2009 - Harris Teeter Pledges to Leave Great Apes Out of Ads
After a recent incident in which a chimpanzee named Travis attacked a woman and left her with life-threatening injuries, PETA reached out to grocery-store chain Harris Teeter to explain that great apes who are forced into the entertainment industry suffer terrible abuse. Several years earlier, Harris Teeter had used a chimpanzee in a promotion. After learning about the abuse that these endangered animals endure, Harris Teeter promised not to produce any future ads featuring great apes.
2009 - Gap Inc. Pledges to Leave Great Apes out of Ads
After an incident in which a chimpanzee named Travis attacked a woman and left her with life-threatening injuries, PETA reached out to Gap Inc., which had featured Travis in an Old Navy commercial as a young ape. After learning about the abuse suffered by great apes forced into the entertainment industry, Gap Inc. promised not to produce any future ads featuring great apes.
2009 - PETA Campaign Leads to First Animal Protection Regulation in Bolivia
After nearly a month of intense PETA campaigning against horrific combat training exercises conducted by the Bolivian military--in which live dogs were shown in a video being tied down, stabbed repeatedly, and screaming in agony--the Bolivian Ministry of Defense ended the killing by issuing the country's first-ever animal protection regulation--Resolution 217--which "prohibit[s] all acts of violence, exploitation, [and] mistreatment that provokes the death of animals."
2009 - PETA Complaint Prompts USDA to Penalize Clay County, Florida, for Illegal Dog Experiment
PETA learned that Florida's Clay County Animal Control (CCAC) conducted an experiment in which employees locked a helpless dog in a hot truck. They were trying to determine whether heat stress had caused the death of another dog who had previously been transported in a CCAC vehicle. PETA filed a complaint with the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) alleging numerous violations of the federal Animal Welfare Act (AWA). The USDA agreed and cited CCAC for five violations of the AWA.
2009 - Idaho High School Benches ''Donkey Basketball'' Game
When PETA received word that a ''donkey basketball'' game was planned at Kuna High School in Kuna, Idaho, we wrote to the district superintendent to let him know that donkeys are regularly dragged, pulled, kicked, and shoved during these events. After PETA discussed our concerns with the superintendent and just days before the event, the game was restructured as a competition between human participants only, in which students competed against local police and firefighters!
