Gov. Chris Christie, R-N.J., killed a spider last week, and PETA responded by mourning the arachnid's loss and criticizing the New Jersey governor.
Chris Christie hosted his daughter Bridget Christie's fourth-grade class at the State House in Trenton on Friday. When a student noticed a spider on the governor's desk, the class backed away from the eight-legged crawler. Christie, standing by a window in the midst of a sentence, walked over to the desk to investigate.
He picked up his landline telephone receiver, ready to swat the spider. "There he is!" Christie exclaimed, and smacked the spider dead with his free hand, after a boy reportedly asked the governor to "staple it". The class applauded Christie's efforts, and once again turned their attention back to him.
"That's another fun part about being governor, any bugs on your desk; you're allowed to kill them and not get in trouble," Christie quipped. The New Jersey Governor's Office released a short video of the incident called "Governor Christie Saves School Children From Spider."
In response, People For the Ethical Treatment of Animals, or PETA, said the spider killing was inappropriate and unnecessary. "Some people put the spider outside, but spiders are often scary to people and that can prevent [people] from pondering their worth," PETA President Ingrid Newkirk said.
This is not the first incident of a major government official drawing criticism from PETA. During a 2009 interview with CNBC, President Barack Obama swatted a fly dead in the midst of the discussion. The Democrat then pointed out the dead fly to a cameraman, and asked for a close up video of the body.
PETA spokesman Bruce Freidrich said that Obama, like Christie, should have left the bug alone. "We believe that people, where they can be compassionate, should be for all animals," Freidrich said.
See the video of Chris Christie's spider smack below:
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