“Cat Research, after all the drama” & “USDA finds animal treatment violation”

            After reading these articles and watching the film about PETA in class I am rather shocked. Before, I had always thought that PETA only wanted what was best for animals and now I am beginning to believe they only want what will draw the most attention. I don’t doubt that many members of PETA care deeply for animals but it just seems like some of the members are all about getting the most publicity. I am not a believer in any publicity is good publicity. In the “Cat Research, after all the drama” article, PETA made accusations about UW Madison without even considering the facts. It is stated in the article that PETA held onto information for 3 years before taking action only after receiving pictures. These types of accusations show PETA as being almost incompetent. In both articles it was evident that the author felt like PETA was only trying to undermine what they were doing and not actually help the animals. I don’t mean to disregard PETA as an organization but I do believe that some of their protests and complaints may not be actually for the animals. However, we have only seen what PETA has been doing that may seem sometimes unethical or counterproductive. We have not yet seen any of the good that PETA has done and I am sure they have helped many animals.

This is not what I imagined was happening! I do not agree with this!

            Overall, I believe that both articles effectively got their points across. Even though the “Cat Research, after all the drama” article was supposed to be mainly about the citations on the UW, PETA was mentioned quite a bit. Both articles focused mainly on the role PETA played in the citations of animal mistreatment. I believe that in both articles the purpose was to show that PETA has made quite a few empty claims and that UW Madison has fully cooperated and is fixing its mistakes. The articles not only make PETA look like the aggressor but they make UW Madison look like the victim. Our blog leader Kim reported that this lab has since closed which has me curious to how much of an impact PETA actually had. Since these articles were written in 2013 I wonder if PETA kept pressure on the state and UW Madison or if they gave up once they got the publicity they wanted.

            With all of this said I am strongly against animal testing especially when an animal is injected with something on order to see how they will react. However, with that said I would have to know more about how UW Madison was conducting their research in order to take a side on that matter. If the cats could not hear before the surgery I may approve if the cats are treated and cared for properly. It isn’t only the surgery that worries me, however after finding the picture above the surgery looks horrible, it is what happens to the cats after the surgery. I don’t believe that animals should be tested on their whole lives that is just cruelty. Lets say that UW Madison helped these cats to hear, cared for them properly, and then found them a good home, would PETA and others still be against all of the research? Nonetheless it is better to not have animal testing then to “trust” that research facilities will take proper care of the animals and give them loving and happy lives.