ANTI-PET ANIMAL RIGHTS OWNERSHIP QUOTES

Animal rights extremists don't think you should own animals either.  They are not about animal welfare.  To them, animal rights is an all or nothing philosophy!

ANIMAL RIGHTS VS. ANIMAL WELFARE:

"Human care (of animals) is simply sentimental, sympathetic patronage." (Dr. Michael W. Fox, Humane Society of the United States, in 1988 Newsweek interview).

"In a perfect world, all other than human animals would be free of human interference, and dogs and cats would be part of the ecological scheme." --PeTA's Statement on Companion Animals.

"If it were up to me, there would be no ‘domestic’ animals, by which I mean there would be no slavery, no animal property, no ‘pets.’ Other creatures would live their lives, raising their families, having their own projects."  -- Karen Davis, President, United Poultry Concerns, Vegan Voice (December 1, 2000)

"We are not especially 'interested in' animals. Neither of us had ever been inordinately fond of dogs, cats, or horses in the way that many people are. We didn't 'love' animals." --Peter Singer, Animal Liberation: A New Ethic for Our Treatment of Animals, 2nd ed. (New York Review of Books, 1990), Preface, p. ii.

"Not only are the philosophies of animal rights and animal welfare separated by irreconcilable differences... the enactment of animal welfare measures actually impedes the achievement of animal rights... Welfare reforms, by their very nature, can only serve to retard the pace at which animal rights goals are achieved." --Gary Francione and Tom Regan, "A Movement's Means Create Its Ends," The Animals' Agenda, January/February 1992, pp. 40-42.

"The theory of animal rights simply is not consistent with the theory of animal welfare... Animal rights means dramatic social changes for humans and non-humans alike; if our bourgeois values prevent us from accepting those changes, then we have no right to call ourselves advocates of animal rights." --Gary Francione, The Animals' Voice, Vol. 4, No. 2 (undated), pp. 54-55.

OWNERSHIP:

ARers believe ALL PETS are VICTIMS:

"How would you feel if you were born and taken away from your mother against your will (?)" ". . . how would you feel if you were the mother and your offspring was taken away from you by force--just to be given to some human(?)"  ". . . (how would you feel if you) had your genitals cut off? . . . The pet industry is a form of slavery. . . A human decides where it goes, what it does, what it eats, how it lives and how it dies." -- http://www.animalsuffering.com 

"Pet ownership is an absolutely abysmal situation brought about by human manipulation." -- Ingrid Newkirk, national director, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PeTA), Just Like Us? Toward a Nation of Animal Rights" (symposium), Harper's, August 1988, p. 50.

"Liberating our language by eliminating the word 'pet' is the first step... In an ideal society where all exploitation and oppression has been eliminated, it will be NJARA's policy to oppose the keeping of animals as 'pets." --New Jersey Animal Rights Alliance, "Should Dogs Be Kept As Pets? NO!" Good Dog! February 1991, p. 20.

"Let us allow the dog to disappear from our brick and concrete jungles--from our firesides, from the leather nooses and chains by which we enslave it." --John Bryant, Fettered Kingdoms: An Examination of A Changing Ethic (Washington, DC: People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PeTA), 1982), p. 15.

"As John Bryant has written in his book Fettered Kingdoms, they [pets] are like slaves, even if well-kept slaves." --PeTA's Statement on Companion Animals. "In a perfect world, all other than human animals would be free of human interference, and dogs and cats would be part of the ecological scheme." --PeTA's Statement on Companion Animals.

"[A]s the surplus of cats and dogs (artificially engineered by centuries of forced breeding) declined, eventually companion animals would be phased out, and we would return to a more symbiotic relationship--enjoyment at a distance." --Ingrid Newkirk, "Just Like Us? Toward a Notion of Animal Rights" (symposium), Harper's, August 1988, p. 50.

THE ANIMAL RIGHTS POSITION ON BREEDING:

"The cat, like the dog, must disappear... We should cut the domestic cat free from our dominance by neutering, neutering, and more neutering, until our pathetic version of the cat ceases to exist." --John Bryant, Fettered Kingdoms: An Examination of A Changing Ethic (Washington, DC: People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PeTA), 1982), p. 15.

"The bottom line is that people don't have the right to manipulate or to breed dogs and cats ... If people want toys, they should buy inanimate objects. If they want companionship, they should seek it with their own kind," -- Ingrid Newkirk, national director, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PeTA), Animals,< May/June 1993.

"One day, we would like an end to pet shops and the breeding of animals. [Dogs] would pursue their natural lives in the wild .. they would have full lives, not wasting at home for someone to come home in the evening and pet them and then sit there and watch TV," -- Ingrid Newkirk, national director, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PeTA), Chicago Daily Herald, March 1, 1990.

"You don't have to own squirrels and starlings to get enjoyment from them ... One day, we would like an end to pet shops and the breeding of animals. [Dogs] would pursue their natural lives in the wild .. they would have full lives, not wasting at home for someone to come home in the evening and pet them and then sit there and watch TV," -- Ingrid Newkirk, national director, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PeTA), Chicago Daily Herald, March 1, 1990.

AND, YES, RESPONSIBLE BREEDERS ARE INCLUDED:

"[Animal] Fancies provide an escape from the real world, a sense of purpose in a lot of purposeless lives, a chance to play God by breeding animals, and a chance to play celebrity by showing them." (The Animals' Agenda, Dec. 1991, Phil Maggitti).