After learning that students at the Todd Beamer High School in Federal Way, Washington, had swallowed goldfish during a pep rally, we wrote to the superintendent of schools who subsequently agreed that such displays are unacceptable and instructed his staff to tell all school principals that this type of activity is never appropriate and should never occur in district schools.
After receiving complaints about a Verizon commercial featuring two aggressive pit bulls chained in a junkyard, PETA immediately contacted the company. Explaining that the ad sends an extremely damaging message to the public--that it is acceptable to chain dogs and use them as cheap burglar alarms, depriving them of their basic needs--we asked Verizon to pull the advertisement. The company responded quickly and removed the ad from circulation.
Following months of pressure from PETA and our supporters, the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission has enacted two new regulations to lessen the suffering of racehorses. On September 22, the commission voted to ban harness racing snappers--whips with flails on the end that cause welts--as well as a practice called side whipping, in which the driver holds the reins in one hand, leans to the side, and whips the horse with the other hand. This comes just two weeks after the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission banned the use of anabolic steroids--the drugs given to Kentucky Derby winner Big Brown--for all racehorses and just four days after the use of steroids was banned in Maryland. Steroids are now banned in two of the three states where Triple Crown races are held. PETA began protesting the racing industry's cruelty and pushing for immediate reform following the breakdown and death of Eight Belles at the Kentucky Derby.
Thanks to pressure from PETA, a Manassas, Virginia, woman was convicted of cruelty to animals cruelty and banned for life from owning any animal for abandoning pit bulls who then cannibalized one another. She had been charged 14 times since 1997 with various animal- related offenses.
A Virginia Beach, Virginia, whistleblower called PETA to report that Stumpy Lake Golf Course was planning to round up and slaughter 300 Canada geese living on the lake. In response, we immediately fired off a letter to the mayor and city manager asking them to halt plans to kill the geese at Stumpy Lake until a meeting could be arranged with representatives of PETA and Geesepeace, a nonprofit organization that works with communities to develop nonlethal control programs.
After meeting with representatives of PETA and Geesepeace, not only did Virginia Beach agree to postpone killing geese at Stumpy Lake indefinitely, it also expressed interest in developing a citywide Geesepeace program. Geesepeace's proposal was approved by the city.
