As observances of September 11, 2001, take place across the country, PETA thinks back to all the cats, dogs, birds, hamsters, fish, and other companion animals who waited in vain for the return of their loving guardians who lost their lives that day. Especially the ones trapped inside apartments in the cordoned off "Red Zone." PETA received call after call from people desperate to reach their dearly loved animals after being barred from returning to their homes. PETA immediately dispatched a rescue team to New York.

PETA Vice President Daphna Nachminovitch—who took a PETA team from Norfolk, Virginia, to New York right away—will always remember the destruction and despair. "It was total chaos and heartbreak," she recalls. "We struggled to get through various barriers and roadblocks to reach animals who needed us—and whose guardians were desperate for us to retrieve them. We were able to get some building superintendents and firefighters to bring some of the animals out, but most perished. We were also able to care for traumatized animals at an impromptu rescue center and managed to reunite a person here and a person there with their beloved animals. It was a trip that will forever remain burned into our brains."

PETA's Emergency Response Team also rescued more than 100 turtles from a market in New York's Chinatown. And PETA was on the ground following the attack on the Pentagon, supplying dogs who were searching for survivors through the broken glass and twisted metal with protective booties.

September 11 was a harrowing time for all beings, and one that continues to affect us as a nation. When you observe September 11 today, please think of all the individuals who suffered and died because of an act of hatred. Let's resolve to open our hearts as much as we can to everyone—regardless of race, color, species, gender, creed, nationality, or religion—every day.

Written by Joe Taksel

As people around the world—from the Pope to Angelina Jolie—voice outrage over a Florida church's plan to publically burn copies of the Quran on September 11, PETA has a novel idea: How about bringing peas to the table? That's why we plan to erect this billboard in Gainesville, Florida:

The billboard's peasful arrangement of different religious symbols promotes tolerance and nonviolence regardless of race, faith, or species, a message that's pretty apt when people are fighting hammer and tongs over the burning of the Muslim holy book, the plans to build a Muslim community center near Ground Zero, and a recent arson at the site of a mosque under construction in Tennessee.

Just like humans who are victimized for being perceived as different, animals who are raised and killed for food would be left in peace if it weren't for human ignorance, prejudice, and bigotry. On factory farms, piglets are castrated and have their tails cut off without being given any painkillers, cows are often dismembered and skinned while they're still able to feel pain, and chickens and turkeys—who have never hurt anyone in their lives, but who feel pain just as humans do—have their throats cut while they're still conscious.

But there is something that everyone can do to reduce the total amount of violence in the world. We can choose meals that did not involve terror, disrespect, and killing. And though we can't bring back those we lost on that horrific day nine years ago, each of us can save more than 100 lives this year alone just by going vegetarian—or better yet, vegan.

As PETA president Ingrid Newkirk said in her talk on nonviolence in Palestine at Christmas a few years ago, "One day, people will stop saying 'Respect me, I'm a human being,' and say 'Respect me, I'm a living being.'"

Please give peas and veggie burgers a chance by pledging to go vegan today.

Written by Amy Skylark Elizabeth