Today Show Glorifies Alligator Slaughter

This morning, The Today Show ran a fluff piece that literally made my skin crawl, and the complaints started pouring into our office—and for good reason! The show glorified alligator “harvesting” and called it the “deadliest catch, Florida-style.” By alligator harvesting, they really mean alligator slaughtering, but harvesting sounds just oh-so-much comfier. To wrap your head around what we’re saying, check out our own video footage from the “glamorous” world of the alligator harvest, and spot the difference between that and, say, the Vermont apple harvest:

Luckily, we’ve got some wicked smart and compassionate folks working at PETA, like our Senior Vice President Lisa Lange. Lisa fired off this fantastic letter to Today Show correspondent Kerry Sanders, who covered the story this morning. In the letter, Lisa said, “If people want to buy handbags and shoes made from [alligators’] skins, we think they should know exactly how the animals were killed and what better vehicle than Today?” All too true, Lisa. Hopefully, Today will respond, but until then, check out this compelling ad, and say sayonara to the exotic skins in your closet.