National Animal Rights Group Files State Petition To Stop PETA Killing

No Kill Advocacy Center aims to end practice that has already cost nearly 30,000 animals their lives.

RICHMOND, Va., April 23, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The No Kill Advocacy Center, a national animal rights group, filed a petition with the Virginia Department of Agriculture & Consumer Services (VDACS) asking them to rescind People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals' (PETA) status as an "animal shelter" in order to prevent PETA from killing thousands of animals every year.

"Removing the designation will prevent PETA staff from putting to death thousands of animals every year without making any effort to find them adoptive homes," said Nathan Winograd, director of the No Kill Advocacy Center. "That's because employees of animal pounds and animal shelters are the only non-veterinarians authorized by the Virginia Code to kill animals."

According to VDACS records, for the three year period of 2009-2011, PETA killed 6,412 of the 6,703 animals it acquired, a killing rate of 96 percent. It adopted out only 76 animals, or 1 percent of the total it took in. By contrast, Virginia shelters as a whole adopt out roughly 60% of all animals they impound in any given year and several communities in Virginia have save rates in excess of 90%. PETA has no adoption hours, it does not keep animals alive long enough to find homes, and it does little adoption promotion.

"In the last 11 years, 29,426 animals have died at PETA's hands including those they themselves described as 'healthy,' 'adorable,' and 'perfect,'" said Winograd. "In some cases, this includes animals they promised to find homes for, only to put them to death within minutes in the back of a van—a donor-funded mobile death squad on wheels. It includes kittens and puppies."

In order to maintain its designation as a shelter, PETA must meet three statutory requirements: 1. It must have a facility used to house or contain animals, 2. The facility must be operated by an animal welfare organization, and 3. The facility must be operated "for the purpose of finding permanent adoptive homes for animals." According to VDACS' own investigation, PETA does not meet the required conditions.

In an inspection of PETA by VDACS, the investigator noted that PETA "does not contain sufficient animal enclosures to routinely house the number of animals annually reported as taken into custody... The shelter is not accessible to the public, promoted, or engaged in efforts to facilitate the adoption of animals taken into custody."

"Virginia statutes do not contemplate a pet killing facility to meet the statutory definition of a 'shelter,'" said Winograd.

If granted, PETA would lose its ability to take in and kill animals without oversight by a veterinarian licensed to practice medicine in the state.

For a copy of the petition: http://bit.ly/ZK4kjj

For an expose on PETA's practices of killing animals: http://huff.to/XZQ0n6

SOURCE No Kill Advocacy Center