In P&G’s hometown of Cincinnati, the concert hall banned PETA’s booth. So rockers Chrissie Hynde and Kate Pierson took PETA’s Died car to a local laundromat where they handed out our leaflets calling for an end to P&G’s animal tests.
Berosini, who had begun using orangutans in photo sessions at the Tropicana, was caught on a PETA undercover videotape in 1989 repeatedly slapping, shaking and punching cowering orangutans used in his nightclub act. The Tropicana opted to drop Berosini after meeting with PETA and learning about Berosini’s history of animal abuse. We are now seeking custody of the orangutans through the Nevada Supreme Court. Kristen Johnston, Emmy winner and star of TV’s 3rd Rock from the Sun, wrote to NASA when she learned that the space agency planned to relaunch its controversial Neurolab experiments, which left adult rats beheaded and baby rats dead of starvation. A PETA member, Ms. Johnston wrote, “NASA seems to be stuck in the ’60s. They should be on the ‘cutting edge’ of new technology—and that means not cutting up animals.” NASA canceled its plans to repeat the experiment. Calling the Wienermobile the meat industry’s “Joe Camel,” PETA Vegetarian Campaign Coordinator Bruce Friedrich, told the media, “Kids love animals, and they would be horrified by the suffering pigs endure on factory farms and in slaughterhouses before they are made into Oscar Mayer wieners.”
Other PETA Web sites include: www.jesus-online.com, www.circuses.com, www.pginfo.net, www.nofishing.net, www.taxmeat.com and www.furisdead.com.
Just hours after the departure of a PETA delegation appealing to the Taiwanese government to pass its first-ever animal protection law, the law passed! PETA’s campaign began last spring, when Ingrid Newkirk traveled to Taiwan and visited pounds where dogs were rounded up by garbage collectors using thin wire snares and metal tongs. Once collected, the dogs were crammed into pens, the sick and dying along with the healthy. Killing methods were hideous: poisoning, electrocution, drowning or slow starvation. The new law prohibits inflicting unnecessary suffering on animals, requires that companion animals be registered and bans abandoning them. It also prohibits the cruel slaughter of animals raised for food and mandates the formation of an ethics committee to monitor animal testing. PETA will continue to campaign to clean up Taiwan’s dog pounds and train workers to handle animals kindly. Ringling was charged by the USDA for failing to provide veterinary care to Kenny when he was known to be sick. According to circus whistleblowers, Kenny was “wailing” and his legs were “wobbly” when he was forced to perform in two shows on the day of his death.
• Ask Sears to stop sponsoring circus cruelty. Write: Arthur Martinez, Chair & CEO, Sears, Roebuck & Co., 3333 Beverly Rd., Hoffman Estates, IL 60179. When the “Breakfast of Champions” decided to feature bass fisher Denny Brauer on its cereal boxes, we wrote to Wheaties’ maker, General Mills, citing the millions of animals who suffer and die from injuries caused by discarded fishing hooks and tackle—as well as the suffering of the fish themselves. Wrote PETA President Ingrid Newkirk, “Anglers have no place next to real athletes who better represent the ‘Breakfast of Champions.’” News of our anti-fishing campaign appeared in the Los Angeles Times, The Wall Street Journal, USA Today and the Toronto Globe and Mail. When PETA learned that design team Badgley Mischka’s fur collection was inspired by Dr. Zhivago, we told the film’s star, Julie Christie, who had worn a Badgley Mischka gown to the Academy Awards. “I have been an anti-fur campaigner for years,” Ms. Christie told the designer. “When fake furs are accessible, whatever can be the reason for encouraging the awful factory farming of fur-bearing animals, let alone the trapping in the wild, by creating a market for real fur?”
Please write Badgley Mischka: Mark Badgley and James Mischka, 525 Seventh Ave., 14th Fl., New York, NY 10018. Call PETA for a free Fur Action Pack. Emmy winner and X-Files star Gillian Anderson took time off to write a letter to officials in Mesquite, Nev., urging them to cancel a “running of the bulls” event. The spectacle is modeled after the infamous run to the bullfighting arena in Pamplona, Spain, which leaves both bulls and humans wounded and dead. “Why would Mesquite want to emulate a bloodsport that most of the world has condemned?” asked Ms. Anderson. “It is completely unacceptable to harass and torment bulls in order to generate excitement and entertainment.” In response to pressure from activists, the Nevada Department of Transportation refused to allow the event on a state highway. PETA is asking KFC to institute a minimum of two square feet of space per bird, humane standards for transportation and a requirement that all birds be stunned before their throats are slit, as well as to introduce a veggie burger, as KFC UK has. Please help by writing to Jeffrey A. Moody, President, KFC, c/o Tricon Global Restaurants, Inc., 1441 Gardiner Lane, Louisville, KY 40213. To get the word out about how easy it is to enjoy turkeyless celebrations, PETA placed the first-ever pro-turkey TV ad on stations throughout the holidays. Starring Joaquin Phoenix, the young vegan star of Return to Paradise and Clay Pigeons, and directed by Pigeons director David Dobkin, the ad informed millions about vegetarian alternatives, PETA’s veggie hotline and our free holiday recipes. Stories about the ad educated millions more when it made entertainment news worldwide. Said Joaquin (who donated his services), “I wanted to do something to help ease the suffering of these wonderful birds.”
Fishing will soon be as welcome at America’s national parks as forest fires if Gill the Fish has his way. PETA’s 7-foot-tall finned friend visited parks all summer, asking fisher-folk to lay down their rods and reels. PETA has written to every national park where fishing is permitted asking for a ban, citing cruelty to fish, as well as to the millions of birds and animals who die from injuries caused by discarded line and tackle. Write PETA for a free Fishing Pack.
The Pretenders and the B-52’s shared the spotlight of their summer tour with PETA by inviting us to set up booths at concert venues around the U.S. to educate fans about Procter & Gamble’s animal tests.
Contact Durk Jagger, the new CEO of Procter & Gamble, 1 Procter & Gamble Plaza, Cincinnati, OH 45202; 513-983-4602. Tell him you will boycott P&G until all its animal tests are stopped. U.K. members, write to Mr. R.W. Johnson, Director of Corporate Affairs, Procter & Gamble, St. Nicholas Ave., Newcastle Upon Tyne NE99 1EE.
The chips are down again for former Las Vegas entertainer Bobby Berosini—who has been told by Tropicana Hotel management that his orangutan act is no longer welcome.
This summer, wherever Oscar Mayer’s “Wienermobile” went to recruit youngsters to sing, “I wish I were an Oscar Mayer wiener,” PETA was there to add, “Not if you could see what happens to the pigs.”
Pigs are friends, not food! Look for delicious, low-fat, cholesterol-free veggie hot dogs in your local supermarket or health food store.
What better way to let ’Net surfers know about Vogue’s shameless promotion of fur than by setting up a Web site called www.voguemagazine.com? We thought it was a great idea, but the folks at Vogue were none too pleased. After they fired off a letter citing “trademark infringement,” we changed the name of our site to www.voguesucks.com. Check it out for information on fur and how to contact Vogue to protest its persistent peddling of pelts.
A host of celebrities appealed to the government on our behalf, including Jackie Chan, the Dalai Lama, Luciano Pavarotti and Jean-Claude Van Damme. Action star Steven Seagal traveled to Taiwan and personally met with Taiwan’s President Lee Teng-hui. Our full-page ad in The Hollywood Reporter resulted in a flood of public appeals to Taiwanese officials.
PETA’s and Kim Basinger’s complaints to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) about the death of a baby elephant named Kenny have resulted in Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus’ being forced to pay $20,000 to settle the case.
• Don’t let your entertainment dollars subsidize animal suffering. Attend ONLY circuses, like the Cirque du Soleil and Circus Chimera, that DON’T use animals.
Visualize whirled peas! Call PETA’s vegetarian hotline at 1-888-VEG-FOOD or contact our Literature Department for free vegetarian recipes.
