In 2011, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) behaved in a regrettably consistent manner: it euthanized the overwhelming majority
(PDF) of dogs and cats that it accepted into its shelters. Out of 760
dogs impounded, they killed 713, arranged for 19 to be adopted, and
farmed out 36 to other shelters (not necessarily “no kill” ones). As for
cats, they impounded 1,211, euthanized 1,198, transferred eight, and
found homes for a grand total of five. PETA also took in 58 other
companion animals — including rabbits. It killed 54 of them.
These figures don’t reflect well on an organization dedicated to the
cause of animal rights. Even acknowledging that PETA sterilized over
10,500 dogs and cats and returned them to their owners, it doesn’t
change the fact that its adoption rate in 2011 was 2.5 percent for dogs
and 0.4 for cats. Even acknowleding that PETA never turns an animal away
— “the sick, the scarred and broken, the elderly, the aggressive and
unsocialized…” — doesn’t change the fact that Virginia animal
shelters as a whole had a much lower kill rate of 44 percent. And even
acknowledging that PETA is often the first to rescue pets when heat
waves and hurricanes hit, that doesn’t change the fact that, at one of
its shelters, it kills 84 percent of supposedly “unadoptable” animals
within 24 hours of their arrival.
