On behalf of the No Kill Advocacy Center, I filed a complaint today against PETA with the Enforcement Division of the Virginia Department of Health Professions. A supervising veterinarian has an affirmative duty “to provide oversight of euthanasia through orientation, instruction, guidance, and periodic monitoring of euthanasia activities. But according to a published report, PETA’s veterinarian “has acknowledged that she does not provide any training for or oversight of the euthanasias performed at the PETA shelter in Norfolk.” Given that PETA employees are taking and killing animals under false pretenses and in violation of several laws, the veterinarian does not appear to be satisfying her statutory duties. We believe that PETA is violating state laws proscribing larceny, mandated holding periods, and VDACS Administrative Directives governing euthanasia of animals at animal shelters. According to published reports: PETA staff members took a dog, named Maya, off her owner’s property and killed the dog. Over several weeks, PETA officials came to the trailer park where the family lives, where most of the residents are Spanish speaking with few resources. The PETA representatives befriended the residents. They got to know who lived where and who had dogs. In fact, they sat with the family on the same porch off which they later took Maya. Waiting until the family was away from the home, PETA employees backed their van up to the porch and threw biscuits to Maya, in an attempt to coax her off her property and therefore give PETA the ability to claim she was a stray dog “at large.” But Maya refused to stay off the porch and ran back. Thinking that no one was around, one of the employees—who was later charged with larceny—went onto the property and took Maya. A copy of the surveillance video is posted online here: youtu.be/hpOyHnvycKE. A newspaper article about the alleged theft and killing is here: bit.ly/1pGUQcj. When the family returned and found their beloved Maya missing, they searched around the neighborhood before checking the video on the surveillance camera. That is when they saw the PETA van on the film and recognized the woman who had come to their house on prior occasions to talk to them about Maya. They called PETA and asked for Maya’s return. According to a family spokesperson, PETA claimed it did not have the dog. When PETA learned that its employees had been filmed taking the dog, they hung up. Shortly afterward, a PETA attorney called and informed the family that Maya, a “healthy and friendly” dog, was dead. PETA had killed her. See delmarvane.ws/1DCwIxQ This is not the first time PETA has been accused of taking animals from people under false pretenses and putting the animals to death, thus suggesting that the taking and killing of Maya cannot be dismissed as the action of rogue employees. As such, PETA is using its designation as an animal shelter to deceive the public and acquire animals for the purpose of killing them. Rescuers, private individuals, shelters, and veterinarians have stated that they turned over animals to PETA after PETA promised to find homes only to learn that PETA killed the animals, in some cases within minutes of taking them. Nor is Maya’s story the first time that PETA employees have been arrested over their taking and killing of animals. In a 2007 criminal trial against two PETA employees in North Carolina, jurors heard similar testimony: bit.ly/XCSdI3 This complaint follows a legal petition to revoke PETA’s status as a shelter that I filed with the State Veterinarian: bit.ly/1zxqE5o It follows are request that the state pass Maya’s Law: bit.ly/1zJoHDb It follows a complaint by a Virginia State Senator: bit.ly/1uAn44m It follows a complaint by the Richmond SPCA: bit.ly/1sxijIO And it follows a complaint by the Accomack County attorney: delmarvane.ws/1JXDKOj According to the Virginia Federation of Humane Societies, “PETA is ‘using’ its status as a ‘shelter’ to the great detriment of animals in the Commonwealth [of Virginia]”: bit.ly/ZgBzfb Learn more about why PETA kills: whyPETAkills.org Photos: 1. Maya, taken from her home and killed by PETA despite being a happy and healthy dog. 2. PETAs spay/neuter van doubles as a death van as it picks up kittens and puppies to return to PETAs kill room. 3. The kill room at PETA. According to staff, “once you went in that room, you never came out.” 4. A worker in a hazmat suit holds a little dog killed by PETA. PETA promised it would find him a home.
Posted on: Mon, 29 Dec 2014 17:18:00 +0000
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