favthingsatl / CC

I'm not a huge football fan (I prefer baseball)—but I sure do like to eat. The meat-free offerings at the pro football stadiums listed below would be enough to convince me to shiver through a Sunday afternoon game, sans face paint, of course.

10. San Diego Chargers fans bolt to the concession stands at Qualcomm Stadium for veggie burgers, fruit salads, vegetable plates, taco salads, and the baked potato bar. There's even a seven-layer dip, which can be made vegan upon request.
9. The cruelty-free cuisine at Heinz Field—including veggie dogs, wraps, sandwiches, burgers, crudités, pasta, fresh fruit, and hummus—provide Pittsburgh Steelers fans with a winning lineup.
8. Tony Gonzalez, tight end for the Atlanta Falcons, notes the benefits that his nearly-vegan diet has on his game. His team's new home, the Georgia Dome, has plenty of savory meat-free options, including veggie burgers, a baked potato bar, a salad bar, baked five-spice seasoned tofu, curried grilled tofu cutlets, soba noodle stir-fry, and much more.
7. Have the Purple People Eaters become the Purple Veggie Eaters? Methinks so. After all, the Metrodome offers Minnesota Vikings fans a tantalizing lineup that includes veggie burgers, wraps, black-bean burgers, hummus, salads, fruit platters, and veggie platters.
6. Animal-friendly Cleveland Browns fans score big at Cleveland Browns Stadium's concession stands, which offer veggie burgers, baked potatoes, fruit salads, and the classic crowd-pleaser, PB&J.
5. Baltimore Ravens fans tackle animal abuse and meat-related illnesses when they order veggie burgers, burritos, and wraps—as well as veggie crudités, hummus, and fruit platters—at M&T Bank Stadium.
4. Want to know the real reason why Arizona Cardinal fans do the wave? They get on their feet for the meatless fare at University of Phoenix Stadium, where they can enjoy veggie burgers, bean and rice burritos, veggie stir-fry, crudités, fresh fruit, fajita bowls, and portobello sandwiches.
3. Green Bay Packers fans line up for Lambeau Field's healthy and humane veggie options, such as veggie brats (hello!), veggie burgers, baked potatoes, fresh vegetables, fresh fruit, and hummus.
2. San Francisco 49ers fans know that the long lines at Candlestick Park concession stands are worth the wait: Bellies are rewarded with mouthwatering veggie burgers, veggie dogs, and veggie burritos.
1. Delicious veggie burgers, dogs, burritos, and salads at Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum help the Oakland Raiders avoid the need for a quadruple bypass surgery.

Can't make it to any of the stadiums listed above? No need to wait for the Super Bowl to invite friends over to your game-day party—any Sunday will do.

Written by Karin Bennett

For more than two decades, Odessa Animal Control has sold homeless cats to the Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center (TTUHSC) for use in painful intubation exercises. A spokesperson for Odessa Animal Control has stated, "We don't have a problem with [selling cats to TTUHSC]. … We don't ask any questions."

If Odessa Animal Control did ask questions, it would learn that the cats are killed after hard plastic tubes are repeatedly forced down their throats and needles are stabbed into their chests—a fate that no animal guardian could bear hearing if his or her cat were the victim.

To share this disturbing information and urge local residents to push for changes in Odessa Animal Control's policy, we attempted to publish this ad in a local paper:

Unfortunately, our blog is the only place that you can see the ad because it was rejected by the paper. We aren't giving up so easily, though. By this time last year, cats had already been shipped off and killed at TTUHSC, but we recently confirmed that no animals have been sold or used in the procedures yet this year. Please help permanently end this cruelty today by urging Odessa Mayor Larry Melton and Odessa Animal Control to stop selling animals to Texas Tech and passing this along to everyone you know.

Written by Liz Graffeo

enjoyfashion / CC

We're not the only ones worshipping at the altar of design deity Stella McCartney. Harper's Bazaar has named the fur-free fashionista the best-dressed woman of 2009.

It's no coincidence that Stella—who is one of the most powerful innovators in the industry—has taken top honors. She is stunningly stylish proof that it's never chic to wear fur or leather. We're sure that Stella's benevolent reign over the fashion world is a permanent position. Compassionate couture always comes out on top.

Written by Logan Scherer

timeslive / CC

In Spain, the bullfight is on its way out. In Britain, it was fox hunting, which is now illegal. In the U.S., we have our own shameful traditions, including slavery, to dwell on. And in South Africa, apartheid may be a thing of the past, but another cruel custom persists.

Sadly, during the festival of Ukweshwama, a group of youths torment and slaughter a terrified bull with their bare hands. They rip out the bull's tongue, shove handfuls of dirt into his mouth, tear out his eyes, and mutilate his genitals. This horrible murder has been excused from compliance with laws against animal cruelty under the country's "cultural liberty" exemption.

Abusing animals does not bring honor to any culture. Indian humanitarian, journalist, government minister, and advocate for animals Maneka Gandhi knows that and has sent a letter on behalf of PETA Asia to South African President Jacob Zuma urging him to modernize this cruel ritual. She writes:

As Maneka Gandhi points out in her letter, it's impossible to deny the link between violence toward animals and violence toward people. We hope that President Zuma and other world leaders who care about making their countries less violent will put an end to horrific practices such as this.

Written by Heather Drennan

It's been years since my high school biology class, but I still remember the smell of the rotting pig corpses that we mutilated over the course of a nightmarish three-day lab. Piled in the corner of the room in a black garbage bag, the carcasses emanated a rancid smell that only got worse each day, and after each lab period, we all ate lunch in the same room—the lab doubled as our cafeteria.

Today, though, it's the sweet smell of victory that I'm waking up to. Nine months ago, a compassionate student at Oakton Community College contacted PETA about a professor who was having students in an anatomy and physiology class cut open live rats and mudpuppies to observe how their organs worked. We immediately contacted school officials to share information on the intelligent, complex animals who were being tormented and killed for these experiments and presented officials with cruelty-free and effective educational alternatives. This week, Oakton Community College let us know that it has stopped using live animals in ALL of its classes!

shiachat / CC

We're urging all schools (hear that, ASU?) to follow Oakton's enlightened path and replace their cruel classroom animal experiments with modern, more effective non-animal learning methods. Biology is the study of life—it just doesn't make any sense to kill animals to teach it. Urge schools in your area to get smart and go cruelty-free.

Written by Logan Scherer

We were flooded with phone calls and e-mails from ticked-off folks after Land and Sea, a TV show on Canada's CBC network, aired an episode about the annual Canadian seal massacre. But it wasn't for the reasons that you might think. People were outraged because the episode featured the manager of a Newfoundland gift shop recalling that Kevin Spacey bought a pair of slippers made of sealskin while filming a movie in the area.

fameball / CC

Kevin Spacey in sealskin?! We've always known Spacey to be a kind person, so we asked him to set the record straight about this rumor. Spacey's rep assured us that the Oscar-winning American Beauty star did not purchase sealskin slippers (or anything else) from that gift shop. So file this one under "false rumor" (or "rumour," for our Canuck compatriots).

If you're fed up with the cruelty of the Canadian seal slaughter—and the lies of its apologists—then please take a minute to add your voice to those calling for an end to the massacre. Then spread the word to persuade other folks to do the same.

Written by Jeff Mackey

The folks at totalbeauty.com have released their roundup of "Eight Cities With the Ugliest Guys." Hagerstown, Maryland, "scored" second place on the list, which cited lackluster libidos, flabulousness, and puny IQs, among other factors.

Axe, schmaxe. PETA's got the cure for homely Hagerstown residents:

Men who go vegan gain instant sex appeal. How so?

1. Veggie Viagra ring any bells?
2. Their extra cushioning melts away—vegans weigh 10 to 20 pounds less, on average, than their meat- and cheese-munching counterparts.
3. They're smart to avoid heart disease, cancer, diabetes, and other ailments that have been linked to meat consumption.
4. They radiate compassion because they no longer eat the flesh of abused animals.

To the men of Hagerstown: Take the "Pledge to Be Veg." You'll be saying, "Bye bye, Haggardtown" and "Hello, Handsomeland!" before you know it.

Written by Karin Bennett

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Political campaigning can get pretty dirty, and during the weeks leading up to last Tuesday's elections, the New Jersey gubernatorial race was no exception. Democratic incumbent Jon Corzine launched an attack ad against Republican Chris Christie that hit Christie below the belt—implying that he "threw his weight around" as a public official, literally.

While health care and the economy may have been the big issues on the table this election season, a survey by Public Policy Polling found that a hefty 11 percent of Jersey voters said that Christie's bulging waistline was a legitimate election issue, and 19 percent said it made them less likely to vote for him. Maybe Garden State residents are just proud to have the 10th lowest obesity rate in the U.S. and didn't want Christie weighing them down—but I'd say Christie should address this issue pronto.

Despite the obvious fat-bias, Christie came out on top and won the election, and we say, "Well, Chris—you've won, and now it's time to lose." We suggest that Christie enlist some help from carrot-crunching vegetarian Newark mayor Cory Booker—and adopt a vegan diet. Studies show that vegans are, on average, 10 to 20 pounds lighter than meat-eaters and that a vegetarian diet reduces the risk of heart disease by 50 percent—so it's obvious that going vegan would be the best way for Christie to shed pounds and maintain a healthy weight.

So, what do you think? With 23 percent of adults and 31 percent of children in New Jersey obese, should the governor-elect slim down and set an example of healthy living?

Written by Liz Graffeo

For a minute there, we thought Jeremy "Mercury Poisoning" Piven was serious when he said that he gave up soy milk for fear that it would give him "moobs."

I mean, come on, everybody knows that cow's milk—not soy milk—is the real culprit behind man boobs, right? According to Harvard scientist Ganmaa Davaasambuu, cow's milk "contains considerable amounts of female sex hormones"—especially milk from factory-farmed cows who are kept almost constantly pregnant. She estimates that dairy products account for 60 to 80 percent of the estrogens consumed by the average person.

But wait—there's more! Factory-farmed cows are commonly fed bovine growth hormone in order to stimulate their bodies to produce more milk. Hormone-treated cow's milk contains high levels of Insulin Growth Factor (IGF-1), which studies show can cause the dreaded gynecomastia (moobs). Milk consumption, with all its accompanying hormones, has also been linked to prostate cancer and breast cancer.

So, boys, if you're worried about maintaining your manly physique, pour some soy (or rice or almond) milk on your cereal—and pour the moob juice down the drain.

Written by Alisa Mullins

It's not like I don't already watch Bones religiously, but I'm definitely tuning in for this week's episode, in which our intrepid heroes, Brennan and Booth, try to get to the bottom of the murder of a chicken factory farmer. The main suspects are the farmer's neighbors—who are no doubt not terribly keen about living next door to a stinky, putrid factory farm—and animal rights activists. Considering, however, that the show's star, Emily Deschanel, actually is an animal rights activist, I have a feeling we won't be dealt with too harshly.

In the past, Bones has done a great job of exposing the cruelty of dogfighting and horse slaughter, so I'm hoping that the producers will manage to squeeze in some of the factory farm and slaughterhouse footage that we sent them for this episode. It would be pretty cool for the millions of Bones fans to get a look inside a typical factory farm.

Set your DVR: "The Tough Man in the Tender Chicken" airs tonight at 8:00 p.m. EST. In the meantime, you can get a sneak peek at the action in this slideshow:

Bones: Episode 5.06 "The Tough Man in the Tender Chicken" Photos

Written by Alisa Mullins