After receiving complaints about an Armstrong World Industries commercial featuring a grizzly bear, PETA wrote to the company to urge it to pull the ad from rotation immediately. After learning about the abuse that exotic animals in the entertainment industry endure, Armstrong quickly removed the commercial from circulation.
PETA was contacted about a parrot named Chico kept alone in a cage at a retirement home called Seashore Gardens in Atlantic City, New Jersey. The center considered Chico part of its pet therapy program. We wrote to Seashore Gardens to ask that Chico be allowed to live out the remainder of his life in the comfort of a sanctuary, where he could fly and socialize with other birds, and we posted an action alert on our Web site. Thanks to all who contacted them, SeashoreGardens officials agreed to allow PETA to arrange for Chico’s relocation to a bird sanctuary, and from now on, they will use only dogs and cats in their pet therapy programs.
When PETA was alerted to the Atlanta Motor Speedway's plans to use elephants from the Cole Bros. Circus in a cruel drag race, we sent documents highlighting the circus's dismal track record of elephant care and a laundry list of U.S. Department of Agriculture violations to the president of the speedway. Upon receiving our information, the racetrack quickly responded that elephants did not perform in the drag races because of the concerns that had been raised!
At their annual convention, members of the Chicago-based American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) voted to end the AVMA's support of "forced molting," the factory-farming practice of starving hens for up to two weeks to induce an additional egg-laying cycle. Members of PETA, United Poultry Concerns (UPC), and other animal protection groups have been protesting the AVMA at its conventions for putting the economic interests of big agribusiness first and animal welfare second. While the new resolution, which states that "neither water nor food should be withdrawn" will ensure more humane conditions for millions of laying hens in the United States, the AVMA continues to condone other equally cruel practices, such as the use of gestation crates and the force-feeding of ducks and geese in foie gras production.
