Written by PETA
Actually, these ominous-looking, hog-riding, crime-fighting softies call themselves Rescue Ink and are the latest recipient of PETA's Compassionate Action Award.
In New York City and surrounding areas, this burly clan responds to emergency calls day and night. And for no charge, they will show up at the doors of any would-be animal abusers to strike knee-knocking fear into what's left of their hearts in behalf of voiceless animals.
In addition to making abusive animal guardians piddle themselves, their service to the community is far-reaching. From search and rescue missions to giving out free doghouses or simply providing the elderly with cat food, no animal is overlooked.
LA Zoo, this time. Last week was Tampa. Could it, just possibly, be because these animals don’t want to be there? At least no one was hurt during this particular attempted escape, but that doesn’t change the fact that in addition to being (quite clearly) unsafe for visitors, the conditions animals are kept in at zoos are inhumane and unacceptable. There’s more information on this issue here.
To: Masha Markova, c/o Merrill CohenDear Ms. Markova,We at PETA have read with interest about your distress over Lindsay Lohan supposedly stealing your fur coat. Has it ever occurred to you that neither you nor Lindsay are the rightful owners? That coat belonged to dozens of animals who were electrocuted, gassed, strangled, drowned or beaten to death just so you could try to appear wealthy. Ms. Markova, people who wear fur simply show that having money and style don’t go hand in hand. Please take 5 minutes to watch this video, hosted by former fur wearer Martha Stewart, who had a change of heart about wearing real fur when she saw what the animals go through. Perhaps you, too, will find your conscience and consider donating your fur coat to PETA, as have Mariah Carey, Kim Cattrall, and hundreds of others who don’t want animals to be fashion victims. We give them to the homeless, and you would even receive a tax credit for the donation. We look forward to your reply.Dan MathewsVP, PETAhttp://www.petatv.com/tvpopup/Prefs.asp?video=martha
To: Masha Markova, c/o Merrill Cohen
Dear Ms. Markova,
We at PETA have read with interest about your distress over Lindsay Lohan supposedly stealing your fur coat. Has it ever occurred to you that neither you nor Lindsay are the rightful owners? That coat belonged to dozens of animals who were electrocuted, gassed, strangled, drowned or beaten to death just so you could try to appear wealthy. Ms. Markova, people who wear fur simply show that having money and style don’t go hand in hand. Please take 5 minutes to watch this video, hosted by former fur wearer Martha Stewart, who had a change of heart about wearing real fur when she saw what the animals go through. Perhaps you, too, will find your conscience and consider donating your fur coat to PETA, as have Mariah Carey, Kim Cattrall, and hundreds of others who don’t want animals to be fashion victims. We give them to the homeless, and you would even receive a tax credit for the donation. We look forward to your reply.
Dan MathewsVP, PETAhttp://www.petatv.com/tvpopup/Prefs.asp?video=martha
P.S. I just realized that I missed an opportunity for a bunch of “Lindsay Lohan showing off her fur in public” type jokes. Please accept my humble apologies for dropping the ball on that.
Which is, quite possibly, the best news in the history of news. It’s close, anyway. Inspired by the book Quantum Wellness, by Kathy Freston, Oprah’s going to be cutting all the meat, dairy, and eggs out of her diet in an effort to live a healthy, cruelty-free lifestyle. If you didn’t catch tonight’s show, be sure to look out for the reruns, but in the meantime, if you want to follow in Oprah’s footsteps, you can take a pledge to be vegan for 7 days. Oprah’s going to be giving up alcohol, wheat, and sugar as well – which, well, more power to her – but our pledge (for obvious reasons) is focusing on the veganism part. So you don’t need to worry about giving up your stiff gin and tonic after a hard day of work. Or is that just me who does that?
Anyway, according to Oprah’s website, the first day’s gone really well! Here’s what she says about her reasons for trying it out:
“How can you say you're trying to spiritually evolve, without even a thought about what happens to the animals whose lives are sacrificed in the name of gluttony?”
Thank you, Oprah! I can’t wait to hear how it goes.
For a completely surreal glance into the world these people live in, check out this undercover footage from behind the scenes at this year’s Westminster Dog Show. It speaks volumes.
Quick recap for you, in case you missed it:
1) Late last summer, PETA contacted the producers of Speed Racer to urge them to use alternatives to live animals on set, after a chimpanzee bit a young actor.2) Despite thousands of emails from individuals who were made aware of this abuse by PETA’s campaign, the Speed Racer team continued to use live animals—and another incident occurred in Germany: A representative of the American Humane Association (AHA) witnessed a trainer hitting a chimpanzee on set.3) The AHA gave the movie an “unacceptable” rating on their site. No one noticed.
The question here is as follows: What is the point of having a representative of your organization on the sets of movies if the only thing they’re empowered to do is write a bad review on their website? Why not just send the guy from IWatchStuff.com? He could do all that and make it witty and interesting.
The other point here (which the AHA conveniently glosses over) is that most abuse occurs off the set, during training. Even when the AHA rates a movie "unacceptable,” as with this case, the animal trainer is allowed to continue working with the animal. And when the film-industry-funded AHA does rate a film "acceptable," all that means is that no animals were harmed on the set while in plain sight of an AHA representative. Which is like saying you know your kids don’t smoke pot ’cuz you’ve never seen them doing it.
There are some things that can be done, though. PETA's German affiliate has just filed a formal complaint in Potsdam calling for an immediate investigation and the filing of all appropriate charges against Greg Lille, the California-based animal trainer who assaulted the chimpanzee on the Speed Racer set. If Greg Lille is found to have violated German animal protection laws, it’ll be a lot harder for him to ever work with animals in the future. We’ll let you know how that turns out. And there’s plenty more information about PETA’s campaign to get animals out of show business for good on our No More Monkey Business website.
P.S. Speed Racer was a monumental box office disaster. :-)
Donna Karan had a bit of an unpleasant surprise at the Yoga Journal Boston Conference on Saturday, in the form of naked PETA members doused in fake blood and crouched in yoga poses. Just our subtle way of saying, “Hey, DK, how about a little less with the nonviolence speeches and a little more with the not skinning bunny rabbits to make clothes?” Except, like without the confusing sentence construction.
The Boston Herald has the story.
So most people know PETA for our flashy naked protests and work with celebrities to speak out against cruelty to animals. If you live in the Norfolk, Virginia area, you may know PETA as the group that drives around the mobile low-cost spay/neuter clinic or delivers free dog houses to low-income areas.
But unless you’re the CEO or executive of one of the more than 80 unfortunate companies we target through our “shareholder advocacy” program, you may not know about the behind-the-scenes work PETA does to improve the lives of animals worldwide. Through this program, we purchase small amounts of stock in companies that abuse animals in some way—whether for food or clothing or in animal tests—and then use our position as stockholders to submit shareholder resolutions calling on the companies to adopt better animal welfare standards (or in the case of some companies, to adopt any animal welfare standards). We’ve won major victories for animals through using this tactic, like getting Carl’s Jr. and Hardee’s to adopt improve their animal welfare practices and getting Dow Chemical to reduce the number of animals killed in its tests.
Our work in this area was recently recognized when As You Sow—an organization dedicated to promoting corporate responsibility—named PETA the most active group in shareholder activism…a title we’ve now held for the fourth straight year in a row. That means that PETA submits more of these shareholder resolutions than any other non-profit organization in the country, regardless of the issue.
These efforts were also discussed in a recent Orlando Sentinel article about PETA, which you might want to check out.
Oh, and don’t worry: while we may not show up to companies’ shareholder meetings in the buff, our “I’d Rather Go Naked Than Wear Fur” campaign won’t be going away any time soon.
OK, you totally will guess. We’re recommending that people pledge to be vegetarian during that week. Obviously, if you want to do it for longer, that’ll make us really happy too, but this is a great time for people who’ve been thinking about making the switch to give it a try in a nice easy way. People who take the 7-Day pledge will receive an email with some tips on making the transition, and there are plenty of resources available on our aptly titled Making the Transition page.
If you’re already veg, well, you’re obviously exempt from this assignment recommendation, so take a minute to pat yourself on the back, smile smugly to yourself (like so), and then politely recommend the pledge to one of your meat-eating friends. By way of an incentive, here are some pictures of a pig who thinks he’s a dachshund.
Following the public outrage about the shady practices of the horseracing industry that was triggered by the death of Eight Belles at the Kentucky Derby, many PETA members and concerned citizens showed up at the Preakness in Baltimore to remind the industry that they can’t just sweep their problems under the rug (or send them off to the glue factory). Here are some photos from this amazing demonstration:
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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