Courtesy of USDA

Hey, Soul Sister! PETA has sent an urgent letter to the rock band Train urging the group to cancel their performance at KFC's franchisee convention in San Antonio—or else face the music from PETA supporters—because of KFC's refusal to stop its suppliers' cruelty to chickens.

Many of the top names in music have taken a strong public stand against KFC, including Sir Paul McCartney, Pink, the Smashing Pumpkins, and Chrissie Hynde. Let's hope that Train gets on board, too, but if they take KFC's dirty money, they must carry the company's baggage—and PETA will protest their show.

How You Can Help Chickens

Even those of us who are not quite famous can tell KFC to take cruelty to chickens off the menu. Sign Pink's petition demanding that KFC require its suppliers to stop abusing birds (and don't eat at its restaurants until it agrees).

PHOTOS OF THE DAY

PETA UK's 2011 Sexiest Vegetarian woman, Sophie Barrett, got inked (temporarily) with a butcher's diagram to show Londoners that all animals have the same parts. She asked Brits to follow in the footsteps of Sir Paul McCartney to mark World Week for the Abolition of Meat by abolishing all animals' parts from their plates. Here's hoping Sophie's chuck brings animals luck.

To celebrate "Make a Difference" Day—a national day of volunteering taking place on Saturday—we're offering you the chance to win a copy of the aptly named One Can Make a Difference: How Simple Actions Can Change the World autographed by PETA President Ingrid E. Newkirk to help inspire you to make a difference for animals every day. 

One Can Make a Difference contains more than 50 original essays by "differencemakers," including His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Sir Paul McCartney, Willie Nelson, Russell Simmons, Brigitte Bardot, and Oliver Stone. The book also makes the point that you do not need to be famous to impact the world—all you need is determination.

To enter to win a signed copy of One Can Make a Difference, leave a comment about what you are doing to make a difference for animals.

To pick up a copy of One Can Make a Difference right now for yourself or for a friend, visit the PETA catalog. Happy "Make a Difference" Day!

The contest ends on October 31, 2011, and the most inspiring animal-friendly comment will win. We'll contact the winner on November 1, 2011. Make sure that you read our privacy policy and terms and conditions, as you're agreeing to both by commenting.

Written by Heather Faraid Drennan

All they need is love! Congratulations to Sir Paul McCartney and Nancy Shevell who were married in an intimate ceremony at London's Old Marylebone Town Hall on Sunday.

After the nuptials, longtime vegetarian and PETA supporter Sir Paul and his new bride invited family and close friends to his St. John's Wood estate for a three-course vegetarian feast and two wedding cakes. The bride looked radiant in a dress designed by Sir Paul's daughter, Stella, who is leather- and fur-free and also a PETA supporter. 

While many hearts are surely breaking anew around the world at news of "the cute one" being taken off the market, we're happy that Sir Paul, who gives so much of his time to helping animals, has found someone special to give all his loving to.

Written by Michelle Sherrow

All summer long, the millions of people who will visit Washington, D.C.'s National Mall will be greeted by  PETA's arresting "Glass Walls" display across from the Museum of Natural History. With 12 massive panels and a large-screen television playing Sir Paul McCartney's "Glass Walls" DVD, the display causes passersby to stop to watch, talk to PETA staff, and take away copies of the video and vegetarian/vegan starter kits.
 

 
One mother walking with her teenage son stopped, pointed, and told him, "Watch—this is how animals are treated at slaughterhouses. This is terrible!" She said she was going vegan and left with information. A young boy also repeatedly brushed off his impatient father so that he could continue to scan the panels. A passing bike rider vowed never to eat chicken again after stopping to watch the section of the video about chickens.

In the first month alone, more than 10,000 copies of "Glass Walls" were distributed, along with similar numbers of vegetarian/vegan starter kits, free stickers, and other resources to help people transition to a vegan diet. We expect to distribute more than 50,000 DVDs before summer's end and change the minds and lives of thousands of people.

If you are in D.C. this summer, swing by the National Mall to check out the "Glass Walls" display or check it out online at Animal Liberation Project. You can also get the information from PETA's literature catalog and grab some extras to give to your friends.

 
Written by Michelle Sherrow

All photos © Starmax Inc.

Ellen DeGeneres, Gordon Ramsay, and Entourage star Adrian Grenier are among the many stars who have recently done something noteworthy for animals:

• Guess who was named MVP of the MLB All-Star Game? Yep, that would be vegetarian royalty Prince Fielder. 
• Just when you thought you couldn't love PETA's 2009 Woman of the Year Ellen DeGeneres any more, she ups and rescues a sick kitten. 
• First of all, who knew that socialite Cornelia Guest was a vegan? While you digest that, consider the news that she's launching a vegan handbag line. Are you listening, Paris Hilton?
• Morrissey puts some muscle behind his "no meat" concert clause.
• Bluefin tunas join Adrian Grenier's entourage. 
• Weird Al Yankovic finds out the hard way that Sir Paul McCartney doesn't like chicken soup.
• First, Cupcake Wars crowned a vegan winner. Then Top Chef host Padma Lakshmi returned to her vegetarian roots. Now Master Chef, home of notoriously grumpy gourmet Gordon Ramsay, has challenged the contestants to create a vegetarian meal. Could a prime-time Post-Punk Kitchen show be far behind?

 
Written by Alisa Mullins

Multiplatinum recording artist Adele can melt hearts with her soulful voice, but her actions are saving lives. The singer told Britain's Radio 1 that she is leaving meat out of her repertoire.
 

Christopher Macsurak/cc by 2.0

 
Like many of her songs, Adele's inspiration came from love. "Whenever I am about to eat meat, I always see my little dog's eyes," she said.

Adele is quite right, of course: Cows, pigs, turkeys, chickens, and other animals killed for food feel pain and fear, just as dogs and cats do, and it doesn't make sense to love one yet eat the other.

To help Adele along her veggie journey, PETA U.K. has sent her a care package, including a vegetarian/vegan starter kit, Sir Paul McCartney's "Glass Walls" DVD, a few of our favorite cookbooks, and some delicious vegan treats!

Join Adele and countless others who are embracing vegetarianism. Sign PETA’s Pledge to Be Vegan for 30 Days and make animals' hearts sing.

 
Written by Michelle Sherrow

In honor of Father's Day, here are some fathers who are friends to the furry, feathered, and finned. We had way too many great dads like Kevin Nealon, Bryan Adams, Woody Harrelson, Iggy Pop, and Chad Ochocinco to choose from, so here are just a few of the fellas who make us glad for awesome dads:

• Ron Artest loves being a dad to his family, but he knows that dogs and cats are happier without their own brood of offspring and should always be spayed and neutered.
• Vegan dad Casey Affleck is starting his young sons out on a compassionate note, setting a great example by speaking out about the cruelty of the meat industry and lethal steel-jaw traps.
• Alec Baldwin is a proud pop who would never hop on a horse-drawn carriage.
• Tony Gonzalez and his wife could win an award for most beautiful parents, and this fur-free dad has a beautiful heart too.
• Happy first Father's Day to Carey Hart. He and his wife, Pink, seem like they'll be fun parents for their new baby girl, but they'll be pretty serious when teaching her about cruelty to animals.
• With a dad like Tommy Lee and a mom like Pamela Anderson, the Lee boys may grow up to work at PETA! We love any dad kind enough to give a homeless man $100 with the request, "Just don't buy KFC."
• Sir Paul McCartney obviously instilled animal-friendly values in his children, who are all vegetarian, including daughter Stella, who is also a cruelty-free fashion designer.
• Power dad Russell Simmons has been running with PETA for a long time, and he shows his children that being successful and being kind to animals go hand in hand.
• We're not the only ones celebrating fur-free father Amar'e Stoudemire. The Knicks captain is receiving a Father of the Year Award in New York City today.
• There's not a woodland creature who wouldn't love Forest Whitaker, and we're sure his kids think he's pretty darn great too.

Written by Michelle Sherrow

PETA Senior Vice President Dan Mathews was in Tampa this week to speak at the University of South Florida about a proposed bill that would make filming and photographing farms without the express consent of the owner a felony. Dan invited Senator Jim Norman from Tampa, who proposed the bill, to join him onstage to present his arguments, but the senator didn't show. Maybe he was afraid someone would take his picture.

Dan quipped, "That's right, a Kodak moment of a cow or a chicken is on par with rape and murder in Senator Norman's world."

After widespread ridicule, the language of SB 1246 was changed to make photographing farms a misdemeanor, but why should it be a crime at all?

"What is the Ag Committee afraid will be filmed?" asked Dan. "Are farmed animals engaged in illegal gambling late at night when nobody's looking?"

Or is the answer much more sinister: Do factory farmers (and their influential lobbyists) simply want to prevent the public from seeing the abuse going on behind their walls?
 

 
PETA's "Glass Walls" video, narrated by Sir Paul McCartney, shows exactly what farmers are afraid you'll see: animals jammed into filthy, windowless sheds, where they stand in their own waste and have their bodies mutilated without any painkillers. Not to mention the beatings by workers—and that's all before they're slaughtered. Unfortunately, factory farms and slaughterhouses don't have glass walls, which is precisely why it is so important for undercover investigators to be able to expose the abuse and alert people to what they're paying for every time they buy a chicken breast or a pork chop.
 

Written by Michelle Sherrow

We already know what your number one New Year's Resolution is—going vegan, right? It turns out that some celebrity chefs are also resolving to be kinder to animals—and their arteries—in 2011. In the current issue of O magazine, four gourmet gurus made the following veg-olutions: 

• Mario Batali, who previously announced that all his restaurants would be participating in Sir Paul McCartney's Meatless Mondays program, is continuing the trend by resolving to "master more vegetarian dishes" like spicy chickpea bruschetta. 
• Ellie Krieger, cookbook author and host of Food Network show Healthy Appetite, vows to "make sure to include a fruit or vegetable at every meal and snack."
• Alton Brown, Iron Chef commentator and host of Good Eats on the Food Network, wants to try to avoid supporting egg factory farms. "I don't want to have to worry about the chicken's welfare or what's in the egg," he says, probably referring to this summer's massive salmonella outbreak. 
• New York Times columnist Martha Rose Shulman wants to incorporate more quinoa (a high-protein grain that contains all eight essential amino acids) into her cooking and cites her quinoa salad with tofu, snap peas, and ginger vinaigrette as a tasty example.

Written by Alisa Mullins