Princess Anne To Be Offered Empathy Course By PETA After Badger-Gassing, Horse-Eating Comments

For Immediate Release:

4 April 2014

Contact:

Ben Williamson +44 (0) 20 7837 6327, ext 229; [email protected]

PETA Hopes to Teach Royal Respect and Understanding

London – Princess Anne will be offered an eight-hour basic class in empathy and animal protection at PETA’s London headquarters in light of comments she allegedly made in an episode of BBC’s Countryfile to be aired this weekend.

PETA Managing Director Ingrid E Newkirk will suggest to Princess Anne, following the programme, that she hear – perhaps for the first time in her life – about how animals feel joy and pain and deserve respect and receive specific instruction on what to say to the British people to undo some of the harmful influence that her comments may have had. The complete course consists of workshop outlines, videos, supplemental course materials and a final exam.

The class includes scientific evidence that animals are thinking and feeling beings capable of a wide range of complex behaviour and emotions, presentations on the specific needs and behaviour of companion animals and examples of the fact that people who display acts of aggression towards animals often proceed to turn their violence against humans.

“PETA’s course teaches the Golden Rule – treat others as you wish to be treated”, Newkirk says. “Those who have everything in life should not be calling for the death of horses and badgers, whose only crime is to be born into a world where humans are in charge and other animals are viewed by some as replaceable.”

According to reports, Princess Anne will repeat her view that Brits should acquire a taste for horse flesh to help prevent cases of neglect. Given the regular exposés showing how people who raise pigs and chickens for the table treat the animals, it is absurd to think people would take better care of horses if there was a market for their meat. If Princess Anne truly cares about the welfare of horses, PETA suggests that she campaign for an end to events such as the Grand National, during which horses are forced to run at breakneck speed on a 4.5-mile course of obstacles, jumps and dangerous terrain. Last year, fewer than half managed to reach the finishing post. More than three dozen horses have died at Aintree in the last 50 years alone.

For more information, please visit PETA.org.uk.

#