Local citizens asked PETA for help in preventing the Marion High School basketball club from exploiting donkeys for a local fundraiser. After supplying organizers with information about the liability that schools can face if participants are injured as well as the cruel treatment that donkeys endure when they are roughly handled by excited players, the superintendent quickly canceled the game! PETA presented Superintendent Roger Marcum with PETA's Compassionate Educator Award.

A complainant informed PETA that a bar in Texas called Redneck Heaven was offering drinks in which live goldfish were placed in shots of alcohol. We immediately notified the local health department and asked that they investigate the complaints. The health department informed PETA that this activity did not comply with local health codes and required the bar to stop this cruel promotion.

After being inundated with complaints about a scheduled donkey basketball fundraiser at Laurel High School in Pennsylvania, PETA called the district superintendent and principal to voice our concerns. School administrators were worried about supporting activities that would be cruel to animals and assured PETA that they wanted students to treat animals humanely and with respect. The school canceled the event and shared our information with every staff member who will be involved in planning fundraising activities in the future.

PETA received calls from concerned Clearwater, Florida, residents about an exhibitor named Philip Dolci who forced a chained capuchin monkey to perform in photo opportunities during the nightly Sunsets at Pier 60 Festival. We immediately contacted the organizers to let them know that the chaotic atmosphere of a festival is no place for an exotic animal. We provided organizers with information about Dolci's appalling history of animal mistreatment and repeated violations of the Animal Welfare Act. The organizers asked Dolci to leave the festival!

When concerned citizens alerted PETA that Ohio State University was recruiting dachshunds to compete in a race on the ice rink during halftime at a hockey game, we immediately called school officials to let them know that dachshunds are prone to back, hip, and leg injuries and that running them on slippery surfaces could exacerbate their conditions. Once presented with this information, officials quickly canceled the event.