Some of you may remember the two PETA employees who were arrested and charged for killing adoptable animals they obtained under false pretences from animal shelters (see Latest on PeTA killings, PeTA - animal killers, and PeTA = hypocritical bull***t, say Penn & Teller)

Over a year on the trial is now finally underway, and the defendants are each charged with:
• 21 counts of Federal Animal Cruelty (illegally euthanizing animal with chemicals they were not licensed to use)
• 7 counts of Littering (dumping the carcasses of the animals they killed)
• 3 counts of Obtaining Property by False Pretences (lying to animals shelters, saying they would find the animals good homes)

Seemingly in a parallel universe: PETA recently ran an advertising campaign juxtaposing images of factory farming with those of Nazi death camps; and frequently claim that animal experimentation is morally equivalent to the Nazi medical experimentation in concentration camps (see OxGoss - Nazi medical experiments and animal research for the arguments).

Now, equating highly regulated, humane and careful research (aimed at alleviating human pain and suffering) with torturous irrational rubbish of no medical or scientific benefit is pretty bloody offensive...

But trivialising the systematic attempt to remove whole sections of humanity (people often forget that blacks and gays were targeted along with Jews) takes it to another level.

Imagine my surprise then at the terminology used by one of the defence attorneys in their opening arguments:

Hinkle was only “following orders” and “doing her job."

‘I was only following orders’ was the main (and lame) excuse of many of the low-ranking Nazis – I find it surreal to see it used in this case.

Information on the case, and a timeline of news reports can be found at the PETA Death Van website.