Newkirk founded PETA in March 1980 with fellow animal rights activist Alex Pacheco . They came to public attention in 1981 , during what became known as the Silver Spring monkeys case , when Pacheco photographed 17 macaque monkeys being experimented on inside the Institute of Behavioral Research in Silver Spring , Maryland . The case led to the first police raid in the United States on an animal research laboratory and to an amendment in 1985 to the Animal Welfare Act . Since then , Newkirk has led campaigns to stop the use of animals in crash tests , convinced companies to stop testing cosmetics on animals , pressed for higher welfare standards from the meat industry , and organized undercover investigations that have led to government sanctions against companies , universities , and entertainers who use animals . She is known , in particular , for the media stunts that she organizes to draw attention to animal-protection issues . In her will , for example , she has asked that her skin be turned into wallets , her feet into umbrella stands , and her flesh into " Newkirk Nuggets " , then grilled on a barbecue . " We are complete press sluts " , she told '' The New Yorker '' in 2003 : " It is our obligation . We would be worthless if we were just polite and did n't make any waves . " Although PETA takes a gradualist approach to improving animal welfare , Newkirk remains committed to ending animal use and the idea that , as PETA 's slogan says , " animals are not ours to eat , wear , experiment on , or use for entertainment " . Some animal rights abolitionists , most notably Gary Francione , have criticized PETA , calling it and other groups " the new welfarists " . Some members of the animal advocacy movement have responded that Francione 's position is unnecessarily divisive . Newkirk has also been criticized for her support of actions carried out in the name of the Animal Liberation Front . Newkirk 's position is that the animal rights movement is a revolutionary one and that " t hinkers may prepare revolutions , but bandits must carry them out " . PETA itself , however , " maintains a creed of nonviolence and does not advocate actions in which anyone , human or nonhuman , is injured " . Newkirk and PETA have also been criticized for euthanizing many of the animals taken into PETA 's shelters , including healthy pets , and opposition to the whole notion of pets , and her position that " There 's no rational basis for saying that a human being has special rights . A rat is a pig is a dog is a boy , " as well as seemingly seeing eradication as a goal . PETA has responded to this line of criticism
Silver Spring monkeys
Silver Spring monkeys
Ingrid Newkirk