More than a dozen PETA members in Tampa, Florida, recently got a jump-start on telling Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus exactly what they think of the cruelest show on Earth. The protesters showed their disapproval by gathering along the route that the circus's animal train took to the St. Pete Times Forum, where the circus will be performing.

Um, excuse me. Is parading 3-ton animals through the streets safe for anyone?

The protesters received many waves and honks of support from rush-hour drivers, and they plan to reunite for more demonstrations during Ringling's shows.

In other big-top news, two Lansing, Michigan, businesses dropped their sponsorship of the Caravan Circus after learning from PETA and a local student group that elephants  in circuses are beaten with sharp bullhooks and spend most of their lives in chains. PETA is sending both companies a Compassionate Business Award to thank them for taking a stand against circus cruelty.

Written by Michelle Sherrow

Classrooms are for students, not animals. This is the conclusion that Margaret Barthel, the head of the science department at Tampa, Florida's Freedom High School, has finally come to after an appearance in court this week resulted in Barthel's being punished for cruelty to the animals she kept in her classroom.

PETA was outside the courthouse in full force!

In Barthel's classroom at Freedom High, several class "pets" were abused and neglected: Nine gerbils died after they were deprived of food and water for more than two weeks, finches died of exposure, and a ball python froze to death. As a result of the cruelty citations, Barthel has relinquished her (still-living) ball python to Hillsborough County Animal Services, paid a $1,000 fine, donated $500 to animal services, and committed to keeping animals out of her classroom permanently.

We're hoping that in light of this incident, Freedom High School Principal Chris Farkas will heed our calls and prohibit the use of animals in all the school's classrooms. Please use this form to let him know that students can and do learn about responsibility, animal behavior, and hands-on science without keeping animals on display in classrooms.

Written by Liz Graffeo

Deflocked, baby. Deflocked.

Click for a larger version

To check out the archives of past strips, click here.

That’s right, it’s time for another arbitrary assortment of at least tangentially animal-related links that I’m too lazy to write a full post about. Actually, that doesn’t sound very appealing at all. Ladies and gentlemen, a very warm welcome to this week’s Internet Soup—a wild and wacky collection of the latest animal rights news, videos, and photos painstakingly researched by everybody’s favorite PETA blogger* and served up piping hot with a pithy little introduction that’s guaranteed to tantalize and amuse! Here we go:

1. Your long search for animal-friendly body frosting is finally over!
2. I wouldn’t be too surprised to find out that chimps are better at remembering stuff than I am, but do they have better memories than all of us?
3. If you wouldn’t hunt a muppet, please don’t hunt any animals.
4. This crow and kitten are fast friends. The whole thing is just nauseatingly cute.
5. Cameroon gorillas return home.
6. Ingrid Newkirk interviews with the Environmental News Network.
7. PETA’s lettuce ladies are everywhere. Check out this pic from the Barry Bonds trial.

Hopefully that’ll be enough to tide you over through the weekend, and if you’re in the mood for something a little more arcane, you can always check out my fictional blog—a little slice of the 17th century that my closest friends have described as “completely unreadable.”

And finally, we’re going to be doing a bit of maintenance on the ol’ blog this weekend, so the comments may be down for a little while, but everything will be up and running by Monday. Have a good weekend!

*That’s right, Amy and Karen. I said it.

I hope everyone had a pleasant Thanksgiving holiday. Mine would have been pretty close to perfect if it hadn’t all been tainted by yesterday’s sad events in Tampa Bay. But the show must go on, and though it may not seem like it right now, there are more important things than the apparent inability of the Washington Redskins to throw accurate passes inside the 20-yard-line. For instance: While half the country was busy stuffing their shopping bags with every piece of fabric they could find this Friday, a number of animal lovers around the U.S. spent their holiday reminding shoppers that—as much as their rabid consumerism helps America—there are plenty of ways of doing that without hurting animals, and that it’s the easiest thing in the world to buy comfortable, stylish clothes without fur, leather, or wool. Here are a couple of the pics that ended up in my Inbox this morning—the first is from a Fur-Free Friday demonstration outside the mall here in Norfolk, and the second from a great demonstration in Miami Beach.

Happy Fur Free Friday, people! I understand that today is a very big shopping day in this fine country, so I will be studiously avoiding any and all places of commerce throughout the day and focusing instead on the leftovers of yesterday’s Thanksgiving feast. But for anyone who is on their way out to take advantage of the big sales today, please don’t get carried away and buy anything made out of animals! By way of inspiration, here’s a little video we made to run during a Super Bowl a few years back. They rejected it, but it’s still a winner.

Remember, don’t eat the mascot!

Check out this fantastic piece by David Shankbone that went up on WikiNews this week. Shankbone interviewed Ingrid about her reaction to the HBO documentary about PETA that just aired. Well worth a read.

Click here to read it.

So add us already. If you’re not on Facebook yet, it’s a fantastic way of meeting new friends, rekindling old romances, and getting back in touch with people you’ve spent the last 10 years trying desperately to forget. And if you are on Facebook, we would be honored to have you as a friend.

Just click here to check out PETA’s new profile, where you can check out our videos, write on our wall, and just generally be a part of our fascinating little Facebook world. See you there!

John Rich of the country superstar duo Big & Rich upset a lot of fans by wearing a big ol’ fur coat onstage at the Country Music Association Awards, telecast on ABC earlier this month. After hearing from a number of those fans ourselves, we wrote to Rich to explain how dozens of foxes are anally electrocuted for such a coat and sent along a link to Pamela Anderson’s video short on the subject. Well, it turns out Rich is, in fact, a big man, replying to us himself:

One of the duo’s biggest hits is “Save a Horse, Ride a Cowboy,” but judging from Mr. Rich’s straightforward letter to PETA, he’s willing to save a few foxes, minks and rabbits too. Thanks, John, for your compassion—you guys have a lot of fans here—especially Kim in Human Resources!