SF SPCA Volunteer - PETA threatens animals

PETA threatens animals

Editor -- Re Debra J. Saunders' indictment of PETA ("Better dead than fed, PETA says," June 23): Saunders could have mentioned other more subtle but just as insidious ways that the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals threatens animals, specifically feral cats. The San Francisco SPCA has a wonderful network of volunteers who manage feral-cat colonies, but PETA sets such draconian requirements for the areas in which most feral cats live that it would have most such colonies destroyed.

According to its Web site, PETA approves only of feral-cat colonies where, among other things, "the cats are isolated from roads, people, and other animals who could harm them ... and situated in an area where they do not have access to wildlife and where the weather is temperate." There are hardly any spots in San Francisco that conform to this utopian standard.

PETA sums up its position with doubletalk that exposes an inhumane, unethical agenda: "PETA cannot in good conscience oppose euthanasia as a humane alternative to dealing with cat overpopulation." If the cats could talk (and in many ways, they do), they would passionately protest this death sentence.

BILL HAMILTON

SF/SPCA volunteer

San Francisco