PETA is one of the most con­tro­ver­sial activist groups oper­at­ing today. The group’s con­tentious media cam­paigns, under­cover oper­a­tions, infa­mous adver­tis­ing, and high pro­file demon­stra­tions have made them per­haps the most noto­ri­ous — and most polar­iz­ing — non­profit orga­ni­za­tion there is. But are they ter­ror­ists? Accord­ing to the US Depart­ment of Agri­cul­ture, they are now.

And right when PETA was about to be able to call it quits, too. The USDA has just released a new secu­rity pro­file form, which it dis­trib­utes to ani­mal exper­i­men­ta­tion facil­i­ties. The form reveals that PETA has been clas­si­fied as a ter­ror­ist threat by the US government–potentially open­ing up its mem­bers to pros­e­cu­tion as ter­ror­ists. Accord­ing to Green is the New Red, an eco-​​activist rights web­site, the doc­u­ment was given to all facil­i­ties that con­duct exper­i­ments on ani­mals. They were asked to dis­close whether they were the tar­get of attacks or harass­ment from a list of ter­ror­ist groups–one of which, evi­dently, is PETA.

Read the rest: USDA Clas­si­fies PETA as a Ter­ror­ist Threat : Tree­Hug­ger.