In the past few days, you may have read an article that criticizes the organization PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) for not truly being an animal rights organization, but really being a group of people on "high horses" criticizing those who work in or support the animal agriculture industry. As a vegan and an advocate for the ethical treatment of animals, I feel I need to respond to this article in defense of PETA. If you haven't read the article, don't worry because I will be summarizing their main argument momentarily.

To start, I would like to say that I am painfully aware of the destruction that recent wildfires in Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas have caused to towns, communities, and homes. I am sending prayers to those affected and hoping for the best to all who are involved, no matter what you choose to eat for dinner. We are all living beings and deserve kindness and well-wishes regardless of if we identify as omnivorous or herbivorous.

With that being said, the reasoning behind this article is extremely misguided. The article talks about how these wildfires had taken out cattle ranches, which are home to several types of livestock. The article's main argument was that these cattle ranchers had risked their lives to save their livestock and PETA has no right to tell cattle ranchers that what they're doing to their livestock is wrong. They point to PETA as the hypocrites who should've been rescuing the livestock, but that's not what PETA does...

So where's the logic behind this? PETA stands for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, PETA is a charitable organization that does outreach in a unique way, unique meaning that their tactics are fairly aggressive and to those who work in the animal agriculture industry, occasionally offensive. So what does this charitable organization have to do with the wildfires that have effected ranchers? Almost nothing.

So where was PETA? To answer your question, which is derived from a completely ludicrous argument, they were probably in Washington D.C. PETA is an outreach group, not an emergency animal rescue organization, so they were probably doing what outreach groups do, raising money for their cause, lobbying legislators, creating content for their web pages (however controversial) and working to drum up support for their cause, which PETA does better than anyone else, despite how aggressive and controversial their tactics are.

One last time, where's the logic behind this? PETA has no comparison or relation to the cattle ranchers that unfortunately lost their lives, and drawing that conclusion is extremely offensive to the brave men and women who lost their lives in those fires. This article takes a painful tragedy and exploits it to try to defame an organization they don't agree with, and it's completely unfounded and ludicrous.