Lawsuit Reveals Backdoor Channel Between PETA and HSUS
Kitty Block and PETA are like a dog and its bone—inseparable.
Recently, a company called Paws for Effect, which trains animals that are used in films, filed a defamation lawsuit against PETA. According to the suit, longtime PETA exec Lisa Lange defamed the company by reaching out to a Sony executive (and perhaps others in Hollywood) falsely claiming that Paws for Effect had violations under the Animal Welfare Act. It does not.
You may remember Lange—she was the deer-in-the-headlights PETA rep who took the brunt of a Daily Show segment a few years ago after PETA sued to free Orcas from SeaWorld under the U.S. Constitution’s anti-slavery clause.
Back to the lawsuit. One little tidbit was interesting: The complaint reveals Lange contacted HSUS CEO Kitty Block in January about Paws for Effect.
Kitty Block—and HSUS as a whole—has tried very hard to maintain public separation from PETA. After all, unlike HSUS, PETA is very honest about its agenda to shut down zoos and aquariums and ban meat. HSUS can’t be associated with that radicalism publicly.
But it certainly reads as if she may be a pen pal of PETA—which would make sense, since Block worked at PETA before joining HSUS. A number of HSUS staffers are ex-PETA employees (as well as smaller group that share PETA’s agenda). And as we reported last week, PETA gave $65,000 to an HSUS group in 2017, according to tax records.
PETA’s accusations against Paws for Effect may be fiction, but undeniable links between the two organizations are fact.