PETA Busted for Fake Animal Abuse Video

Blatant lies, misinformation and distortion of facts: This is what mainstream Americans are dealing with as anti-hunting, anti-pet-owning extremist ringleader groups like People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) and the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) work their black magic to deceive us. The latest stunt is from PETA as it gets called out for a fake, computer-generated animal abuse video.

As reported by the digital media news website Mashable and a handful of other sources including the Washington Post, the video shows a cat named Rufus sitting on a stool. A man commands, “Rufus, jump,” expecting it to leap onto the stool next to it. When Rufus doesn’t obey, the man again commands, “Rufus, jump,” hitting the cat in the head each time it refuses to move until it finally performs the trick. “Once more for the camera!” the man demands before the cat runs for cover. The fact the cat is a computer generated image (CGI) is never mentioned. Of course, this isn't the first time PETA has turned public outrage into self-promotion considering a previous PETA ad compared livestock born into the meat industry with rape victims.

PETA intended to release the fake video anonymously on YouTube in June to draw attention to the topic of animal cruelty. The plan? PETA’s PR firm, Press Kitchen, based in the big liberal Bloomberg-controlled cities of New York and Los Angeles—no surprise—would ask media outlets to write about the video and help it to go viral without explaining its origins or revealing the mistreated cat was computer-generated. Of course, all while PETA pretended it was unaware of who made the video or why. Once it manipulated the public and sparked outrage, PETA would post a follow-up video explaining that the abuse video was fake. So why even bother? To call attention to its platform against animal abuse and get more people to avoid circuses, zoos, roadside attractions and films that use lions, tigers or any other live animals. But while many mainstream Americans are used to the lengths PETA goes to in its extremism, this time things backfired as the group was trounced for going too far.

After being blasted by Mashable, PETA released a statement reading, in part: “The PR company approached Mashable and shared the idea. Mashable didn’t like it. When we heard Mashable wasn’t interested, we regrouped and decided to launch it ourselves in a single video as a clearly-labelled parody so that there would be no confusion. … We were taken aback last night by Mashable’s story … .”

In response, Mashable noted it wasn’t that it “didn’t like it” so much as it “didn’t take kindly to being approached for partnership on a shady, ethically ass-backwards marketing campaign.” I doubt anyone else could have said it any better. Mashable noted it wasn’t a fan of animal abuse videos, fake or otherwise—but who is?

“Sadly we have PETA coupled with a New York City and Los-Angeles-area-based PR firm disseminating a fake video to try and infuriate people,” said Jason Ouimet, director of NRA-ILA Federal Affairs. “PETA is so dishonest that they will sink to the lowest level to further their agenda, this time using a computer-generated cat in an attempt to show heart-wrenching abuse and raise money off an unsuspecting public.”

Likely more than a few duped donors who truly care about wildlife are at home right now sifting through more fake news in the latest PETA anti-hunting campaign letter. So expose PETA by sharing news of this latest scam. Groups like PETA that rake in $30 million a year aren’t going away. The next shoe will fall—it always does.

As reported by the NRA Hunters’ Leadership Forum website, NRAHLF.org, PETA already has some track record with recent moves including working alongside the HSUS to harass Sea World and to shut down the Ringling Brothers and Baily Circus, which closed in May. Of course, as noted on the new website NRAHUNTING.com touting the NRA’s initiative to save hunting, as these extremists work to diminish all human connections to animals, they are merely putting the natural world in more danger.

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