Thread by @nwinograd

1. Today is the anniversary of @peta's illegal taking and killing of Maya from her home: nathanwinograd.com/the-killing-of….

2. On Oct. 18, 2014, two PETA reps backed their van up to a home in Parksley, VA, and threw biscuits to Maya, who was sitting on her porch. They were hoping to coax her off her property and give PETA the ability to claim she was a stray dog "at large": .

3. Maya refused to stay off the property and after grabbing the biscuit, ran back to the safety of her porch. One of the PETA representatives went onto the property and took Maya. Within hours, Maya was dead, illegally killed with a lethal dose of poison: .

4. "Why PETA Kills," my book, tells her story and that of over 40,000 others who also died at their hands. The e-book is available for free on Amazon today: goo.gl/EjWe3y.

5. Following its publication, PETA tried to intimidate me into silence by taking me to court. I refused to back down. Despite PETA's hiring of a mega law firm, the Court ruled in my favor, a victory for me, the animals, and the First Amendment: .

6. After that ruling, a PETA whistleblower came forward and confirmed what I wrote in the book: that PETA staff lie to people in order to acquire their animals to kill, kill despite alternatives & indoctrinate people to kill in a cult-like atmosphere described as “terrifying.”

7. Employees “were forced to participate in euthanasias they didn’t believe in” or “were fired because they refused to do so.” "[S]peaking up could have meant being booted from the tribe."

8. She describes healthy animals who were killed for the “good of all animals.” Such animals included a happy and healthy dog her mother wanted to adopt, and a bird for whom she had personally cared for many weeks but was ordered killed...

9. She reports that she has “contacted by individuals from all over the country expressing their gratitude, and their own fear, about speaking out about their experiences. People who worked at PETA and were forced to lie about euthanasias...

10. "...people who were forced to euthanize animals they loved as a condition of their employment, and people who were told by leadership that they were worthless. There are dozens, and maybe hundreds, of us. Most are still afraid to break their silence”: .

11. In addition to the whistleblower, the collapse of PETA's meritless lawsuit led to three other important outcomes. First, it extended First Amendment protections for investigative journalism to animal rights bloggers and other new media.

12. Second, it demonstrated that PETA may have deep pockets and will misuse the court system in an attempt to intimidate people into silence, but their strategy will always be limited by the fact that we could compel employees, including Newkirk, to testify under oath.

13. Consistent with overwhelming evidence already available, such testimony would likely be damning, and PETA knows it. If people stand up to PETA’s donor-funded intimidation tactics, rather than cower to them, PETA will invariably back down.

14. Third, it led my family to a dog named Ralph. On the way to court in the case, my wife and I found a little dog who had been hit by a car, bleeding in the gutter. Wrapping him in Jennifer’s coat, we rushed him to the nearest emergency veterinary hospital.

15. After recovering from his injuries in our care, we found him a loving new home consistent with our belief in ethical treatment of animals. For obvious reasons, we are grateful it was us and not PETA who saw him laying in a pool of his own blood on the way to the courthouse.

16. If PETA had gotten to him and history is any guide, Ralph would no longer be alive, put to death by one of the obedient members of “the tribe” with a lethal dose of poison for the “good of all animals.”