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First there was Wilbur, then Babe, and now another hero pig is capturing hearts. Watch as an intrepid pig saves a baby goat from drowning.

What's 4 inches wide and pollutes more than an 18-wheeler traveling nearly 150 miles?

When a fire killed 50 cows on a dairy farm in New York, the owner remarked, "We are so thankful that no one was hurt."

Another dairy farm in Colorado was made to pay out $7.5 million to settle a lawsuit in which consumers said the company misled them to believe that its organic milk came from cows who grazed outdoors on small farms, when in reality the cows were crammed onto filthy feedlots, just as they are on many organic dairy farms. 

Sales of the limited-edition chalk bag designed by vegan extreme athlete Steph Davis and outdoor apparel company prAna will benefit PETA, but you can enter to win one! 

©Tommy Chandler

New Feature

White milk, dark secret: Casey Affleck's new exposé of cow dehorning on dairy farms may make milk guzzlers put down the glass.

New Action Alert

Tell NBC that forcing wild animals to perform is no laughing matter and that you will not be watching the network's upcoming sitcom Animal Practice. 

PETA was joined by primate experts Dr. Mel Richardson and Kari Bagnall for a demonstration outside NBC's North Hollywood offices in protest of the network's cruelty in using wild-animal "actors" in its new, and thoroughly panned, show Animal Practice.

When Funny Business Isn't Funny

Featured as a central character in the show is a capuchin monkey named Crystal. At the news conference, Richardson and Bagnall described how the use of a monkey on NBC's hit series Friends led to a wave of "pet" monkeys being discarded at primate sanctuaries after misguided purchasers realized that they were unable to meet these complex animals' specialized needs.

The cheap laughs that Animal Practice gets from putting a monkey in a lab coat come at a high cost for Crystal and other animals on the show, who spend their lives deprived of everything that is natural and important to them. Stolen from their mothers shortly after birth—a cruel act for both the baby and the mother that denies the infants the care and nurturing that they need—monkeys used for entertainment, like other "animal actors," suddenly find themselves in unfamiliar surroundings, isolated from others like themselves, and forced to learn and perform unnatural and bewildering stunts.

The "smile" that Crystal exhibits on the show is actually an expression that indicates fear and stress in capuchin monkeys. As capuchin authority Dr. Eduardo Ottoni explains, "[S]ince we do not usually understand their communicative behaviors properly, fear, submission, or avoidance displays can easily be mistaken for 'smiles.'"

What You Can Do

If this cruelty in the name of comedy turns you off, you can help by turning off Animal Practice and urging everyone you know to do the same. Please also politely express your disappointment about the use of Crystal and other wild animals to NBC Entertainment Chair Bob Greenblatt.