THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, March 1, 1996 TAG: 9603010442
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY DIANE TENNANT, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Medium: 81 lines
The animal-rights organization People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals will move its national headquarters into the waterfront building that now houses CI Travel on Front Street.
The final paperwork was completed Thursday for the sale of 501 Front St. for just over $2 million.
``It's a done deal,'' said Ingrid Newkirk, vice president of PETA. ``Get the veggie burgers on the grill, we're heading south.''
PETA will move its headquarters from suburban Washington, D.C., in June. About 60 people will be transferred here, and up to 30 local people will be hired, mostly for accounting, secretarial, human resources and administrative jobs, Newkirk said.
The Front Street building has what Pembroke Commercial Realty agent Gerald Keller, who handled the deal, calls a ``substantial'' dock. ``You can park a pretty large vessel there,'' he said. ``The building has decks on every floor."
PETA owns a dinghy that is used in animal rescue operations during floods, for example, she said. Will the group target the seafood industry once it moves to Norfolk?
``Probably no more than we do anywhere else, which means yes,'' Newkirk said. ``In a culture which has traditionally eaten animals, it doesn't really matter to us whether they're cows or fishes or what kinds of animals. Our main pitch is if you have one vegetarian day a week, that's better than none.''
PETA representatives will be in town Saturday to see about buying other properties to use as intern housing. ``We do have a lot of kids who will join us,'' Newkirk said. ``We've got some (properties) lined up to look at and we'll be doing some job interviews.''
Since computers make research and communication possible worldwide, PETA no longer finds it necessary to keep its headquarters close to government agencies, she said. Norfolk has good access to airports and major highways, and it was less expensive to buy a building here than in the Washington market.
Once the move is complete, the group will continue running its major animal-rights campaigns, which focus on four areas: use of animals as food, for clothing, in experiments, and for entertainment.
PETA has just finished a poll on fishing in conjunction with its push for vegetarianism, Newkirk said. ``We went out onto docks . . . to see if people who fish thought about the biological fact that fishes have very sensitive mouths. They use their mouths in the same way we use our fingers. If they knew how many PCBs and chemicals were in fish, would they stop fishing?''
PETA has at least one major campaign in each area of its animal-rights platform, including supermodels saying they won't wear fur and celebrities saying they won't eat meat. The group's animal experimentation protests focus on stopping NASA money from being used for Russian space flight experiments on monkeys. PETA has been visible locally working on its entertainment platform, protesting the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus at Scope last week.
Their regard is not limited to cuddly creatures, Newkirk said. The group has evidence of cruel treatment of snakes and alligators whose skins are used for leather, she said.
``It's hard for people to relate to animals that aren't fuzzy or don't have big eyes,'' Newkirk said. ``We're civilized. We're not supposed to do things like this, whether you like the animals or you don't, they have a place in the ecosystem.''
The group has lately been following presidential candidates, asking for a meat tax, similar to a cigarette tax. Bolstered by a medical journal article that discusses the public cost of treating hypertension, stroke, cardiac problems and other ills associated with eating too much red meat, PETA is asking for warning labels and a tax. ``If you want to kill yourself by eating meat, you have to pay an extra price so the rest of the population doesn't have to,'' Newkirk said.
Newkirk said the group has received one anonymous hate letter since announcing its intention to move to Norfolk and ``lots'' of welcoming letters, job applications and letters from vendors seeking business. ILLUSTRATION: The Virginian-Pilot color photo
The waterfront building cost People for the Ethical Treatment of
Animals more than $2 million. The group will move in June.
by CNB