Their legal teams teach them which key words to use with any public communications for the most impact and to project an innocence perception.
They also had a memo given to any PETA staff that were making trips into NC to “help” that were for educating their staff on what to expect, why they were going there, how to react around the people there and what questions to ask them.
In a PETA field manual entitled: Communications Protocol for North Carolina
Attorneys had a copy of it (found in the van) and had Hinkle read from it during the trial:
"They always have their dogs run loose in the country, and that’s probably how they got the dog in the first place. And they may never have heard of keeping a big dog in the house. They really, in most cases, just do not know any better. Yes, it sucks. And it’s tough and frustrating, and we come upon a lot of neglect and cruelty. But remember that they have no standard of comparison until we show them a better way. They’ve grown up that way. They’re socialized that way. They haven’t seen anything different.
They were also asking even law enforcement if they had pets, what kind and “Where do you keep them?”
As for telling people what they were doing:
Ms. Ray works at the animal hospital where the cat and kittens were picked up and was present when Ms. Hinkle was handed the animals.
Ray: “Adria took them, and she held the carrier up like this, and she said ‘Oh, we shouldn’t have any trouble finding homes for them.’”
Asbell: “After she said that, or before she said that, what did you think Ms. Hinkle was going to do when she carried the cat and the two kittens out?”
Ray: “I thought she was going to take them and try to find homes for them.”
Asbell: “And—had you thought she was going to do anything otherwise, would you have handed those kittens over to her?”
Ray: "No. I wouldn’t have called them [PETA] in the beginning.
Ms. Dunlow was also present at the time and talked to Ms. Hinkle.
Dunlow: “Tonya held up the carrier to, like, face level. And Adria was looking into the carrier, saying ‘Oh! They’re so cute!’ At that point, Tonya was telling her that we’ve had them for several weeks, they were very socialized, they were very healthy, and that we hoped they would be able to find homes for them. At that point, Adria said ‘We shouldn’t have any problems finding homes for these kittens. They’re absolutely gorgeous! Do they have names?’”
Brown: Have PETA employees ever represented the organization as a pet-adoption service?
Dunlow: “Yes, [PETA] employees in the past had told me specifically that they placed these animals in homes.”
Brown: “Guaranteed?”
Dunlow: “Well, they were hopeful. Just like I was hopeful. They didn’t say that they’d transport the animals and kill them before they crossed the state line.”
*Remember the cat and kittens were picked up from a vet’s office and NOT a shelter. No worries about them being PTS, they were told PETA has a bigger pool of possible adopters up in VA.
PETA took them just to euthanize animals not in danger of being euthanized…they were only in danger of being adopted and “owned.”
As for the animals being sick, one single dog was chosen for a necropsy. The only one wearing a collar. The “sick” reason given was that the animals were probably exposed to parvo.
Dr. Steven Rushton, Dept of Ag, did the necropsy.
Asbell: “Ms. Stevenson asked you a question about diagnosing the Parvo virus, and I believe your answer was that the best way to diagnose it was from a gross examination, which is what you did?”
Rushton: “Yes.”
Asbell: “All right. And this particular dog, that dog that you did an examination of, did not have the Parvo virus?”
Rushton: “No.”
PETA had a form letter sent out to anyone and everyone who ever asks about the petakillsnanimals.com website. It was signed “PETA Staff” and this is a direct quote from that form letter (thousands went out to explain the ‘falsehoods’ on that website)
This was the wording from a March 2005 form letter, right after the petakills website went up but right before the dumpster divers were arrested:
"We do not run a traditional shelter. In fact, we refer every healthy, cute, young animal we can to shelters. And some of the animals we rescue are lost companions whom we are able to joyfully reunite with their families. Of the homeless animals we take in ourselves, the healthy and adoptable ones are fostered, adopted, or taken to local shelters."
3 weeks after the arrest of Hinkle and Cook, they removed this underlined quoted part from the form letters. Yet people will believe PETA because they heard directly from them. sigh
They even offered to help this county’s actual ACO Barry Anderson find a new home for one of his own many dogs, a terrier named Happy. They killed Happy too. Without telling Mr Anderson. Then sent him photos of the dog in it’s new home. But those were taken on the drive back to VA, the dog was euthanized as soon as they got to PETA headquarters.
Anderson: “I knew that by talking to Ms. Hinkle that she could possibly find a home for it, someone that was looking for a good dog … To my understanding, she found a home for it in Virginia .”
Hinkle: “the only time I can remember leaving with a dog alive would have been Happy.”
Asbell: "How did these pictures get back in the possession of [Animal Control Officer] Barry Anderson?
Hinkle: “I sent them to him.”
Asbell: “Why?”
Hinkle: “I thought he would appreciate them. I knew that it was a very hard decision for him to give Happy up.”
Asbell: “And when you sent these pictures back to him, did you tell him that 'I killed the dog in Norfolk '?”
Hinkle: “No.”
Asbell: “Why not?”
Hinkle: “I didn’t think it was necessary.”
Asbell: “Why?”
Hinkle: “I don’t know.”
Asbell: “When he gave you this dog, and entrusted you to take it and adopt it, out, why did you not tell him that you killed it?”
Hinkle: “No reason. I didn’t want to hurt Barry’s feelings.”
Asbell: “If you didn’t want to hurt his feelings, why didn’t you leave the dog with him?”
Hinkle: “I don’t know.”
Court docs. Exact quotes.
People for the ETHICAL Treatment of Animals?
And yet people will continue to support them, or just defend them stating that “yeah, sometimes they make extreme statements but they get things done!” And “they’re not out to take away everyone’s pets!”
Sure, believe that. Keep reading all of your information on online media. And their own sites. Or their HEAVILY edited press releases.
Much easier and faster and cheaper to get info that way. And it’s understandable.
But also please consider that when they tell you exactly who they are and what they do and what they want in DIRECT quotes, believe them too.
For those of us who really follow things like this…as in attend trials, pay for transcripts, attend speeches they make, lobby alongside them, speak with their officers personally…they scare the poop out of us. And they scare the poop out of a LOT of people that used to be staunch supporters and then met them personally.
A minor correction or two! PETA was not a defendant in the case you’re referring to. And the actual defendants in that case were found not guilty of obtaining animals under false pretenses. In fact, they were exonerated of all the charges against them.[/QUOTE]