Back in 2004, PETA launched our Holocaust on Your Plate (HOYP) traveling display, which juxtaposes images of animals in slaughterhouses and factory farms with images of humans in Nazi concentration camps. The display was inspired by a passage from Nobel-prize–winning Jewish author Isaac Bashevis Singer's book, The Letter Writer: "In relation to them, all people are Nazis; for the animals it is an eternal Treblinka." This struck a chord with one of our Jewish staffers, who proposed the idea of creating a display that he hoped would encourage people to consider that the same mindset that allows the routine and systematic murder of animals also allows the routine and systematic murder of human beings.

The HOYP display—which was also funded by a Jewish PETA member—traveled all over the U.S., where it sparked a tremendous amount of debate and discussion about both animal rights and human rights issues. Then across the pond, PETA Germany took the idea and ran with it. And that's where the trouble began. Yesterday, Germany's high court banned PETA Germany’s Holocaust display, stating that it would have made "the fate of the victims of the Holocaust appear banal and trivial."

This ruling left the staffers of our German affiliate scratching their heads, because the display only renders the humans' suffering "banal and trivial" if the animals' suffering is considered banal and trivial. Which is the whole point of the display …

Anyway, PETA Germany is, of course, appealing the ruling, and it is confident that free speech will win out in the end.

So what do you think, PETA Files readers? Did the campaign go too far? Was the German high court justified in banning it—or should free speech have reigned supreme?

Written by Amanda Schinke

You have to wonder why the seal slaughter is allowed to continue even though almost everyone is opposed to it, including most Canadians. Helpless baby seals are beaten to death. The babies are dragged across the ice with boat hooks, and some are even skinned alive.

So you see why we're doing all we can to stop the massacre, right? And we're definitely not alone in this fight. This week, U.S. Sens. Carl Levin and Susan Collins introduced a resolution asking the Canadian government to put an end to the seal slaughter. Hooray! We'll keep you updated on the resolution's progress. In the meantime, try sending a letter to Canadian officials urging them to stop the seal slaughter (and asking your friends to do the same), signing our petition (and asking your friends to do the same), and posting our alert on your Facebook page (and asking … well, I think you get the idea). We need the support of everyone we (and you) can possibly contact to stop this slaughter.

But before you get started calling, e-mailing, and IMing your friends, check out these pictures from PETA's protest in Toronto this week:

Don't do it! You don't want their blood on your conscience.

I bet the kids on those buses have already posted our alert on their Facebook pages!

Written by Lianne Turner

Our McCruelty campaign has been raging on for about a month now, with no word from McDonald's about improving welfare standards for the animals killed for its restaurants. But since when has a little resistance stopped us? That said, we think it's the perfect time to kick the campaign up a notch, don't you agree?

Our latest efforts have us thinking big—as in billboard big. Check it out:

We plan to place the eye-opening billboard in select cities across the country. We're certain it will have motorists seeing red once they learn that the biggest seller of chicken meat in the country refuses to compel its suppliers to switch to a better slaughter method.

Contrary to what Ronald would like consumers to believe, it's not all Happy Meals and hamburger patches under the golden arches. Far from it.

Please take action now by urging McDonald's to support only suppliers that use controlled-atmosphere killing.

I know if I were a parent, I certainly wouldn't allow my child to visit the home of a scary giant-shoe–wearing clown with blood on his hands. But that's just me.

Written by Jennifer Cierlitsky

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Update: Michael Jackson has announced that he will not be using any live animals in his concert series at London's O2 arena. Click here for more info.

The King of Pop has a sordid past when it comes to the way he treats animals, but we were still shocked by Michael Jackson's reported plans to ride an African elephant and use other exotic animals during his upcoming 30-day stint at The O2 arena in London.

PETA Europe wrote a letter to The O2 to let officials there know about Michael's sketchy track record of animal neglect. The letter included some basic information about how exotic animals actually don't want to perform stupid tricks on a stage surrounded by screaming people, bright lights, and stage explosions.

So come on, Michael, pull a "Britney" and leave exotic animals out of your performances.

Written by Shawna Flavell