PETA set to launch permanent Mideast base

The People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) activist group is planning to place two permanent campaigners in the Gulf and is looking to recruit a Middle Eastern celebrity to front it campaigns, Arabian Business has learnt.

PETA, the US-based international animal rights organisation, is making the move following positive feedback from its recent visit to the UAE.

The organisation has 300 employees and around two million members around the world and said it is planning to increase its activities in the Middle East.

“[Animal rights] is a newer concept in the Middle East but people are talking about it and are asking questions and wanting to get involved which is really encouraging to see,” Ashley Fruno, PETA’s senior campaigner for the Middle East and Asia, told Arabian Business of the organisation’s recent visit to the UAE.

Fruno said that the positive response has spurred PETA to install two permanent campaigners in the Gulf and the first campaign the new recruits will focus on is its ‘Kentucky Fried Cruelty’ campaign, which aims to persuade the KFC fast food chain to implement minimal animal welfare standards.

“We are going to be hiring two new Middle East coordinators just to tackle this campaign and hopefully get KFC to make some changes,” said Fruno.

PETA is the largest animal rights organisation in the world and Fruno recently made a trip to the emirates and focused on raising PETA’s concerns about animal welfare conditions at the Dubai Zoo and the Sharjah Market.

“I think the conditions of animals in most countries are appalling, but there were some big concerns in the UAE [and] strengthened animal welfare laws are always welcomed. The Dubai Zoo should definitely be closed… [it] was definitely one of the worst I have ever seen.

“Also things like the Sharjah Market, because of the heat disease spreads so easy and live markets are terrible places to buy animals but the Sharjah Market was particularly bad,” she added.

PETA’s protest at Dubai Zoo was stopped by Dubai Police, but Fruno said its campaigners were allowed to hand out leaflets and it intends to increase the organisation’s profile in the region by recruiting a Middle Eastern celebrity to front its campaigns.

“We haven’t linked up with any Middle Eastern celebrities yet but that is always in the works and we are keeping our eyes out for compassionate celebrities who might be interested in getting involved,” Fruno said.

PETA has previously carried out some high profile campaigns in the Gulf. Last year, PETA celebrity supporter Pamela Anderson sent a letter to the UAE operators of the KFC franchise urging it to improve the way chickens are raised and killed for its restaurants.

In 2008, PETA president Ingrid Newkirk appealed to Omar Osama bin Laden, the estranged son of al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden to cancel a planned endurance horse race across the Sahara.

The organisation was also instrumental in calls for the releasing of the whale sharp kept at the aquarium in the Atlantis Hotel on the Palm Jumeirah in Dubai.

Fruno said she is not certain where the Gulf campaigners will be based but are currently in the midst of a recruitment process. “It depends on where we get applications for but they will definitely be travelling around and Dubai will be one of the places they will be hitting,” she added.