Columnist Susan Snyder: PETA tries to seize spotlight

Tuesday, Oct. 7, 2003 | 8:25 a.m.

There is good timing.

There is bad timing.

And then, there is PETA.

As Las Vegas illusionist Roy Horn lay in a hospital bed Monday -- partially paralyzed and breathing with help from a machine -- People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals faxed him a "plea to get out of the sad business of breaking the spirit of wild animals and forcing them to perform."

Evidently, eating too many vegetables destroys one's sense of taste.

Roy, the animal-trainer half of world-renowned duo Siegfried & Roy, was critically injured when one of his white Bengal tigers attacked him during a show Friday.

The 59-year-old performer nearly bled to death, subsequently suffered a stroke and underwent at least two surgeries to relieve pressure on his brain.

And PETA, after expressing "best wishes" and "sincere hope" that Roy make a "full recovery," used the attack as an opportunity to push its cause with an iron paw.

"The only thing natural that happened on that stage was that this majestic animal lashed out against a captor who was beating him with a microphone because he wouldn't do a trick," the activist group's poorly timed missive says.

This is not about whether animal shows are right or wrong or whether the pair's famous white tigers represent nothing more than a perpetuated color anomaly.

The time for such discussions isn't appropriate when one of the most respected, beloved residents of our city lay at the brink of death and may be facing a life far more challenging than standing in a cage full of tigers.

PETA has a long history of lashing out against the animal shows on the Las Vegas Strip. PETA representatives stood caged in the hot sun wearing nothing more than tiger-striped body paint. They picketed Kentucky Fried Chicken.

They seek to perpetuate their views through sensational, ridiculous stunts. And this time, they got what they wanted: Someone ticked off enough to put their complaints in print. But the old activist adage that any publicity is good publicity isn't true. Few people in positions to make decisions that matter will side with groups that burn construction sites, destroy other people's sport utility vehicles or "set free" animals that have never lived anywhere but in captivity.

Their damage, not their issue, becomes the story. The points they are trying to make are lost.

And the result is environmentalist, animal rights activist and other "ists" start to represent labels from which people want to flee, rather than represent ideas they want to embrace.

"You are now in a unique position to show the world both that you have lived and learned and that you have true respect for animals by leaving them some shred of the life that nature intended," PETA says to Roy in the letter signed by Dan Mathews, the group's vice president.

PETA has no idea what position Roy is in.

None of us do.

The difference is, PETA doesn't care. They want to say, "I told you so."

By exploiting Roy's tragedy, they want us to show us their movement is alive.

Too bad their humanity has died.