Last week, the Senate Judiciary Committee heard stinging testimony that documented People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals’ increasingly confrontational tactics. The committee was also informed of PETA’s ties to underground terrorist groups — courtesy of a Center for Consumer Freedom letter read by Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch (R-UT). As we predicted, PETA is justifiably concerned. PETA Vice President Lisa Lange recently submitted a reply to the Judiciary Committee in a vain attempt to defend the group’s practices. Judging by her written statement, it looks like PETA’s only defense is to distort the truth — even if it means misleading the U.S. Congress.
Lange claims in her statement that “no one associated with PETA (or indeed, anyone at all, as far as we know) has made any inappropriate, inaccurate, or even impolite remarks [to a KFC executive or] to anyone associated with KFC.” PETA certainly has a twisted definition of appropriate and impolite. Just four months ago, a rock group penned a note on behalf of PETA (written on PETA letterhead) to the CEO of KFC’s Yum! Brands, which included the salvo “KFC, F-king Die!” PETA even boasts about the threatening statement on its website for teens. And last year, when the company’s CEO was assaulted with fake blood at the opening of a new restaurant in Germany, PETA’s Bruce Friedrich (who has advocated “blowing up stuff” in the pursuit of “animal liberation”) condoned the attack.
In her testimony, Lange also claims that “no child has ever been confronted, met with, or been upset by anyone from PETA over this matter.” That doesn’t exactly jive with PETA’s own statements, which described its intention to distribute “a plastic chicken with her throat slit, and lots of fake blood — to kids at KFC locations nationwide.” Indeed, various press accounts document the group’s deliberate plan to target children with propaganda outside KFC restaurants.
Of course, this isn’t the first time PETA has had trouble telling Congress the truth. After the Center for Consumer Freedom revealed that PETA had funded the FBI-designated “terrorist” Earth Liberation Front for a “specific program,” PETA offered a series of contradictory explanations. Included in this barrage of conflicting excuses was a letter to a U.S. Congressman.
