Gimme Shelter

In what could be the strangest request in pop history, animal rights group Peta has asked the Pet Shop Boys to consider changing their name to the Rescue Shelter Boys.

The organisation, whose full name is People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, said the change would encourage people to give homes to unwanted cats and dogs from shelters rather than buying especially-bred animals from pet shops.

Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe, who named themselves the Pet Shop Boys more than 20 years ago, declined the request but delighted Peta by posting the organisation’s concerns on their website.  — TimesOnLine

Over the years, Peta has concocted some of the worst schemes for gaining sympathy and building support than any organization since the North American Man-Boy Love Association posted videos of their annual picnic.

The program of splattering red paint or blood on women’s fur coats inspired rage pretty well across economic lines.  Remember when they handed out gruesome pictures of butchered animals to families (including kids) at McDonald’s playgrounds, infuriating everybody?  How about when they compared captive elephants to American slavery, juxtaposing photos of shackled Blacks and chained elephants.  Or showing up at fishing tournaments to scream abuse and and hurl objects at recreational catch and release anglers?

My favorites, which I don’t quite believe, are when they offered officials in the city of Hamburg, NY $15,000 to change the town’s name to Veggieburg.  ”The town’s name conjures up visions of unhealthy patties of ground-up dead cows,” said Joe Haptas, spokesman of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), in a letter faxed to Hamburg Supervisor Patrick Hoak.  They made a similar offer to Fishkill, NY, asking them to change to “Fishsave.”   Source

So give them some credit this time: maybe they cooked up another sick howler, but at least nobody got hurt or pissed off.  While clearly idiotic, it wasn’t outrageous, and they seemed to have handled rejection well.  No paint, bruises, or traumatized children resulted from this antic.  Perhaps in gratitude we should sacrifice a manatee.