The grisly photos of Nakai, an orca imprisoned at SeaWorld who has a dinner plate–size gaping wound on his lower mandible that he likely sustained when another orca attacked him, have sparked nationwide outrage.

As PETA alleged in its complaint to government regulators, SeaWorld confined Nakai to a small tank with other orcas with whom he was not compatible, in clear violation of the Animal Welfare Act, and then tried to cover up its orca abuse following the attack by claiming that Nakai injured himself on the side of the pool. A huge, impassioned crowd gathered outside SeaWorld San Diego, where Nakai is kept, to let residents know to steer clear of the marine-mammal prison. 

If the response they got is any indication, the protesters were preaching to the choir. People who were stopped at red lights waved and cheered their support and took leaflets with them. And there were so many honks from the passing cars that advocates who were giving interviews to the throngs of reporters had to keep starting over.

People all across the country are telling SeaWorld to get out of the cruelty business. Urge The Blackstone Group, which owns SeaWorld, to retire its marine mammals to sanctuaries.

PETA was joined by primate experts Dr. Mel Richardson and Kari Bagnall for a demonstration outside NBC's North Hollywood offices in protest of the network's cruelty in using wild-animal "actors" in its new, and thoroughly panned, show Animal Practice.

When Funny Business Isn't Funny

Featured as a central character in the show is a capuchin monkey named Crystal. At the news conference, Richardson and Bagnall described how the use of a monkey on NBC's hit series Friends led to a wave of "pet" monkeys being discarded at primate sanctuaries after misguided purchasers realized that they were unable to meet these complex animals' specialized needs.

The cheap laughs that Animal Practice gets from putting a monkey in a lab coat come at a high cost for Crystal and other animals on the show, who spend their lives deprived of everything that is natural and important to them. Stolen from their mothers shortly after birth—a cruel act for both the baby and the mother that denies the infants the care and nurturing that they need—monkeys used for entertainment, like other "animal actors," suddenly find themselves in unfamiliar surroundings, isolated from others like themselves, and forced to learn and perform unnatural and bewildering stunts.

The "smile" that Crystal exhibits on the show is actually an expression that indicates fear and stress in capuchin monkeys. As capuchin authority Dr. Eduardo Ottoni explains, "[S]ince we do not usually understand their communicative behaviors properly, fear, submission, or avoidance displays can easily be mistaken for 'smiles.'"

What You Can Do

If this cruelty in the name of comedy turns you off, you can help by turning off Animal Practice and urging everyone you know to do the same. Please also politely express your disappointment about the use of Crystal and other wild animals to NBC Entertainment Chair Bob Greenblatt.

It's been a few years since Casey Affleck graduated from Cambridge Rindge and Latin School in Cambridge, Massachusetts, but he popped up on campus in a new video, asking everyone to be kind to cows—by dumping dairy products.

A PETA supporter wearing a cow costume showed students at Casey's alma mater an undercover dairy farm exposé, "Dehorning: Dairy's Dark Secret," that the vegan actor narrated for PETA. The video shows calves and cows thrashing and crying out as they undergo intensely painful dehorning, in which farm workers gouge out or saw off the restrained animals' sensitive horns or burn away the developing horn tissue—all without any painkillers.

Students found the cruelty in the video hard to stomach, but they loved the free boxes of rich chocolate soy milk, agreeing that it's easy to do away with dairy products with just a few simple swaps. 

Want more Casey? Watch his vegetarian testimonial and then join his campaign to end the abuse of animals on factory farms.

The Baltimore Comic-Con got a comedic confluence of heroism when a Mr. T look-alike jumped in with PETA's superheroes to fight for truth, justice, and the vegan way. The gals were busy posing for pictures with delighted comic book fans and flying through a stash of vegetarian/vegan starter kits as fast as their caped arms could go when Mr. T jumped in with them and declared, "Drink your soy milk, fool!"

I'm betting that anyone who saw PETA's "Glass Walls" or Mr. T's Rocky III was quick to oblige.

PETA has teamed up with St. Louis Vegans to put extra pressure on St. Louis Children's Hospital and Washington University in St. Louis (WUSTL) as part of PETA's campaign to stop live cats from being tormented in painful and archaic medical training conducted cooperatively by the institutions.

A Real Horror Show

As the hospital and university held a Pediatric Advanced Life Support (PALS) course where trainees were forcing plastic tubes down cats' windpipes as part of the crude intubation training exercise, the groups acted out the cruel procedure in a particularly unsettling—and unforgettable—form of street theater.

WUSTL and St. Louis Children's Hospital continue to torment cats in PALS courses even though sophisticated humanlike simulators are available and the American Heart Association—which sponsors the course—states that it "does not require or endorse the use of animals in PALS courses."

Simulators are already used instead of animals at virtually every institution that offers PALS, including other schools and medical centers in St. Louis. Even one of the original developers of the course has joined the fight against these crude laboratories. 

What You Can Do

Please join PETA and St. Louis Vegans in telling Washington University and St. Louis Children's Hospital that it's time to leave the dark ages—and cruelty to cats—in the past and use superior modern simulators instead.

What do you say to a naked, bloody lady in a shoebox? How about "Hi"?

No, that's not a joke. It's what Midwesterners must have been asking themselves as they encountered PETA's latest demonstration, in which two of the aforementioned "bloody," naked (well, nearly) women lay inside a giant shoebox. Check out the scene in Cincinnati:

The point? The leather used to make shoes and other clothing and accessories comes from animals who endure the horrors of factory farming before being trucked to slaughterhouses, where they routinely have their throats cut and are skinned and dismembered while they are still conscious. Meanwhile, the toxic chemicals used by tanneries are extremely harmful to workers and the environment.

What You Can Do

With all the fashionable and durable vegan shoes, jackets, belts, and purses now widely available, there's no excuse for killing animals for their skin. Please strip leather from your wardrobe!

Chick-fil-A, the house of the homophobic waffle fries, wants homosexual people just to accept not having equal rights and chickens just to accept having their throats slashed and being scalded to death. 

But a flock of protesters crashed Chick-fil-A's Appreciation Day to show that they don't appreciate the fast-food chain's efforts to keep people in the closet and chickens in the factory farm shed:

The protesters made their voices heard loud and clear: All living beings deserve respect. 

When pig abuser Hormel's notorious nonfood Spam turned 75, the company decided to celebrate its saturated fat, cholesterol, and pig abuse in a tin with a party. Never ones to let an opportunity to share animals' side of things pass us by, PETA sent brave "piggies" into Hormel territory.

As people lured by free food and music arrived, the PETA pigs were there to greet them and tell them why they should cease being Spammers.

People eagerly pored over the food for thought provided by the pigs: vegetarian/vegan starter kits, Paul McCartney's slaughterhouse exposé "Glass Walls," and the kicker—PETA's "Think Before You Eat" leaflets. We're betting that at least a few folks skipped the mystery meat and headed for the crudités.

Be sure to check out our commemorative Spam T-shirt, available now. And help stop Spamming.

Tell Hormel to end the egregious acts of blatant cruelty to animals—such as the beating, kicking, and sexual abuse of pigs—that PETA documented on a Hormel supplier's farm.

We've all seen the awesome YouTube videos of cows who were being lovey-dovey with dogs, cats, and all sorts of other animals. So it's not surprising that a cow joined her chicken buddy at the opening of a Chick-fil-A food truck to ask people to be chicken champions and not eat either of them:

On Cow Appreciation Day, we think the sensitive bovines' real message would be, "Luv Mor Chikins."

After Canada's House of Commons passed a budget bill that strikes down several environmental protection laws, PETA's blue-painted supporters hit Ottawa's Parliament Hill to rock the government's world—almost literally—and to urge eco-conscious Canadians not to despair because they can still help save the planet by eating plant-based foods.

According to the United Nations, the meat industry is in large part responsible for some of the most serious environmental problems that we face today, including climate change. So even if you aren't daring enough to strip down to bodypaint (although if you are, let PETA know), don't feel blue—you can still help protect the Earth by choosing healthy, humane vegan meals.