Written by PETA
Dear Cleveland,
We know that it's hard to let go of LeBron James. Our hearts melted for you when we heard that he signed with the Miami Heat, so we thought we'd cruise around Cleveland today, doing something really cool to lift your spirits: handing out free Tofutti Cuties in outfits that would make most cheerleaders blush.
These vegan cuties (the soy ice cream, that is) are the perfect way to "beat the heat." But we are also big softies for animals and the Earth. Did you know that raising animals for food is a major cause of greenhouse-gas emissions? A recent U.N. report concluded that a global shift toward a vegan diet is necessary to combat the worst effects of climate change. Plus, switching to a dairy-free diet reduces the suffering of cows and can help lower your risk of cancer, heart disease, and obesity—meaning that you'll be in your stadium seats cheering on the Cavs for years to come.
So keep your chin up Cleveland. You'll go on without LeBron. And please enjoy the Tofutti Cuties on us!
Love,
PETA's "Cleavage Cavalier" Cuties
munn∙tas∙tic (mun tas′ tik) adj. Tremendously great; extraordinarily good {e.g., "Actor and Daily Show correspondent Olivia Munn is munntastic for posing for an anti-circus billboard and leading yesterday's PETA protest against Ringling Bros. Circus at the Staples Center in Los Angeles."}
Christian Serratos, Pink, and Jillian Michaels are also pretty darn munntastic for tweeting about the event. Ringling, on the other hand, is hideous. Animals used by Ringling live in fear, are beaten into submission, and are forced to perform tricks that to them are confusing and meaningless. Still-nursing baby elephants are captured and dragged away from their mothers. Baby elephants are stretched out, slammed to the ground, gouged with steel-tipped bullhooks, and shocked with electric prods. These abusive sessions go on for several hours a day for up to a year.
Now here comes the part where you can do something munntastic for animals who are abused in circuses. Check out the video and the ele-friendly advice that Olivia posted on her blog. Show the video to everyone you know and tell them to show it to everyone that they know. While you're at it, help elephants by signing this petition.
Written by Amy Elizabeth
It's that time again! Every summer, our Lettuce Ladies station themselves at the U.S. Capitol to serve a free lunch in honor of National Veggie Dog Day. This year, our leafy lovelies were joined by model and smokin'-hot vegetarian Vida Guerra, who spiced up the event by wearing a red chili-pepper bikini as she handed out veggie chili dogs to congressional staffers. Although some legislators recently hand-delivered chili seeds to the arctic "doomsday" seed vault, our duly elected officials had probably never encountered peppers that sizzled quite like this before!
Even Washingtonian wonks want to look and feel good, so we're glad to promote such a great way to improve fitness. Or as Vida put it, "In my business, looks can make you or break you, and nothing has helped me stay fit, trim, and energetic more than kicking the meat habit. The best way to safeguard your health, reduce your carbon footprint, save animals' lives, and look your very best is to go vegetarian."
Written Posted by Jeff Mackey
After finding out that a McDonald's restaurant in his hometown of Liverpool had plastered the walls with photos of him and the rest of the Fab Four, Sir Paul McCartney—who is known by all (except maybe the marooned fighter pilot on Gilligan's Island) as being a longtime and outspoken vegetarian—was less than glad all over.
Refusing to let it be, McCartney urged his fans to boycott the fast-food behemoth. Surprisingly, the notoriously tone-deaf purveyor of patties seems to have gotten the message, and the photos have reportedly gotten back to where they once belonged.
Maybe next McDonald's will agree to make improvements in the way chickens are killed for its restaurants. I'm sure Sir Paul wouldn't object to Meat-Free Mondays at McDonald's, either—or better yet, meatless meals eight days a week.
Written by Alisa Mullins
Rocsi Diaz, the bubbly and beautiful host of BET's 106 & Park is known for bringing viewers the hottest music videos straight from the streets of Manhattan. But the Honduran mamacita recently stepped away from the streets to hang out on the beach with one of her adopted dogs, Chi Chi, and she used this R&R time to shoot a new peta2 "Adopt an Animal" ad. Check it out:
Rocsi also sat down in front of the cameras and used her veejay personality to encourage people to help dogs and cats by rescuing them from the streets or adopting them from shelters—and by having them spayed or neutered.
Want to see the interview and hear what the Midday Mami has to say about companion animals? Head on over to peta2.
Written by Heather Moore
One could be forgiven for mistaking this year's list of Emmy nominees for the guest list for PETA's 30th Anniversary Gala. Just look at all these talented PETA supporters:
Best of luck to you, animal-rights thespians—although I have to admit that I'll also be rooting for fellow William & Mary alum Jon Stewart. Go, Tribe—er—Griffin(s)!
How about you? Feel free to post a comment below letting us know who you think (or hope) will be walking home carrying a little gold-winged woman holding up a medicine ball.
Jenna Dewan-Tatum makes a ravishing reptile! The sultry star (and wife of smokin' hot actor Channing Tatum) recently shed her clothes and transformed into a snake for a new PETA ad exposing the cruelty of the exotic-skins industry. Find out why the alluring actor leaves wildlife out of her wardrobe in this exclusive behind-the-scenes interview:
While we're on the subject of fabulous fake snakes, we're giving away a pleather python bag from Melie Bianco and an Energy Muse bracelet—designed by Jenna herself specifically for this campaign and modeled by Jenna below.
After you enter to win this prize pack, tweet @jennaldewan and let Jenna know how this campaign has convinced you to show some love to snakes, lizards, alligators, crocodiles, and other reptiles by pledging to purge your closet of any exotic skins.
Written by Amy Skylark Elizabeth
Well, he's not a real prince, but animals might disagree! While we're sure that nothing can top winning PETA's coveted Sexiest Vegetarian Alive title (which he nabbed in 2006), pop royalty Prince is set to add yet another statuette to his mantelpiece: a lifetime achievement award from BET.
In our opinion, Prince deserves a lifetime achievement award based on his empathy for animals alone. Refusing to eat "anything with parents," this cover boy for compassion recently served a sumptuous four-course vegan dinner to Ebony magazine staffers who were visiting his home to do a cover story on him.
He also refuses to wear animals—and he's not shy about it. In the liner notes to his 1999 CD Rave Un2 the Joy Fantastic, Prince explained why the jacket he's wearing in one of the album-cover photos is faux wool:
"If this jacket were real wool, it would have taken 7 lambs whose lives would have begun like this … Within weeks of their birth, their ears would have been hole-punched, their tails chopped off and the males would have been castrated while fully conscious. Xtremely high rates of mortality r considered normal: 20 2 40% of lambs die b4 the age of 8 weeks: 8 million mature sheep die every year from disease, xposure or neglect. Many people believe shearing helps animals who would otherwise b 2 hot. But in order 2 avoid losing any wool, ranchers shear sheep b4 they would naturally shed their winter coats, resulting in millions of sheep deaths from xposure 2 the cold."
Years later, when a fan tried to give Prince a leather coat during a concert in Washington, D.C., he demurred, "Please do not kill a cow so I can wear a coat!"
Prince also once famously declared: "We need an Animal Rights Day when all slaughterhouses shut down." His response to people who ask why he worries about animals in the face of widespread human suffering? "Compassion is an action word with no boundaries."
Prince, congratulations on your richly deserved award.
PETA's brand-new McCruelty PSA starring actor Jenna Jameson turned out fantastic, as we knew it would, but we had to shoot it several times. Jenna had to stop the action to regain her composure whenever she started talking about how chickens' legs are often broken when workers slam them upside down into metal shackles, and how these gentle birds are frequently scalded alive in defeathering tanks.
It's depressing enough to think (and blog) about cruelty that McDonald's could stop but simply chooses not to—let alone to talk about it on camera. Perhaps McDonald's should change its slogan "You deserve a break today" to "We'll give you a breakdown today."
Jenna is passionate about this issue, and she's optimistic that better times for chickens are ahead. "They're going to listen. Just wait," she told PETA. Yes, they will, if we all get behind the campaign and push—so come on, everyone. And thank you, Jenna!
Please join Jenna in demanding that McDonald's start buying chickens from suppliers that only use controlled-atmosphere killing, a less cruel form of slaughter.
I think that even Team Coco will agree that it's a sad day for The Tonight Show: Kevin Eubanks, longtime leader of The Tonight Show Band, PETA pal, and vegetarian—and the finest-looking strawberry you'll ever see—is ending his 18-year stint on the show. It's rumored that he's going to take this time to tour and record, but after taking a minute to reminisce with me and watching his hilarious veggie testimonial, you'll be left wondering if he doesn't have sketch comedy plans:
What an appealing guy—I bet he'd make a good banana too (har, har).
We're sure his future endeavors will be hugely successful. Best of luck, Kevin, and keep using your musical talent and your wonderful sense of humor to help animals!
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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