Former Republican Party US vice-presidential nominee Sarah Palin, who triggered a new controversy by posting a photo of her six-year-old son standing on a family dog, on Sunday hit back at animal rights groups for their criticism and asked them to “chill”. “Dear PETA, Chill. At least Trig didn’t eat the dog,” Palin posted on Facebook. Palin (50) posted the photos of Trig, her youngest son, who has Down’s Syndrome, on New Year’s Day. “May 2015 see every stumbling block turned into a stepping stone on the path forward,” Palin, who was Governor of Alaska from 2006 till 2009, wrote.
The former US vice-presidential candidate had used Trig’s need to get to the kitchen sink, stepping on the black labrador retriever in the way, as an example for overcoming obstacles. Following this, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals said in a statement on Friday that Palin had “no apparent sympathy for the dog” and that the organisation “along with everyone else, is used to the hard-hearted, seeming obliviousness of this bizarrely callous woman.”
PETA also slammed Palin, who was the running mate of Republican US Presidential nominee John McCain in 2008, after she was interviewed at an Alaska turkey farm as birds were being slaughtered in the background. But Palin called PETA hypocritical for not denouncing TV host Ellen DeGeneres for posting a similar photo on her show’s Facebook page last year. DeGeneres was PETA’s person of the year in 2009. She asked whether the organisation went “as crazy when your heroic Man-of-Your-lifetime” President Barack Obama “revealed he actually enjoyed eating dead dog meatIJ”