Written by PETA
Guess whose milkshake brings all the soy to the yard? (OK, I've been waiting to make that joke ever since that song was released.) Pamela Anderson! Pamela is teaming up with PETA to create the first vegan shake at L.A.'s Millions of Milkshakes. The "Pamela Anderson" (vegan vanilla soft-serve blended with coconut and pineapple) makes its much-anticipated debut this Friday at 3 p.m., when Pamela herself will appear at the West Hollywood hotspot to mix up a batch. This cow-friendly concoction is the perfect treat to hold you over until Pam's next performance on Dancing With the Stars. Will we see you there?
Written by Logan Scherer
I was already stoked about PETA's Marketing Department's upcoming move to Los Angeles, but after watching this exclusive footage of PETA peeps at Cruzer Pizza—the city's all-vegan pizzeria—I'm ready to get on the next flight and finish the construction of our new office myself. Check out the epic culinary journey of Royale, our Twitterer and veganista extraordinaire, and Lauren, our celebrity marketing coordinator, who went behind the scenes to help choose the ingredients in Cruzer's new "PETA" pizza.
Free of cholesterol, trans fat, and cruelty, the vegan pizza at Cruzer has 33 percent less fat than do pizzas made with dairy ingredients. And the only torment involved is that it makes those of us here on the East Coast salivate. So if you're in the area, stop by Cruzer Pizza and make sure to order the PETA (a portion of the proceeds is donated to us)!
As we promised yesterday, we've got exclusive photos from the unveiling of Los Angeles Lakers forward Ron Artest's new spay-and-neuter billboard in L.A. The first 20 attendees at the unveiling scored big-time, receiving coupons for free spay or neuter surgeries:
With Spay Day less than a week away, the debut of Artest's ad couldn't have come at a better time. "These animals are literally dying for a good home," he said. "Spaying and neutering your companion animals is the way to bring an end to the overpopulation crisis."
Now that's a slam dunk!
Ron Artest is the compassionate king of any court he steps on. Just in time for Spay Day on February 23, the NBA All-Star and Los Angeles Lakers forward will reveal his new spay-and-neuter billboard tomorrow in Los Angeles at 8238 Beverly Blvd. (near Sweetzer Avenue). The first 20 people to arrive will receive coupons for free spay or neuter surgeries provided by the Sam Simon Foundation—a Los Angeles–area organization that runs a mobile clinic providing free spay and neuter surgeries and low-cost veterinary services.
Check back tomorrow for exclusive photos from the event. See you then!
PETA Europe's "Sexiest Vegetarian," Leona Lewis, proved why she deserved her crown when she rescued a rabbit from a life on the streets—a life that was bound to end on someone's dinner plate.
While out and about in L.A. this week, Leona noticed a homeless man with a tethered rabbit. When she asked the man what his plans for the rabbit were, he admitted that he might eat the bunny. Um … come again?! As a vegetarian and a diehard animal defender, Leona struck a deal with the man: She gave him $100 to buy proper food, and he gave up the rabbit.
Now, Melrose (the rabbit was named after the street he was found on) is living it up in the "Bleeding Love" superstar's posh L.A. pad. Jealous much?
A friend of Ms. Lewis said, "She didn't think life on a lead was any way for a rabbit to live—then when he said he was going to eat it she knew she had to save it." Swoon. If only all celebrities had that kind of "Spirit."
Written by Christine Doré
This guy wasn't monkeying around when he and 300 animal defenders recently descended upon Guayama, Puerto Rico (aka "Pueblo de los Brujos" or "city of witches"), to condemn the proposed construction of a Bioculture monkey-breeding facility within city limits.
This plan is driving everyone—from PETA to local citizens—bananas because Bioculture reportedly wants to use the facility to breed wild monkeys and sell their babies for use in painful and cruel experiments. Even Guayama's mayor, Glorimari Jaime, is opposed to the facility's construction. Halfway through the protest, she came out of her office, stood on a bench, and told the group that she was on their side—and that she would support and join in civil disobedience with them.
The protest was picked up by media across the city, so my guess is that Puerto Rican governor Luis G. Fortuño has already caught wind of the public's outrage. Yesterday, we sent him a letter calling on him to halt consideration of the Bioculture facility—hopefully it will be the final nudge he needs to prevent its construction.
Our hats are off to the hundreds of caring people who have voiced their opposition to Bioculture—please join them.
Written by Karin Bennett
Today we released a new investigation inside Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey circus that shows workers on video as they beat and whipped elephants dozens of times in venues across the country. It's an investigation that I helped work on.
Once investigators capture video from an investigation, my job is to review all the footage and meticulously record the abuses and other notable findings. From that, I prepare condensed versions of the video for the public to view and draft complaints to officials, which in the new investigation into Ringling amounted to nine complaints to a total of 20 federal and state offices.
At times, reviewing so much footage can be tedious and extremely upsetting, but it's nothing compared to the relentless suffering that the animals who are used by Ringling are subjected to.
Most of the investigations that I work on involve farmed animals, in which the longest life span is about two years (for a pig used for breeding purposes). Her two years going from gestation crate to farrowing crate and back, over and over, are miserable, but her suffering comes to an end. For the elephants used and abused by Ringling, the suffering can go on for decades, and there's no end in sight—unless PETA and the public can convince the USDA to seize these majestic, elderly psychologically damaged animals.
Many of these elephants have not known anything close to a "natural" life since they were caught in Asia decades before I was born, but now the USDA has the chance to make things right by moving these animals to a sanctuary where they will be able to roam around the vast area that they need in order to be healthy and happy. Our brave investigator has armed the USDA with the information that it needs in order to make this happen and finally end these animals' decades of suffering.
It is an honor to work on all our investigations, which are the heart and soul of PETA, but it has been the highest compliment ever to be able to work with our investigator to document the heartbreaking plight of the gentle giants who are abused by Ringling and give them a chance to escape from their long years of torment and beatings.
Now that we have given the feds more than sufficient evidence to seize these animals, I hope we will finally be able to make history for elephants.
Written by Dan Paden, Senior Research Associate
Thanks for all of your wonderful comments on this Win It Wednesday. The winner of the To-Fu Kubricks is g.murphy. Congratulations!
I've always proudly displayed my vast snow globe collection, never mind that my husband calls it "junk." But ever since I discovered To-Fu Kubricks by Devil Robots, my snow globe collection is starting to seem a bit ho-hum.
Who can resist these adorable, movable To-Fu Kubricks figures? Certainly not this tofu lover.
We've got one set of five of the smiling collectibles from Series 7 to give to the person who submits the most appealing tofu recipe in the comments section below.
The contest ends on August 5, 2009, and we'll choose one comment as the winner on August 7, 2009. Be sure to read our privacy policy and terms and conditions, as you're agreeing to both by commenting. Good luck!
We just received word from our friends at PETA Europe that the U.K.'s Home Office—it's like our Homeland Security, Drug Enforcement Agency, and U.S. Department of Agriculture all rolled into one—has published its 2008 statistics on animal experiments. Sadly, the information in the report is less than encouraging. More than 3.5 million animals were abused and killed in 3.7 million experiments this past year: That's an increase from last year of 15 percent in individual animals and an increase of 14 percent in procedures. This is the highest number of animals used for experiments in the U.K. since the 1980s and the biggest proportionate rise in numbers since the Home Office began keeping records in the 1940s.
To make it all the more frustrating, only 70 percent of toxicity tests—the ones in which animals are deliberately poisoned to test chemicals—were required by law, meaning that nearly 30 percent of these archaic and needless tests could have been abandoned entirely.
While the number of European tests are rocketing up, the numbers of new medical treatments are going down—not to mention that 90 percent of drugs that pass animal trials fail in humans. All of this from a nation that is leaps and bounds ahead of the U.S. in approving non-animal testing methods for lab studies.
These numbers show us just how vital it is for compassionate people to take action. If we don't speak up, the suffering of animals will continue to be ignored.
Written by Shawna Flavell
The title of an LA Times blog says it all: "You Win, PETA. Iowa State Fair Won't Have Michael Jackson Butter Sculpture."
You may remember that we recently wrote to the Iowa State Fair asking it to refrain from making a Michael Jackson statue out of butter and instead to use Earth Balance, a delicious nondairy spread. We reminded the fair that the King of Pop himself—a vocal supporter of children's health charities—would not appreciate his image being carved out of an unhealthy, fatty spread (not to mention one so detrimental to animals).
Well, the fair officials put it to a vote, and after more than 100,000 votes were counted, about 65 percent of fairgoers had voted against erecting the statue. Looks like we weren't the only ones who thought this was a "bad" idea.
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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