger Calum McSwiggan took to Twitter to explain to his followers why they shouldn’t donate money to PETA — and the evidence is damning.

Calum pointed out the fact that PETA has an alarming history of euthanizing the majority of the “stray” animals that it takes in (which many people believe is due to the PETA philosophy that anything short of allowing animals to roam completely free is essentially animal abuse, so death is a preferably alternative).

 

If these claims seem a little far-fetched, they’re actually accurate. Last year, Huffington Post did a report on PETA members in Virginia who stole pets from rural properties and immediately took them back to their “shelter” to be put down. The outlet reported that, in 2014, “PETA killed 2,324 of the 2,626 animals it acquired.”

“PETA employees both take in and seek out, often through deception, theft and outright lies, thousands of animals every year, the vast majority of whom they immediately put to death with a fatal dose of poison,” HuffPo reported. “While PETA claims the animals it takes in and kills are ‘unadoptable,’ the facts do not support this claim.”

Taking these reports into consideration, it’s difficult to consider PETA as anything more than an unhinged, fanatical group, as opposed to a charitable organization — particularly when taking into account the amount of time and energy they spend on paranoid, antagonistic ad campaigns and harassing small businesses and individuals.

Calum illustrated some of the more egregious examples, which include alleging that Pokémon encourages “cruelty to animals.”

PETA also regularly fills our social media newsfeeds with graphic images of animals being tortured or killed — a movement which elicits shock and revulsion, but rarely compels people to actually, say become vegan.

The bottom line is that there are actual, kind-hearted organization dedicated to helping pets and animals out there. PETA might be the loudest by far, by that certainly doesn’t mean that it’s the most trustworthy.

If you’re considering donating to an animal welfare charity, consider sending your money to the Animal Welfare Institute or PetSmart Charities, both of which have received A+ ratings by CharityWatch.org.