They shoot dogs don't they?

A little stale but still a good and continuing story. In case you missed it a few weeks ago, two employees of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) were arrested in North Carolina on 31 felony animal-cruelty charges for killing and disposing of dogs and puppies in a dumpster behind a Piggly Wiggly store in Ahoskie, NC. And no I'm not making this up and no this isn't quoted from The Onion. Apparently this is not the first time PETA has been involved in a euthanasia program. In May 2005 an anti-PETA group posted on its website obtained official records from the state of Virginia showing the militant animal-rights group had put over 10,000 dogs and cats to death since 1998.

A Bertie County (NC) Deputy Sheriff told The Roanoke-Chowan News-Herald that Cook and Hinkle assured the Bertie Animal Shelter “they were picking up the dogs to take them back to Norfolk where they would find them good homes.” Ahoskie Police Chief Troy Fitzhugh said "We've been investigating animal cruelty and illegal disposal of dead animals within our city for the last four weeks...Our investigators determined that these incidents were occurring every Wednesday for approximately one month." Nearly all of the dogs found in the dumpster were indentified as being dogs that had been picked up just afew hours earlier.

“This is disturbing behavior on the part of self-professed animal lovers, and I hope the public takes notice,” said Center for Consumer Freedom Director of Research David Martosko. “PETA raked in nearly $29 million last year alone, but apparently it couldn’t spare any money to care for the flesh-and-blood animals entrusted to its employees. It’s ironic -- If anyone else were caught red-handed with 31 dead dogs, PETA would be holding a press conference to denounce them.”

Irony can be pretty ironic sometimes.