Ingrid Newkirk on why you are probably unaware you abuse animals

    We are anything but kind hearts when we let others do the killings for us. Ingrid Newkirk:

    Most of us can’t imagine picking up a firearm to slaughter a deer or a rhino. We never meet or come to know the animals we ourselves harm, directly or, far more likely, through strangers. Because we haven’t really thought much about it, or don’t imagine there is a choice in the matter, we buy products and services that provide the funds to pay others to put harsh chemicals down beagles’ throats, to castrate lambs without anesthetic, to shoot mother orangutans out of trees, and to build tiny cages in which foxes and lynx live until their necks are snapped and their pelts turned into the fur trim on winter jackets and gloves. These experiences are all very real to these animals, who aren’t lulled into acceptance, as we are, by the myths about humane treatment and necessity, and who aren’t distracted, as we are, by the pretty packaging, alluring descriptions, and upbeat marketing that surround almost everything we buy, from floor cleaner to circus tickets.

    (Quoted from page 7 of The PETA Practical Guide to Animal Rights, by Ingrid Newkirk. St. Martin’s Griffin, 2009.)
    For a brief biography of Ingrid Newkirk, click here. For images of or relating to Ingrid Newkirk, click here.