The advocacy group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals is fending off swats from critics after it suggested that President Obama might have found a more humane way to dispatch a pesky fly that interrupted a television interview earlier this week, according to Alisa Mullins in a post on the charity’s blog.

Video clips of the commander-in-chief’s cold-blooded insect slaying during an interview with CNBC’s John Harwood quickly flew through the World Wide Web, inspiring comment and parody (such as this segment from Comedy Central’s The Colbert Report).

In response to the executive action, the animal-protection group sent Mr. Obama a “humane bug catcher” (which it sells for $8 on its Web site.) It has also, writes Ms. Mullins, responded to reporters’ inquiries about how it views the incident.

In response, several news-media outlets, including The Christian Science Monitor, have spotlighted PETA’s plea for nonviolence toward winged pests, resulting in a flood of comments from readers suggesting that perhaps the organization has an abundance of spare time.

But the news media, not the charity, says Ms. Mullins, has created the resulting buzz in the wake of the president’s refusal to shoo fly.

“As we all know, human beings often don’t think before they act,” she writes. “We don’t condemn President Obama for acting on instinct. When the media began contacting us in droves for a statement, we obliged, simply by saying that the president isn’t the Buddha and shouldn’t be expected to do everything right — if not for that, we would not have brought it up.”

PETA remains focused on its mission, Ms. Mullins writes: “We support compassion for all animals, even the most curious, smallest, and least sympathetic ones.”

What do you think about the dust-up over the President’s fly swatting? Is PETA getting unfairly criticized — or is it merely taking advantage of an opportunity to spread its message? Post a comment to share your thoughts.