Lily Allen has slammed PETA after the animal rights group sent her a brutal gift after she admitted to giving up her dog because it ate her passport.
It all started when the 39-year-old singer spoke in a recent episode of her show about her adopted dog that had ruined her life. Miss me? Podcasts.
She said the little dog, named Mary, had moved into her New York townhouse with her two children.
Lily Allen explained why she had to give up her dog. (Instagram/@lilyallen)
“We had actually already adopted a dog once, but it ate my passport and so I took her back to the shelter,” explains the musician.
“She ate all three of our passports and they had our visas with them.
“And I can’t tell you how much money it cost me to have everything replaced because it was Covid, so it was just an absolute logistical nightmare.
“And because my children’s father lives in England, I couldn’t take them back to their father for four or five months because that damn dog ate the passports.
“And I just couldn’t look at her. I thought, ‘You ruined my life.'”
The singer said the dog had “ruined her life.” (Instagram/@lilyallen)
The comments sparked a fierce reaction after animal rights group PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) wrote an open letter to Allen, asking: “Couldn’t you have put your important documents in a drawer?”
PETA also sent her a mechanical dog with the message: “This is truly the only animal you should bring into your home.”
However, Allen has since criticized the organization on social media for “adding fuel to the fire.”
“I’ve had shelter dogs on a regular basis my entire life since I was four years old. I’m a pretty good judge of dogs’ needs, have never been accused of mistreating an animal, and I found this whole week very distressing,” she said, adding, “We rescued our puppy Mary from a shelter in New York and we loved her very much, BUT she developed pretty severe separation anxiety and reacted in all sorts of ways.”
The animal rights organization sent Allen this gift. (PETA)
Allen continued, “She could not be left alone for more than 10 minutes. She went on three long walks a day, two with us and one with a local handler and several other dogs. We worked with the shelter we rescued her from and they referred us to a behavior specialist and a professional trainer. It was a volunteer from the shelter who came and looked after her when we were gone and after many months and careful consideration, everyone agreed that our home was not the best for Mary.”
PETA responded to Allen’s tweets, saying: “YOU laughed when you talked about abandoning Mary and ruined this poor dog’s life.
Allen has sharply criticized PETA. (X/@lilyallen)
“She thought she had a loving forever home before you kicked her out and called her ‘that damn dog’ who ‘ruined my life.’
“Shame on you. You don’t even deserve the toy dog we sent you.”
Allen replied: “People laugh all the time when they talk about painful things, that’s completely normal.
“I made it clear that we did not abandon her and that she was placed with people we knew almost immediately.
“Why are you spreading lies? What kind of animal welfare organization tries to stigmatize someone for trying to improve the welfare of an animal? Your post is dangerous.”
The LADbible Group has contacted PETA for comment.
