PETA demanded in court that I reveal the names of PETA employees who spoke to me on condition of anonymity about PETA’s killing of animals. The information they provided was used to corroborate newspaper articles, on the record sources, government documents received under the Public Records Act, testimony and information from civil and criminal cases against PETA, videotape evidence, and admissions of killing by PETA officials. Their testimony was used for a series of articles and ultimately became a book, Why PETA Kills.
After I refused to violate the oath of confidentiality I gave them, PETA filed a motion to compel their disclosure claiming that as an animal advocate, I was not entitled to the protection of the First Amendment, a point of view the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press called “alarming for all newsgatherers.”
Thankfully, the Court denied PETA’s motion. This is a victory for animals, investigative journalism, new/non-traditional media, and the First Amendment.
It is my hope that additional PETA employees, past and present, will have the courage to come forward and report what they have witnessed there or perhaps even participated in. It is only by exposing what PETA does to animals that we can ever hope to protect what otherwise would be future animal victims by bringing the killing to an end.
Why PETA Kills is available for free download on Amazon through the weekend. (Even if you don’t have a kindle, you can still download and read it for free on any e-reader, smart phone, or PC if you first download the free kindle reading app. Then click the price UNDER the Kindle Unlimited box where it says “$0.00 to buy.”)
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