{"id":756830,"date":"2019-04-20T08:40:11","date_gmt":"2019-04-20T12:40:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/animalrightswatch.us\/?p=756830"},"modified":"2019-04-20T08:40:11","modified_gmt":"2019-04-20T12:40:11","slug":"ingrid-newkirk-the-animal-activist-is-still-angry-at-70","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/animalrightswatch.us\/?p=756830","title":{"rendered":"Ingrid Newkirk: The animal activist is still angry at 70"},"content":{"rendered":"\t
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Ingrid Newkirk has always had a kinship with animals, but these days 'I almost don\u2019t see the fur and the feathers, I see the person.\u2009I don\u2019t see why other people don\u2019t see it.'<\/p>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t<\/blockquote>\n\n

HENRY MANCE:<\/strong> ‘The animal rights movement is on a relative high, with the rise of veganism across the US and Europe and the decision by various fashion houses to stop using fur. But Ms Ingrid Newkirk co-founder of perhaps the world\u2019s most notorious animal rights organisation, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (Peta), has no intention of retiring from the organisation that she set up in 1980. \u201cCouldn\u2019t possibly. Would love to, would love to have never started, but ain\u2019t going to happen”…<\/em><\/p>\n

Two months before her 70th birthday, she is unashamed workaholic. \u201cI keep thinking, time \u2014 where did it go?\u201d she says, staring at her wrist for dramatic effect. \u201cI\u2019ve got to hurry up”… She is determined to \u201ccompletely revolutionise the clothing industry\u201d, making wool as unacceptable as fur, which Peta targeted using adverts of naked supermodels. She also wants people to take an \u201call-encompassing\u201d view of animals, instead of focusing on vegan \u201cdoughnuts and cupcakes\u201d. \u201cI don\u2019t need to pick a fight \u2014 it\u2019s out there, crying for it,\u201d she smiles…<\/em><\/p>\n

She explains that she has always had a kinship with animals, but these days \u201cI almost don\u2019t see the fur and the feathers \u2014 I see the person\u2009.\u2009.\u2009.\u2009I don\u2019t see why other people don\u2019t see \u2014 there\u2019s a man looking at you, there\u2019s a child.\u201d Well, I say, there are differences between species. \u201cWhat? What important fundamental difference of any sort is there?\u201d She rolls her eyes with complete disdain. And for a split-second, I see the resolve that once faced her poor office assistant. It\u2019s hardly worth disagreeing. You turn if you want to; Ingrid Newkirk isn\u2019t for turning…<\/em><\/p>\n

Ms Newkirk finds today\u2019s media environment less intellectually satisfying and does not pretend to grasp fully social media on which Peta, with its millions of followers, now relies heavily. I\u2019m totally immersed in [the organisation], it\u2019s just that some parts I don\u2019t understand”… Peta is now an organisation with a $56m annual budget, and Ms Newkirk guides its operations from India to Australia. \u201cWe now have the history of the organisation for 40 years, so instead of someone having to spend a lot of time figuring something out and maybe getting it wrong, I can often lend a helping hand”.’<\/em> SOURCE…<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

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