Written by PETA
If slaughterhouses had glass walls, everyone would be a vegetarian. -Paul McCartney
All summer long, the millions of people who will visit Washington, D.C.'s National Mall will be greeted by PETA's arresting "Glass Walls" display across from the Museum of Natural History. With 12 massive panels and a large-screen television playing Sir Paul McCartney's "Glass Walls" DVD, the display causes passersby to stop to watch, talk to PETA staff, and take away copies of the video and vegetarian/vegan starter kits.
One mother walking with her teenage son stopped, pointed, and told him, "Watch—this is how animals are treated at slaughterhouses. This is terrible!" She said she was going vegan and left with information. A young boy also repeatedly brushed off his impatient father so that he could continue to scan the panels. A passing bike rider vowed never to eat chicken again after stopping to watch the section of the video about chickens.
In the first month alone, more than 10,000 copies of "Glass Walls" were distributed, along with similar numbers of vegetarian/vegan starter kits, free stickers, and other resources to help people transition to a vegan diet. We expect to distribute more than 50,000 DVDs before summer's end and change the minds and lives of thousands of people.
If you are in D.C. this summer, swing by the National Mall to check out the "Glass Walls" display or check it out online at Animal Liberation Project. You can also get the information from PETA's literature catalog and grab some extras to give to your friends.
Written by Michelle Sherrow
The Thomson Correctional Center in Illinois is on a short list of sites that are being considered to house the Guantanamo detainees, but if the nearly empty prison doesn't get chosen, we've got the perfect back-up plan: We're asking the facility to house the Thomson All Living Beings Empathy Center. Not only would the center teach visitors about compassion, it would also create jobs for tour guides, cafeteria workers, and others, promoting economic growth in these difficult times.
We can't think of a more appropriate site for our Animal Liberation Project (ALP) than a prison. The ALP is a display that takes viewers through a history of the discrimination and suffering of humans and other beings—from the Crusades to human slavery and from animal circuses to factory farms—reminding people that suffering is suffering, no matter who the victim is.
And as if Thomson needed another reason to promote compassion (or I needed another reason to wish I were 12 again), every kid who visits the Empathy Center would get a plush "I Am Not a Nugget" chick.
Written by Logan Scherer
The bigwigs in Washington didn't approve our permit to set up a hog farm on the steps of the Capitol, but you'll still be seeing PETA in D.C. this summer. Starting yesterday, our Animal Liberation Project display is going to be a fixture on the National Mall all season long.
With the recent leak of alleged torture photos to media outlets, our Animal Liberation Project display—which makes the connection between the injustices that people have suffered throughout history and the abuse and exploitation that animals suffer every day—couldn't be more relevant. These newest images of abuse include those of a man covered in feces and another man hung upside-down.
Sound familiar?
The parallels definitely don't stop there. Check out these images from yesterday's unveiling of the display:
We're set up right across from the Natural History Museum, so if you'll be in D.C. this summer, be sure to stop by.
Interested in volunteering for the Animal Liberation Project in D.C.? Just leave a comment below and we'll be sure to get back to you.
Written by Shawna Flavell
When President Obama appointed Daniel Fried (aka "the Guantanamo Closure Czar") to oversee the closing of the Guantanamo Bay Detention Center, many people let out a sigh of relief. Some would like to close Gitmo's doors and forget about the alleged torture that took place there. But those who forget their history are destined to repeat it, so we've approached Mr. Fried with a better idea.
We've written a letter to Mr. Fried suggesting that, once all of the detainees have been relocated, Gitmo keep its doors open as an "empathy center." The detention center would change its name to the Guantanamo Bay Empathy Exhibit (GBEE) and display our Animal Liberation Project. The GBEE would teach people that—regardless of race, religion, ability, gender, or species—everyone deserves respect and compassion, and it would allow people to explore ways that they can promote nonviolent and non-exploitive relationships with all beings.
We really hope that Mr. Fried takes us up on our offer. With the Senate's proposal to lift the 47-year-old ban on travel to Cuba, now is a great time to show the world that we are willing to learn from our mistakes. After all, if the U.S. and Cuba can break down barriers, shouldn't people be able to do the same with animals?
Tony Kushner, in his astonishing two-part play, Angels in America, describes San Francisco as "unspeakably beautiful." Foie gras, on the other hand, is unspeakably horrible. So something seemed amiss when we heard that foie gras was still being sold at a Bay Area café chain called PlumpJack (named after another theatrical figure, Shakespeare's Falstaff), founded and co-owned by San Fran Mayor Gavin Newsom.
As you might expect, we got in touch with Newsom's office to say that we'd been hearing from concerned folks. We let Hizzoner know that we were sure that once the issue was brought to his attention, he would want to make sure that PlumpJack pulls the foie gras—especially in light of the impending statewide ban and the San Francisco Board of Supervisors' resolution supporting restaurants that shun foie gras.
Long story short, we got a quick call back from Newsom's sister—herself a vegetarian—assuring us that they've pulled foie gras from all their restaurants. Apparently, it was supposed to have been phased out years ago, but somehow it crept back in, so she thanked us for bringing it back to their attention.
No problem, Newsom clan. Thank you for being so ducky to ducks.
Written by Jeff Mackey
The following blog is a guest post from peta2's Ryan.
The fight against the Canadian seal slaughter has gone digital!
That's right, gamers, get ready: This Saturday, World of Warcraft (WoW) players will have the opportunity to combat a team of four Horde seal killers. We need your help to stop them from bashing in the heads of any more seals!
Thrall refused to ban the slaughter of seals, despite multiple requests from the Alliance to do so, because Orgrimmar stands to make a large profit from the fur.
Activists from across the Eastern Kingdoms and Kalimdor are banding together to put a stop to the atrocious seal slaughter. Anyone who slaughters baby seals for their fur must surely be in service to the evil Lich King.
Here's what you need to know in order to battle:
Make sure to check out videos about the upcoming battle here, and use our Facebook event to get all your friends to join you in the fight. Be sure to check back for the battle coordinates.
Think you can stop the seal killers?
UPDATE: The battle will be taking place at coordinates 79, 73 on the southeastern coast of Howling Fjord, due south of the Explorers League Outpost.
Written by Ryan Huling
(Did all this WoW talk go right over your head? Don't be embarrassed—maybe you should just sit this round out and stick to helping seals on Facebook!)
We’d like to share a moving story from our friends at Animal Rahat, the PETA-supported working-animal rescue group in India, about a bullock who had a hard life.
When he came to us, Shilya was a 22-year-old cart-pulling bullock whose owner, Santosh Masal, loved him. When Mr. Masal realized that Shilya had become too old to work, instead of selling him for slaughter, which is what most cart owners do to their long-suffering cattle (so as to squeeze the last bit of money out of them), he visited Animal Rahat. He was very happy to see that all animals at our retirement facility were free to wander around without any ropes and spent their lives socializing, napping, relaxing in the shade, listening to the birds’ songs, and eating very well. Mr. Masal told our vets that Shilya had done a lot of work for him for two decades, and now that he was too old to work, he wanted to retire Shilya. And that’s what happened.
According to our vets, Santosh Masal was the very first bullock owner who was that kind and who thought of the well-being of his animal first. This week, Shilya lost his strength, and the vets made him as comfortable as possible in his final hours. With Mr. Masal at his side, Shilya slipped away to dance with Krishna and Shiva, and his body is buried at Animal Rahat.
Written by Sanjay Mehta
Thoroughbred breeder Ernie Paragallo, whose horses were discovered emaciated and infested with parasites as they awaited slaughter in a pen, should be prosecuted for cruelty to animals. Paragallo said that he had given the horses up to a Florida-based breeder and that he did not know of their final destination (the slaughterhouse), but that certainly doesn't clear him of responsibility for the state of the mares when they were found. "There were a bunch of mares that someone didn't care about anymore," said Christy Sheidy, who rescued four of the horses.
Regardless of Paragallo's guilt or innocence on the charges of cruelty to animals, this case highlights an often-overlooked part of the world of thoroughbred racing—the fate of horses who can no longer race.
The industry would like us to believe that when horses leave the world of racing they go on to live out their "retirement plan" on green pastures. Let me tell you that what's in store for thoroughbreds is no pit stop in Palm Springs.
As this case shows, when horses are no longer useful to the racing industry, they are cast aside like trash—and more than 100,000 horses are exported from the U.S. for slaughter every year. Owners and trainers like to talk about "retirement plans," but, in reality, burned-out and used-up horses all too often meet bloody death and dismemberment on their way to someone's dinner plate.
The only way to make sure that the horses who can no longer "perform" well aren't treated like garbage is to stop making them "perform" in the first place.
If you have a general question for PETA and would like a response, please e-mail Info@peta.org. If you need to report cruelty to an animal, please click here. If you are reporting an animal in imminent danger and know where to find the animal and if the abuse is taking place right now, please call your local police department. If the police are unresponsive, please call PETA immediately at 757-622-7382 and press 2.
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