The Exam Room at PETA’s Headquarters

The “exam room” is nestled quietly between two engaging murals of cats and dogs. The exterior of the room is bland and nondescript. It looks like a storage shed. It is not. No exam takes place in this room in preparation for adoption or treatment. All the animals that enter it never come back. It is the current kill room.

It surprises me that PETA uses a euphemism for this room because they openly argue that killing feral cats is much better than trying to save them under a TNR program. Why should they try and hide their killing room?

‘Exam room’ at PETA HQ

Nathan Winograd, the world’s greatest advocate for no-kill animal shelters, tells us on his Facebook page that a PETA employee told him:

“They would take the animals into that room and they would be euthanized… A litter of kittens, sometimes a mother with kittens… They were put in that room and when she went in that room, they never came out.”

Mr Winograd has asked the Commissioner of the Virginia Department of Agriculture to issue regulations requiring shelters in Virginia to maintain and provide records for public scrutiny which covers when and how each animal was taken in, why the animal was taken in, the condition of each animal, what attempts were made to reunite the animal with his or her family, the kinds of care and treatment each animal received, the disposition of each animal, and if the animal was killed when and why the animal was killed.

PETA is a licensed shelter in Virginia but it is killing 90% of the animals with no effort to find them homes, says Winograd.

PETA standby their policy. They are convinced that it is better to kill than to save unwanted animals and that includes all feral cats. That is how I read their policy. I actually like the organisation but I disagree with them on this. It is a policy of failure. It is a policy which accepts failure. It is a depressing and negative policy. It sets the wrong tone. It undermines morale. It can psychologically damage employees. In terms of public relations it does them no good. I think they know that otherwise they wouldn’t be using a euphemism for their killing room.

Cat abandoned at PETA's HQ. He looks a bit like a Maine Coon. Not to type but close. Photo: Norfolk Animal Care Center (NACC).

Comments

The Exam Room at PETA’s Headquarters — 9 Comments

Jane on October 7, 2018 at 7:04 pm said:
PETA have a reputation for stealing companion animals to kill. See Cathy Keiko on Twitter for some serious history on this
PETA have also taken in companion animals at their mobile cinics, reassuring the relinquishing stewards that the cat/dog would be rehomed. Then, out back, killing the poor animal immediately.
These events have been well documented but PETA are on a mission to stop any human having a companion of another species. They behave as if they are a law unto themselves.
They need to concentrate on eye catching campaigns promoting humaneness, kindness, responsible stewardship and stay the hell away from all non human life.
Their CEO Ingrid Newkirk had a pet rabbit that, in interview, she said she would happily kill the rabbit herself.
Hard core idealists might make good campaigners, but they rarely make even halfway decent carers.
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- Michael Broad on October 7, 2018 at 8:18 pm said:
  Thanks Jane.
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Carol Brandt on December 14, 2017 at 7:22 am said:
When I post information about a worthy Peta project on my page, I never fail to hear from someone regarding the kill policy of Peta. I explain that I agree with much of what they do, but that they are terribly misguided regarding the keeping of cat pets, or how to deal with ferals. Quite often these people are not what I would call passionate animal lovers, and I feel like they are hurling a “gotcha” at me… or so they think.
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- Michael Broad on December 14, 2017 at 12:48 pm said:
  Yes, I agree with you. They are a good organization. They have to be because they fight animal abuse but they have this wrong.
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Marianna Burt on December 13, 2017 at 8:04 pm said:
Nobody is good at everything. PETA is good at the big picture — investigations with broad implications, large-scale advocacy, etc. They are not good with sheltering, which requires focus on the individual animal. They should not be in the business of running an animal shelter, pure and simple.
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- Michael Broad on December 13, 2017 at 8:20 pm said:
  Yes, I think you have that correct. A good thought. I generally like PETA. They do a lot of good.
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- kitty on December 13, 2017 at 10:43 pm said:
  They have some good, but their views on pets are pretty extremist – they don’t want domestic animals and they are open about it.
  For that reason, they should keep to advocacy and leave cats to Alley Cat Allies and rescues that do far better job.
  Oh, and shall we also mention that they promote vegan food for cats which IMHO is cat abuse.
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- kitty on December 13, 2017 at 10:44 pm said:
  Marianna – “not being good at everything” doesn’t justify killing kittens and cats without even trying to adopt them out. If they don’t have resources for that, they should leave this job to rescues and feral cat organizations like Alley Cat Allies.
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  - Marianna Burt on December 13, 2017 at 10:53 pm said:
    I was trying to be tactful — I don’t understand why they try to do sheltering. There’s plenty of animal work of all kinds to go around, & each kind should be done by those who are passionate about it.
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