At 70, Ingrid Newkirk presses on, fearless, driven, unshakeable in her determination to fight human supremacism and end the barbarous era in which we live. It is an era that damns humanity, she says.
MARTIN FLETCHER: ‘Ingrid Newkirk, who turned 70 in June, is Peta’s founder and president, and it is just possible that she will one day be remembered as the campaigner who did for animals what William Wilberforce did for slaves… In the 39 years since she launched Peta with four friends in the basement of her Maryland home, Newkirk has turned it into the world’s largest – and most controversial – animal rights organisation, with 6.5 million members and supporters, 480 full-time staff, an annual budget of $60m, a dozen offices around the world and a mantra that reads: “Animals are not ours to eat, wear, experiment on or use for entertainment.” Using undercover investigations, outrageous publicity stunts, advertising campaigns that set out to shock, and aggressive agitation, Peta has done much to end humanity’s abuse of animals.
It has all but closed down the fur trade, exposed the cruelty of factory farming, reduced the use of animals for research and entertainment, forced anti-cruelty legislation on to statute books and fostered alternatives to food and clothing derived from animals… Once regarded as an extremist fringe group that the FBI suspected of “providing material, support and resources to known domestic terrorist organisations”, Peta is today in serious danger of becoming mainstream, as environmental and health concerns align with those of animal rights to boost vegetarianism and veganism… “To animals all humans are Nazis,” she says. “I’m ashamed of many humans. I have a lot of human heroes but the vast majority of people just need to wake up”…
Peta’s modus operandi is straightforward. It collects documentary and photographic evidence of cruelty, either by infiltrating factory farms, slaughterhouses, research laboratories and testing facilities, or with the help of disgruntled employees. It presents that evidence to those responsible and, where possible, suggests alternative methods or products not requiring animals. If rebuffed, it moves to more militant action, which is where Peta really generates controversy. It mobilises its supporters to picket, boycott and buy shares in companies so they can attend their AGMs. It posts harrowing videos online. It uses celebrities. It stages publicity stunts…
Critics, including other animal rights groups, say Peta goes too far, that some of its attention-seeking methods are so shocking they drive potential supporters away… Newkirk is unapologetic. She readily admits to being a “press slut” who courts publicity because, she says: “You can hand a leaflet to someone on the street, but if you can tell the facts by showing a video or getting a picture in the paper there will be a lot more eyes on it.” The images are shocking because our treatment of animals is shocking, she argues. People have to be confronted with the truth to shake them from their complacency…
Newkirk also supports the Animal Liberation Front, a guerilla group that forcibly seizes animals from laboratories and farms, and has on occasion been accused of targeting scientists with letter bombs and incendiary devices. She wrote a laudatory book about the group, which the FBI regards as a terrorist organisation. “Violence to life would be a problem, but I wouldn’t mind razing a building if it was used as a terrible place to torture living beings. That doesn’t bother me at all,” she says… But she has also become, inevitably, a figure of hate to some. She regularly receives online abuse, including death threats. Asked if she has any form of protection, she replies “maybe” but will not elaborate…
And so Ingrid Newkirk presses on – fearless, driven, unshakeable in her determination to fight “human supremacism” and end the “barbarous era” in which we live. It is an era that “damns humanity”, she says… She has no intention of retiring now that she has turned 70. “Too much work to do,” she says… Ingrid Newkirk hopes that, a century from now, the world will regard the way we treat animals today with same horror with which we regard slavery. “People will say ‘Did they really do that to animals?… I’m sure there’s a chance that will happen”.’ SOURCE…
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