PETA PROTESTS IAMS

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J. Marz - 15 Jun 2004 02:09 GMT

PETA PROTESTS IAMS' DEADLY ANIMAL TESTS IN EUGENE

http://www.peta.org/news/NewsItem.asp?id=4536

PETA: Customers Mad Over Dog Deaths for a Bowl of Chow

For Immediate Release:
June 14, 2004

Contact:
Matt Prescott 757-622-7382

Eugene, Ore. Wearing striped "prisoner" suits and dog masks and
crowded together into small cages to illustrate the misery of animals
who are neglected and killed in crude laboratory tests, PETA members
will protest cat- and dog-food company Iams. The protest is part of
PETA's international campaign against Dayton, Ohio-based Iams, which
was launched last summer after years of failed negotiations:

Date: Tuesday, June 15
Time: 3-4 p.m.
Place: Entrance to PetsMart plaza, 2847 Chad Dr.

A recent PETA undercover investigation revealed deplorable conditions
at an Iams contract laboratory. At least 27 dogs were killed, while
others died of illnesses that went untreated, despite assurances from
Iams that no animal in any Iams test would ever be deliberately
killed. PETA's investigator also found the following:

* Terrified dogs and cats confined to small, barren cages, some for up
to six years
* Dogs whose vocal cords had been surgically cut out so that they
couldn't bark
* Dogs with untreated ear infections and rotten teeth, as well as
injured paws from having to balance on metal-slatted cages and lie on
cold cement
* Workers' reports of a live kitten who was washed down a drain
* Kennels that were stifling during summer months and near freezing in
winter
* Dogs force-fed vegetable oil through tubes inserted down their
throats

In June, PETA filed a formal complaint with the Federal Trade
Commission against Iams and its parent company, Cincinnati-based
Procter & Gamble, for making allegedly false claims on the Iams Web
site regarding the care provided to the cats and dogs used in the
company's research.

"We're howling mad that Iams is causing misery and death for dogs and
cats while feeding its customers a line of fiction," says PETA Senior
Vice President Mary Beth Sweetland. "Dogs and cats shouldn't be forced
to suffer for Iams' profits."

Broadcast-quality footage of animals in an Iams contract laboratory is
available. For more information, please visit PETA's Web site
IamsCruelty.com.

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Luvskats00 - 15 Jun 2004 04:50 GMT

PETA's charity status questioned
By Matthew Cella
THE WASHINGTON TIMES

An organization that tracks crimes against business interests filed a
complaint yesterday asking the Internal Revenue Service to revoke the
tax-exempt status of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.
The 12-page complaint, filed by Ron Arnold, executive vice president of
the nonprofit Center for the Defense of Free Enterprise (CDFE), argues that the
Norfolk-based animal rights group should be stripped of its charitable status.
The complaint says PETA supports domestic terrorist groups, steals trade
secrets and assaults business executives.
"PETA is required by law to be operated exclusively for the charitable
purpose of prevention of cruelty to animals," the complaint says. "PETA's
pattern of encouraging unlawful activity goes back more than 10 years. Its
activities are completely inconsistent with its allegedly charitable purpose."
The complaint accuses PETA of acting as a "conduit for information" for
the Animal Liberation Front (ALF), which was singled out in congressional
testimony by the FBI regarding domestic terrorism last month as "one of the
most active extremist elements in the United States."
It also claims PETA funds were used in the legal defense funds of one ALF
member who pleaded guilty in 1995 to destroying a University of Michigan
laboratory conducting animal tests.
The complaint recounts several episodes where PETA members were arrested
during protests for stunts ranging from slashing leather clothes in a New York
store to setting a fire on the steps of the U.S. Capitol to protest government
plans to help the pork industry.
"I don't think the average person realizes PETA's a tax-exempt
organization," said Alan Gottlieb, president of the Bellevue, Wash.-based CDFE.
He said the real offense is that U.S. taxpayers are subsidizing PETA's
activities by permitting PETA donors to deduct contributions as charitable
contributions on their income tax returns.

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