If being on Maxim's Hot 100 list is verifiable proof of hotness (and, of course, it is), these lovely lasses are steaming:

Photo: Hama Sanders/www.hamasanders.com  Hair: Steven Lake for Exclusive Artists  Makeup: Julie Cuomo  Wardrobe: April Steiner for Exclusive Artists  Elephant background: (c) iStockphoto.com/Bruno Buongiorno Nardelli

2. Olivia Munn: Working to end the abuse of animals in the circus, the fur industry, puppy mills, and the horse-drawn carriage industry, Olivia Munn proves there's no "hot list" or animal rights issue that she can't conquer.

Photo: (c) Andrew Southam for WelssArtists|Styling: Estee Stanley for Starworks Artists|Hair: John D for Starworks Artists|Makeup: Kayleen McAdams for The Wall Group|Manicure: Carla Kay for Cloutier Remix

14. Lea Michele: Lovely Lea Michele is a triple threat: She sings, she acts, and she advocates for animals. From her vegetarian diet to her refusal to wear fur to her rescued animals to her campaign to get horse-drawn carriages out of New York, Lea always hits a beautiful note for animals.

(c) Jim Jordan

16. Charlize Theron: She might be playing the wicked queen in Snow White and the Huntsman, but Charlize Theron is a noble defender of animals killed for fur and those in animal shelters waiting for homes.  

Photo: Don Flood

29. Eva Mendes: She would rather go naked than wear fur, and whether it's for Maxim or PETA, Eva Mendes always shows that everyone looks better in their own skin.

Photo: Robert Sebree  Hair: Davy Newkirk for Tracey Mattingly  Makeup: Jennifer Pitt for Tracey Mattingly  Wardrobe: Britt Bardo for Magnet  Wing design: Mia Gyzander Costumes

35. Yvonne Strahovski: If she looks angelic in the Maxim.com gallery, it's because Yvonne Strahovski is an angel for animals. She and her rescued pups are doing their part to end the animal overpopulation crisis. 

Maxim's Hot 100 is so full of compassionate cuties that we don't have room to do them all justice here, but check out the list for yourself to see sexy and sweet gals Mila Kunis, Emma Stone, Olivia Wilde, Kellie Pickler, Kristen Bell, JWoww, Miley Cyrus, Sarah Hyland, Emmy Rossum, Ashley Greene, Lake Bell, Miranda Kerr, Selena Gomez, Anne Hathaway, and Kristen Stewart. 

Forks Over Knives continues to change the way that America eats. Kristen Bell and fiancé Dax Shepard have both gone vegan after seeing it.

Another awesome Kristin—Kristin Chenoweth—is throwing her support behind her Glee costar Lea Michele's campaign to get horse-drawn carriages out of New York City. Chenoweth tweeted her disgust at seeing the miserable horses and is asking the New York City Council to ban the carriages.

Anjelica Huston is taking a stand against horse-drawn carriages while working in New York. The Smash star criticized the cruel carriage industry on Piers Morgan Tonight, and guest host Rosie O'Donnell agreed, "It does seem absurdly cruel." Anjelica continued speaking out for animals, deeming it "unconscionable" to orphan baby apes and force them to act.

And as always, Ricky Gervais continues to keep Twitter abuzz for animals, this week posting, "you can't justify torturing an animal for a shampoo."

Photo: Robert Sebree; Makeup: Chantal Moore for The Cloutier Agency

Steve-O agrees that animals don't belong in laboratories. He wrote to U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer of California to ask her to support the Great Ape Protection and Cost Savings Act, which would ban the use of chimpanzees in experiments.

Fellow vegan and tattoo aficionado Travis Barker is raising health-conscious, animal-friendly kids who share their dad's penchant for vegan eating.

Nikki Reed and husband Paul McDonald welcomed a new "kid" into their family—a beautiful rescued dog.

To keep up on all the latest celebrity animal news, follow @PETA on Twitter.

The world has fallen for Lea Michele, but the lovely songbird uses her popularity to help stop cruelty to animals. Lea and PETA scored a spot on Teen.com's list of the "Top 5 Celebrity Charities You Should Support." (We also noticed our buddy Justin Bieber on the list.)

Joining Lea in the crusade to get horses off New York City's congested streets is Smash star Anjelica Huston, who asked the City Council to replace horse-drawn carriages with eco-friendly classic cars. Anjelica's Smash co-star Debra Messing also tweeted her support.

Rescued-dog fan Miley Cyrus is using Twitter to urge Khloe Kardashian to adopt, not buy. After Khloe tweeted that she was ready to share her life with a dog, Miley responded that she would love to help Khloe find a rescue, and Khloe kindly accepted! PETA jumped in to help, too, tweeting Khloe a link to a wonderful open-admission shelter in Dallas. Perhaps we'll be seeing the new addition to Khloe's family on an upcoming episode of Khloe & Lamar? 

Flip the dial to NBC to catch Wilmer Valderrama's new show, Awake. Before Wilmer was exposing secrets as a detective, he was exposing circuses' cruelty to animals. We know Ringling won't be popping up in any Awake episodes.

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

Quite a few longtime PETA friends and faves were among the celebs who told the Associated Press about their animal-oriented New Year's resolutions, including Bob Barker ("To continue urging folks to have their pets spayed and neutered—including rabbits."), Lea Michele ("I wish that [my cat] Sheila would stop going into my bathroom, taking out all my cotton balls out of the jars and spreading them all over."), and Katherine Heigl (whose dogs want her "to feed them consistently on time in the morning"), not to mention superhot Josh Duhamel and music legend Roberta Flack, whom we love all the more after hearing about their rescued animal friends.

Other pro-adoption superstars? How about George Clooney, who recently talked to Esquire about adopting his shelter mutt, Einstein? Or Charlize Theron, who wants more people to, well, be like George?

If anyone you know needs convincing that tofu scramble is the real breakfast of champions, you can remind him or her that vegan WWE superstar Daniel Bryan has been awarded the world heavyweight title. Then break a chair across his or her back just to get the point across. (PETA's lawyers would like us to note that this is a joke and that violence is never the answer.)

Not to be outdone, the UFC took to Twitter to urge fans to vote for Jake Shields for peta2's Most Animal-Friendly Athlete Libby Award.

A number of other stars offered up pro-animal tweets as well:

And the always amazing Oscar-winner and Raising Hope star Cloris Leachman raised some hope for animals abused in circuses by writing to the mayor of Orlando and asking him to protect the elephants scheduled to perform in the city with Ringling Bros.

Courtesy of Lelah Foster

Having a celebrity as the face of an animal rights campaign has helped PETA achieve huge victories. For instance, vocal protests by Sir Paul McCartney and Alicia Silverstone helped convince NASA not to blast squirrel monkeys with harmful doses of radiation. Celebrities such as Olivia Munn and Sarah Silverman have helped publicize Ringling Bros.' cruelty to animals, which recently resulted in the largest U.S. Department of Agriculture fine in circus history. And with the help of Lea Michele, the suffering of horses in New York City's carriage trade is garnering attention.

Michelle Cho, the senior manager of communications, dishes about what it's like behind the scenes of some of PETA's most visible work:

What is one of the most exciting things happening right now with PETA's work with celebrities?
So many professional athletes are enthusiastic about getting involved. Tony Gonzalez, Chad Ochocinco, Chase Utley, Gilbert Arenas, Amar'e Stoudemire, Willis McGahee, Lance Briggs,  Chris Andersen, and many others are allowing us to reach legions of sports fans about animal issues. 

What is one of your favorite celebrity stories?
When I first met Steve-O six years ago, I was interviewing him about elephant abuse that he had witnessed as a student at Ringling's clown college. I recall him saying that he didn't think vegetarianism was possible for him. Then began the phone calls inquiring about feathers, leather, wool, and even animal products in chewing gum! And just two years later, he had an "aha moment" in which he decided that he didn't want to contribute to the unnecessary suffering of animals and went vegan. He is one of the most inspirational people I've ever known, and I'm so proud to call him a dear friend.

Is Hollywood more animal-friendly than it used to be?
Definitely. Thanks to the Internet, we disseminate a lot more information, and it's reaching powerful people. Major ad agencies are pledging never to use great apes, filmmakers are using computer-generated imagery rather than using live animals, and TV shows and movies are including animal rights–related storylines. The support of so many influential people in show business can only pay bigger dividends for animals in the future.

*****

Join the A-list party! Become a PETA member today.

© StarMaxinc

A new report found that celebrities and their children often inspire baby names among the rest of us. For example, pop singer and PETA supporter Pink's daughter's name, Willow, made a list of top celeb-inspired names.

With the plethora of animal-friendly celebrities out there, people who want to name their baby after someone whose heart is as big as his or her star power have many options to chose from, such as Portia, for a vegan role model who embodies cruelty-free beauty; Taraji, in honor of someone who wears her heart (but never animals) on her sleeve; and Kellan, for a boy who's not afraid to show his sensitive side, especially when it comes to helping animals.

Who knows—maybe next year's top baby names will be Lea or Steve-O or even Metta World Peace. 

Which animal-friendly stars do you think have names worthy of consideration for a new bundle of joy?

'Tis the season for awards and accolades, and one person everyone is talking about is Glee star and PETA supporter Lea Michele. For her dedicated work with PETA to end animals' suffering, Lea was one of the Lifetime Impact Honorees at Variety magazine's annual Power of Women event. In her acceptance speech, Lea highlighted the cause closest to her heart—horse-drawn carriages. Watch her moving speech, which you can only see here on The PETA Files, and learn about her journey and activism with PETA: 

Lea narrated a shocking undercover video, which has shown countless people how horses suffer when they are forced to pull heavy carriages all day long in all weather extremes on busy city streets. In the past month alone, three horses have been involved in accidents, including a horse named Charlie, who collapsed in the street and died. Lea promptly fired off a letter urging Mayor Bloomberg to end carriage rides.

An auction organized as part of the Power of Women is helping raise funds for the honorees' selected nonprofits. Check out (and bid on) the custom-designed dress Lea wore to this year's Met Gala that she donated to benefit PETA.

Written by Heather Faraid Drennan

If it seems like just last week that Mayor Bloomberg was callously dismissing the death of a horse used for New York's infamous carriage rides, that's because it was. And in the days since Bloomberg made unintentionally ironic comments like "[they] probably wouldn't be alive if they didn't have a job" (talk about a catch 22), there have been two more horse-drawn carriage "accidents." (Although what else can be expected when sensitive, easily frightened horses are forced to work 10-hour days in all weather extremes on New York City's crowded streets?)

On October 28, a horse hitched to an empty carriage became spooked and bolted straight into traffic. One witness said that the horse just missed several taxis, then crashed into a curb and fell on his side before running off again, only to become tangled in the broken carriage and harness.

The most recent incident happened during Friday's rush hour when a horse fell down in the middle of the busy street. Witnesses said the horse either collapsed on his own or because his leg became caught in the carriage when he bucked.

New York State Senator Tony Avella has renewed his call on Mayor Slayer Bloomberg to ban the barbaric carriage rides, which are a hazard to horses and to public safety. Please join him and click here to contact the mayor and New York City lawmakers now to urge them to support Intro. Bill 86, which would replace horse-drawn carriages with eco-friendly (and horse-friendly) classic cars.

Written by Heather Faraid Drennan

It's bad enough to be forced to pull heavy carriages in all weather extremes through New York City's busy, exhaust-filled streets, but a necropsy on Charlie, the horse who collapsed and died while "working" last week, found that he also suffered from painful stomach ulcers and a cracked tooth. Charlie's death sparked renewed calls for a ban on cruel horse-drawn carriages in New York, including a letter from Glee star Lea Michele asking Mayor Michael Bloomberg to support a bill to end the rides. Bloomberg's comments on Charlie's death have been astonishingly cold-hearted: "Like everyone, eventually they die," he said. "Some die on the streets."

Charlie is the latest victim of an industry that exploits animals in order to turn a buck despite increasing opposition from the public and lawmakers. There have been countless incidents resulting in injuries to and the deaths of both horses and people when horses used for carriage rides become spooked and bolt into traffic or when carriages crash.

Whether you're a resident or a potential tourist, please tell New York City lawmakers that you support Intro. Bill 86, which would ban horse-drawn carriages and replace them with eco-friendly classic cars.

Written by Heather Faraid Drennan

UPDATE: When Lea Michele found out about the death of yet another horse used for carriage rides in New York City, she immediately sent a letter to Mayor Michael Bloomberg asking him to support the bill that would replace the cruel carriages with eco-friendly retro cars and allow the remaining horses to go to sanctuaries.    

The following was originally posted on October 24, 2011:

Yet another horse used to pull carriages in New York City has dropped dead in the street, adding one more body to a count that continues to grow. Glee's Lea Michele recently hosted a PETA video detailing the miserable lives of these horses, who are forced to haul heavy loads in all weather extremes in one of the busiest cities in the world.

Wherever you live, if you see a horse (or any animal) in distress, contact local humane authorities immediately. If you live in New York and see a horse in trouble, contact the ASPCA at 212-876-7700, extension 4450, and PETA at CIDInfo@peta.org right away.

Never take a horse-drawn carriage ride, and please let New York officials know that you support Intro. Bill 86, which would replace horse-drawn carriages with eco-friendly classic cars.