Their latest self-administered outrage is against sheep shearing and the use of wool for ... anything, really.
That kind of puts PETA and their plant-based philosophies in perspective.
They ignore that humans are omnivorous and they campaign against animal farming of all kinds, whether for food, clothing, milk etc. They even have advice on how to rid your home of "bugs" without killing them! So where do they go? Next door?
Their attack on dairy farming is ridiculous and uninformed; a sitting room critique on something they evidently know nothing about. First they tell you that we already know that cows' milk "is bad for you". Really? In whose opinion? Apart from those who are lactose intolerant, for whom is milk bad? An assumption based on zero evidence and popular "science".
Then, accompanied by selected, graphic pictures sourced from guerilla vegans, they inform their website followers of the cruelty inflicted on a cow during its short lifetime. I'm wondering if any of these people have actually been on a real dairy farm or spoken to a dairy farmer.
The website is an assortment of half-truths and complete fabrication, designed to alert sheltered townspeople about the horrors of the countryside.
But to suggest we'll all be better off wearing alternatives to wool to save sheep from a terrible existence is just over-the-top vegan fantasy.
The PETA website's indictment of the wool industry is worst-possible-case scenario blown out of proportion. By taking a few isolated cases of animal mistreatment and using them as the norm, they give their uninformed followers a distorted view of an industry which is, in reality, based more on good animal husbandry than they care to admit.
Naturally, Federated Farmers has come out against the PETA diatribe, saying they are "mystified and frustrated".
"This is quite frankly ridiculous and another predictable example of what PETA resort to when they seek attention on a global scale," says Federated Farmers Meat & Fibre Chair Miles Anderson.
"The implication that shearing sheep is cruel or mistreatment is mystifying to most Kiwis let alone farmers. Sheep naturally grow wool and if we didn't shear them it would create animal welfare issues, such as fly strike or discomfort having to carry a 5kg plus fleece around in the heat of summer.
"Shearing is like getting a haircut, simple as that."
New Zealand farmers take the welfare of their sheep very seriously and have high standards that they and all those involved with animals including shearers, maintain as a point of pride.
I am wondering if it has occurred to anyone in this organisation just what will happen to the sheep population if their wishes come true and we stop eating meat and using wool. Our need for the animal would disappear, as would the animal. Except, of course, for archive pictures of cute baby lambs for calendars.
In saying all of this, PETA has some good ideas about the use of alternative fabrics for clothing and anything else. Cotton - obviously - and other plant-based cloth. Hemp, bamboo, wood, soybeans and seaweed to name a few. The only problem is that apart from cotton, they're all incredibly expensive, so perhaps you have to be wealthy to join the exclusively vegan movement.
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Who's in charge?
As we wait for special votes to be counted and for a man who can't retain his own electorate seat to decide who will govern New Zealand, I'm wondering who is running the country at the moment. Are the incumbents still in charge or is Government in limbo?
If the previous mob are still in "control", how many are putting their heart and soul into it, some knowing they'll be unemployed very soon? Or have the reins been handed to the public servants, the people who really run the place anyway? Try and tell Treasury to stop work until a new Government is formed.
The fact is, the machinery is still humming and everyone is still doing what they did last week or last month - keeping the country ticking over. A friend once suggested we get rid of Government altogether and just have a small office with a phone for overseas enquiries. It's starting to look like he might have been right.
