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Man Says PETA Stole His Family Pet From His Porch, Then Euthanized Her [Video]

By Dawn Papple
Published on: 11:53 PST, Nov 15, 2014

A local report out of Virginia has pet owners horrified to learn that a man claims workers from the animal advocacy group PETA stole his family dog off of his porch and euthanized her. Maya, a chihuahua, was the comforting companion to a little girl who recently moved to Virginia from Mexico, the report from WAVY states. The dog’s family says they can’t wrap their heads around why the PETA workers would steal their dog from their home.

A little girl is now devastated.

The man provided the news station and law enforcement with security camera video footage of the dog being stolen from his property.

With the video, Wilbur Cerate, the girl’s father and the dog’s caregiver, was able to provide evidence of the alleged animal theft. A van with “PETA” written on its side backed into his driveway. Then, two women exited the van. One of the women walked onto his porch, stole Maya, and then put her into the back of the van.

Three days later, according to the report, the two women came back armed with a consolation fruit basket and news that the family dog had been euthanized. Cerate couldn’t believe it.

“I was angry. I understand they pick up my dog, if it was in a tree or another place, but this is in my house,” Cerate said, adding that the dog was well-loved and well taken care of.

He contacted the police to press charges against the presumed PETA members. Accomack County Sheriff Todd Godwin said he charged the PETA workers with larceny. The sheriff said that because pets are considered personal property, a larceny charge was suitable. But the prosecuting attorney dropped the charges stating that there wasn’t enough evidence to prosecute the PETA workers. The prosecutor said that the video does not clearly show criminal intent, so he chose not to take the women to trial.

As for the little girl, Cerate says the dog had previously provided her comfort as she struggled to adjust to the new country.

“She didn’t want to go to school, she didn’t want to do jobs, she’s crying,” he said, after the PETA workers had the dog euthanized.

The WAVY reporter tried several times to contact PETA to figure out why Maya was stolen, and what happened to her, but all of the phone calls remained unreturned.

A Huffington Post editorial mirrored the social media uproar after the charges against the PETA workers were dropped.

Let’s try to comprehend this: we have a home surveillance video clearly demonstrating that a van marked “PETA” pulled up to the house of Wilbur Cerate, and that someone took the family’s chihuahua, Maya. PETA has reportedly admitted that Maya was killed: they arrived later with a basket of fruit as compensation, says Maya’s owner. (For some bizarre reason, PETA thinks that a nice basket of food makes killing pets okay.)

Hence, we have what we are told is pretty strong evidence that a crime was committed. An admission of guilt has been alleged. What part of the notion “criminal intent” am I missing here?

Cerate was unable to get any closure after the charges were dropped against the PETA workers. There have been no reports found indicating a civil suit against the PETA workers.

Previously, The Atlantic wrote a feature story about PETA’s high euthanasia rate for animals. Amanda Schinke, a PETA spokesperson, told The Atlantic that “euthanasia is a product of love for animals who have no one to love them.”

PETA has been actively promoting its video explaining the organization’s reasons for euthanizing animals.

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