Just yesterday, we brought you video of Manu Ginobili killing a bat that had interrupted play in a Spurs game from this weekend. The very first commenter on the page wondered aloud, “Where’s PETA now?”, knowing full well their outraged reply would be hitting the Internets at any moment.
Lo and behold, here we are. Surprisingly, though, PETA had a reasoned, nuanced reaction that caused everybody to gain respect for their maturity in the field of animal ethics. In an op-ed posted at OPPOSINGVIEWS.COM, PETA released a statement acknowledging that the bat was causing a nuisance in an area where it never should have been in the first place, and that Ginobili’s actions, while unfortunately fatal, were a brief and expedient end to the situation.
Hahahaha, just kidding, they compared Manu to Michael Vick and basically pretended he was Satan.
From PETA’s statement:
Here’s our take on it: To bludgeon a 4-ounce animal to death, it takes either a small man or a totally unthinking one—with no respect or consideration for lives humbler than his own. This is a time when athletes in particular need to be on their best behavior around any animal and show that they have brains and a heart, not just reactionary brawn.
Bats always try to avoid contact with humans, and there are plenty of easy ways to keep bats out of a basketball arena (or your home). We hope that the next time someone’s life is on the line, Manu Ginobili will take just a few seconds to think before he acts.
The unsubtle Vick comparison came via an link to the site’s archives on Vick, linked where “no respect or consideration for lives humbler than his own” appears in the text. Because systematically killing pit bulls as part of a dogfighting ring that you’re bankrolling is the exact same thing as swatting an errant bat that’s interrupting your job for the second time in a day.
Other than that, our “favorite” part of the statement was the assertion that “bats always try to avoid contact with humans,” all while the bat was, in fact, not doing that at all in the video. If the bat were “trying to avoid contact, ” as PETA asserts, it would have probably utilized the roughly hundred feet of air space at the AT&T Center. That’s not to say the bat was attacking the players, but come on, let’s all be truthful here.
What PETA won’t admit - to the detriment of its own credibility - is that it’s possible to not feel any remorse for the bat while not hating animals at the same time. I grew up with pets all my life and have two that I’d never, ever abuse, and at the same time I do not care one bit that the bat died.
In fact, I’m now more tempted than ever to start a similar organization called P&ETA, which stands for Practical and Ethical Treatment of Animals. Our first order of business is to issue a press release indicating that we do not care that Manu Ginobili killed a bat in the middle of a basketball game. Our second order of business to to tell people who run puppy mills that they can choke themselves to death one handful of broken glass at a time. We expect to have 70,000 times as many members as PETA by the end of the week.
4:18 pm on November 2nd, 2009
peta is like the president. completely out of touch with reality.
4:19 pm on November 2nd, 2009
I’m simply speechless.
5:03 pm on November 2nd, 2009
He batted the bat.
However the bat is not dead, but undead. as is the bat’s master, Ginobili… Explains alot, I know.
5:11 pm on November 2nd, 2009
Ya but if he kicked a cat running around on the floor and killed it, you’d be all upset. Guess you never had a pet bat…
5:12 pm on November 2nd, 2009
im sure if i was to walk around a bat cave the bats would want me dead.
5:19 pm on November 2nd, 2009
My favorite part is “…the next time someone’s life is on the line….” ! That is just precious!!
5:25 pm on November 2nd, 2009
Maybe the Joker lured him to his death with a fake batsignal.
7:07 pm on November 2nd, 2009
Jaydog, I’m with you “We hope that the next time someone’s life is on the line…” as if Manu just killed someone. Brilliant. Now PETA, go away for 6 months until you have another moment to stick your head out and try, TRY to make headlines.
10:41 am on November 3rd, 2009
I thought he just stunned the bat - how dumb. I’m sure when the next mountain lion accidentally gets into an arena and starts mauling players and fans - peta will be there to tell the world they shouldn’t have killed the animal that did that either. MORONS!
1:33 pm on November 3rd, 2009
how about , “with no respect or consideration for lives humbler than his own.” it’s a bat!!!!!!!
who allows peta to post any comment on the matter. Media should not post their comments, they are useless.
10:31 am on November 4th, 2009
Well, I guess we need to have PETA reps on hand at every NBA game should this happen again.
I also thought the bat was just stunned.
2:06 pm on November 6th, 2009
PETA is GAY!!!
12:12 am on November 12th, 2009
Adam,
I appreciate your insight and admire your stance against puppy mills, I’m with you 100% there. But if you look at PETA’s position from a less literal level, you’ll see that the point they are trying to make is that animal abuse isn’t acceptable at any point in the food chain. Faulty logic can easily take someone from “it’s just a bat” to “it’s just a pit bull.” A lot of impressionable kids attend/watch NBA games, teaching them to kill anything that interrupts their entertainment is a bit disturbing.
BTW, I’ve been in a building with loose bats on many occasions and in every case the bat was evacuated unharmed and no people suffered either bodily injury or mental trauma. It’s basically a squirrel that can fly, for Chrissakes, how would you react if a squirrel was loose and someone killed it in the middle of the court?
And if you don’t believe me about leaps of logic, read some of the posts - one makes the leap from bat to mountain lion in a single sentence. I rest my case….
1:23 pm on March 21st, 2010
Peta is hypocritical. I agree the bat should not have been hurt but I’m tired of seeing them in the news defending one animal here and there knowing they are killing thousands on streets and in their own headquarters. They are setting examples for other horrible organizations like my own humane society that truckloads animals in the middle of the night to kill them though the face they have presented to the public is a spay-neuter clinic.
Organizations like these should have their exempt status stripped from them. Read more:
http://humanesocietyofsanbernardinokillings.blogspot.com/