Written by PETA
Courtesy of our friends at PETA Germany, TV viewers in that country learned how birds are routinely mistreated and neglected by Wiesenhof (the leading German poultry brand) when the ARD network aired a program that included undercover footage from PETA Germany's investigation of a Wiesenhof turkey farm. The sizable audience saw workers as they kicked and threw turkeys, birds thrown roughly into cages, animals who fell off trucks, and other abuses. And this was hardly a fluke—last year, another PETA Germany investigation found similar nastiness at a Wiesenhof chicken farm.
Of course, things are no better on factory farms outside Germany, so if you haven't taken cruelty off the table, pledge to go vegan right now.
Written by Jeff Mackey
Ten girls in South Africa are facing cruelty charges after PETA alerted officials there to a disturbing YouTube video in which a group of girls tossed and kicked a hen to death. Whoever posted the video on YouTube introduced the clip by writing, "Well basically… um… this is what we do at sleepovers at 6 am as you can see with the pajamas :) … and the chicken did die )-o and please no animal cruelty lectures!!!."
We're relieved that suspects have been identified and charges filed against two of them after PETA raised the alarm. Psychiatrists, criminal profilers, and law-enforcement officials have repeatedly documented that kids who abuse animals for kicks are often violent toward humans too. If you know of anyone who mistreats animals, please notify authorities right away—for everyone's safety.
Written by Lindsay Pollard-Post
A driver in Alabama spotted Laura the chicken and scooped her up off the road on a route frequently used by trucks headed to the nearby slaughterhouse. Then, in an attempt to find her a home, she unwisely posted an ad for a free chicken on Craigslist. Laura could have ended up as chicken soup! Fortunately, a vegetarian PETA supporter spotted the listing and offered to take in the bird until PETA could find a permanent home for her. Now a chicken who was once bound for slaughter is saving other chickens by convincing people to give up meat for good. It happens whenever people get to know her.
In her foster home, Laura played in the yard, cooed while getting a bath, cuddled with her foster parents, and got to feel grass under her feet probably for the first time in her life. Laura's foster mom's mother even became so attached to her that she went vegetarian too!
Now, in her permanent home, Laura soaks up the attention that she invariably attracts when her adopter takes her out on walks around the neighborhood. Laura sticks close to her new family, especially her adopter's child, with whom she loves to nap.
If you're ready to stop eating devoted, social, inquisitive chickens like Laura, try PETA's Pledge to Be Vegan for 30 Days. We think you'll be hooked!
Written by Michelle Sherrow
Justice has been served for the victims of Warren Jeffs—the polygamist sect leader who was sentenced to life in prison for sexually assaulting two underage girls. This is good news, but for countless other young victims of sexual abuse, there is no justice. To make this point, PETA plans to place this billboard in San Angelo, Texas:
In 30 years of investigating factory farms and slaughterhouses, PETA has repeatedly caught workers taking their issues out on animals by violently beating them, screaming at them, and, yes, sexually assaulting them.
At a Hormel supplier's farm in Iowa, for example, PETA's investigation revealed that a supervisor rammed a cane into a pig's vagina and boasted that he had thrust gate rods into pigs' anuses. A worker urged PETA's investigator to beat a pig as if she had scared away a "voluptuous little f---ing girl." The employee was also caught on video shouting to a supervisor to beat pigs and to expose his genitals to get them to move.
At a Butterball slaughterhouse, a PETA investigator saw—in addition to other horrific cruelty—a worker shove his finger into a turkey's vagina. Another worker mimed raping a bird whose legs and head he'd shackled.
At Aviagen Turkeys, Inc., in West Virginia, the "world's leading poultry breeding company," a worker was indicted for cruelty to animals after being caught on video pinning a turkey to the ground and mimicking raping her. He reportedly later told police that he'd done this to dozens of other turkeys.
We can easily shake our heads in disgust at Warren Jeffs' crimes, but if we eat meat, we may be supporting similar acts of sexual violence. Please take a stand against all sexual abuse and exploitation by ordering a free vegetarian/vegan starter kit today.
The Pew Environment Group just released a report, "Big Chicken: Pollution and Industrial Poultry Production in America," explaining how manure from chicken farms in the "Broiler Belt"—the area extending from eastern Texas through the southeastern United States to Maryland and Delaware—is virtually choking the Chesapeake Bay. And I'll tell you, with these findings, it's the chicken industry that should be called "Pee-ew."
Chickens outnumber people by as much as 400 to one in the Broiler Belt, according to Pew. The more chickens you have, the more chicken manure you get. The 523 million chickens raised and killed each year in Maryland and Delaware alone generate enough waste to fill the dome of the U.S. Capitol about 50 times—or almost once a week.
Farmers typically spread chicken waste on open fields or cropland, but excess chicken poo—which contains excess like nitrogen and phosphorus—is flowing into the Chesapeake, polluting the water and killing aquatic life. A May 2010 Environmental Protection Agency report estimated that 19 percent of excess nitrogen and 26 percent of excess phosphorus were directly linked to animal manure. That's a lot of excess.
Pew suggests ways to regulate "big chicken" and other concentrated animal-feeding operations, and I won't argue. But the best way to protect the Chesapeake and chickens is to go vegan.
Written by Heather Moore
Never one to shy away from speaking up for animals plainly and forthrightly, Morrissey urged fans who were upset about the tragic bombing and shooting rampage in Norway to consider the animals who face needless, terrifying deaths every day. Before launching into "Meat Is Murder" during a concert in Warsaw on Sunday, Morrissey told the crowd, "We all live in a murderous world, as the events in Norway have shown, with 97 dead. Though that is nothing compared to what happens in McDonald's and Kentucky Fried sh*t every day."
It's easy to be horrified by someone else's cruelty, but what about the cruelty that we're responsible for? As PETA President Ingrid E. Newkirk points out, "Morrissey dared to speak his mind, but if we are honest about it, it makes absolute sense to suggest that instead of crying and waving roses in the air, a more effective way to show repulsion at needless carnage is to go vegetarian and to stop supporting slaughter oneself—even if only for one day a week."
We can't stop all the senseless violence in the world, but everyone can say no to bloodshed and suffering every time we eat simply by choosing plant-based foods. Please help make the world a less murderous place—get started by ordering your free vegetarian/vegan starter kit today.
Beautiful Rusty had a home and a family—until the day that they moved and left him alone in the backyard, with no food or water in the middle of a southwestern U.S. summer. A kind neighbor spotted the abandoned rooster through the fence and called PETA for help. We alerted animal control and asked officers to rescue Rusty, but they told us that oh, no, first they would have to call his runaway owners and "give them a chance to claim him." The owners told animal control that they would return for Rusty, but he languished for days, all alone, surviving only because a caring neighbor managed to get into the yard to give him food and water—offerings that the starved bird gladly accepted.
Finally, after it was clear that Rusty's absentee owners were gone for good, animal control confiscated him and found him a spot at an animal shelter, where he now awaits a new home with a family that won't treat him like a rusty old bicycle—or eat him. In the meantime, the other animals at the shelter get a pleasant wake-up call every morning, courtesy of Rusty's joyful crooning.
Do PETA staff secretly play backup for Morrissey, or did all his bandmates wear our McCruelty shirts?
Moz and his group's stage wear at their York, U.K., concert was music to chickens' ears. And we're betting that after the audience chowed down on Morrissey's meatless fare and rocked out to "Meat Is Murder," they won't be committing a "drive-through" anytime soon.
To be a flock star like Morrissey, grab your McCruelty tee from the PETA catalog.
Adult film star Raul Armenteros and another man have each been charged with 22 counts of cruelty to animals after police allegedly discovered a menagerie of animals—including roosters, guinea hens, pigeons, goats, and a duck—baking inside their locked van in the scorching Miami heat. Reportedly, the goats were all tied up inside plastic bags, and one was already dead when police arrived.
It isn't clear what Armenteros intended to do with the animals. What is clear is that he should never have left them to suffer inside a hot vehicle, as is alleged. On a mild day, the temperature inside a car parked in the shade with the windows cracked can reach 100 to 120 degrees in a few minutes. Animals left in these conditions can suffer and die from heatstroke in just 15 minutes.
If you see an animal inside a hot car, have the owner paged and call the police. If the animal's life appears to be in immediate danger, free the animal and wait for authorities. For more information on rescuing animals left inside vehicles, see PETA's tip sheet.
During the hot summer months in South Korea, where dogs are bred to be killed and eaten, restaurants serving dog meat soup boast long lines of patrons who mistakenly believe it will help keep them cool.
But while many of us are quick to condemn killing dogs for food, shouldn't we also be bothered by the consumption of cows, chickens, and pigs? Who wouldn't be repulsed by how cows are crammed into filthy feedlots and are often butchered while conscious? Or how female pigs spend their lives confined to small metal crates and are repeatedly inseminated and forced to bear babies who will be torn away from them? And considering that chickens' cognitive abilities are comparable to those of dogs, why does it make sense that we call one "friend" and the other "dinner"?
Every animal wants to live, and every steak, drumstick, and ham sandwich is a life taken. We each have the power to make a lifesaving decision three times a day, every day.
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.
Follow PETA on Twitter!