Written by Jeff Mackey
Two-time Tony winner and Oscar nominee Viola Davis has sent a letter to state legislators in Rhode Island urging them to support proposed legislation to prevent elephants traveling with circuses from enduring bullhook abuse and long periods of chaining. Davis was raised in Central Falls, Rhode Island, and attended Rhode Island College.
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The star of the hotly anticipated Ender's Game hopes the bill will bring about an endgame for the well-documented elephant abuse by circuses that travel within her home state, including Ringling Bros., Cole Bros., and Piccadilly Circus.
Davis joins Alec Baldwin, Jada Pinkett Smith, Demi Moore, Olivia Munn, and many others—both famous and not so famous—who have spoken out against the use of bullhooks and other practices that cause elephants and other animals forced to travel with circuses to endure great physical and emotional damage.
If you live in Rhode Island, join Viola Davis in asking your state legislators to support the ban on bullhooks and the chaining of elephants. But no matter where you reside, please do your part to end circus cruelty.
Written by Michelle Kretzer
PETA recently grabbed Telly Awards for our raucous "Boyfriend Went Vegan and Knocked the Bottom out of Me" cautionary tale, narrated by Kevin Nealon, and Elisabetta Canalis' edgy public service announcement about leaving dogs in hot cars.
Even though IndyCar driver Simon Pagenaud has a hot car and a dog, he won't be mixing the two. He is fostering Hufflepuff, a dog from an Indianapolis animal shelter who is looking for a home. And the pup likely won't be Pagenaud's last—he says that he intends to continue fostering for the shelter. PETA sent the pair some congratulatory toys and treats.
Speaking of treats, joining model Jourdan Dunn on a recent segment of her popular Internet cooking series, Well Dunn, was fellow model Karlie Kloss. Together, they whipped up a delectable-looking veggie curry and Karlie's famous vegan cookies (she sells them to raise money for school lunches).
Still hungry? Some lucky person will get to dine on Jared Leto's favorite vegan pancakes after catching some z's in the vegan Thirty Seconds to Mars frontman's bed. The band is hosting a contest called "The Sleepover," in which fans can win a trip to see the "lab" where the guys create their music, and one fan will even get to cuddle up under Leto's comforter and break some cruelty-free bread.
In other music news, Paul McCartney kicks off the North American leg of his "Out There" tour on Saturday in Orlando, Florida, complete with a PETA information table and animal-friendly concert rider.
Like Paul, Constance Marie loves to be animal-friendly in everything that she does. So of course, she's raising her daughter, Luna, to be a healthy vegetarian and an animal advocate, just like Mom.
Paul, Constance, and oodles of other celebrities have been keeping their fans up to date on all their animal-friendly fabulousness on Twitter:
The Twitterverse is also abuzz with the news that Arrested Development will be back on May 26 on Netflix. To tide us over, here's some David Cross hilarity:
To keep up with what all your favorite stars are doing for animals, follow @PETA on Twitter.
Written by Alisa Mullins
Smashing Pumpkins founder and frontman Billy Corgan is the latest star to speak out against the cruel practice of dehorning cattle. Billy is calling on California Pizza Kitchen to make the responsible and ethical decision to demand that its cheese suppliers stop this barbaric mutilation.
I have viewed the photos and watched PETA's investigative video of these procedures, and I was appalled to see young calves who struggled and writhed in pain as searing hot irons burned their heads. The industry has noted that the burns are so severe that they may damage the underlying bone. Other practices, which include using caustic chemicals to eat away at the horn-bud flesh via a chemical burn, are no better. … I strongly urge you to take immediate action to stop this unspeakable barbarism by requiring your suppliers to phase out dehorning.
Instead of using these excruciating dehorning methods, farmers can instead breed for naturally hornless, or "polled," cattle. Just as farmers select for traits such as coat color, they can select for the hornless gene. And since a single gene determines whether a cow will have horns and the polled gene is dominant over the horned gene, with selective breeding new generations of cows can be born without the gene for horns.
Several other companies have taken steps to eliminate dehorning, and Billy urges California Pizza Kitchen to follow suit. He is one of several celebrities, including Ryan Gosling and Casey Affleck, who want to see an end to this painful, and unnecessary mutilation immediately.
Billy is no stranger to raising his voice to protect animals. He's been a staunch supporter of PETA's Kentucky Fried Cruelty campaign and PETA Asia's campaign to free Mali.
What You Can Do
Please join Billy Corgan in writing to California Pizza Kitchen and urging the company to require its cheese suppliers to stop dehorning.
Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam today vetoed the state's "ag-gag" bill, an attempt by the agriculture industry to prevent American consumers from learning about the cruelty inherent in factory farming. The governor agreed with animal advocates and legal scholars who loudly criticized the bill, acknowledging concerns that it was "constitutionally suspect" and that it "actually makes it more difficult to prosecute animal cruelty cases."
Even when it appeared certain that Haslam would sign the bill into law, animal advocates in Tennessee and across the country refused to back down. Tens of thousands of kind people like you reposted PETA's action alert, spoke out against the bill, and flooded Haslam's e-mail, Facebook, and Twitter accounts with messages urging him to veto it. A long list of celebrities also voiced their opposition, including Emmylou Harris, Carrie Underwood, Wynonna Judd, Miley Cyrus, Tish Cyrus, Ellen DeGeneres, Tony Kanal, CMT President Brian Philips, and Republican strategist Mary Matalin—who also sent lawmakers a video in which she highlights the importance of PETA's undercover work in prosecuting animal abusers.
And we won.
Please take a moment to tweet @BillHaslam and thank him for showing some mercy to animals on factory farms.
PETA's gorgeous new ad featuring 2012 Sexiest Vegetarian Next Door winner Zachary Koval offers living proof that you don't need beef to be buff.
Fitness guru David Barton—whose motto, "Look Better Naked," is something we can certainly get behind—hosted Zachary and PETA for the official unveiling of the ad (which has already been featured on the Men's Health website) at his sizzling-hot eponymous gym in New York City's Astor Place, marking PETA's first-ever gym partnership.
Zachary, a David Barton Gym regular, also presented a free talk explaining the advantages of plant-powered fitness, from the best vegan proteins for bodybuilding to why so many of today's most admired figures—from Carrie Underwood and Natalie Portman to pro fighters Jake Shields and Mac Danzig—are enjoying veggie vitality.
A slammin' body can be sexy, but combine it with a humane (and healthy) heart and you get off-the-charts hotness. Ready to turn some heads and open some eyes? Just do like Zachary and the 2013 Sexiest Vegan Next Door winners, Yerika and John—get fit the vegan way!
We think animals would agree with Maxim readers' choice for the top spot on the "Hot 100" list of the sexiest women in the world. Besides being a model guardian for her rescued dogs and a staunch adoption advocate, Miley Cyrus has worked to get horses who are forced to pull carriages off New York City's streets, shown her fondness for pigs, helped raise money for animal shelters, spoken out against "ag-gag" bills, and earned PETA's Compassionate Citizen Award for rescuing chickens. She even inspired PETA's mascots to twerk on Hollywood Boulevard! If that isn't beautiful, we don't know what is.
Actually, animals would probably be pretty pumped about the rest of the Hot 100 list, too—it's loaded with PETA poster gals, including Daniella Alonso, Rocsi Diaz, Ke$ha, Joanna Krupa, Eva Mendes, Yvonne Strahovski, Lea Michele, Charlize Theron, Olivia Munn, and our reigning Sexiest Vegan Female Celebrity, Jessica Chastain.
Lovely ladies who subscribe to healthy vegetarian lifestyles also made the list, including Kellie Pickler, Lake Bell, and Olivia Wilde. And let us not forget the long list of celebrities who always adopt and never buy, including Zooey Deschanel, Kat Dennings, Ashley Greene, Zoe Saldana, Amanda Seyfried, Kaley Cuoco, and Emma Stone.
Hats off to you, gals, and thank you for making compassion for animals so sexy!
After he heard that New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie had weight-loss surgery, the Rev. Al Sharpton urged him to keep the pounds off the natural way: by eating healthy food and exercising. Sharpton has been all about the plants after having a chat with former President Bill Clinton, and now he's ready to help another political figure maintain his figure.
We won't be surprised if the plant-based prez is spotted dining at L.A.'s fêted new restaurant Crossroads, owned by celebrated vegan chef to the stars and PETA friend Tal Ronnen. Renée Zellweger, Warren Beatty, Ellen DeGeneres, and Tony Kanal are just a few of the famous faces you might see enjoying delectable vegan eats there.
Ginnifer Goodwin enjoyed Crossroads so much that she encouraged all her Twitter followers to check it out, and other stars were in the mood to share some of their favorite snapshots:
If you can handle even more doggie delightfulness, check out the pictures of Kevin Spacey with his new rescued dog, Boston. PETA sent Boston some toys and treats to help welcome her to her new home.
And congratulations are also in order for fur-free beauties Eva Mendes, Kristen Stewart, and Mila Kunis as well as horse hero Lea Michele and adoption advocate Amanda Seyfried. All the animal-friendly gals earned a spot on FHM's list of the top 100 sexiest women in the world.
Pierce Brosnan is no stranger to "hottest" lists—and he's no stranger to animal advocacy, either. The dashing Irishman's latest effort involves convincing the U.S. Navy to halt plans for training drills in which it would detonate explosives in the ocean, killing and injuring whales and other marine mammals.
To keep up with how all your favorite stars are helping animals, follow @PETA on Twitter.
In a sign of the success of the animal rights movement, candidates running for mayor of New York City gathered for a forum on May 6 with an exclusive focus on how much they care about the nonhuman residents of the Big Apple.
iStockPhoto.com/vikarus
The forum was organized by NYCLASS (New Yorkers for Clean, Livable and Safe Streets), a group that PETA works with, especially on our campaign to get horses forced to pull carriages off the streets of New York City. While the mayoral hopefuls drew attention to their vegetarian children and rescued animals, attendees made sure that the candidates understood that the cruel horse-drawn carriage trade is a key issue.
When PETA was founded in 1980, animal rights was all but absent from social and political agendas. Now, as Bob Dylan famously noted, "The times they are a-changin'." And as this event showed, they're changing in animals' favor!
How You Can Help
Please join PETA, NYCLASS, Lea Michele, Pink, Adrien Brody, Miley Cyrus, Martina Navratilova, Alec Baldwin, and Kristen Johnston in calling for a ban on horse-drawn carriages in New York City. Then become a PETA member to help keep animal rights moving forward.
As we mentioned recently, the EU has issued a ruling that upholds its ban on products from the bloody annual Canadian seal massacre. Now the only remaining challenge to that ban rests with the World Trade Organization (WTO), which just concluded its hearings—with PETA in attendance—and things didn't go well for Canada.
During the hearings, the EU demonstrated that it is not possible to ensure that the seals are unconscious when they are killed. Canada tried to argue that seals decimate cod populations (which local fishers want for themselves), but the EU pointed out that science has shown that the decline of fish populations can be blamed on reckless overfishing.
In the end, if the hearings weren't so important, they might have seemed like a bad joke: Canada succeeded only in calling attention to its own marine mismanagement. This may finally sound the death knell for Canada's seal slaughter, since even its one-time supporters have acknowledged that it has become untenable. We'll keep you posted here at The PETA Files.
Thanks are due to all the good folks who expressed their concerns to the WTO on behalf of PETA or PETA UK, including Jude Law, Pamela Anderson, Joan Jett, Iggy Pop, and Sarah McLachlan. They asked the organization to uphold the ban and/or urged the WTO to hold open hearings—which it did, making it possible for a PETA representative to be present.
The end is in sight, but we can't slack off now—please tell Canadian officials that it's time to stop the slaughter, and then spread the word to get more people involved today.
After he heard about the deadly experiments that the University of Wisconsin–Madison is performing on cats, Randall made a video against it that is so convincing that it could make even the honey badger care.
Randall's buddy Bret Lockett of the New York Jets gave animals an awesome shout-out, too, during an interview with Integral Yoga Magazine:
I don't believe in torturing animals. I've been doing a lot of research and found out about a lot I didn't know, so I joined PETA's 'Ink, Not Mink' ad series urging others to show off their unique tattoos rather than wearing fur. Having played football in New England, where winters are harsh, I knew firsthand that there was no excuse—not even weather extremes—for wearing fur and that there are plenty of other fashionable, warm materials to wear that weren't made by harming animals. I challenged my fans to watch PETA's undercover video footage of fur farms, just like I did. I wanted everyone to know that, for every fur coat, collar or piece of trim, millions of foxes, minks, coyotes, rabbits and even cats and dogs were violently killed with wire nooses. Many of these animals are even skinned alive. The only way to combat this cruelty is by never buying or wearing fur or fur trim.
Bret would likely be pleased with Glamour UK's pick for the best-dressed celebrity: Fervently fur-free Kristen Stewart tops the magazine's list for the second year in a row.
And Perez Hilton graced us with a gallery of the best-undressed celebs: 30 of PETA's hottest nude anti-fur ads.
In the same spirit, here's our gallery of the best celebrity tweets of the week:
Pamela Anderson probably gets asked out via Twitter and other means every day. But she's offering to take a certain fellow out to dinner. Who's the lucky guy? Philippine President Benigno Aquino III. Pam wants to talk to the bachelor president about helping to get Mali, the 39-year-old ailing elephant who is alone in the Manila Zoo, transferred to a sanctuary in Thailand.
Fellow screen icon and animal rights campaigner Brigitte Bardot is making another man an offer he shouldn't refuse. Brigitte joined PETA UK's campaign to get British retailer Fortnum & Mason to stop selling vile foie gras, with a letter to the store's managing director, Ewan Venters, that said, in part, "Tradition is never an excuse for animal cruelty."
You would probably never catch Vanessa Hudgens eating foie gras, but you would catch her grabbing lunch at North Hollywood's Lotus Vegan restaurant.
Where else can you catch your favorite celebs? Tweeting with PETA.
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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