People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals reportedly plans to launch a porn site.

The website, at peta.xxx, will be "a pornography site that draws attention to the plight of animals", according to Reuters, which cited a spokesperson.

With thousands of well-known companies reluctantly queueing up to pay up to block their trademarks in the forthcoming .xxx top-level domain, PETA appears to be a unique case of a non-porn brand that plans to embrace "adult entertainment" to further its cause.

The publicity-hungry organisation is of course no stranger to pandering to the prurient interest – its long-running "I'd rather go naked than wear fur" ad campaign has persuaded celebrities from Eva Mendes to Khloe Kardashian to strip off for a bit of soft-focus photography.

Quite what a porn site dedicated to animal rights looks like remains to be seen. We await its launch with a mixture of curiosity and terror.

PETA has yet to secure its .xxx domain. The "sunrise" period for trademark holders to protect their brands – at a cost of $200 and up – does not kick off until 7 September.

PETA recently crossed paths with the internet domain name industry when it called unsuccessfully for a boycott of domain registrar and web host Go Daddy, after its then-CEO shot an elephant.

It later scored a coup when it recruited Go Daddy spokes-totty Jillian Michaels to lead a demonstration in Los Angeles against the mistreatment of elephants in circuses. ®