People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) is suggesting President Obama use more humane means to get rid of pesky flies after he smashed a fly on his wrist during a television interview. It's not the first time PETA's response has inspired eye-rolling, and it certainly won't be the last.

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First off, in the president's defense, the fly was given fair warning. PETA says that's no excuse.

"We support compassion even for the most curious, smallest and least sympathetic animals," PETA spokesman Bruce Friedrich told the Associated Press. "We believe that people, where they can be compassionate, should be, for all animals." To help him make wiser decisions, PETA is sending the President a Katcha Bug Humane Bug Catcher, a device that will allow users to trap a bug and release it, alive and well, outside.

This isn't the first time the Obama administration has heard from the organization. When Bo the First Dog was introduced, PETA sent a letter to Obama suggesting that he have the pup sterilized. (No need: Bo had already been neutered.)

PETA's run-ins with current and former members of the executive branch didn't start with Obama's presidency. In 1999, PETA ran a series of ads against then Vice President Al Gore for his support of an EPA program that exposed millions of animals to high production volume (HPV) chemicals. In 2004, former first lady Nancy Reagan issued a cease-and-desist letter to PETA for its attempted use of her late husband's image in an ad for vegetarianism.

In 2005, after former president Jimmy Carter, on "The Tonight Show," discussed a fishing trip, PETA responded, requesting that Carter stop fishing and "grant fish peace by leaving them in the water where they belong." India's branch of PETA even pitched the idea of vegetarianism to President George W. Bush in 2008. One can almost picture the Texas rancher's reaction to that.

It probably goes without saying that Sarah Palin, who shoots wolves from helicopters and hunts moose, didn't get a lot of votes last November from the PETA crowd. Last Christmas PETA created a online game that involved pelting Palin with snowballs and urging Internet users to "help make the holidays safe for animals by fighting back against notorious animal abusers."

But as ridiculous as much of it might sound, in a way it's brilliant from a public relations point of view. It might not inspire us to trash our fly swatter, run out and purchase a humane bug catcher, or change our driving habits, but it certainly created some conversation. I'm writing about it -- you're reading about it. Some people might have jumped online and researched the organization and the less laughable causes it stands for. Heck, some might have joined or made a donation.

All of it over a fly.


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