© Joshua Katcher

Just so you know how low KFC will stoop to make a sale, the company has started selling its cancer-linked chicken in pink buckets to raise money for breast cancer research. This is almost beyond belief, considering that among the secret ingredients in KFC's Kentucky Grilled Chicken are PhIP and other chemicals known as heterocyclic amines, which have been linked to several types of cancer, including breast cancer. And a recent study shows that eating fried chicken significantly increases the odds of bladder cancer.

Now the company is concerned about fighting cancer? I don't think so.

You might think that because many people are going to buy this nonfood anyway, the proceeds may as well go to cancer research, but it turns out that's not even the case. Some small print on KFC's Web site reads, "Customer purchases of KFC buckets during the promotion will not directly increase the total contribution." But were you expecting anything else? Check out KFC's shameful history of cruelty to animals.

It's a slap in the face to cancer survivors too. When I mentioned KFC's new pink buckets to my best friend—a breast cancer survivor who went vegan after having a mastectomy and who now staunchly encourages other women to eat healthy plant-based foods and to support clinical research methods—she shuddered and said, "Oh, my God! Disgusting!"

A longer version of this blog originally appeared on Care2.

Written by Heather Moore

Can Kentucky Derby fans handle the truth? Outdoor advertisers in Louisville don't seem to think so. We sent the ad below to every billboard and bus ad company in town with the intention of running it during next week's Derby, but they all turned us down flat.

We wanted racegoers—and everyone—to know that the horrific on-track breakdown of Eight Belles at the end of the 2008 Kentucky Derby was no fluke. On average, three horses break down on racetracks in America every single day. That adds up to at least 2,000 racehorses dead on tracks since Eight Belles collapsed two years ago after both her front ankles snapped.

After being prodded by PETA, the racing industry has made some improvements, including banning steroids from the states where Triple Crown races are run, but the misuse of legal drugs is still the biggest cause of breakdowns and deaths, and the industry has yet to address that issue in any meaningful way.

Many trainers use injections of painkillers and anti-inflammatory drugs to mask fatigue and injury and make horses feel well enough to run when they should be resting and recovering. Racing subjects horses' bodies to punishing stresses that can lead to breakdowns. Racing insiders tell us that some horses are injected with various drugs 25 to 30 times in the week before a race, and it's all legal.

PETA advocates a ban on all drugs during the week leading up to a race, among other reforms. Please take a moment to send an e-mail to the Kentucky Horse Racing Authority to let its officials know that Eight Belles has not been forgotten and to demand that the authority take steps to ensure that no more horses die in pursuit of the roses. As for the Derby: Don't go, don't watch, and don't bet.

Written by Alisa Mullins

Dogfighters are cowardly scum. Just ask the "Scumdogs of the Universe"—better known as thrash-metal band GWAR, whose lead shrieker Oderus Urungus unleashes his wrath on dogfighting in a new peta2 video.

In the video, a chained GWAR "slave" is pitted against Guy Kozowyk of metal masters The Red Chord in a WWE-esque, no-holds-barred match. Unlike dogfights, in which dogs are forced to tear each other to shreds, no real blood is shed in this match, and the willing participants live to fight against dogfighting another day.

The Supreme Court recently struck down a law banning the distribution of videos depicting illegal conduct such as dogfighting, but that doesn't mean that you have to be an intergalactic humanoid barbarian (unless you're into that) to combat this blood sport. If you find evidence that dogfighting is taking place in your area, please contact your local humane society or police department right away. You might also want to contact neighborhood watch groups in your area to encourage them to keep an eye out for possible dogfighting rings. Whatever you do, please declare "GWAR" on dogfighting!

Written by Amy Skylark Elizabeth

In a tweet feat of epic proportions, PETA nabbed the number two spot in USA Today's #AmericaWants hash tag contest on Twitter! The great news was announced in an ad that ran in yesterday's USA Today.

Kudos to all of you who tweeted in support of PETA's campaign to stop Canada's bludgeoning of baby seals. That includes the wonderful Pink, Pamela Anderson, Channing and Jenna Tatum, Perez Hilton, and Stephanie Pratt.

But this is no time to rest on our laurels: We have to keep the pressure on the Canadian government. Hurry—while your Twitter finger is still twitching, send a tweet to Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper letting him know that the tweeps have spoken and it's time to ban the seal slaughter.

Written by Alisa Mullins

Picture this: It's 1773 and the young poet Anna Barbauld is working as an assistant in the laboratory of vivisector Joseph Priestley. In order to study breathing, Priestley tormented live mice, and he did it without giving them any anesthetic (as vivisectors today still do in many cases).

Aaron Logan / CC by 1.0

One night, Priestley left his next victim—a mouse who would be put into a "breathing tank" (read: "suffocation tank") that would be pumped empty of oxygen—in a cage on his desk. Anna was so moved by the sight of this doomed animal that she penned a poem from the mouse's point of view, folded up the paper, and stuck it between the bars of the cage for Priestley to find in the morning. No one knows if it moved him at all.

For here forlorn and sad I sit,
Within the wiry grate;
And tremble at th' approaching morn,
Which brings impending fate.

...

The well taught philosophic mind
To all compassion gives;
Cast's round the world an equal eye,
And feels for all that lives.

The mouse's plea for life and liberty is so touching that actor Anne Bobby actually broke down while reading the poem on the air for NPR. Luckily for the rhyming couplet–challenged, you don't have to be Shakespeare to make a powerful case for animal rights. You can do it in a letter to the editor, a letter to your legislators, or even in 140 characters or less.

Written by Lindsay Pollard-Post

This just in: First daughter Malia Obama regularly reminds her dad about the plight of tigers, a species on the verge of extinction yet still exploited for human entertainment. It happens so frequently that first lady Michelle Obama told a group of kids visiting the White House that the family talks about tigers at least once a week and said, "I think, the Obama household, we're trying to save the tigers."

Let's hope that the Obamas make a stand for tigers right here at home by speaking out against the use of these magnificent animals in circuses. The first family would be appalled to know that their favorite animal is being whipped, crammed into cages in which they can barely move, and forced to jump through hoops and hop on their hind legs under the constant threat of punishment. Word to Malia: "Ringling hurts tigers!"

Written by Jennifer O'Connor