People have criticized PETA for calling on Kansas’s largest amusement ride manufacturer to stop producing and selling animal-themed carousels.
The animal rights organization published an open letter to Chance Rides on February 6, urging them to stop making animal designs as it “unintentionally celebrates” exploitation.
In the open letter, PETA President Ingrid Newkirk argued that Chance Rides CEO Aaron Landrum could create figures of excavators, cars and spaceships, engaging young people’s imaginations through “human talent.”
However, the animal rights group has received backlash online for its latest move, with people pointing out that there are bigger issues currently facing animals around the world.
“Instead of worrying about monkey smuggling across the border, torturous animal testing in useless lab experiments, etc… @PETA is targeting… CAROUSELS lmao,” one fumed.
People have criticized PETA after they asked Kansas’s largest ride manufacturer to stop producing animal-themed carousels (pictured: the famous American ride Columbia Carousel).
In an open letter written to Chance Rides CEO Aaron Landrum, PETA President Ingrid Newkirk (pictured) said animal-themed carousels “unintentionally celebrate the exploitation” of animals.
‘PETA has asked Chance Rides to stop making animal-themed carousels, come on. Surely this is an exaggeration,” wrote another.
The activist group has called for animal-themed attractions to be removed because they believe they would be a major blow against industries that continue to use animals for entertainment, such as dolphin shows and camel rides.
PETA President Ingrid Newkirk justified her position, suggesting that the measure would teach children to have “respect and compassion” for living creatures and could help create a “more merciful world.”
Newkirk argued that animal-themed carousels show animals as “entertainment” rather than living beings with feelings and consciousness.
She wrote: “PETA urges Chance Rides and all other carousel manufacturers to curb old animal-themed attractions and adopt designs that engage children’s imaginations and showcase human talent.”
X was inundated with ridicule against the animal rights group, and many were left baffled as to why PETA was targeting children’s entertainment.
Another fumed: ‘What activist groups are softer than PETA? ‘Getting mad about CAROUSELS?!?!’
“PETA is targeting children’s fantasies, somehow equating this with real-life animal abuse,” one individual argued.
One angry person asked: ‘What’s next Peta? Ban stuffed animals for small children???’
‘PETA, as they say, has gone off the rails. Their main mission is not to redesign carousels,” another joked.
PETA argued that animal-themed attractions reinforced the idea that animals are there for entertainment and not as individuals who experience “fear, pain, joy and love” (file image)
Many took to X to ridicule the animal organization for its most recent lawsuit, with some pointing out that there are bigger issues currently facing animals.
‘Peta: You really hurt your cause when you ask that wooden horses not be used on carousels. “You trivialize the meaning of your cause,” one noted.
“Some activists do more harm than good to their cause by proposing ridiculous designs,” agreed another.
“PETA is after our local carousel maker… as if they don’t have enough real animals to worry about, now they’re going after fake ones,” one local joked.
“Too bad @peta didn’t care as much about the marine life washing up on the shores of the upper east coast, thanks to the windmills,” one user joked.
Others criticized PETA online claiming the group was “running out of things to do,” while some suggested deporting the organization “to the moon.”
Reacting to the letter, another wrote: ‘I’ve seen enough. Where the hell is that asteroid?
MailOnline has approached PETA and Chance Rides for comment.