404 | People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals ( PETA) in Montgomery County, Maryland; as a Maryland state law enforcement officer with a high success rate in convicting animal abusers; director of cruelty investigations for the second oldest humane society in the United States; and as Chief of Animal Disease Control for the Commission on Public Health in the District of Columbia While Newkirk was working at a Washington, D.C animal shelter, she read the book Animal Liberation, written by Australian philosopher Peter Singer Inspired by the concepts set forth in Dr Singer’s book, Newkirk founded PETA in 1980 with a small group of friends PETA has grown into the largest and, many consider, the most influential animal rights organization in the world, with more than two million members and supporters (PETA, www.peta.org/ about/) Investigations In 1981, PETA embarked on its first undercover operation, when an investigator took a job in a laboratory in Silver Spring, Maryland, where a group of monkeys was kept, all but one of them having been captured as infants from their native habitat in the Philippines The nerves in the monkeys’ spines had been cut, affecting their ability to control their arms The animals’ limbs were also injured and fingers torn off from getting caught in the rusted and broken cage wires The researcher had converted a small refrigerator into a shock box inside which the monkeys were punished if they failed to pick up objects with their damaged limbs The investigation found grossly unsanitary conditions, with cages cleaned so rarely that fecal matter rose to a height of some inches in places and fungus was growing on it The monkeys had not been given food bowls, so food thrown into the cage fell through the wire, requiring the monkeys to pick the food out of the waste collection trays in order to eat The evidence provided by PETA’s investigation resulted in the first search and seizure warrant served on a laboratory for cruelty to animals, the first arrest and criminal conviction of an animal experimenter in the United States on charges of cruelty to animals, the first confiscation of animals from a laboratory, the first cancellation of a government animal research grant, and the first U.S Supreme Court victory for animals in laboratories (PETA, stopanimaltests.com/investigations/asp) Subsequent PETA investigations have led to further protections for animals, including these examples: •An undercover investigation ended scabies experiments on dogs and rabbits at Ohio’s Wright State University and led to charges by the USDA of 18 violations of the Animal Welfare Act •PETA released photographs and videotapes showing ducks being forcefed on a foie gras farm in New York, resulting in the first-ever police raid on a U.S factory farm, as well as ending the sale of foie gras at many restaurants •Investigations at pig-breeding factory farms in North Carolina and Oklahoma revealed substandard conditions and regular abuse of pigs, including one pig who was skinned alive, leading to the firstever felony indictments of farm workers •A California furrier was charged with cruelty to animals after a PETA