Written by PETA
When award-winning New Yorker cartoonist and longtime PETA pal Harry Bliss sits down to write a children's book about a day at school with a lovable mutt named Bailey, you know it'll be a big hit with kids. But with Bliss' talent for satire, even adults will enjoy a chuckle or two.
Dedicated to PETA president Ingrid E. Newkirk, Bailey makes it clear that although kids may prefer to read books—while Bailey prefers to chew them—both kids and dogs have specific needs and deserve respect and kindness.
Bliss has often used his genius to create original artwork specifically to help animals, including his remarkable life-size baby elephant sculpture, Ella PhantzPeril, which he designed for PETA's campaign against animal circuses, and his crippled chicken statue for PETA's Kentucky Fried Cruelty campaign. Bliss has also created wonderful thought-provoking covers for PETA's Animal Times magazine.
One of the funniest parts of the book is a play on the age-old excuse for not turning in homework—the dog ate it. But in Bailey's case, he really does eat his homework. And in the time-honored tradition of trading lunches in the cafeteria, Bailey tries to barter his beloved and well-chewed bone for a little girl's sandwich.
Bailey is replete with touching and beautifully drawn anecdotes that will bring smiles to the faces of kids and adults alike.
Written by Joe Taksel
We're no strangers to having our ads banned. But we thought that we had a safe bet when we created an ad against the Canadian seal slaughter that features a cartoon drawn by celebrated New Yorker contributor Harry Bliss. In the cartoon, a seal sits at a bar and, in a play on words, tells the bartender his order: "Anything but a [certain brand of whiskey]."
We posted the ad on our website, and postcard reproductions of it were sent to Toronto bars to be placed on tables. Of course, it was meant to reference the barbaric bludgeoning and skinning of baby seals, not whiskey. But Beam Global Spirits & Wine, Inc., the parent company of Canadian Club, sent us a cease and desist letter, telling us to immediately yank the ad. We promptly did so (which means that you can no longer find the ad on our site) because we didn't mean to offend the brand—which to its credit, doesn't conduct animal testing.
Our legal counsel told Canadian Club: "It was not a happy hour when PETA received your letter. Although we will put the cartoon on ice, it … brings needed attention to the hideous cruelty of the Canadian slaughter of baby seals, a spectacle so vile that even to contemplate the carnage on the ice, it's hard not to want a stiff drink."
A whiskey, perhaps?
Written by Michelle Sherrow
You can't keep a good bird down. PETA's crippled-chicken statue was shut out of Louisville and Denver, but it has finally come home to roost in Raleigh.
PETA unveiled the new anti-McDonald's statue, which was designed by New Yorker cover artist Harry Bliss, to a receptive parade of passersby, who took home more than 400 leaflets explaining how chickens killed for McDonald's continue to suffer broken bones and wings and be scalded to death in defeathering tanks, even though a less cruel slaughter method is available. Many people wanted to talk to the PETA staff about the statue and the McCruelty campaign, and everyone flipped over the McCruelty stickers.
If you haven't already, please join our fine feathered fowl and tell McDonald's that you're hatin' it.
It's a hazy day here on the Right Coast. As I watch leaves fall and steam rise from my soy mocha, the mood is set for a lazy (yet highly skilled) meander through gossip rags for fun stuff. Here are my faves:
Thanks for stopping by! Catch you next time, and don't forget to hug all your vegetarian friends.
Written by Missy Lane
Poor Ella PhantzPeril. Everywhere she tries to go, she gets a chilly reception, even though she is drop-dead gorgeous and was designed by renowned New Yorker cover artist Harry Bliss.
First, Kansas City gave her the cold shoulder when we tried to arrange for her to take up residence in a city park for a month to coincide with a visit from Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus. The city banished her because of her "political" message. Now, St. Louis has said she is unwelcome because she is an "advertisement."
Since all we want to do is remind the public about the abuse that elephants endure while constantly traveling and performing in circuses, separated from their families and their natural environment, we are crying "foul."
We say that both rejections sound an awful lot like infringements on free speech, and we're not taking them lying down.
Keep checking back, and we'll be sure to let you know when Ella finds a home.
Written by Alisa Mullins
As the high cost of health care was debated this week in the nation that was once the most powerful on Earth and is now just the fattest, two announcements were made. Time showed a slab of meat on its cover and declared, "The real cost of cheap food" (meat, in particular) costs Americans big-time when it comes to our health. And KFC--whose suppliers have been caught on camera breaking chickens' legs and wings and scalding the birds to death in order to produce "cheap" chicken--came out with a new "sandwich" that substitutes fried chicken parts for bread and is stuffed with artery-clogging and waistline-expanding bacon and cheese. Why would KFC executives decide to do that? For the same reason that there is a Whopper and a Fifth Third Burger: Because they know that people want unhealthy foods almost as much as they want health care.
Also this week, the fat hit the pan over PETA's pro-vegetarian billboard in Jacksonville, Florida, which read, "Save the Whales. Cut the Blubber. Go Vegetarian," and led to the PETA website where people could download our free "Vegetarian Starter Kit" as well as take the "30-Day Veg Pledge." There wasn't a peep about the advertisements for meals that spell death to one million animals per hour and that contribute to our nation's ever-expanding waistlines. There were no angry phone calls and blog messages about the audacity of the purveyors of the chicken and cheese that is turning humans into blubbery masses, or..."whales."
America's obesity epidemic calls for tough love à la Dr. Phil and America's Biggest Loser, not more coddling and mock shock over a billboard pointing out that the majority of fat people need to have some discipline and remember that being fat means being a bad role model to our children, many of whom are now so fat themselves that "teeter-totter" has come to describe their wobbly gait. Only three percent of the population has a medical condition that genuinely prevents them from losing weight. The rest of the obese people hiding behind them are obese because they shovel in food and haven't a clue (or don't want to have a clue) about a healthy diet. They haven't listened to or perhaps haven't heard the polite admonitions from health experts (real ones) urging them to eat their fresh fruits and veggies, whole grains, nuts and beans. So America is getting fatter, largely because we don't realize that killing animals and squeezing the cheese out of them, perhaps especially the cheese, is slowly killing us too.
A study published last year in the journal Obesity found that if current trends continue, nearly 90 percent of adults will be overweight or obese by the year 2030 and the number of overweight children will double. This is a serious health crisis: Research has shown that higher body mass index is associated with a greater risk of premature death from all causes. For example, according to the American Heart Association, obesity contributes to heart disease, America's number one killer. What's more, one out of every six health-care dollars will be spent on costs related to our growing girth.
Going meat-free can make a huge difference. Studies show that vegetarians are, on average, 10 to 20 pounds lighter than meat-eaters and that a vegetarian diet reduces our risk of heart disease by 40 percent and adds seven or more years to our lifespan. A study published in The American Journal of Medicine found that people who eat a low-fat vegan diet (no meat, no eggs and no dairy foods) lose about a pound per week--even without exercising or counting calories.
PETA's billboard was fueled by a healthy respect for all the animals who are raised cruelly and killed in painful ways as well as for our own species's potential to be kind and healthy. I read the communiqués from fat people who said "thank you" and from those who told us where we can go. To all the people considering gastric bypass or tummy-tuck surgery or who tried a low-carb diet and only got constipation and bad breath in return, I say, just try it: Choose the oatmeal with Silk soy milk instead of bacon and milk; the bean instead of the beef burrito; and the mushrooms, tomatoes and peppers instead of the meat balls. All animals would thank you for it if they could, and I'm betting that you will feel better, both inside and out.
Written by Ingrid E. Newkirk
Thanks for all of your wonderful comments on this Win It Wednesday. The winner of Veganopoly is Jenny. Congratulations!
At my house, we turn Scrabble into "Vegan Scrabble" by tripling points for animal-friendly words. Instead of seven measly points, "t-o-f-u" is suddenly worth a whopping 21 points. It can get a little heated, and game night at my house often goes like this:
My husband: "Applesauce?! I've never baked in my life! How am I supposed to know applesauce can be an egg replacer?"
Me: "Well, you should try baking once in a while. You'd learn a lot—and improve your Scrabble game."
My husband: "And you should try not cheating once in a while."
Me: [Feigning shock] "Well, I never …"
Veganopoly to the rescue!
In a vegan twist on an old classic, players try to succeed in the restaurant biz instead of becoming the main course. My husband will no longer be able to claim that I have an unfair advantage on game nights.
Luckily for you, I can't enter "Win It" Wednesdays or I'm certain somehow I'd be the winner of the Veganopoly board game we're giving away. But you can win it. Simply list the ways in which your vegan diet has improved your health. We'll select one winner who offers the most complete and compelling list of reasons to go vegan.
The contest ends on September 9, 2009, and we'll choose the winning entry on September 11, 2009. Be sure to read our privacy policy and terms and conditions, as you're agreeing to both by commenting. Good luck!
Written by Karin Bennett
Oops, they did it again. Tyson Fresh Meats, a subsidiary of Tyson Foods, has been fined $2 million for pumping untreated animal waste (to the tune of 5 million gallons a day) into the Missouri River. The reason for the fine is that they agreed in 2002 to knock it off and, well, they didn't.
It's a given that cows on factory farms are forced to live most of their lives in feces-filled holding pens, and it was so nice of Tyson to share that crap with everyone who relies on the Missouri river for drinking and bathing water.
And if you think this is an isolated case, think again. In 2002, a Cargill-owned hog farm was fined $1 million for illegally dumping animal waste, and Smithfield Foods, the world's largest hog producer, has been fined $12.6 million for polluting the Pagan River, just to name a couple of examples.
Of course, water pollution is just one of the many ways that factory farming wreaks havoc on the environment. Don't even get us started on greenhouse-gas emissions, deforestation, and wasted fossil fuels.
KFC has just started test-marketing a new "sandwich" that is sure to have customers beating down its doors (sarcasm alert).
I'm going to ignore for now that countless pigs, cows, and chickens will suffer for this sucker (and I'm betting that the "secret" in the sauce is crushed ducklings).
Instead, I'm going to bring to your attention its nutritional value—or lack thereof. While KFC won't release the Double Down's fat and calorie stats, there's plenty of speculation. The Vancouver Sun's educated "guess-timate" is that "this one menu item can be estimated to supply more than the daily recommended allowance in fat (124%), saturated fat (117%), cholesterol (105%), sodium (125%) and protein (194%), as well as 61% of your daily recommended calorie intake" and "compares closely to the fat, salt and calorie totals of three McDonalds Big Macs put together …."
In other words, eating a Double Down makes Russian Roulette look like child's play.
What happened to KFC being the "better-for-you option for health-conscious customers"? Its carcinogenic grilled chicken wasn't much better, but this oozing pile of grease just screams, "We're out to kill you." Keep up the genius marketing, KFC. You're doing our job for us.
The folks at PETA Asia-Pacific are pros at cranking up the heat to deliver sizzling-hot demonstrations and ads. So I can guarantee that this sneak peak of the upcoming "All Animals Have the Same Parts" ad, which features Filipina model, singer, and vegan Geneva Cruz, is sure to have you turning your thermostat down a few notches.
Geneva and PETA Asia-Pacific want to remind people that animals are made of flesh, blood, and bone, just as humans are. It's just as wrong to kill a pig, cow, or chicken for your dinner as it would be to kill your tennis partner or the kid next door (even if he does play Metallica a smidge too loud).
Written by Shawna Flavell
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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