Prince William’s birthday was on the 21st, and Kensington Palace’s social media accounts published a new photo of William playing with puppies to celebrate. The puppies belonged to Orla Wales, the Wales family’s cocker spaniel. We knew weeks ago that Orla had puppies, and this was the first photo of those puppies. It was bizarre to me that William, Kate and their office completely breezed over the fact that they had not spayed Orla and had actually made a point of breeding her. Well, PETA ripped into them this week for just that: for breeding Orla when there are so many puppies in shelters who need homes. PETA also compared Will and Kate unfavorably to King Charles and Camilla – the king and queen welcomed a puppy, Moley, into their homes this year, and Moley is a rescue. Well, if you can believe it, some people are now mad that… PETA criticized William and Kate.

Animal rights activists have criticised the Prince and Princess of Wales for breeding their cocker spaniel. In a statement, Elisa Allen, the vice-president of programmes at Peta, said: “The Prince and Princess of Wales should know that shelters here and worldwide are overflowing with puppies desperate for a second chance at a loving home, and that churning out a litter in the midst of this animal homelessness crisis is staggeringly out of touch. If William is going to lead, he might well take a lesson from King Charles and Queen Camilla, who have chosen to adopt from a shelter rather than contribute to the problem.”

Campaigners including Tory MP Andrew Rosindell have written to the Charity Commission to call for Peta’s charity status to be revoked. The letter, from Peta Watch, alleged that the charity operates as an “extremist political protest group”, which organises protests, demonstrations and stunts without providing any evidence of undertaking charitable activities.

Mr Rosindell, the former chairman of the All-Party Parliamentary Zoos and Aquariums Group, said he had “major concerns” about the organisation’s charitable status.

“It is completely wrong that an extreme organisation like Peta, which is blatantly political in its activities, is given the tax advantages afforded to a charity while failing to use the donations it receives to help animals in need,” he said.

The campaigners have alleged that although Peta claims to produce educational materials for schools, it admitted in a response to a Peta Watch report “that the organisation does not monitor how many schools use its materials, nor does it track student responses”.

They said: “Worse still, Peta has gleefully attacked other genuine animal welfare charities such as the RSPCA. Only genuine charities should have charitable status.”

In response to the campaign, Ms Allen said: “Peta’s aim is, and always has been, to reduce animal suffering and people are glad to receive information from our investigations and other fact-checked resources that give them the ability to make compassionate decisions.” She said Peta and its global entities were backed by more than 9 million members and supporters, and as a UK registered charity of almost 30 years had convinced hundreds of designers and retailers to “drop fur, angora, and wild-animal skins, helped stop experimentation on animals in Europe for cosmetics, seen wild-animal circus bans, and many other ground-breaking victories for animals.”

Kensington Palace and Peta declined to comment.

[From The Telegraph]

I’m not going to cape for PETA – back in the day, they were primarily known for their attention-grabbing stunts rather than their genuine activism. That being said, I thought PETA’s criticism of William and Kate was completely fair and rather mild. William and Kate ARE staggeringly out of touch. It does set a terrible example to refuse to spay your dog and breed her. More people should be looking for rescue animals. It’s bizarre that PETA’s criticism of the Waleses has ruffled so many feathers.

Photos courtesy of Backgrid, Cover Images, KP & BP’s social media.