PETA found me. Their people know where I live, and they are coming for me.

Thankfully, this group is not hunting me down for committing some wild injustice to my fellow sentient beings.

What I experienced was more of a recruiting measure. The organization wants me to join, to call myself one of the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.

I received a packet in my mailbox from the infamous animal rights group. The large folded envelope contained a letter asking me how much I knew about the horrors of the fur trade in China and prompting me to donate $16 for the cause.

It also included sheets of stickers with my name and address printed alongside various PETA logos and pictures of cats, dogs, cows and bears.

Finally, I was sent a survey sheet asking me questions like, “Were you aware that fur traders use methods such as drowning animals, bludgeoning them and skinning them alive in order to save money and avoid damage to the fur?”

Yes, PETA survey, I knew this. I have seen your video narrated by actress Olivia Munn talking about cats and dogs getting mixed up and mislabeled in the trade, and I saw the clip where a dog looks up from a pile of corpses, stares at the camera and blinks—all with no skin on its body whatsoever.

But chances are, you knew I saw that video, PETA survey.

I must have signed up for some kind of mailing list at some point, which is how they got my name and school address, though I’ll admit I was confused at first.

“How did they know I was one of them? Maybe they could smell it,” I thought.

I may or may not donate the $16. I feel the same way when the Human Rights Campaign people harass me on the streets of Chicago; I am making a difference by the way I live my life, and I have to focus on paying my bills before I can pay someone to do my activism for me.

I also felt hesitant to add, “I heart PETA” to my collection of laptop stickers because I know most people scoff at this organization for being extremists.

While some may not agree with the way PETA goes about its fight, the group should not be entirely discredited.

Causing a general disturbance to what people are comfortable thinking about does not negate the legislation PETA has changed or the realities it has unveiled.

The group has seen its fair share of controversies. Some are against sexualizing women to say, “I’d rather go naked than wear fur” in ads, while others argue that sex sells all sorts of merchandise, so ideals should be no different.

Others argue for calling PETA’s headquarters a slaughterhouse because it ends up euthanizing the majority of the cats and dogs in its shelter. No-kill shelters can contribute to overpopulation and animal death as well, though some feel the ratio at PETAs shelter is unreasonable.

The biases in PETA information are obvious, but this isn’t necessarily a fault; the group is clearly and obviously advocating for something, and it does provide useful facts, like lists of what companies test on animals.

While the gruesome imagery may turn some people off, not seeing it doesn’t mean it doesn’t happen.

I would not feel comfortable knowing that research laboratories, factory farms and circuses were free to operate without scrutiny, which is why undercover operations like the ones PETA does are crucial.

At the end of the day, the animals are a lot better off having someone in this world willing to go to the extreme to protect their rights.

Stephanie Markham is a junior journalism major. She can be reached at 581-2812 or [email protected].