My favorite story about Ingrid Newkirk, the founder and head of PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals), the animal-rights organization, involves her storming the dining room of the Four Seasons hotel in New York, depositing a dead raccoon on Anna Wintour's dinner plate and calling the veteran editor of American Vogue a "fur hag." Wintour, a long-time PETA hate figure for her support of the fur industry, calmly covered it with a napkin and then ordered coffee.
There are no raccoons — living or dead — when I meet Newkirk in her office in Washington, though her evangelical zeal doesn't seem to have dimmed. At times it feels less like interviewing the CEO of a $30 million-a-year-foundation, one which boasts 360 employees and thousands of volunteers, than arguing the toss in the school common room.
It's all so personal to her. Newkirk has been interviewed dozens of times over a 40-year-plus career. She's the head of the largest animal rights organization in the world. And yet there's a quaver in her voice that on several occasions threatens to bring tears. There are accusations. There's more than a touch of suspicion. And, at times, outright hostility. This in response to asking what we in the journalistic trade call "questions." "Ingrid," I say at one point, "can we just leave the emotion out of it for a moment, and concentrate on the figures?"