‘Betrayal!’ PETA’s National Ad Blitz Condemns ASPCA, Humane Society Endorsement of Factory Farms

For Immediate Release:
October 11, 2024

Contact:
Rachel Hershkovitz 202-483-7382

“It Has to Stop!” That’s the message from PETA that will appear in an eye-popping new full-page ad in The New York Times and The Washington Post on Sunday calling out the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) and the Humane Society of the United States for betraying animals and kind consumers with their endorsement of Global Animal Partnership—a deceptive meat, egg, and dairy humane-washing scheme that props up the cruelty inherent in factory farming. The deceitful program allows animal-exploiting companies to slap misleading “animal welfare certified” labels on their products—even though PETA investigators have documented widespread and systemic cruelty and suffering at all 12 certified facilities they visited.

PETA’s investigation into Plainville Farms—which at the time was Global Animal Partnership–certified—documented that workers kicked, beat, and threw turkeys and left sick and injured birds to suffer without treatment. As a result of the investigation, former workers at Plainville Farms were charged with six felonies and a total of 141 counts of cruelty to animals—the largest number in any factory-farmed animal case in U.S. history—and 10 workers have been convicted so far. PETA’s investigation into Sweet Stem Farm, which was also certified by Global Animal Partnership at the time, revealed that pigs were crammed into severely crowded sheds on concrete floors and had painful, bloody rectal prolapses as large as an orange that were left untreated.

“Bragging about ‘animal welfare’ while packing tens of thousands of animals into filthy sheds, beating them, stomping on them, kicking them, and trucking them off to slaughter is a huge betrayal,” says PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman. “PETA is calling on the ASPCA and the Humane Society of the United States to stop being apologists for animal abusers and factory farms and drop their support of this bogus humane-washing scam now.”

PETA previously sent a letter to the leaders of the ASPCA, the Humane Society of the United States, and Compassion in World Farming urging them to step down from the board of directors of Global Animal Partnership. PETA is now rallying its members and supporters to petition the groups to end their support of the program. PETA points out that while the organizations’ leaders may have hoped being on the Global Animal Partnership board would provide an opportunity to improve animal welfare on factory farms, time has proved that the initiative has been a complete failure. In fact, PETA was on the board when the organization was founded but left when it became clear that the initiative was never going to reduce animal suffering. Another animal welfare group, Farm Forward, also resigned from the board.

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to eat”—points out that Every Animal Is Someone and offers free Empathy Kits for people who need a lesson in kindness. The group also offers a free vegan starter kit on its website for anyone ready to make the switch. For more information, please visit PETA.org or follow the group on X, Facebook, or Instagram.