Jane Lynch is much nicer than Sue Sylvester, the curmudgeonly cheerleading coach she plays on Glee, but the actress is mighty miffed at organizers of Atlanta Pride, for scheduling their kickoff party at the Georgia Aquarium.
“These parties are supposed to be loud and boisterous—it’s a celebration!” writes Lynch in a note to Buck Cooke, Managing Director of Atlanta Pride. “However, animals shouldn’t have to suffer for the sake of a party. Many of the marine mammals at the aquarium are extremely sensitive to sound, and large parties create an even more stressful environment than they already endure in captivity… Since the kickoff party sets the tone for all of Pride, will you please consider moving it to one of the many alternative venues that Atlanta has to offer?”
And that’s how Sue Jane sees it.
Charlie in Charge
I certainly wouldn’t want loud thumpa thumpa music blaring in my eardrums for hours on end where I live – and that’s what it’s like for animals that live in water if you put a techno party outside their tank. Weren’t there any rooftops or parks available?
Marjorie 0120
PETA’s kill rate of their “rescued” animals is so high that the governor of that state wanted them redefined as a slaughter house and not a rescue. They are Animal Rights radicals not to be confused with real Animal Welfare rescues. Need proof, visit this site. http://www.petakillsanimals.com/
Charlie in Charge
@Marjorie 0120: Are you suggesting the animals at the aquarium will be placed in harm’s way if the gay pride party does not happen there?
Marjorie 0120
Nothing of the sort Charlie, I don’t have a clue if fish are harmed by noise or not.
I’m just saying that I don’t put any trust in what PETA people say. They are the types that would poison the fish and blame it on the music if they could pull it off. Kind of like HSUS does when they get the opportunity.
Christopher22
Anyone been to this Aquarium? From the website, it looks like there is a full meeting/conference center? Is it separate from the exhibits? Looks like it is(http://www.georgiaaquarium.org/explore-the-aquarium/) if ya wanna look. In truth PETA is using Pride for publicity, I think. Or do we have proof they protest all the other uses of this conference center?
kyyletime
@Marjorie 0120:
Quoting from that BS site funded by the meat industry shows a lot of ignorance.
Educate yourself! Why We Euthanize
http://www.peta.org/b/thepetafiles/archive/2009/03/30/Why-We-Euthanize.aspx?utm_source=msn&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=0309%20Euthanasia%20Blog%20Entry
Marjorie 0120
@kyyletime:
I am also very educated about PETA sans this website, I remember the trial where they were caught killing pet animals, entire litters of cats and dogs and dumping the bodies in the dumpster behind a local Piggley Wiggley supermarket. They went to a local animal shelter claiming that there was another shelter low on puppies and kittens for adoption. Since the shelters partially get their funding from pet sales, the full shelter of course allowed them to take the dogs, cats and their litters to help out. They killed them in their truck and dumped the bodies in the dumpster, a local police sting caught them in the act.
It’s a matter of public record if you want to do a little research. Tell me how they justify killing upwards of 90% of the pet animals (adoptable) and why you believe them?
I’m an exotic cat breeder and we have to be very careful with our identities because PETA has come on to private property and released our animals to try and fend for themselves in the mountains or deserts.
But hell, go right ahead and send them your dollars if you choose to. FOOL! Many of my customers are as gay as me, I can’t believe the gay community would back this org.
kingkuy
in the past they only had a few reception halls close to the main tank where they keep the beluga whales. they recently created a separate space where they could host parties/events and not risk injuring the animals (they still utilize those old spaces but they have a strict no noise policy)
my senior prom was one of the last “loud” events they held in the old reception halls. the real kicker is that atl pride hosted the very same opening party last year in the exact same new space mentioned… i think they constructed it around the time of the new dolphin exhibit
people should do a quick internet search before they sign their names onto things
Cosmic Destroyer
’tis a pride celebration, not a vegan potluck.
jwrappaport
Jeez Louise. PETA forgets that zoos and aquariums do a great service: educating the general public about conservation and the global environment by bringing them literally face-to-face with the issues. By putting a real face, a tangible identity to these animals and ecosystems, zoos and aquariums do more to foster the ethical treatment of animals than PETA ever will.
That said, Jane presents a legitimate concern, but one I’m sure the aquarium has anticipated, and one that seems to be allayed by the layout of the facility. See Post No. 8.
@Charlie in Charge: In the words of the late Christopher Hitchens and with respect to your second post, “what an unbelievably stupid question.” The burden of proof is on you and PETA/Jane to justify why holding the event at the aquarium will necessarily hurt the animals, not that harming them requires a party – a very silly proposition. In other words, you’re confusing sufficient conditions with necessary ones.
ScaryRussianHeather
@Marjorie 0120:
Shame on you for pushing misinformation because you’re a CAT BREEDER. Why do you breed cats when millions are put to sleep every year due to overpopulation???? or should I say $$$$
PETA was FOUND NOT GUILTY BY A JURY of all cruelty and false pretense claims in that Bertie shelter North Carolina trial.
And you are not even stating the facts that ARE public record. Shame on you for not acknowledging that it came out in trial that the shelter PETA was working with had painful methods of euthanasia and asked PETA for help. It was proven at trial.
The animals were scheduled for euth by the shelter NOT ADOPTABLE.
Furthermore, PETA is not an adoption organization and only got involved in the Bertie situation because of the horrendous conditions there and their inability to humanely euth the animals. That’s why their kill rate is high because they only help kill shelters to minimize the AGONY that the animals were experiencing with the shelters’ awful methods.
PETA began helping animals in that North Carolina shelter after being contacted by a police officer who was appalled by the conditions at a North Carolina pound, where animals were left to drown or freeze to death and dogs were suffering from contagious diseases and painful injuries that went untreated.
Before PETA was invited to help in North Carolina, animals in the pounds were either shot or gassed in a rusty, windowless metal box or injected with a paralytic (painful illegal method).
NOW, they are still being euthanized just like before but by a vet, allegedly.
You are quoting POLITICAL LOBBYISTS. The Center for Consumer Freedom, formerly called the Guest Choice Network, is a front for the restaurant, alcohol and tobacco industries. It runs media campaigns which oppose the efforts of scientists, doctors, health advocates, environmentalists and groups like Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD), calling them ‘the Nanny Culture.
ScaryRussianHeather
“Agency helped animals that no one else would”
By Daphna Nachminovitch
Virginian-Pilot
February 13, 2007
“In 2000, a Bertie County, North Carolina, police officer begged PETA for help with the local county pound, a tiny unattended, locked area enclosed by dilapidated wire fencing that confined dozens of animals who were famished and suffering from untreated illnesses and injuries. Some of them drowned when the pound flooded, some cannibalized weaker animals, and some died from deadly contagious parvovirus, mange infestations and internal parasites. Meals when there were any consisted of stale bread. There was no protection from snow, bitter winds or blazing sun, nor were there open hours, adoption programs or veterinary care for the sick. The “warden” was also the county’s litter control officer. When the holding period was up, he shot the animals he couldn’t get his hands on and stuffed the friendly ones into a rusty box, put a cinderblock on top of it to prevent them from clawing their way out and flipped the switch that pumped gas into the box. He then raced to his car and turned up the radio to drown out the screams.
Animals at nearby pounds suffered similar fates gassed, shot with a .22 or injected with a drug that paralyzed their organs and suffocated them.
PETA could have turned away, but we didn’t.
The facts came out during the recent trial in North Carolina, where two PETA employees were cleared of all charges, except for one count of littering. It became crystal clear during testimony that no one from PETA misled anyone. On the contrary, PETA tried for years through formal proposals and meetings to get county officials and local veterinarians to do right by the animals in their charge by providing them with basic needs, a chance to be adopted, and a humane death. They ignored our appeals but used our free services; we hired cleaning staff for the shelters, paid for professional training for the Bertie animal control officer, assisted with cruelty investigations and euthanasia at the officer’s request and covered all expenses and labor through our staff and volunteers to build a cat shelter. Previously, cats picked up by the county had simply been “released” into the woods to fend for themselves and go on reproducing.
“The PETA case” shone a spotlight on the animal overpopulation crisis and its tragic consequences. It�s not just a few thousand dogs and cats who need homes; it’s 3 to 4 million animals having to be killed every year in the United States because people buy dogs and cats from pet shops and breeders and don’t sterilize their animals. In the impoverished counties where PETA works, the only low- to no-cost spay/neuter services are those that PETA offers via local veterinarians and by transporting animals to our “SNIP mobile” a spay/neuter clinic on wheels which has sterilized more than 40,000 animals since 2001.
As has been pointed out by USA Today and The Wall Street Journal, the Center for Consumer Freedom (CCF) focuses neither on “consumers” nor “freedom.” The group scares corporations into paying it to try to undermine their antagonists, not only PETA but Mothers Against Drunk Driving, the Harvard School of Public Health, and others. CCF’s panicked reaction to the verdict is no surprise. CCF’s goal is to distract from PETA’s message, because PETA’s successful campaigns hurt the bottom line of the animal-exploiting industries that fund CCF. Neither CCF founder, Washington lobbyist Richard Berman, nor his henchman David Martosko who gleefully attended every day of the two-week “PETA trial” care one iota about animals in North Carolina or anywhere else. What they do care about is the fat paychecks that they pocket from companies that kill animals for money, not compassion, such as KFC, Armour Swift and others whose officials feel threatened by PETA’s work to expose animal suffering.
In this case, what counts is the decision made by 12 “ordinary” men and women who live and work in North Carolina, based on all the evidence. Because PETA threatens “business as usual” for the callous, the defendants in this trial two caring young people who were doing the heartbreaking work that the county should have been doing all along were put through the wringer because of what was always nothing more than a misdemeanor littering offense.”
Daphna Nachminovitch is Vice President of PETA’s Cruelty Investigations Department and responsible for the successful prosecution of animal abuse cases in the experimentation, domestic animal and farming industries. She also oversees PETA’s animal shelter training and outreach projects in the U.S. and overseas, as well as PETA’s spay-and-neuter clinics, doghouse-giveaway program, field operations, undercover investigations, and cruelty casework in behalf of abused and neglected animals.
Marjorie 0120
@ScaryRussianHeather:
You are entitled to believe what you choose to believe, grant me the same privilege. I cannot convince you that you in fact are wrong nor can you convince me that I am. Guess what? It’s okay.
As far as “why am I a breeder when the shelters are full?”. My breeding program does not contribute to the problem, nor would the problem lessen one bit if I never offered another cat for sale. It’s public that allows their cats/dogs to roam and breed at will that causes the problems. Free kittens have no value and the moment the animal misbehaves or has a health issue they are easily dumped on the street or at a shelter.When animal is purchased as a pet, the people are less likely to simply dump the animal because of what they paid for it. Many breeder orgs./clubs run rescues for their breed, some for all breeds. Right now, my least expensive kitten is $800, it’s a hybrid breed and still rather rare. People who visit get to meet the parent breed in the flesh, outside of a zoo environment and come away with a new regard for the conservation efforts to save the parent breed in the wild. The people who buy these cats are not interested in owning a pound kitten although I suggest getting a rescued kitten as a companion for their new kitten when they are away at work. Some will, some won’t. Am I rich, hell no! No big fancy house, no brand new car, no vacations and no sick days. I do it for the love of the breed and because I have a painful disability and they give me a reason to get up and function when I might otherwise just lay in bed and try to hide from the pain. My cat sales pretty much support the cattery, vet bills and all the costs associated with any animal breeding operation done right. These costs exist whether or not I have kittens to sell or not.
To paint all breeders with the same brush is the same as painting gays as pedophiles because a gay pedophile was caught in the act. Now I expect the fine lady/man from PETA to dispute every word I have written and color me as an evil exploiter of animals, it’s their job to do that. Painting me ugly is how they raise money. I ask my gay brothers and sisters to use reason when reading both posts.
DarkZephyr
@kyyletime: PETA makes me sick. Its as bad as intolerant Fundamentalism. They can all rot.