Long story but bear with me. TL;DR at the end.
My mom will fight anyone for her babies, hardcore. When my brother was around 10 or so (I was studying in Europe for the summer and MIA) she took him to Minnesota to pick up our new kittens from the breeder. On the way back to our home, they decided to take a high speed ferry across Lake Michigan. She already had made sure the kittens would have a place on the ship, so assumed it would be no problem. Anywayyyyy....
It was a 90 degree, super humid day when they were crossing. She goes to put the kittens in the appropriate cargo hold location, gets there, and it's NOTHING like they promised on the website. Several distraught cats are next to large, barking, distraught dogs. It's 100 degrees inside and they're all next to a super loud engine. The cages hadn't been cleaned for a while, judging by the urine and shit smell. There's not nearly enough water for ANY of the animals, and kennels are stacked on top of one another. Even though I'm sure all these pets are totally sweeties, they were all terrified at this point and their behavior reflected it.
My mom is NOT having this. She tells the employee that she'll be taking the kittens to the cabin she had booked, and will keep them in the kennel, but will not put them down here (they were around 8 weeks at this point). The employee says that's against the rules. They argue this point, my mom pointing to the conditions of the hold versus how she was told the conditions would be-- cool, sanitary, and separate areas for the cats, dogs, rodents, etc. He stands his ground so my mom asks to speak to his superior. Superior guy says the same thing. She isn't pleased. By this time the ferry is about to depart.
So by this point she's gone through about 20 employees all saying the same thing. Finally the captain comes down and tells her to basically gtfo or put down the cats. She tells him that if she receives the $300 + she paid plus pet transport fees as a refund she and my brother will leave the ferry. He says no.
At this point the ferry is running 20 minutes behind schedule and it's my mom, my brother, a college gal with her pet hamster (watching this wide eyed), 20 employees, and the captain
My mom got out her cellphone and told the captain that if he refused to let her and other pet owners move their animals to better conditions, or give her a refund, she would call PETA and report this, and he would be the one she would name for the ensuing PR disaster (it's PETA so you know there would be one).
She actually got on the line before he conceded.
Pet owners were notified. Cats got a cabin. Girl with the hamster got to take him up wth her. Brother was terrified, yet super impressed. We both agreed it was one of the most awesome things we've ever seen. Also, one of the employees told her afterward how much he respected her for standing her ground.
Tl;Dr my mom once held up a giant ferry for 20+ minutes and threatened to call PETA because all the pets were in a terrible environment for transportation. She rocks.