I was 12-years-old when I decided that I no longer wanted to eat meat.  I was always freaked out by the idea and it was my personal decision. I was also very intrigued by the organization called People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA). PETA, to 12-year-old Sara, looked like a great organization that stood up for animal rights.

I actually believed that they wanted to educate people on the cruelty that animals were exposed to. They lured me in with their promise of cute puppy stickers every year and the ability to help animals around the world. It all looked so ideal and perfect; I was willing to be a part of an organization that helped any animal.

My choice to support PETA has been retracted through the years, however, due to the many controversies that they’ve been a part of.  PETA has become a bunch of sensationalists and extremists who have lost sight of helping animals. They also have been known to kill thousands of animals based on the principle of euthanasia—a matter that I won’t even address in this article but that should be known to everyone who might support PETA.  Their organization is such a joke that most people can’t take animal cruelty seriously anymore.

PETA announced their plans to launch a PETA porn site with an xxx domain. They say that the aim of the site will be to promote the vegan and vegetarian diet.  The site is set to launch in December and although I haven’t seen the images yet, I can only imagine what it will look like. According to the Huffington Post, people who visit the site will be presented with pornographic images as well as images from previous PETA campaigns. Videos and images of cruelty of animals will immediately follow the pornographic images as well as tips for becoming a vegetarian and vegan. My first reaction was, “This is a joke, right?” But no, it isn’t. Official plans have been made to launch the site in December.

While this site may attract many “unique” individuals who find pleasure in naked women and grotesque images of animal cruelty, there is no way that this campaign will be effective. I’m not entirely sure how PETA came up with the idea to help animals by creating a porn site, but it’s misleading. Animals need a better spokesperson than what PETA is offering. We should be focusing on educating everyone out there on how animals are mistreated on farms and animal testing facilities.

While this porn website creates controversy and publicity it doesn’t help end animal cruelty. PETA, over the years, has claimed to have the best interest of animals on their mind—but in reality, they’re just interested in being an organization that is constantly ridiculed and talked about.

They’ve also recently created an advertisement that shows a shark eating a human leg with the words “PAYBACK IS HELL” etched with blood across the ad. I personally find it offensive because they are misrepresenting animals to be vindictive and cruel beings. I’m fairly certain that sharks don’t go after humans because they know that we’ve harmed their population (the shark in the ad should really find a lawyer and sue PETA).

According to the Discovery channel’s website, there are only about 65 shark attacks worldwide each year. It is more likely that you’d be hit by lightening then attacked by a bitter shark avenging his brother (although, it seems like a good plot to a fictional movie).  Not to mention, this ad personally offends every victim of a shark attack.

PETA is an organization that claims to give a voice to animals. Animals aren’t able to communicate their pain and they can’t rebel against the cruelty that is happening to them. A PETA advertisement, instead of enlightening people about animal suffering, shows a cute bunny next to a naked body as if to say, “Animals are cute. Don’t harm them.” It goes deeper than that, and it definitely goes deeper than saying that animals (like sharks) will attack people.

As a vegetarian, I believe that what animals go through is despicable, but I don’t think PETA is helping at all. On behalf of all animals out there, I beg PETA to stop misrepresenting the pain they go through. Instead of concentrating on sex appeal and vindictive messages, they need to educate the masses about the pain animals experience.  I hope that a real animal rights group will step forward and be a real spokesperson for animal cruelty out there (Dr. Dolittle, we need you!).