The billboard and a companion Web site (www.petakillsanimals.com), sponsored by the nonprofit Center for Consumer Freedom (Washington), cite information from the state of Virginia showing that PETA has long practiced euthanasia of dogs, cats and other animals at its headquarters in Norfolk, Va.

According to the Center for Consumer Freedom, PETA euthanized more than 10,000 dogs, cats and other companion animals between 1998 and 2003. Officials said PETA adopted out only 14 percent of its animals while the nearby Norfolk Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals adopted 73 percent of its animals and the Virginia Beach SPCA adopted out 66 percent.

“PETA raked in nearly $29 million last year, and much of it was from pet owners who thought their donations actually helped animals,” said David Martosko, the center’s research director. “Instead, PETA killed them—while spending millions on programs equating meat eaters with Nazis, scaring young children away from drinking milk, recruiting kids into a radical animal-rights lifestyle, and even defending arsonists and other violent extremists.”

In response, PETA officials said that good will come from this attempt to undermine its efforts to help animals.

“This campaign, as you may know, is the work of the deceitfully named Center for Consumer Freedom, a front group for Philip Morris, Outback Steakhouse, KFC, logging interests, cattle ranchers and other animal exploiters who kill millions of animals every year, not out of pity, but out of greed,” said Jen McClure, a media spokesperson for PETA. “These companies are concerned about the strides that PETA is making that are changing their industries and compelling them to take animal welfare concerns seriously, so they hope to scare people away from caring about animals by spending millions on ads like this.”

“We do not run a traditional shelter,” McClure said. “In fact, we refer every healthy, cute, young animal we can to shelters. And some of the animals we rescue are lost companions whom we are able to joyfully reunite with their families. Of the homeless animals we take in ourselves, the healthy and adoptable ones are fostered, adopted or taken to local shelters. However, most of the animals we receive are broken beings for whom euthanasia is, without a doubt, the most humane option.”

“We’re out to tell the truth about PETA,” Martosko said. “This group’s duplicity knows no bounds. PETA accepts animal lovers’ donations with one hand while administering lethal injections to puppies and kittens with the other. That’s not ‘ethical.’ It’s hypocritical.” [July 2005 PET AGE]