‘Cuz he’s got webbed feet. And, like, he seems like a really nice guy. See what I did with the title there? It’s what’s called a double entendre. That’s why they pay me the big bucks. Anyway, here’s the letter we wrote him, asking him to stand up for his web-footed brethren. Fox News has the story.

Sad news for fans of Oxygen’s Sunday night Talk Sex call-in show: The show’s 77-year-old host, Sue Johanson, is finally calling it quits—the last show, a countdown of the year’s top 10 sex toys, aired at midnight last night. So, by way of a farewell to Ms. Johanson, here’s (IMHO) her greatest moment ever, in which she proves once and for all that, well, vegans (or vejuhns, as she awesomely calls us) just taste better. Seriously, it’s amazing.

In a recent conference call with investors, KFC outlined strategies for improving flagging U.S. sales, including projecting a "younger image." Since we're going to be matching these guys stride for stride until they agree to make some major changes in the way they treat chickens, that means we need to be hitting the same markets with our message that KFC tortures animals. The latest salvo in this operation is our series of edgy horror-movie-style anti-KFC spots, which will be debuting in Boston this week for the BU, Tufts, and Harvard audiences as a counter to the college-targeted advertising that KFC's been running.

This one's my favorite from the series. If you haven't seen it yet, you should check out the whole site. It's kind of awesome.

Fans of PostSecret will be familiar with the format here—members, employees, and friends of PETA have been uploading stories about their companion animals and things they wish they'd done differently in taking care of them. Given the opportunity, I think we'd all make a few changes if we had a chance to go back and do more for members of the family—and this is often especially true of the animals we share our lives with. I can tell you, for instance, that (although I love every bit of her), I wish I'd been a hell of a lot more diligent about watching Princess Cuteyface's weight after she first showed up on my doorstep (she's a big, big girl). If you have a moment today, take some time to read people's confessions about their companion animals, and feel free to upload your own story. It makes for some intense reading.

It’s that time of year again, folks. PETA has teamed up with Johnny Rockets to bring the world “buy one, get one free” veggie burgers throughout the month of May. If you have a Johnny Rockets near you, grab a friend, a loved one, or some random dude off the street, head over to the restaurant with your coupon, and get your companion to order a Veggie Streamliner and a soda, so you can get the second one for freezie. Seriously—the free ones taste better.

And if you don’t have any friends or loved ones, bring the coupon anyway so you can get two delicious veggie burgers for yourself. Sounds like you probably need them.

Details here.

comicbookmovie / CC

Although I’m certainly not above gloating about a major Hollywood flop for no other reason than the sheer pleasure of it, there’s actually a bit of history to this one, since PETA contacted the Wachowski Brothers in July of last year about reports that a chimpanzee used on the set of Speed Racer had bitten one of the actors. The issue here is that, almost invariably, great apes used in film are beaten and abused to make them perform (hence, the occasional biting), then cast aside at filthy roadside zoos (or worse) once they’ve outlived their usefulness--no older than age 8! Angelica Huston recently filmed a great PSA for us on this issue, which you can watch here.

I’m willing to concede the remote possibility that there were some other factors that contributed to Speed Racer’s downfall in addition to the bad publicity they got from PETA (like, it could just be a lousy movie), so let’s just call this karma, and we’ll hope the movie’s producers can find a formula in future that doesn’t involve either a) abusing monkeys, or b) making sucky movies. Good luck next time, guys.

DMX's album art leaves little doubt as to where he stands on cruelty to pit bulls

The indictment came after reports that dogs were being abused on his property in August led authorities to search his home, where they seized 12 pit bulls and found the bodies of three others buried on his property. I can't say that I'm all that shocked about this arrest, given that DMX has used his music to glorify dogfighting in songs like "Dog Match", where he talks about how his dogs "love to fight" (which is eerily reminiscent of all those folks who've been claiming that horses "love to race" in the wake of Eight Belles' death at the Kentucky Derby).

We've contacted the prosecutor in this case asking him to ensure that, if DMX is convicted, he's given the maximum jail sentence, a ban on owning animals, and mandatory psychiatric counseling. I'll keep you posted.

Following the dust stirred up by PETA and the national outrage about the very public death of Eight Belles from two snapped ankle bones, our appeals to the horseracing industry to make far-reaching changes in its practices have begun to have a noticeable effect. An article in The Wall Street Journal today quoted Alex Waldrop, the president of the National Thoroughbred Racing Association (NTRA) as saying, "It is clear that the status quo is not an option. We have to stop identifying problems and start implementing solutions."

Which, well, Amen to that. Some changes have already begun to be implemented, including a prominent horse auction company which has “instructed agents and breeders to discourage jockeys from whipping horses during a coming sales show,” citing the negative press generated by animal rights organizations as its reason for implementing the policy. What goes on behind the scenes, from whipping to doping, is another matter. Time will tell if major changes are adopted by the NTRA, and how effective and far-reaching they are, but the grave concerns about the long list of cruel and shady practices of this dirty industry—which PETA has been raising for decades—are finally beginning to be addressed.

It’s certainly too bad that it took another death of a popular horse during a televised racing event to scare the industry into recognizing that people are leaving the track in droves, but we’ll call this “better late than never” and keep our eyes firmly on the industry to ensure that these promises are more than just talk.

There’s been a lot of talk about the arrest of 75 San Diego State University students in a drug sting recently, and now that the dust has settled a little bit, we figured it was a good time to let students at the university know why eating meat is far worse for you than smoking pot. We just placed an ad in the school newspaper The Daily Aztec, which shows a close-up of a cow's face next to the tagline "Say No to Pot Roast. Don't Be a Meathead. Kick the Habit!" The ad points out that, while there’s no doubt that getting high can hurt your test scores, people who want to stay away from drugs should stay away from meat, which is often loaded with pesticide residues, hormones, and antibiotics. Meat, egg, and dairy-product consumption have also been linked to heart disease, stroke, obesity, diabetes, and cancer. As PETA President Ingrid Newkirk puts it,

So there you have it, kids. Say “no” to pot roast.

I love the tagline for this new ad, which features Tricia Helfer—star of the hit Sci-Fi Channel show Battlestar Galactica. Tricia plays a ruthless cylon robot on BSG, but I know for a fact that she’s very different in real life. You wouldn’t, for instance, find a ruthless robot donating their time to pose with a kitty cat to encourage people to treat their animals humanely. Unless, like, they had some devious ulterior motives, like world domination. Which is definitely not the case with Tricia—she just really cares about animals. You can watch our interview with Tricia here, and enter to win seasons 1-3 of the show, along with the movie Razor on DVD.

The ad is absolutely stunning—that’s Tricia’s pal Mr. Nix on the left.