On August 21, 1980, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals
was incorporated by animal rights advocates Ingrid Newkirk and
Alex Pacheco.
Rising from humble beginnings, PETA will soon become the
world’s foremost and most controversial animal rights
organization.
Newkirk’s interest in protecting animals began 11 years prior,
when she found some abandoned kittens and was appalled by
the conditions that awaited them at a New York City animal
shelter.
She set aside her plans to become a stockbroker and instead
focused on animals, eventually becoming the first female
pound master in the history of the District of Columbia.
In 1980 she began dating Pacheco, a graduate student and
activist who had sailed aboard a whale-protection ship,
and the two co-founded PETA a short time later.
Ingrid Newkirk
