Thanks to pressure from PETA, a California man was convicted of felony cruelty charges for beheading his dog after he got into a fight with his girlfriend and was sentenced to 25 years to life under the state's "three strikes" law.

Read more about the dangerous link between animal and human abuse.

PETA posted an action alert and e-mailed an alert to our California members to support Assembly Bill 202 to restrict the sale of unweaned baby birds. The bill requires that young birds be able to eat on their own before being sold, and it also requires pet shops to employ properly trained and certified staff to avoid the tragic complications that can result from improper hand-feeding. We are happy to report that this bill passed!

Read more about birds and the pet trade.

Saugus High School in Saugus, California, hosted a pep rally in which students and faculty members chased and harassed terrified pigs and piglets, and the school's principal participated in the event. Upon learning about the event, PETA immediately contacted the school and requested that it implement a policy prohibiting the use of animals in future events. We received a kind response from the principal, who said, "In hindsight, we should have just nixed the use of the pigs entirely when it became apparent that they were uncomfortable. We apologize. As you suggested, we will find other ways to entertain our staff and students at our rallies."

Glenn County, California, is home to a hidden industry in which animals are suffering: animal blood-bank kennels. Dogs and cats at these kennels are warehoused for years at a time and are repeatedly "bled" to provide blood to veterinarians across the country. Animals confined indefinitely in this manner live miserable and lonely lives.

The Association of Veterinarians for Animal Rights states that animal blood donors should be companion animals who are taken to veterinary clinics for the purpose of donating blood. If this is not possible, the time spent as a donor should be finite and short. This was not the case in Glenn County. Yet, for years, the Butte County humane society gave dogs and cats to these kennels, even though conditions for animals at the kennels hardly met the humane society's requirements for a "good home."

PETA intervened by writing to the humane society, asking that it stop supplying animals to the blood-bank kennels. We called Butte County PETA members, asking them to attend a humane society board meeting. We also put an action alert on our Web site, asking concerned readers to contact the shelter. Local activists worked very hard on the issue as well, publicizing the problem and lobbying the shelter board. As a result of these efforts, the Butte County humane society board voted unanimously to stop supplying animals to these blood-bank prisons.

Thanks to pressure from PETA, a California man was sentenced to two years in prison for brutally beating his family's 10-week-old puppy to death in front of three young children on Christmas night.

Read more about the link between animal and human abuse.