Written by Michelle Kretzer
Pretty, pleasant Pia Toscano bears a striking resemblance to another PETA pal—Lea Michele—and the similarities don't stop at their lovely faces, with voices to match and rhyming monikers. Like Lea, Pia jumped at the chance to use her platform to help stop cruelty to animals.
In her debut single, "This Time," Pia bids a powerful adieu to a bad boyfriend. And she thinks it's time that everyone broke up with two businesses that are bad for animals: the fur industry and circuses.
In an exclusive interview with PETA, Pia expounded, "It was very difficult for me to watch the videos on how fur coats are made and how these animals are brutally beaten and skinned alive. There's no excuse for that." And when talk turned to the circus, she was quick to express her disgust. "I'm a performer, and I make a conscious decision every time I get up on that stage to do what I love, but these animals, they don't have a choice, they don't have a voice, and they are not choosing this lifestyle."
Since animals don't get to choose not to be forced to perform or killed for their fur, as Pia notes, it's up to us to add our voices to the ever-growing chorus of people speaking up for them.
One celeb who won't mind too much when awards season winds down? Octavia Spencer. She loves cheering for her friend Jessica Chastain, but she's getting antsy for her The Help costar to cook her some more vegan soul food like the vegan fried chicken they made on set. Jessica, one of PETA's reigning Sexiest Vegetarian Celebrities, has been scooping up the nominations, so to tide Octavia over, we've sent her her own vegan soul-food cookbook. Maybe soon the friends will be comparing vegan recipes and Oscars?
They can scoop up Robin Quivers' new vegan cookbook, The Vegucation of Robin: How Real Food Saved My Life. Or perhaps they'll take their happy reunion to Chef Tal Ronnen's new vegan restaurant and bar, Crossroads, opening in L.A.
Hilaria and Alec Baldwin are also celebrating an exciting new venture. The couple is expecting their first child in late summer. PETA is sending the vegan mom an early shower gift: a copy of Skinny Bitch Bun in the Oven.
And at just 15 years old, pop prince Greyson Chance thinks it's time he gave meat-free eating a chance. When he posted to Twitter, "first day of being a vegetarian. can I do this?" his fans responded in droves with words of encouragement. We think that we know a few more folks who might be cheering Greyson on:
When animals weren't getting "tweet outs" on Twitter, they were getting major ups from Maggie Q in The Huffington Post. The Nikita star spent the majority of her interview talking about her new PETA campaign titled, "Fight Climate Change With Diet Change—Go Veg," and detailing the environmental destruction and cruelty of the meat industry. If Maggie ever decides to get out of acting, we think she's got a future in animal rights.
To keep up with what all your favorite stars are doing for animals, follow @PETA on Twitter.
Written by Jeff Mackey
As Canada's bloody annual seal massacre approaches again this spring, the at-risk animals can always count on their country's own superhero for animals, Pamela Anderson. The bombshell from British Columbia has submitted an appeal on behalf of PETA urging the World Trade Organization (WTO) to uphold the European Union's (EU) ban on seal-fur imports.
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The WTO's public hearings on trade arising from the cruel seal slaughter begin in Geneva on February 18. All major markets have banned seal-pelt imports, including the EU, the U.S., Taiwan, Mexico, and most recently Russia, which had been importing 95 percent of the Canadian sealskins, marking one of the biggest victories in the history of animal rights!
Please help Pam and PETA save seals from being bludgeoned and skinned alive for their fur—urge Canada's leaders to support Sen. Mac Harb's bill to end the commercial seal massacre today!
Wanda Sykes—one of the funniest people on the planet, in my opinion—has taken on a very unfunny issue: dogs left chained up outside. Like fellow Southeastern Virginia native and comedian Patton Oswalt, Wanda has sent letters on PETA's behalf to Newport News and Suffolk city officials, urging them to pass legislation against continuous tethering similar to ordinances enacted in neighboring towns, including Hampton, Virginia Beach, Smithfield, Sykes' hometown of Portsmouth, and PETA's hometown of Norfolk.
In her letters, Wanda explains that chained dogs—like the three pit bulls discovered by PETA cruelty caseworkers in Newport News in December—are often denied adequate shelter and suffer from loneliness, frustration, and neglect. One of those dogs had already died of starvation, and the two survivors were malnourished and had no access to food or water (PETA has filed cruelty charges against the dogs' owners).
As a mother, Wanda also expresses concern that chained dogs are more likely to become aggressive than dogs who live indoors with their human families, as evidenced by the tragic case of a toddler in Suffolk who was mauled to death by his family's chained dogs. Chaining also sends the dangerous message to children that dogs are disposable objects to be tossed out in the backyard and forgotten when they become inconvenient.
What You Can Do
If chaining is still permitted in your community, please follow Wanda's example and encourage your local officials to enact a tethering ban. You can also help by sponsoring a custom doghouse to be built and delivered to provide a dog with relief from extreme weather.
When one of Ricky Gervais' young fans tweeted the star with the message "my parents agreed if you retweet this they will buy my sister a dog & let you name it," Ricky agreed but with one important stipulation. "A rescue dog tho," he mandated. We would expect nothing less from the man who is a constant voice for homeless animals, urging people to adopt, never buy, and bashing greedy breeders and puppy mills. And like many compassionate celebrities, Ricky consistently uses his Twitter account to reach millions of people with animal-friendly messages.
We can always count on Ricky to get an animal rights point across while he's making people laugh. And Jon Stewart did, too, with The Daily Show's humorous coverage of Iran's launching a monkey into space: "Iran, you think the CIA is tough? You just got PETA on your ass, and those guys don't f**k around." We'd love to hear Jon's take on Funny or Die's spot-on spoof of Dodge Ram's pandering "God Made a Farmer" Super Bowl ad, "God Made a Factory Farmer."
And Waka Flocka Flame's hilarious Instagram photo had us laughing at how ridiculous people look in fur:
Happily, Beyoncé went fur-free at the Super Bowl, but she draped herself in python skin, iguana skin, and leather instead. PETA is urging the singer to take a cue from other beautiful, talented performers such as Carrie Underwood, who puts on a dynamic show in cruelty-free fashions.
And it was the epitome of a dynamic cruelty-free show when Vaute Couture designer Leanne Mai-ly Hilgart presented the first completely vegan runway show at New York Fashion Week. Celebrities are flocking to the line, which is named after "haute couture" but spelled with a "v" for vegan.
New York isn't the only city celebrating cruelty-free fashion. Across the pond, our affiliate PETA U.K. presented the first-ever Vegan Fashion Awards, with celeb judges Sadie Frost and Meg Mathews honoring animal-friendly fashion from top designers and retailers such as Stella McCartney, Vivienne Westwood, and Topshop.
Happy New Year! Yes, already—at least in places where the Lunar New Year is observed, including China. To join our Chinese friends in celebrating the start of the Year of the Snake, we're featuring one of PETA's most memorable snake-themed ads, in which lovely actor, dancer, and producer Jenna Dewan-Tatum exposes the distinctly not-so-lovely side of the exotic-skins trade.
Jenna—who is preparing to deliver her very first bundle of joy with husband Channing Tatum—recently appeared in American Horror Story: Asylum. But what happens to animals killed for their skins is every bit as gruesome as anything perpetrated by that show's mad scientist or serial killers. Snakes have their bodies cut open from one end to the other and their skin ripped off before being tossed aside to struggle and thrash in pain for hours or even days until they die. Most alligators used for accessories are raised in filthy tanks until they are stabbed or beaten to death.
Millions of snakes, lizards, alligators, crocodiles, and other reptiles are violently killed every year so that their skins can be torn from their bodies to make wallets, belts, boots, and handbags. Don't buy into this cruel rip-off—instead, choose accessories made from chic, cruelty-free materials such as fake snake, mock croc, and pleather. You'll look (and feel) better knowing that you got the glam—without stealing someone else's skin.
We knew our Sexiest Vegetarian Celebrity nominee Rooney Mara was meat-free, but it seems that the girl with the dragon tattoo is also the girl who bid dairy adieu. The buzz from the Sundance Film Festival is that Rooney has been noshing on vegan eats. Perhaps Casey Affleck rubbed off on her while they were filming Ain't Them Bodies Saints.
They'll both have plenty to munch on at the Screen Actors Guild Awards and the Oscars. To satisfy vegan nominees, such as Anne Hathaway, Jessica Chastain, and Joaquin Phoenix, the SAG awards will offer roasted beets with blood oranges, mint, and black olives; cauliflower couscous with pomegranate salsa; and farro with kale, young broccoli, currants, and pine nuts and the Oscars menu will include vegan pizza.
Original fun girl Cyndi Lauper is also working on being a vegan fun girl and is tweeting about her progress. "I got to admit," she wrote, "my voice sounds grt frm this diet." PETA has been tweeting Cyndi some yummy recipes to try, suggesting good restaurants to stop at while she's on the road, and, of course, keeping up with all the buzz that Cyndi and other celebs are stirring up for animals on Twitter:
With the big game fast approaching, we're betting that Rooney Mara's family full of football fanatics—as well as scores of other folks—will be taking PETA's advice and serving up vegan wings on Super Bowl Sunday. What else would be appropriate while cheering on animal defender Terrell Suggs and the Ravens?
But it will be a bittersweet end to the season for us if our buddy Tony Gonzalez really is hanging up his cleats for good. Tony is reportedly considering retirement, and while we hope we get to cheer for our favorite Falcons player again, we're proud that he will go down in history as the greatest tight end in the NFL.
When Amar'e Stoudemire shot his anti-fur ad for PETA, he said, "I wouldn't want to see anything cruel happen to any animals just for fashion." Now the New York Knicks' star forward is showing that he doesn't want to see anything cruel happen to animals just for food, either. Amar'e says his new vegetarian diet is helping him stay healthy after he had to have a third surgery on his knees.
Amar'e didn't go vegetarian in time to make Shape's list of the 25 Sexiest Vegan and Vegetarian Celebrities, but there's always next year. The mag did give a shout-out to PETA's reigning Sexiest Male Vegetarian Celebrity, Woody Harrelson, as well as our buds Mickey Madden, Casey Affleck, Russell Brand, Steve-O, and Mac Danzig.
Maybe Chicago's Rahm Emanuel will make Shape's list next year. "America's Fittest Mayor" is endorsing Rip Esselstyn's vegan Engine 2 Diet.
And these sexy stars made PETA's list of our favorite animal tweethearts:
Written by Paula Moore
At last night's Golden Globe Awards, the hot topic on the red carpet was the cold snap in L.A.: Temps had dropped to 37 degrees. But not one of the nominees (and no other celebrity we could find) wore fur. Hollywood has had quite the animal-friendly makeover over the past generation with PETA on the scene!
The majority of fur today comes from fur farms, where animals slowly go insane from the intense confinement. Many animals on fur farms circle frantically in their cages, a sign of severe psychological stress.
Not only was the glitzy event fur-free, it also showcased a few of today's most vibrant vegans! Jessica Chastain—PETA's reigning Sexiest Vegetarian Celebrity—and previous champ Anne Hathaway nabbed the top actress awards.
Lady Gaga, a one-time anti-fur advocate and supposed anti-bullying advocate, seems to flip-flop more than a new pair of Havaianas. Now Sharon Osbourne is calling the singer out on it, saying:
[W]hen I saw you wear a dress made out of raw meat, I was sickened. When I see you wearing fur, and using it as a fashion statement, the fact that defenseless animals have been killed so you can get your picture in the press is abhorrent to me. Shouldn't you be teaching your 'little monster' fans to respect animals and life?
Whether the target is people or animals, no one likes a bully. Maybe that's why staunch animal advocates have been scooping up so many awards lately.
At the People's Choice Awards, Glee stars Lea Michele and Chris Colfer claimed Favorite Comedic TV Actress and Actor awards and Jason Mraz was named Favorite Male Artist. Ellen DeGeneres was named Favorite Daytime TV Host, Jared Padalecki's show Supernatural took Favorite Sci-Fi/Fantasy TV Show honors, and Mayim Bialik's The Big Bang Theory was voted Favorite Network TV Comedy. Presenters Olivia Munn and Ian Somerhalder were a huge hit, and host Kaley Cuoco even took a page out of PETA's book and fought back against dog shaming with a little "people shaming" of her own.
Bones' David Boreanaz and Emily Deschanel were named TV Guide's Best Actor and Best Actress. Onscreen, the TV couple focus on investigating deaths, but off-screen David and Emily are all about saving animals' lives.
Animal advocate extraordinaire Russell Simmons is being honored with the Visionary Award from the Producers Guild of America for his philanthropy and ethical approach to business. And several stars snagged our nominations for best animal-friendly tweets of the week:
With all the love for animals and the folks who defend them that's been going around this week, guess who got named among the least popular people in America? That'd be the Kardashian family, who ranked lower than Congress, root canals, and traffic jams.
Unlike some members of the Kardashian clan, Lena Dunham prefers her fur attached to its rightful owner. She happily shared photos of her fluffy new rescued dog, Lamby, on Instagram.
It's also a boy for Miley Cyrus, who just added new rescued puppy Bean to her family. Meanwhile, her sister Noah Cyrus was celebrating another milestone. For her 13th birthday, Noah asked her friends to donate $13 toward getting horse-drawn carriages off New York City's streets.
Vocal horse advocate Kathy Najimy put her money where her mouth is, competing on Food Network's Rachael vs. Guy Celebrity Cook-Off to benefit PETA. Of course Kathy, along with competitor and fellow PETA supporter Cornelia Guest, cooked all vegetarian meals.
Perhaps Kathy and Cornelia could swap recipes with Gwyneth Paltrow, who is releasing a new vegetarian-friendly cookbook. Their expertise may even come in handy on the final frontier. One of America's most respected space entrepreneurs, PayPal co-founder Elon Musk, is making plans to establish the first colony on Mars—but no meat-eaters are allowed.
That means that even on Mars we could still enjoy the musical stylings of longtime vegetarian Paul McCartney. And it's a good thing that Elon's shuttles will likely be made without animal skins, because Macca won't ride in a vehicle with leather seats.
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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