PETA wishes a very happy 60th birthday to rock legend Chrissie Hynde, who, when she isn't using her beautiful voice to sing platinum hits, uses it to stop cruelty to animals. From opening her vegan restaurant, VegiTerranean, to having her hit song "I'll Stand by You" featured in a heartbreaking public service announcement, the Rock and Roll Hall of Famer has spent decades advocating for animals. Chrissie's actions for animals are too numerous to list, but here are our six favorites:  

1. Chrissie was arrested in New York when she, along with PETA President Ingrid E. Newkirk, "deconstructed" leather clothes, taking them apart to show the hides that were stolen from animals, in the flagship Gap Inc. store in Times Square to protest the company's policy of buying leather from India, where cows are tortured on the way to and during slaughter. The Gap subsequently stopped buying Indian leather.  
2. Chrissie was so disgusted that McDonald's suppliers scald birds to death for McNuggets that she appeared on a McCruelty billboard with the phrase "I'm Hatin' It" and led protests at McDonald's restaurants in Salt Lake City and Philadelphia.
3. During a Pretenders tour stop in Australia, Chrissie used the opportunity to unveil a new PETA ad at the Sydney Opera House showing the bloodied backside of a mulesed sheep.
4. While protesting horse-drawn carriages in New York City, Chrissie told reporters, "I got hitched to Jim Kerr in a horse-drawn carriage in New York. The marriage didn't last and I hope the carriages meet the same fate."
5. When The Pretenders' summer tour organizer made the mistake of scheduling a concert at the Minnesota Zoo, which routinely sells animals from its petting zoo to be slaughtered, Chrissie told the zoo to call off the killing. The zoo retaliated by canceling the show. But the singer didn't care—no brass in her pocket is worth animals' suffering.
6. Chrissie has even made plans to keep helping animals after she passes away. Included in her will is the directive that PETA should make an ad with her image and the caption "Dead Meat Should Be Buried, Not Eaten. Take It From Chrissie Hynde."

We know that animals would agree with us, Chrissie—you rock!

Written by Michelle Sherrow

Never one to shy away from speaking up for animals plainly and forthrightly, Morrissey urged fans who were upset about the tragic bombing and shooting rampage in Norway to consider the animals who face needless, terrifying deaths every day. Before launching into "Meat Is Murder" during a concert in Warsaw on Sunday, Morrissey told the crowd, "We all live in a murderous world, as the events in Norway have shown, with 97 dead. Though that is nothing compared to what happens in McDonald's and Kentucky Fried sh*t every day."

It's easy to be horrified by someone else's cruelty, but what about the cruelty that we're responsible for? As PETA President Ingrid E. Newkirk points out, "Morrissey dared to speak his mind, but if we are honest about it, it makes absolute sense to suggest that instead of crying and waving roses in the air, a more effective way to show repulsion at needless carnage is to go vegetarian and to stop supporting slaughter oneself—even if only for one day a week."

We can't stop all the senseless violence in the world, but everyone can say no to bloodshed and suffering every time we eat simply by choosing plant-based foods. Please help make the world a less murderous place—get started by ordering your free vegetarian/vegan starter kit today.  

Miami Heat guard Dwyane Wade, may be cooling his heels thanks to the NBA lockout, but he still shouldn’t go back to slinging deep-fried chicken parts at KFC, where he once worked as a teenager. KFC has asked Wade to bring his dunking skills to mashed potatoes and gravy by becoming an “honorary captain” while he’s “unemployed.” But PETA quickly wrote to D-Wade and explained why that would be a foul for fowl.

“While defenders know that ‘broken ankles’ are a risk with your crossovers on the court, chickens killed for KFC often have their fragile legs broken when they are slammed into metal shackles, among other horrifying abuses,”  wrote Senior Manager Michelle Cho.

Dwyane Wade: Dave Gillem | cc by 2.0

We also asked D-Wade to use his influence with KFC to ask the chain to require its suppliers to use a less cruel slaughter method. Hopefully, the NBA champ won’t be appearing behind a KFC window any time soon, and will stick to only inflicting pain on the court.  

 
Written by Michelle Sherrow

Kai Hendry/CC by 2.0

If you had the same reaction that I did (i.e., violent retching) when you heard about KFC's hideously unhealthy Double Down (you know, the sandwich that replaced bread with fried chicken and forced you to think about all those globules of deadly gunk gumming up people's blood vessels), get this: A single egg yolk contains vastly more cholesterol than an entire Double Down. As Dave Barry says, I am not making this up.

With heart disease being the number one killer of Americans, the cholesterol-bomb egg industry has resorted to ever-more-desperate "move along, nothing to see here" tactics to try to pass the blame, but a new report in the Canadian Journal of Cardiology calls them out on their bull … uh, chicken poop. The take-away? Eating just one whole egg per day can double your risk of coronary disease.

Looking to break the egg habit? It's as easy as (eggless custard) pie—check out these tips and recipes!

Written by Jeff Mackey

On Saturday, Alexandria Mills of Louisville became the first American in two decades to win the Miss World crown. So what does that have to do with the PETA Files, dear reader? Well, proving that her beauty is far more than skin-deep, the new titleholder noted how ironic it was that the other contestants had nicknamed her "KFC." (Geddit? Since she's from Kentucky?) After all, she's a vegetarian.

The moral of the story? If you want to take on the world—or become Miss World—go veg to get an edge. Oh, and stay away from KFC—the chicken-abusing fast-food chain, that is, not the lovely Ms. Mills.

Written by Jeff Mackey

After more than a year of stonewalling, KFC's hometown of Louisville, Kentucky, has finally gotten around to officially denying PETA's request for a permit to display our giant crippled chicken statue at a city intersection.

Over the past year, Louisville officials have devised various creative and ever-changing obstacles to PETA's application, including an imaginary "moratorium" on permits for public exhibits, a new requirement that adjacent property owners must approve of a public exhibit, a months-long delay in reviewing PETA's application, and other free-speech-trampling tactics that PETA believes were nothing more than a thinly veiled attempt to prevent people from finding out how KFC suppliers abuse chickens.

Strangely, officials didn't seem to have any objection when KFC erected a giant bucket of fried chicken in a shopping mall.

Hmmm … sounds like a great spot for our chicken statue. Speaking of which, does anyone know a good pro bono attorney in Chickentown?

Written by Alisa Mullins

If you participate in demonstrations, you might have experienced a bit of frustration at the occasional rude comments or less-than-perfect weather conditions. Next time that happens, spare a thought for Edward, a PETA Asia campaigner who was arrested as he got out of a cab dressed as a chicken for a Kentucky Fried Cruelty protest in Singapore. Here's Edward preparing for another KFC demo in Malaysia:

Edward, who is originally from Seattle, was essentially placed under house arrest in his hotel room because Singapore has some very harsh and archaic laws against protests. He is expected to be able to leave Singapore as scheduled, without charges. He says that the interrogation was frightening, but that it is nothing compared to how KFC treats chickens. That's our kind of guy.

If you'd like to show solidarity with Edward, why not organize a KFC demonstration yourself?

Written by Jeff Mackey

At PETA, we sometimes embrace things that others might call "bizarre," like Andy Dick's interview as Ronald McDonald with Jiminy Glick.

So when people started ringing our phones wanting our reaction to the recent news that Mike Myers is "kind of obsessed" with painting KFC's Colonel Sanders, we might have puzzled some callers who assumed we'd be alarmed or offended to learn about his muse. We're not. Monet may have had his water lilies but, hey, not all artists are inspired by foliage.

Besides, at the recent premiere of Shrek Forever After, the actor/funnyman/artist told our own Senior Vice President Dan Mathews that after watching a PETA video, he doesn't eat chicken anymore.

That's no surprise, really—after all, like art, many individual's attitudes are ever-evolving—and countless caring people have kicked KFC's unhealthy buckets from their diets.

So we're thankful that one more person has chosen not to support the appalling cruelty that's imposed upon billions of chickens, and we'll daydream that Mike Myers might one day honor us with a gift of one of his renderings of the Colonel. If we paired it with our crippled KFC chicken statue from artist Harry Bliss, we could add immeasurable artistic flair to our Kentucky Fried Cruelty campaign.

Just about everyone is badmouthing KFC's vile new Double Down sandwich. (Gee, wonder why?) Guess which celebrity just called it the "double bypass" and said, "I just don't see a need for it, it's like handing people a gun"?

1. Andy Dick
2. Rachael Ray
3. Lil Wayne
4. Queen Latifah

Check out the CNN clip for the answer.

Written by Heather Moore

The work of British guerrilla artist Banksy can't be ignored. Indeed, Time just selected him as one of the year's most influential people.

Now the painting provocateur has cheekily twitted one of PETA's frequent targets: Colonel Sanders, the very face of Kentucky Fried Cruelty.

Image from http://www.banksy.co.uk/.

Sure, art is subjective, but in light of Banksy's earlier works, which seem to side with the animals in circuses and question why we call some animals "pets" and others "food," I'm inclined to believe that he's standing with the chickens who are raised in crowded, filthy conditions to supply KFC's restaurants—and who are sometimes even scalded to death. Or maybe he's just as appalled as we are by KFC's new Double Down.

Either way, I don't know much about art, but I know what I like—and I suspect that KFC doesn't like Banksy's work at all. And that's reason enough to cheer.

Written by Jeff Mackey