I just found out that one of my favorite PETA stories is a complete fabrication. Doubtless its creator meant well. I’m sure he or she had just read of another of PETA’s stunts and had had just about enough. After all, these are the people that publish comic books portraying Dad as a frothing homicidal maniac for catching and cleaning fish.

Anyway, the debunked story is as follows: A bunch of PETA-heads in Ohio decided they would be cute and put blaze orange vests on 405 deer. Since hunters wear the vests to avoid being shot by their overzealous brethren during modern gun deer season, the vapid vegans thought to save the lives of the poor innocent game animals. However, the owner of a local sporting good store starting offering rewards for vested deer. Three hundred some-odd of the smartly attired quadrapeds were bagged in short order, since the orange overgarments defeated their natural camouflage. PETA’s short-sighted plan foiled by common sense. Its still kind of funny, even if it’s not true.

The thing about PETA is that it’s so loopy you don’t have to invent stories to make the organization and its members look whacky. Here are some real-life examples: http://www.furisdead.com/feat-momfur.asp and http://www.fishinghurts.com/pdfs/DaddyKillsAnimals.pdf#xml=http://www.petasearch.org/texis/search/pdfhi.txt?