January 19, 2007

PETA Animal-Cruelty Trial Set

Two employees of People for the Ethical Treatment of
Animals (PETA) had better load up on "non-animal-tested"
lipstick and "cruelty-free" breath mints, because they've
got a date with Lady Justice.

Nineteen months after their arrest, Andrew Cook and Adria
Hinkle will face felony animal-cruelty charges in Hertford
County (NC) Superior Court starting on Monday.

Cook and Hinkle have each been charged with 22 counts of
Cruelty to Animals and 3 counts of Obtaining Property by
False Pretenses. On June 15, 2005, they were caught by
police tossing trash bags full of dead pets into a shopping
center dumpster. Witnesses are expected to confirm that the
two collected the animals earlier that day on the promise
that PETA would find them adoptive homes.

The self-proclaimed "animal liberation" group's problems
with the law aren't
confined to North Carolina. Two more
PETA staffers are set to face charges of Larceny of Animals
in March 27 in Southampton, Virginia General District
Court.

The defendants, Carrie Edwards and Andrea Benoit, allegedly
kidnapped a hunting dog, removed its radio tracking collar,
and drove away with it in a PETA-owned van. Witnesses to
the reported dog-napping informed local police, who stopped
Edwards and Benoit on their way back to PETA's headquarters. 

Check www.PetaKillsAnimals.com for daily updates starting
next week.