'At least he didnt eat the dog: Sarah Palin hits back over picture of son standing on pet

Sarah Palin, the former governor of Alaska and Republican vice-presidential pick in 2008, has responded to criticism from the animal rights group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (Peta) over a photograph she published of her son Trig standing on the family dog.

“Dear Peta,” Palin wrote in a statement published on Facebook, “Chill. At least Trig didn’t eat the dog.”

Palin went on to claim hypocrisy from Peta over its treatment of the comedian and talk show host Ellen DeGeneres and President Barack Obama, saying the latter “revealed he actually enjoyed eating dead dog meat”.

The Facebook post that caused the initial controversy showed Trig, 6, who suffers from Down’s Syndrome, stepping on the family’s black labrador, Jill.

“May 2015 see every stumbling block turned into a stepping stone on the path forward,” Palin wrote. “Trig just reminded me. He, determined to help wash dishes with an oblivious mama not acknowledging his signs for ‘up!’, found me and a lazy dog blocking his way. He made his stepping stone.”

In response, Peta president Ingrid Newkirk said: “It’s odd that anyone - let alone a mother - would find it appropriate to post such a thing, with no apparent sympathy for the dog in the photo.”

In her reponse to Peta, Palin said: “Hey, by the way, remember your ‘Woman of the Year’, Ellen DeGeneres? Did you get all wee-wee’d up when she posted this sweet picture? Hypocritical, much?”

The picture Palin referred to was posted on the Facebook page for The Ellen DeGeneres Show in July last year, and showed a toddler stepping on a dog . The accompanying caption reads: “Well, that’s one way to reach a sink.” DeGeneres was Peta’s Woman of the Year in 2009 .

Palin continued: “Did you go as crazy when your heroic Man-of-Your-Lifetime, Barack Obama, revealed he actually enjoyed eating dead dog meat?”

In his autobiography, Dreams From My Father, the president wrote about eating dog meat - which he said was “tough” - in Indonesia, in his childhood.

Palin, who quit as governor of Alaska in and was John McCain’s running mate in his defeat by Obama in the 2008 election, continued: “Aren’t you the double-standard radicals always opposing Alaska’s Iditarod - the Last Great Race honouring dogs who are born to run in wide open spaces, while some of your pets ‘thrive’ in a concrete jungle where they’re allowed outdoors to breathe and pee maybe once a day?”

She then concluded by saying her family’s dog, Jill, was “Trig’s best buddy … loved, spoiled and cared for more than some people care for their fellow man whose politics may not mesh with nonsensical liberally failed ways or don’t fit your flighty standards.

“Jill is a precious part of our world. So is Trig.”

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