PETA Europe Managing Director Ingrid E. Newkirk, founder of the world’s largest animal rights organisation and a British citizen, is giving lab chiefs and steakhouse owners a chance to get back at her. As PETA Europe’s Campaigns Department is experiencing unprecedented growth, Newkirk has put her services up for bid on eBay to fund her campaigners’ travel to protest sites around the globe.
Newkirk, who grew up in Kingston upon Thames, will accompany shooting parties into the field, check a trapper’s trap line, perform abattoir chores, help out at a greyhound race or even clean cages in an animal experimentation laboratory. One of Newkirk’s hundreds of thousands of supporters, however, might outbid the competition and hire her to escort a cruelty-free holiday shopping spree, veganise a kitchen or give a personalised lecture on how to understand what would make dogs and cats happier at home.
Newkirk also issues fair warning to bidders whose intent is to make her squirm: Be ready to land in the hot seat because she will not hesitate to speak up if she witnesses animal abuse.
“One thing that might give animal experimenters, factory farm owners or hunt supporters pause for thought is the knowledge that their money will be used to fight animal experimentation, factory farming and other cruel practices”, says Newkirk. “But I’ll pledge to be a dutiful, hardworking, efficient personal assistant, and maybe my presence will make them stop to think about the misery they cause for animals.”
PETA Europe is the UK affiliate of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), the largest animal rights organisation in the world, with more than 850,000 members and supporters. PETA operates under the simple principle that animals are not ours to eat, wear, experiment on or use for entertainment.  PETA Europe focuses its attention on the four areas in which the largest numbers of animals suffer the most intensely for the longest periods of time: in factory farms, laboratories, the clothing trade and the entertainment industry. PETA Europe works through public education, cruelty investigations, research, animal rescue, legislation, special events, celebrity involvement and protest campaigns.

For more information, please visit PETA.org.uk.

Newkirk’s eBay listing

Posted: 11|3|05 at 8:37 am. Filed under: UK News.