People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) and the Farm Animal Reform Movement (FARM), among others, sponsor an annual animal-rights convention, and this year the event was in a suburb of our nation’s capital. Since PETA is the biggest, baddest activist group on the block, its leaders call the shots. So it came as no surprise when Bruce Friedrich, PETA’s “vegan campaign coordinator,” loaded up two buses full of sign-waving crazies at the convention site on Tuesday, and took them on the road for some “direct action.” The target? A Wendy’s restaurant in Northern Virginia. This quick-service chain is PETA’s latest target, and protesters made sure the paying customers knew it. Five activists were arrested, including “Babe” film star James Cromwell, who led three others inside the restaurant and took over the lunch counter, announcing that Wendy’s was “closed due to cruelty.”
Another one of the arrestees was PETA staffer Lisa Lange. She spent 5 hours in a county jail, but was apparently not scarred enough by the experience to cancel her scheduled appearance on CNN the following morning. Looking fresh as a daisy, Lange lectured the 9:00 am Independence Day audience on how to ethically treat household pets during fireworks displays.
