PETA spokesmen openly proclaim that they are advocating a new antihumane ethic. “Humans have grown like a cancer. We’re the biggest blight on the face of the earth”, said PETA founder and chairman Ingrid Newkirk.
Two PETA employees were detained in the US state of North Carolina in 2005 after disposing 80 animal carcasses in a trash container. They were accused, among other things, of cruelty to animals, but were released at the end of the trial.
Presumably, most animal rights activists reject violence as a means to achieve their goals. However, even the largest organization PETA explicitly does not dissociate itself from the militant wing of the movement and even acts as its public speaker.
Since the 1990s, there has been a considerable trend away from animal protection to animal rights movement, especially in North America, Europe and Israel.