Written by PETA
Mali, an Asian elephant imprisoned at the Manila Zoo, was only 3 years old when she was torn away from her mother and shipped away to live in captivity.
For more than 30 years, Mali has spent her days alone in a barren enclosure with only a small pool for entertainment and relief from the heat. Mali paces her small area incessantly or stands in one spot with her trunk to the ground. Mali has reportedly walked to the edge of her enclosure, reached out her foot in the hope of going farther, and even after feeling empty space, stepped back and repeated this movement, evidence of her boredom, loneliness, and frustration. In their natural habitats, Asian elephants have homes ranges that are between 25,000 and 60,000 hectares, but the entire Manila Zoo measures only 5.5 hectares. Even if Mali's enclosure were doubled or tripled in size, it would still be completely inadequate.
PETA Asia-Pacific has just released a report that documents Mali's bleak existence. The report includes a letter from Carol Buckley, who has more than 35 years of professional experience in the care and management of Asian elephants and who operates The Elephant Sanctuary—the largest rehabilitation and living center for former captive elephants—where she has offered Mali a permanent home.
If swift action isn't taken to save Mali and the many other animals locked up at the Manila Zoo, they may meet the same fate as Sisi—the orangutan who died of cancer last year at the facility. Please sign PETA Asia Pacific's petition requesting relief for the animals at the Manila Zoo and urge everyone you know to do the same.
Written by Logan Scherer
Just a few weeks ago, we celebrated the promised release of Robert—the tabby who was purchased by the University of Utah (the U) for $15 from the Davis County Animal Shelter and used in a cruel experiment in which his skull was cut open and electrodes were implanted in his brain. Robert has been adopted into a new home, but the majority of the 105 dogs and cats who were purchased from Davis County Animal Control last year remain caged in the U's labs and won't be given the same chance.
In the two months since we first released footage of our undercover investigation inside the U, PETA has repeatedly attempted to obtain documents related to the purchase of animals like Robert, but county officials have failed to cooperate, in what appears to be a violation of the state's Government Records Access and Management Act. So this morning, PETA filed a lawsuit against the county demanding access to these documents, which will shed more light on Davis County's betrayal of both animals and community members who are unaware that the beloved companions they surrender may be mutilated and killed in laboratories.
Today, PETA is also launching a new video called "Betrayal of Trust," which reveals the plight of some of the dogs and cats whom the U purchased from local animal shelters for its cruel and deadly experiments. The video contains footage from inside the Davis County Animal Shelter and the U's animal laboratories, including a clip of Lady, a friendly German shepherd whom the U purchased from the shelter for $20. Experimenters cut open her neck and implanted a medical device for a heart experiment. At the end of the experiment, Lady will be killed and "go to the dump," as one vet tech in our new video explains.
PETA's working overtime to ensure that shelter animals will no longer be betrayed by Davis County and the University of Utah. Please take just a few moments to help by contacting the school and demanding an end to this shameful practice.
I ♥ Target. In addition to the mega-retailer carrying cruelty-free cosmetics and stylish, skin-free kicks, Target recently made the decision to save the lives of hundreds of frogs.
When PETA found out that Target was selling a miniature aquarium called "Planet Frog"—a tiny, plastic prison that's very similar to Brookstone's "Frog-O-Sphere"—we reached out to the corporation's execs. We told them that biologists and wildlife specialists believe the mini-aquariums are cruel and inadequate for frogs and can be hazardous to children's health, exposing them to diseases such as salmonellosis, sparganosis, and psittacosis. We also pointed out an alarming stat: Since May 2009, at least 85 people from 31 states have become ill after exposure to water frogs, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (Hmm … National retailers start selling frogs in tiny tanks. People all across the country get sick from exposure to water frogs. Coinkidink? Methinks not.)
We asked Target to stop selling "Planet Frog," and they agreed to do just that—easy peasy. No need to send out the troops, call on our celebrity friends, or launch a letter-writing campaign.
Brookstone execs could learn a lot from Target about how make a responsible, compassionate decision without weeks of hand-wringing. Will you ask them to follow Target's lead?
Written by Karin Bennett
For two years, we've been protesting the U.S. government's declaration of war on animals. The military abuses thousands of healthy animals in trauma training exercises, even though superior non-animal methods are available. In these exercises, pigs are shot, stabbed, and burned; goats have their legs broken with bolt cutters and cut off with shears; and monkeys are poisoned with toxic chemicals.
Now, U.S. Representative Bob Filner (D-Calif.) has joined the effort to replace the cruel and crude use of animals in military medical training by introducing the BEST Practices Act (H.R. 4269). This act, if passed, would replace the current deadly use of live animals with sophisticated, human-focused training methods, such as high-tech human patient simulators, that better prepare soldiers to treat their fallen comrades on the battlefield.
This week, the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine is leading Citizen Lobbyist Week, encouraging people across the country to back the BEST Practices Act and speak out in behalf of the pigs, goats, and monkeys who are tormented on military bases. You can take action by asking your congressional representative to support the bill. Get out your pleather boots, soldiers—here's to no more animal casualties!
Your best friend is hit by a car on a busy freeway, right in front of you. Would you risk your own life to pull him or her to safety? That's exactly what one intrepid dog, did last year when he came to a friend's rescue by risking his own life to run into oncoming highway traffic.
What if you saw a mother and her baby drowning at the beach? Would you rush to their rescue? A dolphin named Moko did when she guided two beached whales into deeper waters off the coast of New Zealand.
Researchers at the University of Paris recently discovered that selflessness among animals like that heroic dog and Moko the dolphin—who put their own lives in danger in order to save others—is even more prevalent than we once thought. The examples of animal altruism are many and moving: Dolphins endanger themselves to rescue their trapped friends, ants help fellow colony members when they're caught in traps or under attack from a predator (though we've known that insects were geniuses for a while now), female fruit bats help each other during labor to ease birth pains—and that's only a quick sampling.
Their selfless acts don't end with their own species either: Dogs will risk their lives to save their guardians, gorillas will care for human children, and one hears story after story about dolphins who come to the aid of swimmers and surfers. If animals can put aside the differences they have with us to help ensure our survival, isn't it about time we did the same?
With Mason's dashing arrival and our fave fauxvocative sister becoming Mrs. Lamar Odom, the Kardashian clan has been busy. But on last night's episode of Keeping Up With the Kardashians, Kim's storyline went beyond her on-again sparks with Reggie Bush and made dog lovers everywhere give her "two paws up." Kim found an abandoned Chihuahua outside a nail salon, named her Princess, and took her in. She then brought Princess to a vet who performed lifesaving uterine surgery and whose assistant eventually adopted her. Kim was so moved by the experience that she even went back to volunteer at the pound where she first brought Princess. Aww! Maybe this experience (and some help from lil' sis Khloe) will be enough to convince her to star in our "Be an Angel for Animals" ad campaign?
Written by Christine Doré
Let me count the ways … in which PETA's proposed chicken-feces sculpture of Colonel Sanders would be a perfect centerpiece for downtown Corbin, Kentucky, where Sanders set up mass-murder shop in the 50s.
The city of Corbin has plans to erect a bronze statue of Colonel Sanders, but before the city memorializes the Colonel, we want to remind everyone of the filth and suffering that the millions of chickens killed for KFC are forced to endure. Could you think of a more appropriate way to honor Sanders' legacy of cruelty, obesity, and possible racial insensitivity than with the same thing KFC's full of?
In his historic decision earlier this week, Arlington municipal judge Michael Smith noted that the evidence that our undercover investigator collected during months as an employee of the exotic animal warehouse U.S. Global Exotics (USGE)—including a picture of a hedgehog whose leg had been chewed off and video footage of dying snakes and a wallaby who had been left to perish in a filthy, windowless room—depicted conditions that are not unique and that even reflect the entire industry's standards:
Evidence was received which indicated that this facility was operated in accordance with industry standards of the exotic animal trade. While this may be true, this Court is not free to substitute those standards for the standards set by Texas statutes.
Think about that for a minute or two. USGE was a model animal dealer for the pet trade and, as Fort Worth Zoo employee Mike Doss testified, a facility by which others could be judged.
PETA's evidence was vital to Judge Smith's ruling to divest Jasen and Vanessa Shaw—owners and operators of USGE, which supplies pet stores and pet store chains all over the world, including suppliers of PETCO and PetSmart—of the more than 26,000 animals who were seized from USGE on December 15. Since the ruling, the media has remained abuzz with outrage over the widespread, "standard" abuse of animals in the pet trade industry.
This isn't the first time we have gone undercover behind the tightly shut doors of the pet trade. Our investigation of Rainbow World Exotics revealed similar conditions. Unfortunately, that investigation didn't make an ounce of difference to the multimillion dollar pet-supply companies, which both refused to sever ties with Rainbow and continue to buy animals there to this day. It just goes to show that the only "standards" the industry has are the ones that have to do with profit, not animal welfare.
We're urging PetSmart shareholders to support our resolution to ban the purchase of animals from all distributors that are under investigation for violations of the law. Not much to ask, is it? Until everyone shuns pet stores and tells everyone they know to do the same, hellholes like USGE will continue to operate.
I think we can all agree that in this day and age, there's no excuse for pore poor Photoshopping, but someone at Bloody Burberry seems to have missed that memo.
In what must have been a tragic Photoshop accident by the oh-so-tragic Burberry, actor Emma Watson seems to have lost one of her legs. Luckily for her, that nub can be transformed back into a leg again with a few clicks of the "undo" button.
The question I'm asking about the whole fiasco is this: Can the magic of Photoshop help the countless animals who have suffered chewed-off limbs in the horrific process of making Bloody Burberry's fur cuffs, collars, and coats?
No, I guess not.
In The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, the dolphins know to leave Earth before the planet is destroyed—and it looks like Douglas Adams was on to something.
No, the planet isn't in immediate peril (depending on your definition of "immediate"), but dolphins really are geniuses, second only to humans in intelligence, according to a new study.
This study revealed that the brain cortex of dolphins has the same complicated folds associated with human intelligence, and it has the scientific community buzzing. Thomas White, professor of ethics at Loyola Marymount University, argues that dolphins (i.e. "non-human persons") deserve rights and "qualify for moral understanding as individuals." PETA couldn't agree more! And because we wouldn't force our relatives to live in cages tanks, we're writing a letter to the National Marine Fisheries Service, asking it to place a permanent ban on issuing permits allowing dolphins to be captured and used as attractions at theme parks and resort hotels.
Dolphins are thoughtful animals with distinct personalities, and each dolphin has a strong sense of self. They think, plan, and communicate with one another. In the wild, they spend their entire lives in large groups; removing them from their natural communities is traumatizing and often results in stress-related illness and premature death. If we don't start treating our cognitive cousins with more respect, in the end we might really be left holding that note that reads, "So long, and thanks for all the fish."
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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