Written by PETA
With Mason's dashing arrival and our fave fauxvocative sister becoming Mrs. Lamar Odom, the Kardashian clan has been busy. But on last night's episode of Keeping Up With the Kardashians, Kim's storyline went beyond her on-again sparks with Reggie Bush and made dog lovers everywhere give her "two paws up." Kim found an abandoned Chihuahua outside a nail salon, named her Princess, and took her in. She then brought Princess to a vet who performed lifesaving uterine surgery and whose assistant eventually adopted her. Kim was so moved by the experience that she even went back to volunteer at the pound where she first brought Princess. Aww! Maybe this experience (and some help from lil' sis Khloe) will be enough to convince her to star in our "Be an Angel for Animals" ad campaign?
Written by Christine Doré
Let me count the ways … in which PETA's proposed chicken-feces sculpture of Colonel Sanders would be a perfect centerpiece for downtown Corbin, Kentucky, where Sanders set up mass-murder shop in the 50s.
The city of Corbin has plans to erect a bronze statue of Colonel Sanders, but before the city memorializes the Colonel, we want to remind everyone of the filth and suffering that the millions of chickens killed for KFC are forced to endure. Could you think of a more appropriate way to honor Sanders' legacy of cruelty, obesity, and possible racial insensitivity than with the same thing KFC's full of?
Written by Logan Scherer
Adult film star Sasha Grey knows that when animals are involved, you should always say "No" to sex. That's why she's baring it all in PETA's newest ad, which the porn legend and star of Steven Soderbergh's critically acclaimed The Girlfriend Experience unveiled after delivering the keynote speech today at the Adult Entertainment Expo in Las Vegas.
Grey is urging everyone to help curb the companion animal overpopulation crisis by spaying and neutering their dogs and cats in order to prevent pregnancies. Each year, up to 8 million dogs and cats wind up in U.S. animal shelters, and about half of them must be euthanized because of a lack of suitable homes. "I think spaying and neutering is incredibly important," said Grey. "[I]t keeps the animals out of the shelters and there's too many unwanted animals out there already." Um, I know it's only been a week, but can I make a nomination for PETA's Woman of the Year for 2010?
Ms. Goat is quite popular in the open-air copper mine where she has lived for the past three years. Beloved by the miners who work in this region, she takes refuge in a small nearby cave when it becomes too cold outside. But one recent chilly day, she wandered off and became stuck on a ledge, 100 feet in the air, without access to food, water, or shelter from the elements.
The goat's loyal mining friends spotted her on the ledge but were stumped as to how to rescue her. For five days, she remained stranded, and she couldn't last much longer. So the miners contacted PETA. Our caseworkers immediately coordinated a rescue effort with local authorities and the mine supervisors who, together, coaxed Ms. Goat off the ledge to safety.
When the news of this beloved goat's homecoming was announced over the mining speaker, the cheers from her faithful buddies were deafening. If you ever encounter an animal in distress, call local authorities for immediate assistance. If that doesn't work, get local media outlets involved! There is always someone who can help, so do not rest until your concerns for the animal in question are resolved. Your voice can often make all the difference for an animal in need!
It was a long, traumatic tumble down into darkness for four ducklings who recently fell into a 12-foot storm drain at a Florida apartment complex. Hungry and helpless, the ducklings were stranded at the bottom of the drain for at least six hours and faced certain death by drowning.
A compassionate passerby discovered these trapped ducklings and immediately called PETA. We contacted two heroic members of the Animal Rights Foundation of Florida (ARFF), and they, along with the local fire department, acted quickly to rescue the ducklings and reunite them with their worried mother, who hovered nearby.
PETA is currently trying to work with the property manager to retrofit these storm drains so that no more animals face this terrible fate.
If you spot an injured, orphaned, or trapped wild animal, please call your local wildlife rehabilitation center and animal control immediately. If that doesn't work, call the fire department. And if necessary, get local media outlets involved! Remember, never to attempt to take care of rescued wildlife yourself—always seek help from a trained professional. And if you ever become aware of a situation that poses obvious danger to wildlife—like an open storm drain in a pond where ducks reside—speak up and ensure that safeguards are implemented. The best way to protect wildlife from life-threatening emergencies is to prevent them from happening in the first place.
Well, Jessica's thinking about opening her heart and home to a new pooch and word on the street is that she "wants a rescue dog."
We're thrilled to hear that she's thinking about rescuing a dog instead of buying one from a breeder. Today, we wrote to the star to urge her adopt her new friend from an animal shelter, pointing out that millions of dogs are euthanized at shelters every year simply because there aren’t enough homes for all of them. Even if she has her heart set on a particular breed, there are many purebreds at open-admission animal shelters and certainly many who are in the care of breed-specific rescue groups.
We hope, hope, hope that Jessica Simpson will join the long list of caring celebrities, including Charlize Theron, Katherine Heigl, Kyra Sedgwick, Audrina Patridge, and Alicia Silverstone, who have saved a life (or two or three) by adopting homeless animals.
Written by Karin Bennett
PETA's Rescue Department is always on call to help animals out of life-threatening emergencies. Case in point: A rescue worker was recently awakened by a page regarding an anhinga who had somehow become entangled in a tree limb. Anhingas are tropical birds found in the Everglades, and this Florida caller was worried about the frightened animal, who was hanging upside down and thrashing about, frantically trying to get free.
We contacted law-enforcement officials immediately, and they arrived within minutes. They freed the bird and then took her to a local wildlife rehabilitator, where she received stitches and quiet recovery time to help her injuries heal before her release.
The threats to birds, as well as land and aquatic animals, are everywhere and often involve plastic debris (like six-pack holders), fishing line, netting, and bird-deterrent mesh. A recent news report about a skunk who was freed after he'd gotten his head stuck in a peanut butter jar is yet another example of how paying close attention to wildlife can save a life.
Please always try to help wild critters out of dangerous situations, and consider how debris can harm animals. Cut up six-pack rings, rinse out recyclables, and flatten cans, and safely dispose of others' carelessly discarded fishing line when you find it. Anhingas, skunks, and other animals thank you in advance for caring.
For those of you who receive PETA's quarterly magazine, Animal Times, you're in for a treat (as always) when the latest issue hits mailboxes this month. If you haven't gotten around to subscribing (it's free with your PETA membership), here's one of the many great articles you'd find—an exclusive sneak peek at PETA President Ingrid E. Newkirk's newest book, The PETA Practical Guide to Animal Rights. Don't say we never gave you anything:
Man's best friend isn't, in many parts of the world. In Korea, the Philippines, Vietnam, and China, among other places, dogs are kept in the burning sun in small cages behind restaurants, often with tin cans shoved over their muzzles and their broken forelegs tied behind their backs. They are "tenderized" by being beaten while alive and then strangled to death and skinned for their flesh. In Thailand, dog-hide factory trucks prowl the streets, offering to trade plastic buckets for live dogs, who will be slaughtered and made into bags, drum skins, and golf-club covers. I grew up in India, where—although dogs are not eaten—mange-covered and starving stray animals are so common and so pathetic that they can't help but capture your attention. In the pounds, death was courtesy of a crude electrocution machine that seared the animals' skin and often set their fur on fire or via blows from men wielding billy clubs. In Taiwan—which has a robust economy as well as a large Buddhist population—one would think that animals would fare much better. The reality is quite the opposite. In Taiwan's pounds, death for dogs can come from live burial (digging a pit and throwing the dogs into it), electrocution, poison-laced food, starvation, or drowning. In April 1998, I rescued 11 dogs from the Keelung city pound's drowning tank and extracted a promise from the minister of the environment to immediately stop drowning animals. The city administrators have been good to their word, but all these years later, animals in Sanchung, Tu Chung, and other cities continue to suffer, confined to cramped, filthy cages at severely crowded pounds. Pressure is still desperately needed to bring about reforms. I used to harbor the illusion that all animals in Europe and North America were well-treated. But we have plenty of room for improvement too—to say the least. A Baltimore, Maryland, rescue group called Alley Animals has seen it all, right here in America: animals with festering wounds from slingshots and bottles, cats with elastic bands embedded in their necks, kittens blinded and used as bait in pitbull fights, abandoned Easter rabbits, a rooster wearing a broken ankle leash, and even a green iguana—now the most common exotic throwaway pet, according to news reports. Alley Animals operates simply and on a shoestring. When dusk falls on Baltimore, the group's volunteers drive into the sprawling old city's most rundown areas. Their job is to find the animal waifs and strays who creep out from their hiding places when the city grows quiet, knowing that they are less visible to juveniles armed with free time and a rock or a firecracker. One evening, volunteer Alice Arnold and her partner for that night's trip, Eric, were just leaving an alley after putting out food when Eric said, "Did you see that puppy?" He pointed to an overturned reclining chair amid the trash, where a tiny head was sticking out ever so slightly, the puppy's reddish-brown fur almost blending in with the color of the old chair in the alley's black shadows. The stuffing had come out of the chair, allowing the dog to claim its interior as her shelter from a world that had rejected her. Within a week of her rescue, it was obvious that the puppy—now known as "Stuffing"— was very intelligent and lovable. After a few weeks, Stuffing had gained weight, was paper-trained, and spent every night snuggled up in bed with her new human friend. Alice says that to look at her now, no one would ever guess that this happy little girl spent the first months of her life eating from trash cans and sleeping inside an overturned chair in a dark alley. Most people don't think that the problems of strays and chained "backyard" dogs have anything to do with them. But they do. The biggest nightmare plaguing domesticated animals in our society does not involve the wanton acts of violence directed toward them by cruel humans. Rather, it involves thoughtlessness by otherwise intelligent and caring people who simply do not understand what or who dogs and cats really are, and what they need to thrive.
Man's best friend isn't, in many parts of the world. In Korea, the Philippines, Vietnam, and China, among other places, dogs are kept in the burning sun in small cages behind restaurants, often with tin cans shoved over their muzzles and their broken forelegs tied behind their backs. They are "tenderized" by being beaten while alive and then strangled to death and skinned for their flesh. In Thailand, dog-hide factory trucks prowl the streets, offering to trade plastic buckets for live dogs, who will be slaughtered and made into bags, drum skins, and golf-club covers.
I grew up in India, where—although dogs are not eaten—mange-covered and starving stray animals are so common and so pathetic that they can't help but capture your attention. In the pounds, death was courtesy of a crude electrocution machine that seared the animals' skin and often set their fur on fire or via blows from men wielding billy clubs.
In Taiwan—which has a robust economy as well as a large Buddhist population—one would think that animals would fare much better. The reality is quite the opposite. In Taiwan's pounds, death for dogs can come from live burial (digging a pit and throwing the dogs into it), electrocution, poison-laced food, starvation, or drowning. In April 1998, I rescued 11 dogs from the Keelung city pound's drowning tank and extracted a promise from the minister of the environment to immediately stop drowning animals. The city administrators have been good to their word, but all these years later, animals in Sanchung, Tu Chung, and other cities continue to suffer, confined to cramped, filthy cages at severely crowded pounds. Pressure is still desperately needed to bring about reforms.
I used to harbor the illusion that all animals in Europe and North America were well-treated. But we have plenty of room for improvement too—to say the least.
A Baltimore, Maryland, rescue group called Alley Animals has seen it all, right here in America: animals with festering wounds from slingshots and bottles, cats with elastic bands embedded in their necks, kittens blinded and used as bait in pitbull fights, abandoned Easter rabbits, a rooster wearing a broken ankle leash, and even a green iguana—now the most common exotic throwaway pet, according to news reports.
Alley Animals operates simply and on a shoestring. When dusk falls on Baltimore, the group's volunteers drive into the sprawling old city's most rundown areas. Their job is to find the animal waifs and strays who creep out from their hiding places when the city grows quiet, knowing that they are less visible to juveniles armed with free time and a rock or a firecracker.
One evening, volunteer Alice Arnold and her partner for that night's trip, Eric, were just leaving an alley after putting out food when Eric said, "Did you see that puppy?"
He pointed to an overturned reclining chair amid the trash, where a tiny head was sticking out ever so slightly, the puppy's reddish-brown fur almost blending in with the color of the old chair in the alley's black shadows. The stuffing had come out of the chair, allowing the dog to claim its interior as her shelter from a world that had rejected her.
Within a week of her rescue, it was obvious that the puppy—now known as "Stuffing"— was very intelligent and lovable. After a few weeks, Stuffing had gained weight, was paper-trained, and spent every night snuggled up in bed with her new human friend. Alice says that to look at her now, no one would ever guess that this happy little girl spent the first months of her life eating from trash cans and sleeping inside an overturned chair in a dark alley.
Most people don't think that the problems of strays and chained "backyard" dogs have anything to do with them. But they do. The biggest nightmare plaguing domesticated animals in our society does not involve the wanton acts of violence directed toward them by cruel humans. Rather, it involves thoughtlessness by otherwise intelligent and caring people who simply do not understand what or who dogs and cats really are, and what they need to thrive.
Want to read the rest of Ingrid's new book? You can order your very own copy at PETACatalog.com. In the meantime, you can find out what you can do to help strays and other neglected and abused animals here.
Written by Alisa Mullins
In case you forgot how smart, social, and absolutely adorable pigs are, meet Sherlock. Found wandering down a rural road in Suffolk, Virginia, this little guy was captured and taken to the local animal shelter:
When he was found, Sherlock was still a baby, but he was already castrated and his tail had obviously been docked. That means that this plucky little piglet likely fell off a truck headed to a growing/finishing barn—which is what the piggy flesh industry calls the factories that are used to fatten up little pigs like Sherlock for slaughter. On factory farms, piglets are taken away from their moms when they are less than 1 month old. Workers cut off their tails, clip their teeth with pliers, and castrate the males—all without painkillers. The animals spend their entire lives in extremely crowded pens on tiny slabs of filthy concrete. It gets even more heartbreaking when you factor in the abuse that these animals face: A recent undercover investigation of an Iowa pig factory farm, which supplies piglets to Hormel, documented that workers beat pigs with metal rods and sexually abused them with canes.
When one of our fieldworkers saw the headline about Sherlock in the Suffolk paper, she immediately went to work to find this guy a wonderful home. Click here to see how Sherlock's story ends!
Written by Amy Elizabeth
Tropical Storm Ondoy caused severe flooding in many areas of metropolitan Manila last weekend. While PETA Asia-Pacfic's Manila office survived Ondoy intact and local staffers and their animal companions are safe, the storm caused massive damage.
As many of us remember from Hurricane Katrina, animals are often left in desperate situations after disasters, and PETA Asia-Pacific staffers, along with members of the Philippine Animal Welfare Society (PAWS), have been busy rescuing animals in distress.
PAWS—with which PETA Asia-Pacific works closely year-round on issues such as spaying and neutering and stopping the introduction of greyhound racing to the Philippines—has also opened its shelter as an evacuation center for companion animals affected by the storm.
Tropical Storm Ondoy provides a sobering reminder that we all need to plan ahead to ensure the safety of our animal companions during natural disasters. You can learn more about preparing your companions for storms and other disasters here.
Written by Jeff Mackey
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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