PETA took the veggie message to fifth graders in Virginia, courtesy of teacher Doug Creef, a member of PETA’s Teachers Network. The kids enjoyed talks on health, animals and the environment and ate veggie burgers and dogs, donated by Yves, with gusto. If you’d like someone from PETA to speak at your school, contact us. Call us to join PETA’s Teachers Network, or e-mail to Education@peta.org.

---

Order Today!

Help fight P&G and Unilever’s cruel oral care product tests with our brand new leaflets. Order a supply from our Literature Department by calling 757-622-7382, extension 418. (For more information on this campaign, click here).

---

Tell us what you’ve done for animals...and win fab footwear!

Tell us what you’ve done for animals and you could win a free pair of vegan shoes from No Bull Footwear, an ethical nonleather shoe company! No Bull shoes are breathable, durable and fashionable. (To find out more about its products, contact No Bull at Pangea Vegan Products, 7829 Woodmont Ave., Bethesda, MD 20814, USA; 301-652-3181; fax 301-652-0442; www.pangeaveg.com; or in the U.K., 15 Chichester Drive E., Saltdean, Brighton BN2 8LD UK; tel./ fax. +44 1273 302979.)

To enter, just send us a letter (preferably with photos) telling us about your action for animals. The winning entry will appear in Animal Times and must demonstrate creativity, initiative and effectiveness. All entries must be submitted by March 15.

---

Mermaids Sighted

Carrying a sign reading, “FISH HAVE FEELINGS, TOO,” sultry “mermaids” from PETA greeted Brighton’s Mackeral Fair attendees, while across the Atlantic, a mermaid waving a “HOOKS HURT” sign was reeled in from the pond at Constitution Gardens in Washington, D.C.

Not only has it been proved that fish feel fear and pain and suffer greatly from the time they are impaled and pulled from the water, but also millions of birds and other animals die from injuries caused by discarded fish hooks, line and lures.

Said PETA’s U.K. Rep Andrew Butler, “The easiest way to help fish and other animals is to get hooked on compassion and go vegetarian. Please visit our Web site: www.NoFishing.net.”

Write a letter to the editor of your local newspaper asking that the outdoors column follow the lead of Sports Afield magazine by shifting focus away from hunting and fishing and toward growing non-animal sports such as hiking, camping and mountian biking.

---

Help Kevin Save Candy and King

Candy, a chimpanzee at the Fun Fair Park in Baton Rouge, La., and King, a lowland gorilla at Miami’s Monkey Jungle, have lived alone for years and suffer from extreme depression. King is often seen banging his head or throwing his body against the concrete walls of his enclosure. Offers to relocate these animals have been repeatedly declined.

Says Kevin Nealon, “They are denied all normal pleasures, but the cruelest denial is the comfort of companionship.”

Write to Mr. Michael Dunn, U.S. Undersecretary of Agriculture, asking him to prohibit the solitary confinement of primates in zoos and amusement parks: USDA, Independence Ave. & 14th St. S.W., Washington, DC 20250; e-mail Michael.Dunn@usda.gov.

---

Child Health Scam

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), no stranger to wasteful animal-testing schemes, plans to force-feed and inject animals with toxic pollutants to determine the “safe” amount of the poisons children can be exposed to. Scientists have criticised the “children’s health chemical-testing program” saying the tests have zero chance of actually protecting children’s health and demanding that the EPA focus instead on eliminating known toxic chemicals that children are exposed to.

Please write Charles Auer, Director, Chemical Control Division, EPA, 401 M St. S.W., Washington, DC 20460; fax 202-260-8168. Ask him to abandon this ridiculous waste of money and lives.

---

EPA Plans New Animal Slaughter

Hot on the heels of the high production volume (HPV) chemical test scandal (see the editor’s message), the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is planning another scientific boondoggle that could cost 150 million animals their lives! The “endocrine disruptor testing program” is based on theoretical claims that low levels of synthetic compounds can disrupt the human hormonal system. One key study on which the program is based was so flawed that it was almost immediately withdrawn. The EPA can’t define what an “endocrine disruptor” is or does and has no idea how to interpret the massive amount of questionable data that will be generated. International scientists call the program “blindly stupid,” yet the EPA is forging ahead and planning to order new animal tests for a whopping 87,000 chemicals!

Your voice is urgently needed! U.S. residents, please contact your senators (U.S. Senate, Washington, DC 20510) and representative (U.S. House of Representatives, Washington, DC 20515). Ask them to stop the EPA’s endocrine-disruptor testing program immediately. (Find your representatives’ names at www.congress.org or by calling the congressional switchboard at 202-224-3121.) International letters should be addressed to the Honorable President Clinton, The White House, 1600 Pennsylvania Ave., Washington, DC 20500.