Written by PETA
But she wasn't the main course—she was the guest of honor:
Angel came to PETA U.K.'s holiday dinner from Hen Haven—a safe sanctuary for chickens and turkeys who would otherwise have been slaughtered. Feasting on faux turkey, grilled figs, nut roast, and mince pies with new friends sure beats a short, traumatic life on a factory farm.
Written by Logan Scherer
My interest in CBS's Amazing Race started to wane when PETA pal Mike White and his dad were bumped from the show.
Well, the announcement that scientists in Holland have created a sort of pork in a petri dish means a different kind of amazing race is on—one that can save tens of millions of animals every year. As you may recall, PETA announced earlier this year that we'll pay $1 million to the first team of scientists who could create test-tube chicken flesh that looks and tastes like the "real deal" by June 30, 2012.
The Dutch scientists definitely have their work cut out for them if they're to grab PETA's reward money. The article says their "meat" is presently a gooey blob that "requires exercise, like human muscles, to turn it into a tougher steak-like consistency" and that they expect to have laboratory meat within five years. It doesn't sound appetizing—yet—and five years is a little after our contest deadline, but we're hopeful that they'll work out the kinks and apply their findings to create in vitro chicken flesh for public consumption in time to win the prize.
Until then, my animal-defending compadres and I will keep serving up mouthwatering Gardein to entice meat-lovers to kick their cruel, unhealthy meat addictions.
Written by Karin Bennett
Post-Thanksgiving bliss is a beautiful thing. You're so full you can barely move, and you can look forward to leftovers and a month of nonstop holiday music on the radio. But the best part of the Thanksgiving aftermath? Fur-Free Friday—the most joyous, humane shopping day of the year. This year we hosted more than 50 demos in the U.S., Canada, and even Johannesburg, South Africa, to kick off the fur-free season.
In Grand Rapids, Michigan, our breathtaking bunnies hopped their way into the hearts of delighted shoppers who happily took in the anti-fur message.
Meanwhile, a few cuddly friends (and PETA staffers) were in Norfolk, Virginia, urging passersby to love animals, not wear them.
This year, gear up for a warm, compassionate winter by pledging to make every day fur-free.
On last night's Family Guy, the show tried (sort of) to make the point that dogs' lives are not worthless (how risqué of them). But I'm not totally convinced that the animal rights message came across through the myriad of violent deaths of cartoon dogs.
Incidentally, I've been waiting, like, nine years for that oh-so-clever PETA/Peter joke. Especially since other notable animated shows tackled animal rights issues (and, yes, even PETA) years ago.
Family Guy's been on notice ever since we found out that its writers are captive manatees. (We're against that sort of thing, you know.) This episode has us thinking that Family Guy might want to fire the animal writers and hire people who can generate material that doesn't make us roll our eyes.
Written by Amanda Schinke
"I am deeply touched and thrilled to be awarded the PETA U.K. person of the year. When I first saw their video footage on foie gras production three years ago, I felt compelled to do something to help put a stop to this cruel delicacy. I have since become a passionate campaigner against foie gras, and am most humbled that my passion has helped make a positive difference in the lives of these animals."—Sir Roger Moore
On the heels of its recent Selfridges victory, PETA U.K. has named Sir Roger Moore 2009's Person of the Year.
The celebrated actor's tireless and successful efforts against foie gras began three years ago when Moore narrated a video about its production that has attracted more than 300,000 viewers. Since then, Moore has written to every member of the House of Commons asking them to help end foie gras sales in the U.K. and penned many pieces for national publications in his unending attempt to spread the word against the deadly force-feeding of ducks and geese.
For his inspiring accomplishments, Moore will be honored with a plaque and a copy of PETA President Ingrid E. Newkirk's One Can Make a Difference.
Two years ago, PETA UK began urging Selfridges to drop foie gras from its shelves so that it would stop contributing to the fatal force-feeding of ducks and geese. PETA UK and its supporters dauntlessly demonstrated, sent more than 5,000 e-mails to Selfridges, and placed thousands of phone calls to the retailer. We are thrilled to announce that all this hard work has paid off: Selfridges has pledged to stop selling foie gras forever.
The splendid news comes from Sir Roger Moore, PETA UK's committed celebrity spokesperson, who received the call directly from Selfridges. Moore's unwavering dedication, along with the inspiring passion of PETA UK's campaigners, attracted endless attention on television, in newspapers, and around the Internet—wherever you turned, PETA UK was there, spreading the message to give up foie gras.
This towering triumph is proof that every e-mail, phone call, and letter matters. Please help spread the success by writing to managers of local restaurants that still sell the vile food. Alert them to the gross cruelty behind foie gras, and ask them to remove it from their menus.
A Christmas gift just isn't a Christmas gift if it's not sealed with a kiss, which is why our snuggly seal jumped aboard a float at Toronto's Santa Claus Parade:
Follow the lead of Santa's surprise helper and urge Prime Minister Harper to end the seal slaughter.
Fox News host Glenn Beck may not be ready to sign PETA's "Pledge to Be Veg" just yet, but that didn't stop him from dishing up some choice words about Al Gore's continued, convenient omission of any mention of the meat industry's devastating impact on the environment.
"… I am siding with PETA on this one—once again asking Al Gore, 'If you really want to save the planet, put down the cheeseburgers and pick up the veggie burgers. Time for soy milk and Tofurky.' … I've said before I disagree with PETA, but I respect them because they are not hypocrites: They say what they mean and mean what they say. I just disagree with what they say—except when it calls for Al Gore to eat tofu."
Makes me wanna send Mr. Beck some vegan chocolate kisses.
Folks, trying to clean up the environment without going vegan is like trying to mask the smell of rotting garbage by hanging 100 fragrance trees from the ceiling. It doesn't work. The only way to get rid of the stink and cruelty to animals is to change what you put on your plate.
There's a lot of buzz right now about proposed legislation designed to revise decades-old regulations of toxic chemicals, which could be wonderful news. Unfortunately, language in the proposed bill—known as the "Kid Safe Chemicals Act"—would protect neither children nor the environment, and it would spell death via poisoning for a staggering number of animals
There is a major P.R. push for this legislation, in the form of a new campaign that you may have heard of—the Million Baby Crawl. This campaign comes from none other than the longtime cruelty-free company Seventh Generation.
We have alerted Seventh Generation to the problems associated with its campaign and hope to work with the company to get better science and animal protection language inserted into the Kid Safe Chemicals Act.
Great strides have been made in biology and toxicology during the past few decades that provide a better understanding of chemicals' hazards without relying on cruel and misleading animal tests. Non-animal test methods are faster and cheaper, so more information about more chemicals can be obtained quicker than through animal testing. Modernization of the underlying science is a crucial piece of any new chemical-management legislation, and it's critical that any new legislation promote the use and further development of modern, humane test methods.
Make no mistake: We are all in favor of protecting kids' health and the environment, but the current method of testing chemicals—poisoning and killing thousands of animals per chemical—provides data that just isn't useful. And considering that there are more than 80,000 chemicals that would undergo testing if this proposed legislation passes, that's an astronomical number of animals!
Who cares about the millions of animals who will suffer and die in these tests? We know you do!
Sign up here if you are interested in doing more. Updates will follow.
Yesterday, the U.K.'s Advertising Standards Authority ruled against a PETA U.K. ad that the watch group feels the public is too dense to understand. The decision was sparked by a sole complainant who thought that people might be confused by this billboard:
Personally, I think it's pretty straightforward, but moving on: How about this one, which PETA U.K. unveiled yesterday?
Hans-Gerhard Wagner of the U.N.'s Food and Agriculture Organization has acknowledged that factory farms create an "opportunity for emerging disease." The meat, egg, and dairy industries keep diseased animals in crowded, filthy conditions and feed them a steady diet of drugs to keep them alive. It shouldn't come as a shock that factory farms provide the ideal conditions for drug-resistant "superbugs" to develop.
Forgo the surgical masks, folks. The safest, easiest way to prevent animal-borne disease epidemics is to go vegan.
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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