What happens when a precocious bunny gets his paws on a hunting guide?

This isn't even the gruesome photo. We'll spare you the picture of the carnage from later in the day. 

In an important step toward justice for the many rabbits who suffered at Bunny Magic Wildlife & Rabbit Rescue, Inc.—as revealed by PETA—Carole Van Wie,  the operator of that nightmarish hoarding facility, was convicted in court of neglecting rabbits. More importantly, she has promised not to take in any more animals and will be on supervised probation to ensure her compliance.

Van Wie will be turning in her state and federal animal rehabilitator licenses and has vowed to get out of animal rescue work—not that she was actually rescuing any animals, of course. Van Wie must undergo a psychiatric evaluation—which is critical for ensuring that no more animals suffer and die at her hands—and pay back some of the costs of caring for the animals who were seized from Bunny Magic. PETA thanks Calvert County Animal Control, the Tri-County Animal Shelter, and the Calvert County State's Attorney's Office for all their hard work on this case.

What You Can Do

Some "rescuers" are anything but—before handing over any animal, take extra care to ensure that you're not sentencing him or her to a miserable incarceration at the hands of a hoarder. Also, please don't bring any animals into your household if you can't make a lifetime commitment to them. But if you are ready, please consider adopting one (or two) of the adorable rabbits rescued from Bunny Magic!

Animals have voices. They cry out when they are being skinned alive for their fur, being beaten and forced to perform painful tricks, or having their throats cut before being hacked apart for their flesh. Animals express their pain, but often, people don't understand or they choose not to listen.

As animal advocates, we must raise our voices alongside animals' and put into words what they can't. Whether we are calmly explaining to someone at the dog park that his or her dog might be yelping because the animal's prong collar hurts or telling a friend that her mascara was smeared into a bunny's sensitive eyes, we have to speak up. Animals need us to.

If you haven't yet made a New Year's resolution, how about this: Never remain silent when an animal is hurting. Just one small voice can—and often does—save animals from cruelty and abuse. How will you use yours?

Courtesy of Mahdi Dadrass

Playboy Playmate Crystal McCahill is no stranger to wearing bunny ears. But today, she and PETA campaigner Tracy Patton put on bunny ears for a different reason: to save bunny skins. The PETA cottontails asked shoppers in busy downtown Chicago to hightail it away from fur.

The bunnies were hopping mad about how animals are beaten, electrocuted, and often skinned alive for their fur. And as these two made clear, everyone looks best in their own skin.

Be a bunny's honey—don't wear fur.

Look at the photo below and you'll see her—in between the fertilizer spreader and the recycling bin. No, that's not a stuffed rabbit in the tiny cage behind the plastic toy truck—that's a living, breathing being consigned to a miserable, lonely existence along with the other things people stick outside and forget about. This rabbit was never allowed out of the cramped metal cage, and aside from her owner's tossing her some food and water once in awhile, she never received any attention at all.

A concerned person saw the bunny and knew that with the harsh northern winter already knocking on the door and only an open staircase for "shelter," the rabbit might not live to see another Easter. She tried talking the owner into surrendering the rabbit to her, to no avail. She called PETA for help, and working with local law enforcement, we put pressure on the owner to provide a suitable home for the rabbit. The owner soon tired of hearing from both PETA and the police and agreed to surrender the rabbit into her rescuer's waiting arms.

Now the bunny is living the sweet life indoors because of one woman's persistence and dedication to justice for animals. She is proof positive that even if you can't change the entire world, with a little work, you can change one animal's entire world. 

Written by Michelle Sherrow

PETA Europe's "Sexiest Vegetarian," Leona Lewis, proved why she deserved her crown when she rescued a rabbit from a life on the streets—a life that was bound to end on someone's dinner plate.

fashionindie / CC

While out and about in L.A. this week, Leona noticed a homeless man with a tethered rabbit. When she asked the man what his plans for the rabbit were, he admitted that he might eat the bunny. Um … come again?! As a vegetarian and a diehard animal defender, Leona struck a deal with the man: She gave him $100 to buy proper food, and he gave up the rabbit.

Now, Melrose (the rabbit was named after the street he was found on) is living it up in the "Bleeding Love" superstar's posh L.A. pad. Jealous much?

A friend of Ms. Lewis said, "She didn't think life on a lead was any way for a rabbit to live—then when he said he was going to eat it she knew she had to save it." Swoon. If only all celebrities had that kind of "Spirit."

Written by Christine Doré

DailyHamster / CC

OK, so a bit of good news for bunnies. For years, PETA has been pushing PETCO to end the sale of animals in its stores. This week, the company finally announced that it will no longer sell rabbits in it stores. The phase-out begins immediately. By early 2009, the only rabbits at PETCO will come from animal shelters or rescue organizations. Mad props to the House Rabbit Society, whose efforts helped make this happen!

This is an important step in the right direction, because dogs and cats aren't the only animals left homeless in mass numbers by breeder- and "pet" industry–driven overpopulation. Rabbits are often bought on the spur of the moment—especially at Easter—by people who are unprepared for the huge responsibility of caring for them. By working with shelters and rescue societies to adopt rabbits instead of selling them, PETCO has joined a number of other companies that have already made the responsible decision not to add to the bunny overpopulation crisis.

But still …

PETCO, like PetSmart, continues to sell countless other animals who are bred, born, and warehoused in cruel animal mills such as Rainbow World Exotics (RWE). We met with PETCO last January before breaking our RWE investigation to show its representatives footage of the horrific conditions we found during our investigation at RWE. Though PETCO pledged to make some improvements, it continues to buy small animals from RWE.

RWE and other suppliers are so awful, and animal shelters and rescues are bursting at the seams with animals of all shapes and sizes. We hope that PETCO will continue to move in the right direction and soon stop selling all animals in its stores—and that PetSmart, Petland, and others will follow in PETCO's footsteps.

Written by Jeff Mackey

Babble / CC

This weekend in Miami, with friends from Ocean Drive magazine (which runs PETA ads free of charge), I attended the grand reopening of the swanky Fontainebleau Hotel. I was able to chat with vegan mogul Russell Simmons and had a word with fur offender P. Diddy, but the nicest surprise was hearing Gwyneth Paltrow explain that she regrets having posed in a fur stole in an ad for Tod's, which has appeared in magazines everywhere this fall. After I told her how out of character it seemed for an eco-friendly, pro-vegetarian friend of Stella McCartney to so publicly promote fur, gracious Gwyneth replied, without a hint of defensiveness:"That was awkward, and I'm glad you asked, because I do not wear fur at all. It was a daylong photo shoot on a boat near Capri, and there were all sorts of poses with all kinds of clothes—none with fur. During one set-up, a stylist came up from behind and draped a stole around my shoulders. I didn't pay much attention to it, and when I noticed it was fur I assumed it was fake fur but did not ask, so it's my fault. I was very surprised when they ended up using that one shot out of hundreds for the centerpiece of the Tod's ads. I know it's not a great excuse, but I hope you and your members understand."

I explained that something similar had just happened to Kate Winslet who was led to believe that the fur rug she posed on for Vanity Fair was fake, and the magazine publicly apologized when the issue became public. It seems that the fur trade is so desperate to push pelts into magazines that they have resorted to doing it on the sly.

At the end of our conversation, Gwyneth said that although she understands why fur gets so much attention, she thinks vegetarianism is something people should focus on more. She said that both she and her husband Chris Martin are pretty much vegetarian, saying, "We know it's the best diet for us and our kids, and of course for animals and the environment." I'm sending her a link to GoVeg.com. Who knows—maybe one day she'll use her lovely voice to speak up for PETA's "Meat's Not Green" campaign.

Posted by Dan Mathews

It's time for your WTF of the day, this one courtesy of Trinity Christian Academy in Jacksonville. Evidently, a biology teacher at the school invited students to attend an after-school session in which he fed a live rabbit to a student’s pet python. The teacher dangled the helpless animal in front of the snake and moved her from side to side to encourage the snake to attack. A video of the vicious little act was posted on YouTube, presumably so that other students around the country can be desensitized to animal suffering as well. You can check out some of the press coverage here, and we've written a letter to the school asking them to make humane education a priority at Trinity Christian Academy and enclosing a "Kindness Kit" (look, I didn't come up with the name, OK?) with some handy tips, educational videos, and information on how to teach kids to interact with animals—like not killing bunnies in the frickin' classroom, for a start. You can read that letter here.