Animal rights activist decrees that her body is barbecued and her skin turned into a purse

Leaving a donation to the nearest animal sanctuary is what many pet lovers do when they die. But Ingrid Newkirk has taken her animal-loving beliefs just a little bit further.

Ms Newkirk, founder and president of the radical group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (Peta), has decreed in her will that a portion of her body (she doesn't specify which) should be barbecued as a protest against "fleshfoods". She also wants her feet to be turned into ornaments to remind the world of the "depravity" of using animals in a such a fashion.

And that's not all. Ms Newkirk has also laid down that part of her skin be turned into a leather product to show that human skin and animal skin are the same thing and that neither is a "fabric". Ms Newkirk's will also holds bequests to two people. One is the administrator of the United States Environmental Protection Agency, who can expected to receive both her eyes, appropriately mounted, as a message that Peta will continue to watch the agency until it stops using animals in experiments.

The second beneficiary is Kenneth Feld, owner of the Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus. He can expect to receive her pointing finger to stand as "the greatest accusation on Earth" on behalf of animals used for public entertainment.

Her stipulations are in accord with the spirit of outrage fostered by Peta, which is based in the United States. In the past, its members have dropped a dead raccoon on the plate of a lunching Anna Wintour, editor of American Vogue, over the use of fur in the magazine and claimed – without evidence – that the fat in milk contributed to the prostrate cancer of the former mayor of New York, Rudy Guiliani.

Ms Newkirk also said in her will that she hoped foot-and-mouth disease would reach the US since it would harm those "who profit from giving people heart attacks".

Ms Newkirk, 53, who was born in England, is still going strong as the mainstay of Peta. She stressed that the final decision over the use of her body remained with Peta. When she does die, lunching fashion editors may feel the need to examine the contents of their plates a little more carefully than usual.