What do cows, snakes, and foxes all agree on? That they would prefer to keep their skin right where it is, thank you very much. All three species (represented by body-painted PETA members) joined forces in Knoxville, Tennessee, to ask people to wear their own skin, not animals'.

After our gals were done turning Knoxville into Foxville, everyone was thinking about how pretty skin is—on its original owner.

 
The "animals" grabbed a lot of attention from people coming and going from the surrounding offices, and many people took home leaflets about animals killed for their skins. Even the local police couldn't get enough of the models, assuring them that they would "keep an eye on things." They certainly did—with huge smiles on their faces!

 
Written by Michelle Sherrow

PETA's macabre protest outside the Louisville, Kentucky, leather goods store Leatherheads on Tuesday morning was apparently really scary—so scary that employees refused to open the store until our corpses made ghosts of themselves.

Instead of a dead animal skins, everyone who passed by Leatherheads during our protest left with pictures of the "deceased" and information about how cows and other animals are abused and killed for their skin. And while the police were at first busy trying to figure out something they could put the protestors in the pokey for, they relented and took pictures instead.

Not into the zombie look? See our guide to fun, not fatal, fashion.

Written by Michelle Sherrow

The following was first published on Animal Writes: PETA UK's Blog

Looks pretty good, doesn't it? Almost 100 PETA U.K. supporters took part in an eye-catching photo opportunity in London Saturday to demand that the government not adopt lower standards of protection for animals in laboratories when it incorporates the E.U.'s new directive regulating animal experiments later this year. If the government adopts the directive without changes, all animals will be affected. But dogs and cats in particular would become far more likely to be used in experiments because they would lose the special protections that Britain has given them for more than 25 years.

"Britons don't want more cats and dogs experimented on or more suffering for the millions of other animals used in laboratories. They want fewer animals used and less pain," said PETA U.K. policy adviser Alistair Currie. "We are calling on the public to send a clear message to the government that the citizens will not accept the laws that protect British animals to fall to the level of the EU's lowest common denominator."

A big thanks to all the fantastic PETA U.K. supporters who sent that message loud and clear.

Sometimes, when you're trying to show people the benefits of a vegan diet, you have to get a little cheeky.

These PETA beauties' bottoms came out on top when Charlotte, North Carolina, residents came out in throngs to take pictures of their thongs. Their supply of hundreds of vegetarian/vegan starter kits was gone before the crowd was, and the ladies had to stay late to accommodate the long line of picture-seekers.

Tired of jiggling when you wiggle? Order a free vegetarian/vegan starter kit and get started trimming your own assets.

Written by Michelle Sherrow

Even through-the-roof mercury levels couldn't stop our mootivated herd of cows from descending on the Sands Expo Center in Las Vegas to demand their skins back.

Folks attending the shoe convention inside became curious when they heard the musical stylings of lead bovine Meggan Anderson on the cowbell and came out to snap pictures of the cows hoofing it up and down the sidewalk. After reading their signs about how leather hurts cows, people had great reactions, including one man who said that he was going to share the photo of our "cows" on Facebook and tell his friends to boycott leather.

The cows replied, "Amoon."
 

Written by Michelle Sherrow

The world didn't come to an end when road crews shut down 10 miles of one of Los Angeles' busiest freeways this past weekend, but the absence of the usual bumper-to-bumper traffic on the 405 was certainly an other-worldly scene. Then there was a heavenly vision: PETA members reminding the hardy motorists who dared to brave Carmageddon that going vegan clears up arteries faster than $5-a-gallon gas.
 

 
If we want to get serious about unclogging arteries, maybe road crews should put orange cones in front of slaughterhouses and factory farms.
 

Written by Michelle Sherrow

When our beauties in the buff graced Bourbon Street to show that baring skin is better than wearing skin, one passerby was so inspired that he shed his shirt and joined in.
 

 
While it takes a lot to raise eyebrows in New Orleans, the ladies (and gent) managed to capture the attention of hundreds of passersby, who walked away with informative leaflets about the cruel fur and leather industries.

Written by Michelle Sherrow

© Carla Wilson

 
PETA supporters in Orlando, Florida, spent the Fourth of July weekend declaring independence for whales and dolphins held captive at SeaWorld. Here are the top five reasons that freedom should include marine animals.

1. Twenty-four dead orcas – and counting. Of the 24 orcas who have died at SeaWorld since 1986, not one died of old age. Many of their deaths were caused by captivity-induced illnesses.  
2. Life in a bathtub drains marine mammals' spirits. Forcing animals who naturally travel up to 100 miles a day in the open ocean to swim in continuous circles in tiny, barren concrete tanks causes stress-related behaviors, including suicide.
3. SeaWorld tears families apart. In the wild, dolphins spend their entire lives in a pod with their mothers and sisters. Capturing even one dolphin disrupts the entire pod. Dolphins born in captivity are often taken away from their loved ones and shipped to other facilities.
4. Frustrated animals are dangerous to people. Aside from the trainers killed by angry captive whales, the USDA has cited SeaWorld for several instances in which dolphins injured people in its swim-with-the-dolphins program.
5. If you don't support the jailing of innocent people, you shouldn't support SeaWorld. Scientists at Emory University mapped the brains of dolphins and concluded that they are second only to humans in intelligence. Captivity is as hard on these sensitive animals as it is on people, but the dolphins are being punished without having committed a crime.

You can help by writing to SeaWorld and asking the company to let its prisoners go free—to transitional coastal and wildlife sanctuaries.

Written by Michelle Sherrow

More than 100 supporters of PETA U.K. and the Spanish group AnimaNaturalis lay naked and "bloodied" in Pamplona's main square on Sunday to protest the cruel bull runs and subsequent bullfights, in which bulls are tortured and killed during the city's annual festival of San Fermín.
 

 
They aren't the only ones exposing Spain's shame. Sexy Spanish celebrity Elen Rivas recently stripped down for a graphic PETA U.K. ad  to discourage tourists from attending bullfights when they visit Spain. 
 

EasyJet deemed Rivas' ad to be too gruesome for its in-flight magazine.

“Bulls can do nothing to demand justice. They can only defend themselves as best they can in a fight with a pre-determined ending and die never knowing why they were forced to endure such a painful and prolonged death,” wrote PETA President Ingrid E. Newkirk in a recent Huffington Post blog. “It's up to us, as a civilized society, to call for an end to the Running of the Bulls and bullfighting.”

 
Written by Jared Misner

It's happened again. After forking over a couple hundred dollars for tickets to a Ringling Bros. Circus performance in Everett, Washington, a lovely family had a change of heart after talking to PETA demonstrators outside the arena. Rather than watching trainers whip tigers and smack elephants with bullhooks, the entire family decided that it was worth it to sacrifice the money! (The venue refused to give them a refund.) Gotta love 'em.

If the circus is coming to your town, remember that leafleting can and does change minds. Contact us and we'll help you convince people never to buy tickets!

Written by Jennifer O'Connor