Written by Michelle Kretzer
Because of the throngs of people who had gathered outside to protest, it was hard to spot those who were trickling into Brooklyn's Barclays Center on Ringling Bros. circus's opening night. More than 200 animal advocates came together to make sure that Ringling's reception was chillier than a New York winter.
While half the group circled the block, hoisting signs and chanting, the other half flanked the crosswalks and handed leaflets and educational coloring books to parents and children.
If any of the attendees weren't aware of how Ringling abuses animals, they certainly were after they saw the behind-the-scenes photos of trainers slamming baby elephants to the ground, gouging them with steel-tipped bullhooks, and shocking them with electric prods. And if that didn't do the trick, the screening of PETA's video exposé narrated by Alec Baldwin, which showed trainers beating and tormenting elephants, moments before a performance likely did.
Many of the advocates plan to return to the Barclays Center every night that the circus is in town to make sure that everyone in the Big Apple gets the message about cruelty under the big top.
Last year, PETA helped successfully defeat a series of "ag gag" bills, which would have made it a crime to film cruelty to animals on factory farms, in Florida, Minnesota, and New York. Now, another round of these unconstitutional bills has begun—in Missouri, New York, and Utah—and it's up to us to squelch these measures again.
Time and time again, PETA's undercover investigations of factory farms have produced video evidence of cruelty to animals that has helped authorities prosecute the offenders. Investigators have documented that workers slammed newborn piglets' heads into concrete floors and left them to die in agony, employees at a foie gras farm drowned female hatchlings, and workers at a turkey farm jumped on turkeys' stomachs to make them "pop."
Don't let factory farms hide animal abuse behind shady laws. Here are three ways that you can help animals on factory farms this week:
*Standard messaging and data rates apply. For full terms, please click here.
Thanks to a Christmas display at the framing shop of John Esty and John Bartlett, anyone wearing fur on New York City's Greenwich Avenue will feel like the West Village idiot.
Written by PETA
'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.
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.
A PETA member found a fun way for her little car to send a big message in the Big Apple.
New York resident Emily McCoy wants NYC to go v-e-g to save animals and the planet. Switching to a vegan diet is easier than navigating bridge-and-tunnel traffic and more effective in preventing climate change than switching to a hybrid car. So we can have our vegan cake and our classic cars too.
Written by Michelle Sherrow
No animals were arrested in the making of this protest, but yesterday in Zuccotti Park Liberty Square, a "pig," "cow," and "chicken" joined the Occupy Wall Street protesters to push for more corporate accountability. Our animals were at the center of a whirlwind of police, photographers, protesters, and intrigued passersby who stopped to read the animals' posters and pick up copies of PETA's vegetarian/vegan starter kit.
Bearing delicious vegan pizzas, the animals—representing 100 percent of the animals raised for food in the U.S.—brought attention to the fact that corporate greed is responsible for billions of animals' being treated like cogs in a meat machine rather than the intelligent, sensitive individuals they are.
On factory farms, pigs have their tails and testicles cut off without being given any painkillers; cows are fattened for slaughter on barren, filthy feed lots; and chickens are crammed by the tens of thousands into airless sheds, where their accumulated waste results in ammonia-laden air that burns their eyes and throats.
To opt out of the corporate abuse of animals, order your own free vegetarian/vegan starter kit and get busy breaking down the barricades to protecting animals, your health, and the planet.
Rick Dutrow and Big Brown, one of Rick's many horses who suffered becausehe was forced to race
Great news—notorious thoroughbred trainer Rick Dutrow Jr. won't be drugging, overworking, or breaking more horses anytime soon—at least not in the great state of New York. The New York State Racing & Wagering Board has kicked Dutrow to the curb: He's banned from racing in the state for the next 10 years—an unprecedented punishment.
Dutrow, the trainer of the 2008 Kentucky Derby winner Big Brown, has received nearly 70 citations over the course of his career for a variety of violations, including for illegally drugging his horses.
PETA has sent the board a bouquet of flowers as a token of our appreciation for sparing countless horses from the reckless and dangerous actions of this trainer.
Please help other horses who are suffering in the cruel horseracing industry by speaking out against deadly speed tests in which many young horses are injured or killed after being forced to run at breakneck speeds and urging The Jockey Club to implement the Thoroughbred 360 Lifecycle Fund to ensure that racehorses are retired, not slaughtered, after they cross the finish line for the last time.
Written by Jennifer O'Connor, image by banamine | cc by 2.0
As observances of September 11, 2001, take place across the country, PETA thinks back to all the cats, dogs, birds, hamsters, fish, and other companion animals who waited in vain for the return of their loving guardians who lost their lives that day. Especially the ones trapped inside apartments in the cordoned off "Red Zone." PETA received call after call from people desperate to reach their dearly loved animals after being barred from returning to their homes. PETA immediately dispatched a rescue team to New York.
PETA Vice President Daphna Nachminovitch—who took a PETA team from Norfolk, Virginia, to New York right away—will always remember the destruction and despair. "It was total chaos and heartbreak," she recalls. "We struggled to get through various barriers and roadblocks to reach animals who needed us—and whose guardians were desperate for us to retrieve them. We were able to get some building superintendents and firefighters to bring some of the animals out, but most perished. We were also able to care for traumatized animals at an impromptu rescue center and managed to reunite a person here and a person there with their beloved animals. It was a trip that will forever remain burned into our brains."
PETA's Emergency Response Team also rescued more than 100 turtles from a market in New York's Chinatown. And PETA was on the ground following the attack on the Pentagon, supplying dogs who were searching for survivors through the broken glass and twisted metal with protective booties.
September 11 was a harrowing time for all beings, and one that continues to affect us as a nation. When you observe September 11 today, please think of all the individuals who suffered and died because of an act of hatred. Let's resolve to open our hearts as much as we can to everyone—regardless of race, color, species, gender, creed, nationality, or religion—every day.
Written by Joe Taksel
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.
Follow PETA on Twitter!