It might have looked to passersby like we were having a sleepover at the Bob Barker Building, PETA's Los Angeles office. Throngs of teens and kids came in toting blankets as well as bags full of leashes, collars, toys, and towels to donate to homeless animals at shelters run by L.A. Animal Services. But this wasn't your average blanket drive.

Some of the most compassionate young stars in Hollywood came out to support peta2 (PETA's youth division) and PETA Kids, the joint hosts of the event. Renee Olstead, Christian Serratos, Fivel Stewart, Haley Pullos, Pia Toscano, Miranda Mayo, Bret Lockett of the New York Jets, and Randall of "Honey Badger Don't Care" fame collected donations, took pictures with fans, and helped kids make buttons to take home and catnip toys for the shelters' cats. At the end of the day, we had collected more than 19 boxes full of donations and mountains of goodwill for animals.

Renee Olstead, who had the initial idea for the shelter drive, serenades the crowd with "At Last" by Etta James.

Christian Serratos helps sort donated items.

Haley Pullos greets rescued PETA pup Tyson.

Kids make catnip toys for the cats and buttons for themselves.

Bret Lockett tries out his Dancing With the Stars moves with PETA's Michelle Cho.

The kids had a blast with Randall.

Renee celebrates a successful day.

Last night at The Ebell of Los Angeles, PETA President Ingrid E. Newkirk kicked off her Naked Truth U.S. speaking tour to a packed house that included Sam Simon, Jennifer Tilly, Christian Serratos, Tony Kanal, and host Kevin Nealon. And listeners were moved.

The goal of the tour is to show audiences that animal rights isn't just about "pets," pelts, or veggie burgers—it's about persuading people to view all animals as fellow citizens worthy of our respect. And the way that we accomplish that is by doing exactly what Ingrid went on tour to do: Speak. When we do, "we fail to reach some people sometimes, but when we don't try, we fail to reach everyone," Ingrid explained.

Determined to start speaking up, yesterday I suggested some activities that my friend could do with his daughter instead of taking her to SeaWorld. And tonight, I'm taking my date to try vegan sushi. That I can do. We all can. As Ingrid maintains, fretting won't win the animal rights battles, but activism will!

She is known for giving powerful, motivational speeches, so if you can make it to see her on the tour (tour dates to be added soon), please do, and take someone else with you. But if you can't, the one thing to remember is that the "naked truth" about advancing the animal rights movement, is simple.

Speak up—at every opportunity.

Last night, the Stand-Up for Animals PETA benefit show at the famous Comedy Store on L.A.'s Sunset Strip was funnier than a barrel of animatronic monkeys.

Bill Maher, Jane Lynch, Carol Leifer, Jeffrey Ross, Marc Maron, and host Fred Willard—in other words, some of the most talented comedians in the world—came together to raise money for PETA and kept the packed house laughing until the audience's sides hurt. 

Guests included Pink, Carey Hart, Olivia Munn, Cloris Leachman, Jorja Fox, Christian Serratos, Renee Olstead, Elisabetta Canalis, Emily Osment, and Moby, many of whom tried valiantly not to do spit takes with The Comedy Store's delicious vegan snacks while laughing at Jeffrey Ross' hysterical poem to his cat or Carol Leifer's explanation that she had to go vegan because being a Jewish lesbian wasn't enough.

Bill Maher quipped, "Before PETA was around, you know, you could f-ck with animals any way, anybody, anytime, anywhere, and now you can't. That's a pretty big change in the world. That's a big achievement. … Animals will not be ignored. They're the Glenn Close of species."

And with all the funds raised by the end of the night, PETA can make sure that animal abusers won't be laughing for long.

Yep, you read that right.

We want to thank Kanye West for the shout-out to PETA in his new song, "Theraflu." While the aptly named tune does make us want to reach for an over-the-counter remedy as Kanye opines about his inexplicable penchant for slinging tortured dead animals across his back, the song did make #tellPETA trend on Twitter worldwide, giving us a great opportunity to educate people about the revolting cruelty of the fur industry. #TellKanye that 60 beautiful minks have to die to make one ugly coat.

Compassionate rapper Waka Flocka Flame could give Ye some pointers—his "Only Cowards Abuse Animals" PETA ad appears in this month's YRB magazine. (Last month, the mag featured Chris "The Birdman" Andersen's colorful anti-fur ad.)

The cover of the May issue of Vanity Fair features the fair face of fur foe Grace Park, looking as stunning in white as she did in her PETA "Save the Seals" ad.

Fellow seal savior Christian Serratos tweeted her support for PETA's campaign this week: "The Canadian seal slaughter has begun. Pls help @PETA stop the bloody massacre NOW!"

Mickey Rourke saved a stray dog he found on a movie set in Romania. Now Foxy has a great new home with Rourke and his other beloved pups, including Jaws, who stars with Rourke in his animal birth control ad:

Photo: Faubel Christensen

When Pamela Anderson visited Turkey and noticed that the country's streets were also teeming with strays, she went on a mission to persuade officials there to adopt an aggressive spay-and-neuter campaign.

Ryan Gosling was a savior for a woman who was almost hit by a taxi in New York City. His lifesaving heroics for people and advocacy for chickens make Ryan a heartthrob with a heart of gold.

Lance Armstrong seems to be made of steel, and now he's living strong thanks to eating mostly vegan foods.

Maybe he'll start whipping up homemade meals from the Candle Café like Christina Applegate. 

A vegan eatery led to love for Alec Baldwin, who got engaged this week to Hilaria Thomas, whom he met at Pure Food and Wine.

Christina Aguilera took both her loves—her boyfriend and her son—to Cirque du Soleil, scoring herself a thank-you card from PETA for supporting a circus with only human performers.

To keep up with what your favorite stars are doing for animals, follow @PETA on Twitter.

You won't catch Abbie Cornish in fur—or any other animal skins. When asked about her style on Twitter, Abbie responded, "I LOVE clothes … So I love so many different things. Not enough room to tweet! I dress vegan … no leather, suede or fur."

Elsewhere in the Twitterverse, we had animal adoption, a heroic rescue, and vegan chocolates.

Animal-friendly celebrities had a blast showing off their big hearts (and vegan stomachs) this week: Courtney Stodden at the beach with PETA's Vegan College Cookbook, Anne Hathaway at another fun vegan engagement party, and vegan Venus Williams chatting with CNN about the London 2012 Olympic Games.

?uestlove is on a quest to live longer. The Roots star said he is going vegan so that he can be "the first member of the hip-hop generation to live past 60."

Congrats to the animal-friendly cast of The Secret Life of the American Teenager. Season five—starring our buddies Megan Park, Renee Olstead, and, new this season, Twilight's Christian Serratos—premiered to rave reviews.

To keep up with what the stars are doing for animals, follow @PETA on Twitter.

Last night in Tinseltown, celebrities crowded onto the red carpet while photographers' flashbulbs went off like fireworks. But it wasn't the premiere of a new movie. It was the grand opening of the Bob Barker Building, PETA's new West Coast headquarters, located in L.A.'s Echo Park.

The famed game show host and animal defender extraordinaire was on hand to toast his namesake building, an expansion that will allow PETA's Communications Department to be in the midst of the many celebrities who help promote our work. peta2 is also setting up shop in the all-vegan, dog-friendly space to carry out its teen and college outreach from the entertainment and culture capital of the world. And the Marketing and International Grassroots Campaigns departments will organize PETA's international actions for animal protection from within the 82-year-old structure, now freshly renovated to be eco-friendly.

At the star-studded grand opening were Christian Serratos, Stephanie Pratt, Moby, Kate del Castillo, Sasha Grey, Renee Olstead, Fivel Stewart, Diane Warren, and the stars of Doin' It for Love. Guests enjoyed vegan food from Echo Park's own Mohawk Bend, Elf Café, and Sage Organic Vegan Bistro on the rooftop of the Bob Barker Building, which offers a picturesque view of the Hollywood sign from one side and the twinkling lights of downtown L.A. from the other.

The man of the hour, Bob Barker, told reporters, "I support a long list of organizations, but I support PETA because I think that internationally it is probably the most productive of all animal-oriented organizations. And it doesn't just try to help animals—it really produces. I think you get more for your dollar invested in PETA than you do [with] most any other organization."

Marco Antonio Regil, who hosted The Price Is Right in Mexico for many years, followed in Bob Barker's animal-friendly footsteps. Regil is vegan and, like Barker, closed his show with an animal rights message.

There are just two weeks to go until audiences see Kristen Stewart finally become a vampire in The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn—Part I, but last night, K-Stew told Jay Leno that even the bloodless aren't heartless—she would never wear real fur.

Leno showed what appeared to be a furry image from Kristen's W magazine photo shoot that left her fans asking a big "W": Why would she wear that? But Kristen was anxious to put the rumors to rest, saying, "That's not fur—I would never wear fur. … [People said] 'nobody does that [wear fur] anymore and look, she's willing to.' No, I'm actually not, so let's just clear that one up." 

Seems like the out-of-touch designers who still use fur are having a harder and harder time finding anyone willing to wear butchered bunnies. It's obvious that stolen skin is out and sparkly skin is in.

Before you head out to reserve your tickets for opening night, check out how Twilight stars Kellan Lutz, Christian Serratos, and Robert Pattinson are shining for animals too.

Written by Michelle Sherrow

Things are getting muy caliente at the PETA office during National Hispanic Heritage Month. We rounded up some of our favorite ads starring Latino supporters and created a slideshow hotter than the month of August.  

From fighting fur and "fixing" animal homelessness to goring bullfighting and getting gorgeous with veggies, these Latin stars are true amigos to animals.

Written by Michelle Sherrow

In a protest called "massive" by a local television station, author and fitness guru Jillian Michaels led the charge alongside producer Sam Simon, Twilight's Christian Serratos, The Secret Life of the American Teenager's Renee Olstead, and hundreds of demonstrators outside the Los Angeles Staples Center to call attention to the abuse of elephants by the Ringling Bros. circus. 
  

 
Numerous elephants used by Ringling Bros. suffer crippling arthritis—a leading cause of euthanasia of captive elephants—because they don't get the freedom of movement and exercise that they need.

"Their enslavement by the circus means [elephants] spend their lives in chains and stuffy train cars with no freedom to roam, and they suffer painful, fatal ailments that come from such a stressful existence," says Michaels.

Other compassionate celebrities who supported PETA's protest via Twitter include Sophia Bush, Kellan Lutz, Alicia Witt, and Sasha Grey, among others.

Please never attend any animal circus performance, and contact PETA's Action Team to help plan your own demonstration when the circus comes to your city.
 

Written by Jennifer O'Connor

For those of us who repeatedly put Robert Pattinson's shirtless scene in New Moon on "pause" are fans of Robert Pattinson, there's a new reason to swoon. While he was filming The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn in Louisiana, the ultimate heartthrob went to the ultimate place to find a new best friend—an animal shelter—and rescued a puppy, who was traveling on a private plane with him the next day. "There is a deep connection between me and dogs," Rob noted, adding that if he could swap his human form for anything, it would be a dog. 

Rob's new pup might be scampering around the Twilight set with Kellan Lutz's pal Kola, who posed with the actor in his super-cute "Adopt, Don't Buy" ad for PETA. And they'll have plenty to talk about with Christian Serratos, who would rather go naked than wear fur.

Rob, I would love to have an "Adopt, Don't Buy" ad to hang up next to my "Sixteen Months of Robert Pattinson" calendar (hint, hint). But if you'd rather go naked than wear fur, I'm fine with that too.

Written by Michelle Sherrow