The other day, I told you about vegetarian extreme fighter Jake Shields. You know what else is extreme? Professional arm-wrestling!

Specifically, vegan professional arm-wrestler Rob Bigwood is pretty awesome.

He had a special sponsor for this weekend's Big Apple Grapple—yes, us! And, we have to say, we're pretty proud—Rob took second place on both arms in his class! Check out the video.

Look at those guns! More importantly, look at the shirt! Way to represent, Rob; you've done animals proud!

Written by Amanda Schinke

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On Monday, a group of eighth graders at Colony Middle School in Palmer, Alaska, tormented a young moose on school grounds until the moose became so frightened that he repeatedly hurled himself into a fence until he died.

School officials won't disclose what the students did to provoke the moose's suicide, but we know one thing for sure: Bullying and violence toward animals often leads to or is part of an existing pattern of bullying and violence toward humans.

PETA has contacted the school's principal, Mary McMahon, to request that Colony Middle School allow us to help it incorporate a humane-education program into its curriculum immediately. The only way that the school's officials can prevent future tragic incidents is to teach their students to be compassionate toward animals.

Hopefully, Colony Middle School will take us up on our offer to help students cope with this crisis and learn to respect all living beings.

Written by Liz Graffeo

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People often hear about PETA's "big" victories for animals—such as how Donna Karan dropped fur from her collections—but that's just the tip of the iceberg. For instance, as a result of pressure from PETA, government officials in Ohio agreed to cancel plans to poison the pigeons who had made their homes near the county courthouse. The original plan was to serve up feeders full of poisoned birdseed to the unsuspecting pigeons. Messed up, right? Good thing we stepped in, because—thanks to our efforts—they'll be researching more humane methods.

The poison would have sent birds into convulsions, made them disoriented, and caused them to suffer for hours before dying. Poison is indiscriminate—any bird could ingest it. And the dead birds' bodies would also have posed a hazard to other animals, including cats, dogs, and birds of prey, who might consume them.

Not only is poisoning pigeons cruel, it doesn't even accomplish the long-term goal of getting rid of the population. Pigeons naturally maintain their numbers depending on the amount of food and space available. If 100 pigeons were poisoned, the surviving pigeons would breed more quickly to replace the dead members of their flock, which means that the population would actually increase over time. Case in point: These same officials had tried poisoning the flock in the past, only to find themselves with even more feathered friends in the long run.

Nonlethal methods of resolving conflicts with pigeons, such as Bird Barrier, are not only kinder but also more effective. Everybody wins!

Written by Lianne Turner