Written by Michelle Kretzer
Is Bill Clinton's healthy diet rubbing off on his wife? Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was in a vegan state of mind on her birthday, celebrating with her family and a vegan cake.
The Clintons might be a power couple for decades to come: Bob Barker names his vegetarian diet as the reason for his longevity and vivacity, telling Vegetarian Times, "I became a vegetarian out of concern for animals, and I was a vegetarian for a very long time before I realized that many people become vegetarians out of concern for their health. I think they are absolutely right. I think it is the healthiest way to live. I worked until I was 83 years old."
Ever wondered what made country cutie Carrie Underwood first ditch meat? Now we know. On VH1's Behind the Music, she described seeing her parents castrate calves. "And lightbulb," she said. "I was horrified and sad and I just couldn't believe this was happening, you know, in our pasture."
Another vegan singer, Renee Olstead, might have made a certain magazine editor cringe recently when she prominently rep'd PETA in an interview. We've had our famous run-ins with furry Vogue editor Anna Wintour, but in Renee's Teen Vogue interview, the singer and actor proudly declared, "I love animals. I'm getting ready to do a campaign with PETA. I went vegetarian when I was twelve, and I went vegan about a year and a half ago."
Staunchly fur-free Mayte Garcia just made the list of the hottest reality stars. Would her naked ad for PETA have had anything to do with that?
One of the hottest former reality stars, Lauren Conrad, has a reason to celebrate as well: She just adopted a new puppy, Fitz, from a shelter. Fitz scored some "welcome home" toys and treats from PETA to share with his new canine sister, rescued dog Chloe.
The Los Angeles City Council's vote to ban stores from selling animals who came from breeders and puppy mills was a hot topic on Twitter this week, as were the bill that could end the Canadian seal slaughter and protecting animals during Hurricane Sandy.
To keep up with what all your favorite celebs are doing for animals, follow @PETA on Twitter.
Written by PETA
PETA would never advocate sticking pins into Vogue editor Anna Wintour (pies on, perhaps), but some people are suggesting that it would be the best use for the new Anna Wintour doll. Hmm, what do you think—is this one-of-a-kind creation the perfect voodoo doll, or could you put it to better use? Send us your ideas.
Posted by Paula Moore
P.S. Perhaps someone with deep pockets would like to buy the Wintour doll and donate it to PETA, so that we can put everyone's creative ideas to the test. It's for a good cause!
Because Anna Wintour hasn't yet realized that fur is out of vogue and therefore should be out of Vogue—and hideous images of animals suffering on fur farms do not move her—PETA will get the infamous pelt-pusher's attention with a hideous image of … herself.
As Wintour was giving a talk about nuclear physics—wait, sorry, fashion—at the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, PETA members held a lively protest outside with signs featuring this picture of the Vogue editor.
We think that "Nuclear" Wintour is the perfect poster girl for the ugly fur trade. What do you think?
Written by Paula Moore
Although she plays William McKinley High's queen of mean on Glee, in real life, Dianna Agron is actually the roommate of Lea Michele, who plays her fictional nemesis. I know, you are relieved. But the good news doesn't stop there. Not only are the two talented actors actually roommates, it turns out that, like Lea, Dianna's a vegetarian and a big-time PETA supporter! Considering that Jenna Ushkowitz also loves cruelty-free meals, it looks like this season's love triangle isn't the only trifecta on the show.
Now is the perfect time to follow this gleeful trend and say hello to a vegan diet. So how about saying goodbye to meat for a month by pledging to be vegan for 30 days?
Written by Amy Skylark Elizabeth
Tweeps, we need your help! USA Today has announced that it will donate a full-page ad (a $189,400 value) to the nonprofit organization that garners the most tweets on Twitter. If PETA wins, we will use the ad to call for an end to Canada's annual seal slaughter, which is happening right now and may result in some 388,200 seals being bludgeoned and killed on the ice this year. Imagine if just one tweet could save one seal.
The contest ends on Friday, April 16, so please tweet, retweet, and post our tweet on your Facebook pages ASAP. Just be sure to include "#AmericaWants @PETA to get a full-page ad in USA TODAY" in your tweet so your vote will count. If you haven't yet joined the "flock," please sign up for a Twitter account now so that you can make your voice heard. A tweet for PETA is a tweet for seals!
Written by Lindsay Pollard-Post
Tragic news from the U.K.: A huge fire at an animal-breeding center in southwest England early Tuesday morning killed more than 350 guinea pigs, (some reports are indicating that as many as 1,000 animals may have died, including guinea pigs, rabbits, and rats).
Police believe the fire may have been caused by an electrical fault, but mass-breeding facilities are notorious for keeping animals in dangerous and inadequate conditions and neglecting even their most basic needs for safety, food, water, exercise, and veterinary care. Case in point: U.S. Global Exotics, where PETA's undercover investigator found, among other abuses, that animals were being confined to soda bottles and milk jugs and tossed into freezers to die slowly instead of being taken to a veterinarian.
Let's hope that this tragic fire causes people to realize that confining animals and forcing them to bring more offspring into a world that already doesn't have enough good homes for all the guinea pigs, rabbits, and rats who already exist is never in the animals' best interest.
Can't sheep get a break?
First, we told you that PETA and Madison, Wisconsin's Alliance for Animals petitioned for prosecution after experimenters at the University of Wisconsin–Madison killed sheep in excruciating U.S. Navy–funded decompression experiments. (Killing animals by decompression is specifically prohibited by Wisconsin's Crimes Against Animals law.)
Now we've learned that 16 sheep were restrained, injected with methamphetamines, shocked with a Taser device for up to 40 seconds and killed in cruel and ineffective experiments aimed at studying how being shocked with a Taser affects the hearts of meth addicts who run from the cops. These ridiculous Taser-funded experiments were conducted at the Hennepin County Medical Center in Minneapolis by Taser medical director Jeffrey Ho and others. Of course, sheep don't do drugs or resist arrest, and they shouldn't be made to suffer because some humans do. To boot, medical experts, the authors of this sheep study, and others have concluded that data obtained from using Tasers on drugged-up animals (including pigs on cocaine!) are not relevant to humans.
These twisted folks may have violated federal animal protection laws, so PETA has fired off a complaint to the U.S. Department of Agriculture calling for an immediate investigation. We'll keep you posted as the case unfolds.
In the meantime, here's how you can take action against cruel animal experiments.
OK, we know that your animal companions already have you eating out of their hand (er, paw), but wouldn't it be nice if they could eat their kibble out of a cool new bowl from Daisy Dog Studio?
Almost as cute as your animal companion, these handcrafted porcelain bowls offer some serious fine dining for Fido. Speaking of the name "Fido" (does anyone really name their dog "Fido" anymore?), let's play the name game. To win this prize, leave a comment telling us the story behind your dog or cat's name. The most compelling name and story will score one lucky dog or cat lover a set of these must-have dishes. Personally, the best dog name I've ever heard is "Lunch Box." Not only is the big guy shaped just like one of those old-school metal lunch boxes, but he also has a habit of stealing your peanut butter sandwich when you're not looking.
Before you try to top that, here's what you need to know: The contest ends on April 28, 2010, and we'll pick the winner on April 30, 2010. Be sure to read our privacy policy and terms and conditions, as you're agreeing to both by commenting.
Good luck!
We told you we'd be back. After nixing plans to protest Vogue's Fashion Week party out of respect for our pal Charlize Theron, we showed up at last night's "Fashion's Night Out" event at Macy's to make sure that villainous Vogue editor Anna "Nuclear" Wintour never forgets that animals often remain alive after being skinned for their fur:
Written by Amy Elizabeth
And it's all because friends don't protest friends.
No, we haven't suddenly made amends with Anna Wintour. It's longtime PETA friend Charlize Theron who has us putting the kibosh on our protest plans.
Charlize will be on hand at Vogue's Fashion Week party on Thursday to sign copies of the magazine's September issue. But while Charlize may be gracing the cover of this notoriously furry magazine, the Oscar-winning actress wouldn't be caught dead in fur.
The PETA pal even wore our "Fight Breedism" T-shirt to her Vogue interview.
Don't worry—we'll still be making sure that ol' Anna hears from us. She and fellow fur fiend Michael Kors will be putting in an appearance at Wintour's "Fashion's Night Out" event at Macy's … and so will we.
Written by Amanda Schinke
If you have a general question for PETA and would like a response, please e-mail Info@peta.org. If you need to report cruelty to an animal, please click here. If you are reporting an animal in imminent danger and know where to find the animal and if the abuse is taking place right now, please call your local police department. If the police are unresponsive, please call PETA immediately at 757-622-7382 and press 2.
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