10 Questions for Ingrid Newkirk

Is there a simple, everyday way people can help animals? James Dodds, KATONAH, N.Y.

Absolutely. Give your dog or cat respect, patience, understanding and love. And if you just change to one vegetarian day a week, that's a wonderful step that will save animal lives. It means you have chosen something kind instead of something cruel.

Is PETA against the consumption of meat? Do you want us all to be vegetarian? Jose Ortega, LIMA, PERU

I think if you're against cruelty and you look at what happens to animals in slaughterhouses and on factory farms, you have to be completely against eating meat. And we don't need animals. It's the 21st century. It's healthier for us, better for the environment and certainly kinder to be a vegetarian.

PETA recently tried to advocate for the use of human breast milk rather than cow's milk in Ben & Jerry's ice cream. That doesn't seem very feasible. Erika Kohl, WESTFORD, MASS.

It isn't very feasible at all, but it was great fun to suggest it to Ben & Jerry's, who also knew it was a joke. What was serious was that television stations listened to our reasons why making anything out of cow's milk is unkind. Calves are taken away from their mothers and used for veal. We drink the milk meant for those little calves.

How do you justify advocating animal rights in a world filled with poverty and starvation? Joslyn DeGroot YPSILANTI, MICH.

Perhaps one of the most important things you can do for human beings is wean them off an animal-based diet. It hardens the arteries and runs up our health-care costs. The last thing a poor person can afford is a heart attack or cancer or a stroke. And that's all linked to a meat-based diet. I think animal liberation is human liberation.

What has been PETA's greatest victory? Lara Sanders, GREENSBURG, PA.

It's probably the most intangible one, which is changing people's outlook and putting animal rights on the map. People are afraid that if they're doing something wrong to animals, peta will come a-callin'.

Do some of PETA's methods go too far? Matthew Litak EVERGREEN PARK, ILL.

Chrissie Hynde said it best: When you're talking about cruelty to living beings, the danger is in not going far enough to protest it. We may do silly things sometimes, but we always have a serious point. We'll pretty much do anything--as long as it's not violent.

What milestones do you think the animal-rights movement will accomplish in your lifetime? Joel Bartlett PORTLAND, MAINE

I'm sure, before I die, we will have in vitro meat. That will mean you take a couple of cells from animals and you grow meat in a lab. You can make a clean meat, no suffering, no disease. We have offered a $1 million reward to the first scientist able to come up with in vitro meat.

Have any of your campaigns been counterproductive? Max Wilson, SEATTLE

I don't think so. Some may have caused many of our members to leave us, and they may have caused people to dislike us, but we're not here to win a popularity contest. We're here to get people to find out the facts about how animals suffer.

What did you think of the Michael Vick situation? Bobbie Mullins, NORFOLK, VA.

I have spoken to Michael, and I know he's contrite. I believe when we see him emerge from jail that he's going to have a strong message for inner-city youth.