Tattle Tails

By Jason A. Heidemann



Dan Mathews is the Pied Piper of PETA. Not only does the charming animal rights activist serve as vice president, but where he goes, action, legislation and yes, controversy, often follow. Mathews just released Committed: A Rabble-Rouser’s Memoir, in which he reflects upon a life less ordinary. While people often debate the organization’s values (including pro-euthanasia for suffering animals) the nonprofit can be credited for shining a bigger spotlight upon the animal welfare issues of our time.

Why this book now? It really feels like half a life story.
I actually didn’t pursue writing a book. It’s kind of just something that fell into place. I’ve always done freelance work as a writer as a moonlight job while working for a nonprofit. I wrote about dressing as a carrot for elementary school to promote vegetarianism and getting pelted with lunchmeat by the kids, which was supplied by local pig farmers. Andy Tobias, who is a writer, saw it and wrote me a note that said, ‘This is the opening to a book.’ He hooked me up with some publishing people in New York. It all came about fairly organically.

Is PETA in any way addressing the Menu Foods pet-food recall?
We actually had a big conference in Washington demanding that they expand the recall to dry food, and they’ve taken us up on that to some extent. But it’s not one of our main campaigns. PETA always looks to see what’s happening with animals and if there’s something that needs to be brought up with dog and cat issues, we step in.

The fashion industry has recently been accused of mislabeling fake fur that actually contains real fur made of domestic dog, wolf, and raccoon dog. How has PETA been handling that?
We’ve used that to get our foot in the door with a lot of designers such as Tommy Hilfiger, who decided to stop using all fur after we brought that to his attention. Same with Ralph Lauren, who we convinced not only to stop using fur in all his collections, but also to pull the zebra rug from his shop. I just got back from Italy last month, where I met with Armani. I showed him all these videos, including the Chinese fur investigations. He has pulled fur from his high-end line and even invited me to show his design team these videos.

You’ve had some pretty controversial campaigns. I assume you initially start with a more diplomatic approach?
For every crazy thing we do there are at least 20 things we’ve done that were completely sane and everybody thinks are wonderful, but they got us nowhere. They just don’t get the press because we live in such an information-overload age. There’s so much competition for people’s attention that people are just looking for the shiny, exciting, controversial thing. We’re not just going to make animal rights become invisible by being nice all the time, so we keep our agenda full of items that are provocative so that we can get heard. Our currency is being annoying.

How do you gauge whether an initiative like the anti-fur campaign, for example, has been successful?
We’ve become a big enough force in fashion that Tim Gunn [of Project Runway] invited us to have a program at Parsons that’s now in its third year. Tim actually introduced me at my New York book launch and is helping PETA out in many, many ways. In his program, we actually showed the kids how the cows have their feet and lips chopped off so that their skin can be pulled back for leather and that they’re still conscious when it happens. So now we’re preventing designers of the future from going into these bloody businesses. They still have the furriers at Parsons, but now we actually get equal time and the kids are naturally very sympathetic.

What are some things you’ve done specifically for pets?
We’re based in Norfolk, Virginia, which is a very poor part of the country. There’s a horrible dog and cat overpopulation situation there. We have a mobile spay and neuter clinic that goes around to impoverished areas and fixes their animals. We spend a great deal on that. There are also a lot of animals in that area who are just tied up their whole lives to trees. We pushed through legislation where you can’t leave [your dog] outside for more than a certain number of hours. We also have a program where we build doghouses and distribute them. We actually build them and bring them to dogs who have nothing. It’s an ongoing program of ours, but it’s crucial.

What do you say to people who think you go too far?
We do go too far and I would roll my eyes if I were them, too. You can’t hold it against people. We live in such an apathetic era. People have this big sense of entitlement. They want to be able to do anything they want to do and that’s what kind of defines modern America. So when you tell people to avoid buying this or avoid buying that, it does get under their skin.
Because there’s so much apathy I think that when anybody sticks their neck out they seem like more a pain in the ass they would’ve 30 or 40 years ago, when people felt more like responsible citizens. People aren’t responsible citizens these days so we are inconvenient. But a lot of people digest our message even if they don’t digest it right away. They realize, maybe we had a point and they don’t need to eat that Big Mac, they can go to Subway and get a veggie sub when they realize what the options are. I’m not really worried about our public image. I know that we’re considered really ‘out there’ and that’s really served us well. Sometimes it’s great to have a bad reputation.

What do you say to shelter workers who might get discouraged at times?
It may seem like it never gets better, but every single person out there who’s doing their job in a shelter and doing something to make life a little better for animals, even if it’s just one animal a day that you’ve helped, you have made a difference. It’s an overwhelming tidal wave of a problem, but you’re making a difference with any animal that you’re helping, because if you weren’t there it would be even more of a dire situation.
PETA is working on a national level to try and address the overpopulation issue in this country. We’re trying to get some of the [laws] like they have going in Germany, where there are licensing fees to have animals so that people can’t just get an animal on a whim and decide when they move two months later to dump it or get rid of him or give her to a sister who doesn’t want her anyway. I know at the local level here it’s absolutely overwhelming.

What is your ideal scene for the animals?
I think there will be a day when there are no factory farms left; our environment can’t handle it. I think there will be a day when the meat eater is the odd man out, kind of like how cigar smokers are now because people will just not want to have the risk of Alzheimer’s and heart disease and cancer and because the newer generations will just consider it obsolete. And I think there will be a day when animals are considered our neighbors on the planet and we’ll be better neighbors.