One of twelve men—including three supervisors—who forcefully threw turkeys into coops for transport.

Last week—just in time to give the turkeys who are still suffering at Aviagen something small to be thankful for—Aviagen Turkeys, Inc., announced that it had terminated all the employees who were found to have violated Aviagen's animal welfare standards. (I hope the guys who stomped on turkeys' heads were the first to go.)

This is a great, although small, step for the turkeys who are still tightly trapped in Aviagen's dark, dusty sheds—at the very least, they won't have to suffer at those individuals' hands or under their watch any longer. So far, however, Aviagen seems to have passed on the opportunity to press for a criminal investigation and prosecution of the dismissed workers. If the executives at Aviagen were really serious about cracking down on cruelty to animals, wouldn't they join us in asking officials to prosecute these individuals?

Also, Aviagen has announced that it has "outlined a series of actions" that will improve its "existing welfare guidelines" and "ensure [that] violations do not occur in [the] future." That sounds nice—but based on what the company's "existing welfare guidelines" failed to prevent, I think I'd feel a little more comfortable with some specifics, don't you? Gosh, it sure would be nice if somebody were to provide Aviagen with a list of specific steps to take to improve animal welfare—oh wait … we did.

Please help by writing a polite letter to Aviagen asking the company to implement PETA's Seven-Point Animal Welfare Plan and to call on officials to prosecute any employees—past, present or future—who abuse or neglect animals. Aviagen has made some small progress already—let's hope it continues its much-needed reforms.

Written by Amanda Schinke

tvgasm / CC

Did you see last night's episode of The Office? You may have guessed that my favorite part was at the end, when Michael, clad in his new fur coat, told us this valuable lesson: "You should know that some people think it's cool to throw buckets of fake blood on you as you are walking out of Burlington Coat Factory." Bwaha! That's true—although flour does seem to be more popular these days.

Original Office star Ricky Gervais spoke out against fur, too, when he teamed up with PETA Europe in the worldwide fight to stop Canadian bears from getting slaughtered for silly hats.

All of you Office fans can breathe a sigh of relief—the coat they used to film the episode was (hooray!) faux. However, if Michael Scott were a real person, he very well could have marched into his nearest Burlington Coat Factory and bought himself a hideous dead skin. That's right, for all of you who were wondering (and for all of you who called and e-mailed us to ask), "Burlington Death Factory" does, in fact, sell actual fur—a fact that we happily informed everyone who asked.

So, figuring that Burlington might notice a sudden drop in its sales right when all the conscientious consumers are gearing up for the holiday season, we were kind enough to send its execs an e-mail with an explanation: Hey Burlington, we told everyone who asked that you sell fur, and we suggested other (fur-free) places where they can take their money.

So, hey, Burlington, how about you follow other retailers like Zappos.com, Burton, and so many others and change your furry ways? We'll even accept your leftover fur stock as a taxable donation. Sweet of us, right?

Written by Amanda Schinke