The Three Amigos: A Sycophantic Scammer, a Discredited Dogfighter, and a Peculiar Professor

We saw on Twitter that HSUS had a special guest at its headquarters the other day: Peter Singer. You might not know who Singer is or what he stands for, so let us fill you in. Singer, Princeton professor and author of Animal Liberation, not only has said sex with animals might be kosher, but he believes that newborns don’t count as people and that it’s morally acceptable to kill them.

No, really. Singer argues, for instance, that “if killing [a] hemophiliac infant has no adverse effect on others, it would, according to the total view, be right to kill him.” More broadly, “killing a newborn baby is never equivalent to killing a person, that is, a being who wants to go on living.”

“The notion that human life is sacred just because it is human life is medieval,” Singer writes. Medieval, complains the barbarian.

As for bestiality, Singer writes that “sex with animals does not always involve cruelty” and that “mutually satisfying activities may develop” between people and animals.

If he adopts a pet, does he put that stuff on the application?

We wonder what exactly Singer was at HSUS to chat about. Regardless, rubbing elbows with a man of such views seems a bit out of the mainstream.

HSUS has also allied with convicted dogfighting kingpin Michael Vick. Following Vick’s release from prison, HSUS partnered with him and even took $50,000 from Vick’s employer, the Philadelphia Eagles. HSUS CEO Wayne Pacelle later said that Vick “would do a good job as a pet owner.” And lo and behold, Vick has since gotten a pet—much to the dismay of many animal lovers.

Behind the slick marketing, there lies a cynical attitude and a radical ideology at HSUS. It’s not just taking money from a dog-killer’s employer or associating with an ivory-tower academic who thinks offing infants is morally justifiable.

The entire scheme of HSUS relies on deceptively raising money with sad images of cats and dogs and then using it to pursue an animal liberation agenda. HSUS CEO Wayne Pacelle is an extremist who has admitted that “I don’t want to see another cat or dog born” and that “I don’t love animals or think they are cute,” yet positions himself as a moderate when wooing donors, whether in ads or at ritzy galas. Perhaps Peter Singer can offer us his thoughts on whether that’s morally acceptable.