Phew! PETA's "BOYCOTT PETCO" brick* survived the 5.7-magnitude earthquake that shook San Diego's PETCO Park on Monday—and here's a photo snapped by an activist last night to prove it:

Don't get me wrong—PETA loves the stadium's tasty, animal-friendly eats but hates the massive suffering that PETCO causes by buying animals from shady dealers and selling them to anyone who walks in, intentions be damned. Animals like the poor fellow below who are bred for and shipped to PETCO and other pet stores get their world shaken to pieces every single day by being mishandled, abused, or even thrown into the trash to die. They are crammed en masse into crowded, filthy containers at animal distributors such as U.S. Global Exotics and Sun Pet, and they're often denied basic necessities, including food, water, adequate air, and veterinary care.

Let's shake things up for PETCO (the store—not the stadium!) by telling it to stop selling animals immediately or we'll shop elsewhere for our dog beds, cat trees, toys, and treats.

Written by Lindsay Pollard-Post

*Line up the first letter of each word to find the brick's hidden message!

Sue E / CC by 2.0

The Florida Marlins plan to spend millions on their new stadium, which is set to open in 2012. But they can save countless animals' lives as well as tons of money by rethinking plans to build two saltwater aquariums as part of the project.

Instead of exposing fish to the loud crowds, bright lights, and reverberations of a baseball stadium in an unnatural environment that will certainly have a negative impact on the health and well-being of the fish, the team should consider one of several innovative alternatives. We've asked the Marlins to explore the following possibilities:

• Artist-designed aquariums full of beautiful blown-glass animals offer unique and eye-catching displays.
• The stadium could feature a coordinated display of 16 high-definition plasma screens showing underwater footage of sea life. Footage using this technology (called 9X Media) is taken by professional divers and showcases the true magic and mystery of the seas—something that an artificial ecosystem simply cannot replicate.
• Finally, the Marlins could feature realistic robotic fish like those that the Bridge Marine Science Group in the U.K. plans to use to detect pollution in ports throughout Wales.

Considering all these fresh and innovative alternatives, there's no reason why the Marlins can't think "outside the tank." Let Marlins owner Jeffrey Loria know that you think our suggestions are home runs!

Written by Jennifer O'Connor

Spitzgogo_CHEN / CC by 2.0

Minor-league stadiums may not have Big Papi's bat, Adam Jones' glove, or Joel Zumaya's arm, but many of them have great-tasting vegetarian fare. Check out PETA's list of the top 10 vegetarian-friendly minor-league ballparks of 2010 to see the lineup of vegetarian options at your favorite stadium:

1. Municipal Stadium (Hagerstown Suns)
   Veggie dogs, veggie burgers with vegan cheese, pepper and onion Phillies with vegan mozzarella, vegetarian General dogs (with vegan cheese, peppers, onions, and vegetarian chili), veggie subs, fruit salad, veggie chorizo (available on the picnic patio), and more
2. PGE Park (Portland Beavers)
   Faux beef Philly sandwiches made with Gardenburger crumbles (available without cheese), veggie dogs, Gardenburgers, vegan roasted-red-pepper and tomato soup, vegetarian sub with marinated mushrooms (available without cheese), baked beans, salads, fruit (available in the skyboxes)
3. Frontier Field (Rochester Red Wings)
   Veggie burgers, pasta with marinara sauce, veggie burritos, veggie taco salads, baked potatoes, Caesar salad wraps (available without cheese and anchovy-based dressing), fresh fruit, grilled vegetables, field green salads, baked beans (available in catering)
4. Durham Bulls Athletic Park (Durham Bulls)
   Black-bean veggie burgers, veggie dogs, bean burritos, Carolina veggie burritos (with sweet potatoes and black beans), fruit cups, hummus with pita triangles, salads
5. ONEOK Field (Tulsa Drillers)
   Veggie burgers, veggie dogs, taco salads, dairy-free soft-serve ice cream, veggie trays, fruit trays, pita chips and hummus (available in the suites)
6. Victory Field (Indianapolis Indians)
   Veggie burgers, black-bean burritos, corn on the cob, tossed salads, vegetarian wraps, grilled portobello mushroom sandwiches (available without cheese), sautéed fresh summer vegetables and penne pasta (available without cheese), spicy black-bean dip, vegetable crudités, sliced fresh fruit (available in the suites)
7. Cheney Stadium (Tacoma Rainiers)
   Veggie burgers, veggie dogs, vegetarian burritos, corn on the cob, baked potatoes
8. Isotopes Park (Albuquerque Isotopes)
   Veggie dogs, veggie burgers, bean burritos, veggie trays, fresh fruit trays, fresh salads
9. Regions Park (Birmingham Barons)
   Veggie burgers, veggie dogs, vegetarian taco salads and burritos, fruit cups, fruit trays, veggie trays, garden salads
10. MerchantsAuto.com Stadium (New Hampshire Fisher Cats)
    Veggie burgers, garden salads, veggie wraps, portobello mushroom cap salads, grilled veggie sandwiches, baked beans (available in the picnic area), portobello sandwiches (available on request)

주전자 / CC by 2.0

Animal-friendly baseball fans don't have to settle for popcorn, peanuts, and cracker jacks anymore. They can score veggie dogs, faux steak sandwiches, and vegan versions of other stadium favorites at many big-league ballparks. Check out PETA's list of the top 10 vegetarian-friendly major-league ballparks of 2010 to see where your team ranks in the standings:

1. Citizens Bank Park (Philadelphia Phillies)
   It's hard to say whether the Phils' biggest off-season acquisition was ace Roy Halladay or the new faux chicken sandwich and vegan rice crispie treats offered at concession stands. Added to other meat-free fare, including veggie burgers, Southwestern black-bean burgers, veggie dogs, faux steak sandwiches, veggie chicken steaks, mock crab cakes, hummus and pita chips, and fresh fruit, Citizens Bank Park is the first undisputed dynasty in the history of PETA's prestigious rankings.
2. AT&T Park (San Francisco Giants)
   Vegetarian meals are flying off AT&T Park's concessions stands faster than a Tim Lincecum fastball. Meat-free Giants fans can power up with a protein-packed veggie dog or Gardenburger along with a brand-new mixed vegetable sandwich, a portobello mushroom sandwich, a California roll, a vegetable roll, vegetable burritos and tamales, a broccoli tofu platter, vegetable chow fun, and more.
3. Minute Maid Park (Houston Astros)
   Carlos Lee might be coming up empty at the plate, but fans are loading their plates with veggie burritos, quinoa tabbouleh, and sun-dried tomato rigatoni, all new for the 2010 season. Minute Maid Park also serves up hearty veggie dogs, Thai noodle salad, hummus and vegetable wraps, vegetarian sushi, fruit smoothies, rice and beans, and organic baby-vegetable ratatouille.
4. Comerica Park (Detroit Tigers)
   Jeremy Bonderman is healthy once again, and Tigers fans can be, too, by putting down the fatty hot dogs and choosing one of Comerica Park's delicious, nutritious vegetarian options, including black-bean burgers, vegetable fried rice, and a hummus plate as well as veteran favorites such as veggie burgers, veggie dogs, and vegetarian taco salads, stir-fries, and sushi.
5. Coors Field (Colorado Rockies)
   It used to be that finding satisfying vegetarian food at ballparks was harder than spelling "Tulowitzki," but nowadays smart folks—like the concessions staff at Coors Field—are responding in a big way to the booming demand for humane, healthy meat-free ballpark fare. Rockies fans can chow down on veggie burgers, dogs, wraps, burritos, kabobs, and paninis as well as fresh salads and fruit, roasted portobello sandwiches, and made-to-order potato skins.
6. Turner Field (Atlanta Braves)
   With the arrival of Jason Heyward, the Braves' future is looking bright, and fans can make sure that they're around to enjoy it by going vegetarian and slashing their risk of heart attack, cancer, and diabetes. Turner Field now has everything from veggie dogs and meatless tacos and burritos to baked beans, Asian noodles, and organic zucchini dip.
7. PETCO Park (San Diego Padres)
   PETA is not a fan of PETCO—the massive corporate giant that buys animals from abusive factory farms that PETA has exposed over and over again—but we're cheering for all the animal-free options at the Padres' stadium. With veggie burgers and veggie dogs, vegetarian sushi rolls, roasted corn, vegetarian burritos, and hummus and vegetables, there's plenty of good eats for animal-friendly fans to enjoy.
8. Angel Stadium (Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim)
   No matter what the team is called, fans can agree that Angel Stadium is heavenly for vegetarians. The stadium has an all-star lineup of vegetarian options, including veggie Chicago dogs, edamame, Gardenburgers, California cucumber rolls, veggie paninis, bean burritos, roasted vegetable sandwiches, and more.
9. Miller Park (Milwaukee Brewers)
   Vegetarian slugger and reigning Home Run Derby champ Prince Fielder is proof that players don't need to eat meat to go yard, and fans of the Brew Crew don't need to go far to find great-tasting meatless meals. The stadium sells veggie dogs, veggie wraps, baked potatoes, made-to-order pasta, build-your-own burritos, portobello mushroom focaccia sandwiches, and other vegetarian foods.
10. (tie) Target Field (Minnesota Twins)
    With vegan pitcher Pat Neshek back soon, Kirby the Kestrel on the foul pole, and veggie dogs, veggie burgers, veggie burritos and tacos, fruit kabobs, and other vegetarian items in the concession stands, the new Target Field is a pretty animal-friendly place.
11. (tie) Progressive Field (Cleveland Indians)
    The Indians haven't gained much ground this season, but Progressive Field has shown that it's pretty, well … progressive. The stadium has expanded its roster to include veggie dogs, veggie subs, wild grain and tofu curry, and veggie pasta in addition to veggie wraps, fruit cups, and roasted vegetables.

To reference Idol judge Randy Jackson, seven-time Cy Young Award–winning pitcher Roger Clemens is a bit pitchy in the bedroom. According to his mistress, Mindy McCready, "The Rocket" (ironically) suffers from "a lot of problems" with erectile dysfunction. Now, PETA's got a pitch that may help him, his sexual partners, and animals: Go vegan! We even sent him a copy of our vegetarian/vegan starter kit to help get him started.

Doctors and nutritionists agree that the best way to prevent artery blockage as well as other conditions that cause impotence is to eat a diet high in fiber, including plenty of fruits, vegetables, and whole grains. Nobody likes to rubber-arm in the bedroom, and these foods will scrub the plaque off Clemens' arterial walls to get him back on top of his game in no time.

Whether you call it veggie Viagra or a legal performance enhancer, going vegan won't just get you through the night—it will get you through life.

Written by Logan Scherer

commons.wikimedia / CC

Apparently he wasn't content with going all "crocodile hunter" on an anaconda, as he did during the last off-season. Now Texas Rangers infielder Omar Vizquel has expressed the desire to take up bullfighting in his home country of Venezuela during this year's off-season. He has also said that he hopes to attend all the Triple Crown horse races after he retires.

Is there no animal safe from Omar's down time?

Upon hearing about Omar's ghoulish vacation plans, we dashed off a letter to the aging shortstop asking him to solve his midlife crisis in a way that doesn't involve torturing and killing animals.

Buy a convertible, go skydiving, date a woman half your age—just don't drag animals into it, OK, Omar?

Written by Alisa Mullins

quid / CC

As a lifelong Red Sox fan, I'll be the first to admit that baseball "curses" are a bit overblown. All that the infamous "Curse of the Bambino" ever did was sell a trillion copies of a certain curly-haired sportswriter's books. The Red Sox didn't lose all those years because Babe Ruth was putting a voodoo hex on them from beyond the grave—they lost because they didn't get big hits in big at-bats, field worth a damn, or pull Pedro after the seventh inning when he was serving up more meatballs than an IKEA food court. Not that I'm still hung up on that or anything.

But I digress. Perhaps you heard that a long-lost statue of our arch-nemesis Colonel Sanders was dredged out of the Dotonbori River in Japan earlier this week, supposedly ending a 24-year curse on the Hanshin Tigers, whose fans tossed the statue in the river in the first place. Can't say I blame them. Well, the folks over at KFC are now offering the statue to the Chicago Cubs as a way to break the team's own "Curse of the Billy Goat," stemming from an incident in 1945 when a fan and his companion goat (yep) were tossed out of Wrigley Field's bleachers because of the goat's unpleasant odor.

Today, PETA wrote to the Cubs recommending that they turn down KFC's offer. If Cubs fans believe that they haven't won a World Series in 60 years because the ghost of one goat has it in for them, think about the consequences of offending the nearly 1 billion chickens who are tortured and killed for KFC every year. Here's my prediction—if the Cubs accept this Colonel Sanders statue, there won't be a World Series game at the friendly confines until KFC's slaughterhouse suppliers stop scalding live chickens to death and the company adopts PETA's recommended animal welfare program.

You heard it here first.

Written by Dan Shannon

That's right. Every year PETA's crack team of baseball and veggie hot dog experts scours the nation's baseball stadiums to rank the ten best according to an incredibly complex algorithm that takes into account such factors as deliciousness of the veggie dogs, crunchiness of the salads, and variety of the selection. The Philadelphia Phillies grabbed the number one spot this year on the strength of their Philly mock steak sandwich—and you can click the banner below to find out whether your city's stadium made it into the top ten. We also ranked the minor leaguers this year, which you can check out here.

As an Orioles fan, I was pleased to see that Camden Yards got an honorable mention. Enjoy it while you can, fellow O's enthusiasts—it's probably the only thing we'll win at all this year.