After learning that New Orleans has been designated one of the most artery-clogging cities in America, PETA has offered to help fight plaque buildup with a pinup ambulance ad:

Nurse: © iStockphoto.com/Pavel Sazonov    Ambulance: © iStockphoto.com/Jon Patton

Our ad could certainly help New Orleans residents reduce their risk of heart disease. Their number of fender benders, however, might be on the rise …

Why a rickshaw was on Bourbon Street in New Orleans is anyone's guess, but for the horse pulling it, it was far from the Big Easy: He fell to the ground and was dead before humane authorities arrived at the scene. A witness reported that the horse appeared to be thin and not well cared for.

Mules have been used to provide carriage rides in the city's French Quarter for many years, and they often suffer when forced to haul oversized loads in Louisiana's notoriously muggy heat. It's time to get mules and horses off New Orleans' streets.

Please ask the City Council to ban carriage rides and any other conveyance pulled by animals in New Orleans. Click here to find contact information for the councilmembers.

Some East Coast residents are actually enjoying the relentless snowstorms that have been battering the Eastern Seaboard. Former Denver stray Ted (left) challenges Nola—whom PETA evacuated from New Orleans (hence her name) in the wake of Hurricane Katrina—to a race through a winter wonderland.

Nola now lives with PETA Foundation staffer Sarah McCluskey in Boston. Looks like this former southern belle is giving snow veteran Ted a run for his money.

Time to check in on a few of the many homeless animals we rescued from overflowing shelters in oil-ravaged Louisiana with the help of our tireless angel for animals, Pamela Anderson.

When he's not admiring his expansive toy collection …

Chic, formerly known as Bruce, likes to lounge with his new mom on their pleather couch.

The only threats facing Tom now are interruptions to his catnaps by his adoring human companion.

The fact that he's missing half a leg in no way hampers Marshall's ability to play bodyguard as Bubbles nods off. These two get mighty tuckered from "working" in the PETA Foundation's Legal Department.

This shot of Cassie might be the most ridiculous photo I've ever seen—ridiculously cute, that is.

If there's room in your heart and home—as well as your schedule and budget—consider finding the love of your life at your local animal shelter.

Written by Karin Bennett

homeschoolingaddkids / CC

Recent research shows that dogs are at least as clever as a 2-year-old human child—but dear Rex won't yell "No!" at everything, like a kid in the throes of the "terrible twos."

Dogs can learn, on average, between 250 and 165 words, depending on which study you read. They have basic math skills (and can even call us out when we add incorrectly), and they're skilled problem-solvers. Perhaps they are more like 20-year-olds.

Come to think of it, this might explain why Lassie always had to save Timmy from falling down wells.

If you really want to get inside another animal's head, allow me to direct you to New Orleans, where a virtual-reality exhibit allows humans to experience what it must be like to have the heightened senses of sight and hearing that other species enjoy naturally.

The exhibit allows visitors to see in ultraviolet light, as birds do, and hear the ultra-low frequencies that whales and other animals communicate in every day.

It looks as if Mark Twain was on the right track when he said, "It is just like man's vanity and impertinence to call an animal dumb because [he or she] is dumb to his dull perceptions."

Written by Jeff Mackey