Written by PETA
Here's what Jeff says about this week's masterpiece: "The strip is based on the sad measures that officials have to take in order to protect rhinos from poachers. And a little depravity thrown in for good measure."
He also let me know that, in honor of Earth Week, he sprayed this strip with 50 percent less pesticides. Which was very noble of him, I thought. Anyway, this one's a zinger—enjoy!
To check out the archives of past strips, click here.
Not even kidding. According to The Austin American Statesman, grief counselors were made available to employees of the University of Texas Keeling Animal Research Center after an adult chimpanzee who escaped from the experimentation facility was shot and killed near the campus. Anyone else find it odd that employees of a facility that cages animals and performs cruel experiments on them against their will would need specialists to comfort them when the animals die due to their facility’s negligence?
PETA filed a formal complaint today, calling on the U.S. Department of Agriculture to investigate the laboratory for alleged violations of the federal Animal Welfare Act, including failure to ensure that personnel are qualified to perform their duties and failure to provide structurally sound housing for nonhuman primates. Here’s what PETA Primate Specialist Dr. Debra Durham told the media:
"Chimpanzees are intelligent, sensitive, and resourceful—they shouldn't be incarcerated in laboratories in the first place. Research on chimpanzees is banned in many countries. The very least that this laboratory can do is ensure that these animals have safe living spaces."
Which doesn’t seem to be happening at the moment, given that this is the second chimpanzee escape from the facility in the past six months. You’d almost think these animals don’t want to be there.
Maybe they can send in a team of basic human decency counselors along with the grief folks. Just a thought.
A couple in Tucson was caught by Arizona authorities this week with close to 800 dogs (mostly Chihuahuas) and 80 parrots in filthy conditions inside their trailer. CBS News quoted workers on the case as suggesting that the owners were “breeders with good intentions,” which is rather like calling someone a well-meaning child abuser. According to the news reports, more than a dozen dogs were found stuffed inside a single crate in some cases. Some dogs had reportedly been found missing paws from fighting with cage mates.
The story has received national media attention (including an interview with PETA VP Lisa Lange on Nancy Grace last night), and we’re hoping that, as horrible as it is, it helps to dispel myths about breeders being people who care about animals. It seems pretty clear that these folks were running a puppy mill for profit, and PETA is calling on authorities to take this case extremely seriously, including vigorously prosecuting the couple and, should they be convicted, pursuing a provision in their sentencing to ensure that they never be allowed to have even one animal again.
Did anyone catch the America’s Next Top Model last night, where the models wrapped themselves in meat and paraded around a slaughterhouse? I honestly don’t know what to say about this, except, like, please don’t do that anymore, ANTM. You’re going to alienate a lot of viewers who care about animals.
Fortunately, we have a Communications Department for these sorts of occasions, and (thankfully) they’re way more articulate than I am. So here’s PETA’s official response to the ill-conceived show for those who have been writing in about it:
No matter how beautifully it is presented, flesh from a tortured animal is flesh from a tortured animal. Meat represents bloody violence and suffering, so if that’s the look they were going for—they achieved it. Instead of swathing models in meat, we wish they had followed in the footsteps of PETA pinups Pamela Anderson and Alyssa Milano who show off their “natural beauty” in outfits made of lettuce leaves for PETA’s “Let Vegetarianism Grow on You” ad campaign.
dListed has pics and details.
I’m back! A few of this blog’s more diligent readers will have noticed that I didn’t write any of the posts over the last week. Some things that might have tipped you off were the 100 percent increase in entries devoted to Cajun Cuisine (which, until reading the post, I had thought just meant adding hot sauce to stuff), the frequent and disturbing appearance of the words “love” and “hugs” on these pages (you can expect a dramatic decrease in this kind of new-age tomfoolery now that I’m back), and the fact that all of the posts were signed “Christine <3” (something I would only normally do in an emergency).
So thanks to everyone who held on while I was away—and for those of you who actually preferred Christine’s thoughtful, engaging, “feel-good” approach to blogging over my own vaguely coherent ramblings, you’ll be happy to hear that there’s another SXSW Interactive Media conference next year, so I expect she’ll be pressed into service again in March 2009. Anyway, here’s a picture of me looking cool:
-Jack
I just got this email from Debbie Leahy, the director of PETA’s Captive Exotic Animals Department:
Sad news. A dear friend, Delhi, passed away on Tuesday, March 11. Delhi was the first elephant confiscation in U.S. history. After an extensive campaign by PETA, the USDA seized Delhi from Hawthorn Corporation and transferred her to The Elephant Sanctuary in Tennessee after determining that she was in imminent danger from lack of veterinary care. Delhi had been suffering from abscesses, lesions, osteomyelitis, and severe chemical burns to her feet. She was originally captured in India and acquired by Hawthorn in 1974. At the sanctuary since November 2003, Delhi enjoyed leisurely grazing in the sun, playing with toys, and napping on a shady hillside with the companionship of many other elephants. She was lucky to have kind, nurturing care in her final years.
Sad news indeed. But it’s comforting to reflect that she escaped the horrible fate of most elephants held in captivity for her last years.
Jeff Corriveau knocks another one out of the park. Enjoy.
Hey, everyone! You may remember my previous post about the bearskins investigation. Well, this has generated a ton of media coverage, which is excellent, but this article in particular really caught my eye.
A spokesperson from the Ministry of Defence (MoD) was quoted in the article as saying, "Some alternatives to real fur are already in use by the Royal Artillery and others, and we are in discussions with PETA to identify an improved fake fur."
Wha?! If by discussions, they mean PETA Europe talking and the MoD isn't listening, then yeah … I guess you could say there've been some awesome discussions.
Thanks, MoD, for pulling out the PR train on this one, but we know better! Click here to see the letter that PETA Europe sent to the MoD today, and don't forget to take action on this issue!
It looks like Dickerson Park Zoo had a loose kangaroo on its property last week. But don't fret: He wasn't escaping—he was protesting! In fact, it was actually a PETA member dressed as a kangaroo, but hey, now we're just splitting hairs.
Documents received by PETA reveal that in 2007, the Dickerson Park Zoo in Springfield, Missouri, "donated" a kudu and a kangaroo to Buddy Jordan, a notorious animal dealer who has been featured in numerous media investigative reports, all of which documented that Jordan sold animals to hunting ranches, operators of exotic-animal auctions, exotic-animal breeders and dealers, unaccredited zoos, and pet owners. Check out the news story about this demo here.
PETA animals in entertainment specialist (and my "donkey basketball"-fighting pal) Daniel Hauff was quoted at the protest as saying, "Investigative reports show that Buddy Jordan sells these animals to exotic-animal auctions, breeders, and dealers; hunting ranches; and unaccredited facilities."
To read more about this issue and to take action, please click here.
While we at PETA obviously would prefer if people never chained their dogs and always let their dogs inside, we acknowledge that this is not a reality in many situations.
It's this amazing commitment and selfless passion from our staff that makes me so proud to work for PETA. For example, check out this story from my good friend Sarah about her recent straw delivery trip:
"A few weeks ago, we were delivering straw in North Carolina and came across this one house that had two male pit bulls chained up outside. Their names were Tyson and Ali, (go figure, right?). Ali was very healthy and pretty buff, and then there was Tyson—I could see from 20 feet away that he was underweight. Tyson was maybe 30 pounds, and he is 3 years old. He was the sweetest dog in the world. The moment we touched him, he knew we weren't there to hurt him and he hugged us. He looked up at us with the saddest eyes, as if they were asking us to save him.
"As I was standing there giving him probably the first loving touch he'd ever had, I noticed that there was blood on my hands. As I looked down, I saw it was all over his neck under his chain collar, which had dug into his neck and was cutting up his skin (probably starting to grow around the collar). We were able to switch the collar. We wanted to give him a longer tie-out, but we couldn't because if he got within Ali's reach, Ali would attack and more than likely kill him.
"We filled both doghouses with straw to keep the dogs warm for the rest of the winter, and as we were leaving, we saw Tyson snuggle in his wonderfully warm doghouse. This is why I spend my free time delivering straw to outside dogs. It makes a world of a difference to them."
To see how you can help chained dogs in your area, please click here.
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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