Gilchrist County Animal Control in Florida called PETA asking for help getting a dog weight-pulling event canceled at The Hitching Post bar in Trenton. Sadly, laws do not protect animals from being forced to participate in these types of events, which often serve as networking opportunities for dogfighters. After animal control officers told the bar's owner that PETA disapproved of the weight pull, we called the owner and secured the immediate cancellation of the cruel event.
When PETA discovered that Sam Mazzola, who is notorious for his hideous bear-wrestling events and for allowing customers to take photos of themselves with adult tigers, was scheduled to appear at the Allegheny Sport, Travel, and Outdoor Show in Monroeville, Pennsylvania, last February, we didn't waste any time contacting the Pennsylvania Game Commission. After we reminded the commissioner that the state has a ban on public contact with dangerous animals and filled him in on Mazzola's sordid past, he told us that he would personally see to it that Mazzola would not be issued a permit to display in the state at any time!
Despite available humane alternatives, authorities in Fairfax County, Virginia, announced their decision to trap and kill a colony of beavers located in a dry pond near Tysons Corner. In response, PETA immediately posted an action alert on our Web site and called our members in Fairfax County asking them to contact the Board of Supervisors and demand that it use effective humane methods of beaver control. Fairfax County and state officials were inundated with correspondence from concerned individuals about the plan to kill the beavers. The outpouring prompted the governor to assign the under secretary of natural resources to coordinate an effort to resolve the beaver conflict. In October, the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors unanimously passed a resolution supporting the relocation of the beaver colony to another Virginia locality. The motion encouraged the Page County Board of Supervisors to pass a similar resolution stating its willingness to have the Fairfax beaver colony relocated to Page County Supervisor Elaine McConnell's farm in Springfield. The beavers now live safely in their new home.
A resident of Warwick, New York, contacted PETA about the town's plans to trap and kill all the beavers near a dilapidated road culvert in order to prevent flood damage. We immediately sent a letter to the town supervisors asking them to halt the trapping program and, instead, upgrade the existing culvert and/or install flow devices to prevent flooding. Since then, we have received a letter from the town supervisor of Warwick announcing that the town has halted plans to trap beavers at the damage site until they have a chance to research the options we presented.
After more than a year of negotiations with PETA, popular women's clothing chain bebe sent out a news release announcing that it planned to go fur-free. The company's decision was good news for bebe, which was facing a peta2 boycott campaign, but it was even better news for rabbits, who often have their necks broken or their skulls smashed before workers string them up by their legs and cut their throats.
