My response from PETA

Dear Ms. W,

Thank you for contacting PETA about your objections to our contest offering a free vasectomy. We are sorry to have offended you, and we have removed the phrase in honor of National Infertility Awareness Week from our website. We understand that this was not a wise choice of words.

Our goal was to focus attention on the tragic suffering and death of homeless dogs and cats. Since the best way to prevent animal companions from having unwanted litters is to spay and neuter them, a kind PETA member offered to cover the cost of a vasectomy for one compassionate man who wants to get himself snipped just like his furry friend. Having ones own child may be a compelling urge for some, but nobody should condemn those who choose to avoid causing pregnancy or any organization that provides them with a means to do so.  Many who choose to have a vasectomy consider it a moral conundrum for some of us to be spending thousands of dollars trying to reproduce ourselves when there are homeless children, including some with disabilities, who want for homes, and when the environment is being ravaged as human population increases. 

PETA works very hard to prevent the births of puppies and kittens who will end up abandoned in animal shelters or struggling to survive on the streets. Breeding, both purposeful and accidental, is responsible for the euthanasia of millions of these loving companions each year. Sterilization is both the easiest and the most effective means available of ensuring animals happiness and safety. Male animals who have been neutered are far less likely to roam far from home or fight. Neutering greatly diminishes and possibly eliminates reproductive urges (which are not the same in dogs as they are in humans). In addition, these animals will never get testicular cancer and run less risk of contracting prostate disease. Female animals who have been spayed avoid the trauma of giving birth and will no longer go into heat.

Consider the fate of the millions of unwanted animals whose parents were never spayed and neutered. Born into a hostile world, they are caged among strangers at animal shelters or, worse, abandoned on the sides of roads. They are run over by cars and attacked by other animals. They are infected with painful, contagious, and deadly diseases. Those unlucky enough to run into cruel humans are often drowned, beaten with baseball bats, suffocated in plastic bags, stabbed, shot, starved, set on fire, used as bait, and tortured in countless other ways. And the saddest tragedy of all is that before they meet some gruesome death, they reproduce, and the cycle of animal suffering continues.

A national organization, SPAY/USA, helps guardians of animal companions who need assistance with the cost of spaying and neutering. You can contact SPAY/USA at the following website and toll-free number:

SPAY/USA
http://www.spayusa.org/
1-800-248-SPAY (7729)

To learn more about issues that affect animal companions, please visit http://www.PETA.org/issues/companion-animals/default.aspx. To make a donation in support of PETAs campaigns to stop the animal overpopulation crisis, please go to http://www.PETA.org/donate.

Thank you again for contacting us and for the opportunity to share our thoughts.

Sincerely,

The PETA Staff
http://www.PETA.org 


While I'm happy they removed the references. I don't like that they still are trying to justify their mistake. I would never condemn someone for not wanting a baby. If you don't want a child then please take all measures and don't have them. I'm pretty sure that the men that are having this procedure are men that have procreated already. 


What really makes me sad is that I am such an animal lover. I firmly believe in spaying and neutering your pets. I just cannot draw the comparison between my furry friends and infertile friends. 




Edited to add my reply:
Dear PETA,

I appreciate your removal of National Infertility Awareness Week from your promotion.

I am a firm believer of spaying and neutering animals. In fact, my two adopted cats and two adopted dogs are sterilized.

I'm fairly certain that most of the gentlemen that are entering your contest already have their own biological children. Hopefully they didn't have to spend "thousands of dollars" to create them.  I think you'll find that most couples that undergo treatment for infertility just want a biological connection to their children. And some people have to mourn the loss of that biological connection. Why? Because we are human beings. I'm pretty sure my rescue beagle isn't heartbroken that she couldn't have a litter of puppies. I know she didn't cry herself to sleep month after month of not being able to be a mother. I did. You can frown upon that if you wish. I wouldn't look down on you because you choose not to have children. I would appreciate the same amount of respect.

Again, thank you for the removal of the phrase in honor of National Infertility Awareness Week.

Sincerely,

Dawn