Monday, February 07, 2005
PETA Wastes Cows Again
Oy Vey PETA pisses me off almost every time I hear their name in the news. There are some things that welfare advocates and the lunatics at PETA actually agree on but more often than not, PETA continues to get it all wrong.
Take for example, this story;
Mercedes-Benz has agreed to offer “leather-free” versions of all its luxury cars to pacify an animal rights group that says thousands of cows are slaughtered each year for leather car seats and interiors.
After complaints from the German chapter of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, DaimlerChrysler said its Mercedes subsidiary will offer fabric or synthetic leather as options...PETA officials...said they were delighted.
“When you consider that the skins of four to 15 cows are needed for each car this means thousands of cows will be spared,” said PETA researcher Edmund Haferbeck. “This is a huge victory for animal rights."
Oh, what a feel good story! Think of all the cows that will be saved! At least that’s how it goes in PETA’s fairy tale world.
But one must think beyond the little box of happy cows, dancing on their hind legs, clapping their hooves and think of the reality. Where does the leather come from? Cows. Who owns the cow? Some farmer/rancher dude. Do you think he has pens set aside for each cow’s use? “And this here’s my Mercedes pen, over yonder is the B.B. Dakota pen. To your left is the hamburger pen, just behind that is the steak pen and at the edge of the property is the roast pen....”
The farmer/ranch dude sells the cows, most likely for meat, and other parts of the cow are used for things like clothing and seats in a Mercedes Benz. Just like it says in this school kids class assignment:
"From beef animals we get steaks and roasts and hamburgers. We also get leather for shoes, belts, baseball gloves and footballs. [Not to mention car seats] Gelatin in products such as ice cream and yogurt are made from the bones of the cow. Even chewing gum has an ingredient that comes from a cow. [I’ve seen tons of vegans chew gum] Here are some other products we get just from the fats and proteins produced by cattle:
Makeup, crayons, detergent, toothpaste, floor wax, perfume."
So, you see, when PETA “wins” a battle “for the cows”, they’ve actually lost. Because now, although the same number of cows will be killed, 4-15 of them per car will have their skin left lying on the slaughter room floor. Wasted. It doesn’t matter if Mercedes uses those skins or not, the cow still gets slaughtered. So tell me how is that a victory? Fricken PETA morons!
