Written by PETA
"The government does not want us to call it the swine flu. They're calling it the 2009 H1N1 virus. The reason for the change is they want people to know you can still eat all the pork you want without any risk to your health, except diabetes, obesity, and heart disease."
That's Jimmy Kimmel's take on swine flu, as quoted in the New York Times.
And, if you're inclined to take a trip down Memory Lane, here's Jimmy Kimmel's take on PETA's Alicia Silverstone and Super Bowl ads.
We love Jimmy!
Written by Shawna Flavell
When my beloved Boston Red Sox famously traded Nomar Garciaparra to the Chicago Cubs back in '04, I knew that it was for the best. But when Manny Ramirez was traded to the Los Angeles Dodgers just one short year ago, I had the opposite reaction. I knew Manny was trouble. I knew he was dragging the team down. But deep down, I was sorry to see him go.
Now that Manny has been hit with a 50-game suspension for failing a drug test—allegedly because of an impotence treatment to counteract the, um, negative side effects of steroid use—Boston fans can rest a bit more easily knowing that the Red Sox made the right move shipping him off to L.A. last summer (Jason Bay slugging .667 through 32 games doesn't hurt, either). But we here at PETA are left wondering: Why would Manny turn to pharmaceutical "performance enhancers" when the best way to combat impotence is a healthy vegetarian diet?
Most people these days understand that the saturated fat and cholesterol in meat, dairy, and eggs clogs the arteries to your heart, leading to an increased risk of heart disease. But eating meat actually impedes the blood flow to all your organs—including the one that comes with a Y chromosome. And the best way to be sure that organ will continue to come through for you is to go vegetarian.
With that in mind, PETA is urging Manny to consider switching to a vegetarian diet so that he can continue to come through in the clutch without failing any more drug tests. You can read our letter here, and you can learn more about the performance-enhancing benefits of a vegetarian diet here.
Written by Dan Shannon
When we heard that an elementary school in Windsor, Connecticut, was holding a yard sale to raise funds to spruce up its dilapidated playground, we saw a perfect opportunity pitch in—by paying to place our ads reading, "Tot teetering on obesity? Go Veg!" on the school's seesaws.
Our letter to the principal points out that kids who munch on chicken nuggets, fish sea kitten sticks, and pepperoni pizza face myriad health problems, including obesity, heart disease, and diabetes. For fat kids, our ad can turn recess, all too often a time of ridicule, into a chance to learn about how they can slim down and save their animal friends at the same time.
It's a no-brainer, really. When our paid ads are placed on playgrounds, everyone wins—schools, kids, and animals!
Written by Karin Bennett
The number of people who are willing to stand by as the Canadian government allows seals to be slaughtered each year by the hundreds of thousands is decreasing fast.
Recently, the U.S. Senate unanimously passed U.S. Senate Resolution 84, calling for an immediate end to the annual seal slaughter. This vote comes less than a week after the European Union voted to ban the sale of seal fur in its member countries.
The most powerful leaders in the world have voiced outrage about this barbaric tradition, and their cabinet members are in full agreement. Even Canada's own senators have tried to introduce bills to end the slaughter.
WAKE UP, CANADA! The rest of the world is trying to open your eyes, and you've hit the snooze button too many times already.
The Queen of England has gone and found herself at the center of a "doping scandal."
More precisely, it is Moonlit Path, her horse, who is at the center of the dispute. Trainer Nicky Henderson has been charged with allowing the 6-year-old horse to be injected with tranexamic acid—a substance that prevents hemorrhaging and is banned on British racetracks. (The drug is allowed to be administered in advance of a race, but it must have cleared the system by race day.)
And why exactly would trainers need to prevent hemorrhaging? Could it be that racing puts such an extreme stress on horses' bodies that heavy internal bleeding and blood clots are common? You bet. Horses used for racing also often develop bleeding lungs and gastric ulcers from being forced to perform far beyond their natural physical limits. Oh, and let's not forget about all the horses who are raced to death.
PETA Europe is writing to the Queen to remind her that—drugs or no drugs—horse racing is a cruel "sport" that should be relegated to the history books.
Each spring, zoos churn out baby animals like banks churn out big holiday bonuses for executives—but Average Joe and Jane don't grumble about tiger cubs. They simply coo at the babies.
Leave it to a PETA member wearing a tiger mask and holding a cardboard sign reading, "Pittsburgh Zoo Made Me Homeless," to bring home the point: Zoos should stop breeding animals and instead reinvent themselves as "rescue zoos."
Not only is Owain Yeoman one of the hottest males ever to come out of Wales, he also stars in the hottest new show on TV and is married to the hot and humane Lucy Davis. (Who can forget the Office star's sexy teddy ad?) That said, you can only imagine how psyched we were when Owain signed on to do a pro-vegetarian print ad and PSA for us.
You can also imagine how psyched he was when dropping meat from his diet helped him drop a few unwanted pounds—a "tight-abs testimonial" to the slimming powers of a vegetarian diet.
Now, it doesn't take a mentalist to sense that you'd like to see a bit of Owain, so I'll leave you with these for-PETA-Files-eyes-only exclusive videos:
Written by Amy Elizabeth
Tons! No, we didn't mean it like that. Jessica knows what it's like to live in a fishbowl, and although she may not be the brightest bulb in the room, we're hoping that she might empathize with whales and dolphins who are forced to be on display their entire lives and cancel her upcoming performance at SeaWorld.
Considering her stint on the MTV reality show Newlyweds: Nick and Jessica—and the relentless scrutiny that she's under 24/7—we think that Jessica might be able to relate to the whales, dolphins, and other miserable animals at SeaWorld whose every move is gawked at and snickered over as if they were on some bad reality TV show. At least, we hope she can.
Read the letter that we sent to Jessica via her papa, Joe, asking her to support the dolphins and to cancel her upcoming show at SeaWorld.
The deaths of three horses in two days of jumps racing at the Warrnambool Carnival in Victoria, Australia, has shocked so many Australians that jumps racing has been suspended indefinitely and may be banned in Victoria (it's already banned in all states and territories in Oz except Victoria and South Australia).
Supporters of Australian jumps racing, including racing minister Rob Hulls and Racing Victoria chief executive Rob Hines, are of course claiming to be concerned about safety. Warrnambool Racing Club's Andrew Pomeroy chimed in that the club had done "all it could" to make the course safe.
Apparently, "all it could" wasn't quite enough for Pride of Westbury, who crashed in front of the grandstand and suffered a broken neck; 8-year-old Hassle, who shattered a leg bone; or 9-year-old Clearview Bay, who also broke his neck when he fell after a jump.
We say go ahead and ban jumps racing, and then make its mouthpieces run several miles and hurl themselves over a few dozen hedges and fences in the horses' place. Now I'd pay money to see that!
Written by Alisa Mullins
From our families to yours … we hope you have a great Mother's Day!
We've got a few other cards to choose from if you want to send an animal-friendly "Thanks!" to your mom. Check them out and let us know which you think is best.
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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