PETA Uspet Over Swatted Fly

Animal rights group wishes Obama hadn't swatted fly, sends him a catch-and-release device
June 18, 2009

WASHINGTON (AP) — The group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals wants the flyswatter in chief to try taking a more humane attitude the next time he's bedeviled by a fly in the White House.

PETA is sending President Barack Obama a Katcha Bug Humane Bug Catcher, a device that allows users to trap a house fly and then release it outside.

"We support compassion even for the most curious, smallest and least sympathetic animals," PETA spokesman Bruce Friedrich said Wednesday. "We believe that people, where they can be compassionate, should be, for all animals."

During an interview for CNBC at the White House on Tuesday, a fly intruded on Obama's conversation with correspondent John Harwood.

"Get out of here," the president told the pesky insect. When it didn't, he waited for the fly to settle, put his hand up and then smacked it dead.

"Now, where were we?" Obama asked Harwood. Then he added: "That was pretty impressive, wasn't it? I got the sucker."

Friedrich said that PETA was pleased with Obama's voting record in the Senate on behalf of animal rights and noted that he has been outspoken against animal abuses.

Still, "swatting a fly on TV indicates he's not perfect," Friedrich said, "and we're happy to say that we wish he hadn't."

Deputy press secretary Josh Earnest said the White House has no comment on the matter. Link

There aren’t a lot of people that will accuse PETA of being mainstream or in touch with reality. But even some of their supporters should have a hard time with this one. They are upset with Pres. Obama over him swatting of a fly. The very insect that can be responsible for the spread of pestilence across the planet now deserves to be protected? Where does it stop? What about the next time a mosquito is sucking blood out of you? Should you just assume it doesn’t have West Nile disease and allow it to finish it’s business? There isn’t a rational or sane person on this planet that can defend PETA’s defense of flies.