Posted By: Mira Trapper
No end in sight for PETA's audacity. - 06/23/10 07:23 PM
With all the problems in the gulf for the working man, leave it to PETA to be more worried about getting their name in print and THEIR LAWYERS some major Court Time.
USA TODAY
Animal rights activists target BP
By Rick Jervis,
June 22, 2010
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/environment/2010-06-21-peta-oil_N.htm?csp=34news&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+UsatodaycomNation-TopStories+(News+-+Nation+-+Top+Stories)
NEW ORLEANS — Animal rights advocates are pushing prosecutors to go
after oil giant BP with a new weapon: animal cruelty charges.
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, or PETA, sent a letter
recently to each of the Gulf Coast attorneys general who have been
impacted by the massive Gulf oil spill, urging them to open criminal
investigations on BP officials based on state animal cruelty charges.
"As a direct result of BP's reckless acts and omissions, each of these
animals has suffered and endured a tortuous death," Jeff Kerr, PETA's
general counsel, said in the letters to the attorneys general of
Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida.
Under Louisiana law, cruelty to animals is a misdemeanor punishable by
up to six months in jail, a $1,000 fine or both for each hurt or
killed animal. Tallying up the seabirds, turtles, dolphins and other
animals that have been impacted by the spill, that could mean serious
jail time for individuals, Kerr said.
The offices of the four attorneys general did not reply to requests
for comment. A BP spokesman also did not return a request for comment.
Pictures of pelicans and terns saturated in dark crude have filled
newscasts and newspapers since the Deepwater Horizon rig exploded and
sank in April, killing 11 crewmembers and sparking the worst oil spill
crisis in U.S. history.
As of Monday, 724 oiled birds had been collected alive and another 957
have been found dead by wildlife officials, according to the U.S. Fish
and Wildlife Service.
Wildlife officials have also counted 387 dead sea turtles and 47 dead
mammals, including dolphins. The wildlife service notes that the cause
of injury or death have not yet been officially linked to the oil
spill.
"Anybody who harms an animal deserves to be held criminally
responsible for that," Kerr said.
Jeff Dorson, director of the Humane Society of Louisiana, said he
plans to file a police report in both the Jefferson Parish and
Plaquemines Parish sheriff departments this week, alleging that BP
violated parish statutes against cruelty to animals, along with
littering of waterways and anti-poisoning ordinances.
The intention is to get the District Attorney's office in each parish
to take up the case and file criminal charges against BP officials, he
said.
USA TODAY
Animal rights activists target BP
By Rick Jervis,
June 22, 2010
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/environment/2010-06-21-peta-oil_N.htm?csp=34news&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+UsatodaycomNation-TopStories+(News+-+Nation+-+Top+Stories)
NEW ORLEANS — Animal rights advocates are pushing prosecutors to go
after oil giant BP with a new weapon: animal cruelty charges.
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, or PETA, sent a letter
recently to each of the Gulf Coast attorneys general who have been
impacted by the massive Gulf oil spill, urging them to open criminal
investigations on BP officials based on state animal cruelty charges.
"As a direct result of BP's reckless acts and omissions, each of these
animals has suffered and endured a tortuous death," Jeff Kerr, PETA's
general counsel, said in the letters to the attorneys general of
Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida.
Under Louisiana law, cruelty to animals is a misdemeanor punishable by
up to six months in jail, a $1,000 fine or both for each hurt or
killed animal. Tallying up the seabirds, turtles, dolphins and other
animals that have been impacted by the spill, that could mean serious
jail time for individuals, Kerr said.
The offices of the four attorneys general did not reply to requests
for comment. A BP spokesman also did not return a request for comment.
Pictures of pelicans and terns saturated in dark crude have filled
newscasts and newspapers since the Deepwater Horizon rig exploded and
sank in April, killing 11 crewmembers and sparking the worst oil spill
crisis in U.S. history.
As of Monday, 724 oiled birds had been collected alive and another 957
have been found dead by wildlife officials, according to the U.S. Fish
and Wildlife Service.
Wildlife officials have also counted 387 dead sea turtles and 47 dead
mammals, including dolphins. The wildlife service notes that the cause
of injury or death have not yet been officially linked to the oil
spill.
"Anybody who harms an animal deserves to be held criminally
responsible for that," Kerr said.
Jeff Dorson, director of the Humane Society of Louisiana, said he
plans to file a police report in both the Jefferson Parish and
Plaquemines Parish sheriff departments this week, alleging that BP
violated parish statutes against cruelty to animals, along with
littering of waterways and anti-poisoning ordinances.
The intention is to get the District Attorney's office in each parish
to take up the case and file criminal charges against BP officials, he
said.