PETA is to eco-terrorism what the PLO is to HAMAS.
I think a more accurate analogy is that PETA is to the ALF and SHAC what Sinn Fein is to the Provisional IRA. One collects the donations and issues the apologetics, the others spend the money on doing the dirty work, and personnel move between them.
princesspoppy, living in the UK I assume it's unlikely you'll be able to gain easy access to the episode of the Penn & Teller series
Bullsh*t on PETA, but I'll be happy to give you a few highlights.
Exhibit A: Despite PETA's stated categorical opposition to animal testing for any purpose, Mary Beth Sweetland, senior vice-president of PETA, is perfectly content to control her Type A diabetes by using insulin, developed with testing on dogs, and produced from animals. Quoth Sweetland:
"I don't see myself as a hypocrite. I need my life to fight for the rights of animals."
Except those ones who were, and are, killed to keep her alive, evidently.
Exhibit B: Because PETA is a non-profit organization, its tax returns are public under US law. PETA's tax return for 1995 shows a payment of $45,200 to the "Rodney Coronado Support Committee." Coronado is a self-confessed ALF member, who as committed at least seven acts of arson on animal reasearch facilities.
Exhibit C: PETA employs as its spokesperson one Gary Yourofsky, convicted of committing numerous acts of violence as part of ALF operations. (Yourofsky likes to compare himself to Gandhi, MLK and Jesus, though he seems to have missed the "
non" part in "non-violent.")
Exhibit D: PETA's tax return for 2002 includes a walk-in freezer, costing $9,3700. Such a freezer would measure about 4.5 x 3 x 2 meters, and has essentially two possible purposes: the conservation of large amounts of edible meat (hardly likely for an organization which makes veganism part of its policy), or the conservation of cadavers. As it turns out, it was the latter. In the year it acquired the freezer, PETA "rescued" 2,103 dogs and cats. Of these, the organization euthanized (i.e. killed) 1,325.
The combination of the aforegoing indicates that PETA doesn't care about human life, and it doesn't actually care a whole lot more about animal life.