Written by PETA
If you needed another reason not to do drugs, consider that it's causing misery for countless tigers, lions, monkeys, birds, and other exotic animals coveted by Mexican drug cartel kingpins as symbols of power. Mexican authorities have seized thousands of exotic "narco pets" from the estates of busted drug lords, and they're running out of room to place the animals. Many go to zoos, which are operating at capacity, so some animals are turned over to breeding operations.
When security forces arrested Sinaloa cartel leader Jesus "The King" Zambada, they confiscated more than 200 animals, including peacocks and ostriches. The animals are regarded primarily as status symbols, and many are denied proper nutrition and veterinary care. Some big cats are cruelly defanged and declawed. The cartels have also used exotic animals in the same manner as human "mules" by stuffing condoms filled with cocaine into their bodies before the animals are shipped to the U.S.
The ideal solution to this problem would be a universal ban on owning captive exotic animals. Until that happens, we can take an important step toward protecting captive tigers here in the U.S. by closing a loophole that limits protections under the Endangered Species Act for "generic" tigers—ones who are a mix of more than one sub-species of tiger or are of unknown heritage. Please take a moment to write to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and ask the agency to protect all tigers equally.
Written by Joe Taksel
For the 10th year in a row, peta2 is traveling the country with the largest rock concert event of the year, the Warped Tour. At each of the tour's 44 stops, the youth outreach concert crew is reaching thousands of young people with information about animal issues. We caught up with peta2's Paige Snyder to get the highlights from the road:
What are some of the most rewarding encounters you've had with people this year?Each conversation we have with a young person is incredibly rewarding. Some of the best moments are when we meet young people who went vegetarian or vegan from meeting us in previous years and have come back to find us and share their stories. This kind of excitement and win for animals never gets old.
What are some interesting stories from the road?We are always the go-to people when any animals are found on-site, and this year, we have rescued five baby birds and a puppy. The puppy was found in Ohio tied to a metal barricade by a 3-foot choke chain with no food or water in 100-degree heat. We also get to work with some really great bands like A Skylit Drive, D.R.U.G.S., and Terrible Things, who do meet and greets with their fans at our table.
How many young people has peta2 reached on this year's tour?So far, we have collected 166,942 pledges to go vegan, given out almost 550,000 pieces of literature, and raised funds to support PETA's lifesaving programs—and we still have three shows left to go! peta2 has a lot to be proud of this summer!
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To fund youth outreach programs such as the Warped Tour, PETA relies on donations from our members. Please make a donation today to effect change for animals now and in the future.
Written by Michelle Sherrow
Can Kentucky Derby fans handle the truth? Outdoor advertisers in Louisville don't seem to think so. We sent the ad below to every billboard and bus ad company in town with the intention of running it during next week's Derby, but they all turned us down flat.
We wanted racegoers—and everyone—to know that the horrific on-track breakdown of Eight Belles at the end of the 2008 Kentucky Derby was no fluke. On average, three horses break down on racetracks in America every single day. That adds up to at least 2,000 racehorses dead on tracks since Eight Belles collapsed two years ago after both her front ankles snapped.
After being prodded by PETA, the racing industry has made some improvements, including banning steroids from the states where Triple Crown races are run, but the misuse of legal drugs is still the biggest cause of breakdowns and deaths, and the industry has yet to address that issue in any meaningful way.
Many trainers use injections of painkillers and anti-inflammatory drugs to mask fatigue and injury and make horses feel well enough to run when they should be resting and recovering. Racing subjects horses' bodies to punishing stresses that can lead to breakdowns. Racing insiders tell us that some horses are injected with various drugs 25 to 30 times in the week before a race, and it's all legal.
PETA advocates a ban on all drugs during the week leading up to a race, among other reforms. Please take a moment to send an e-mail to the Kentucky Horse Racing Authority to let its officials know that Eight Belles has not been forgotten and to demand that the authority take steps to ensure that no more horses die in pursuit of the roses. As for the Derby: Don't go, don't watch, and don't bet.
Written by Alisa Mullins
After dealing with the pot smugglers who hid almost a ton of marijuana in a banana delivery near the U.S.-Mexico border last month, David Aguilar—the commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection—could probably use a boost. So we've got a proposal that's sure to make him smile: Help get rid of another addiction epidemic by hanging our "Say No to Pot (Roast)" signs on the border.
Knowing that meat consumption is linked to obesity, diabetes, heart disease, strokes, and many types of cancer, you'd have to be on drugs to willingly eat carcasses. And that makes sense because meat-eaters are on drugs. Animal products are loaded with antibiotics, dioxins, and hormones that have all been linked to myriad health complications. The green godsend that we can't get enough of? Vegan cooking.
Written by Logan Scherer
Unlike the animated stars of G-Force, real guinea pigs aren't superheroes at all. If they were, they would immediately vaporize the human monsters who subject them to crude and painful experiments.
Every year, more than 200,000 guinea pigs are abused and killed in cruel experiments—they are forced to breathe tobacco smoke, they are locked in chambers for hours at a time and forced to listen to noises as loud as a jet engine, and pregnant guinea pigs are given alcohol to cause birth defects in their babies. Of course, common sense and human-based research tells us that drinking alcohol while pregnant is a no-no, standing next to an airplane when it's taking off is not so good on the ears, and smoking cigarettes can cause disease in nearly every organ of the body.
Wait until Agent Darwin hears about this!
Written by Justin Goodman, Research Associate Supervisor
You had to see this coming. No sooner did A-Rod fess up to taking performance-enhancing drugs in 2003 than we began thinking that the Yankees third baseman should prove that he is committed to being drug-free by—you guessed it—going vegetarian.
"A-Roid" may have voluntarily doped up to enhance his performance, but cows, pigs, turkeys, and chickens are pumped full of growth-promoting drugs in an effort to make them grow fatter faster and to ward off the diseases that are rampant in the cramped, filthy conditions on today's factory farms. Humans, in turn, ingest the drugs when they eat the animals' flesh—no injections required. Therefore, if A-Rod wants to be truly drug-free, then he'll certainly want to listen to our advice.
A collaborative effort involving multiple law-enforcement agencies has resulted in the takedown of what may just be the largest cockfighting ring in U.S. history!
According to information we received from the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), the DEA-led effort was intended to lead to the confiscation of drugs, not chickens. Officials had been working to gather information on the Gulf Cartel, a Mexican drug trafficking organization. They were following the actions of the alleged smugglers when they stumbled upon the cartel's other dirty business: a massive cockfighting ring.
Kill or be killed may be the chosen mantra for drug lords, but for roosters who are imprisoned and forced to fight to the death, it's not a choice. Rather, it is a cruel existence that is nearly always marked by constant injuries and a painful death.
Thanks to the powers that be, though, the suspected cockfighters were caught red-handed (white-powder–handed?). Eleven individuals were arrested near Nashville, Tennessee, for their involvement, and 30 more arrests took place in Texas, Mississippi, Nevada, Kentucky, North Carolina, and Oklahoma. And, best of all, those birds are out of the ring for good.
Written by Jennifer Cierlitsky
We all know exactly how disastrous racing can be for the horses who are whipped and drugged for entertainment. Well, the scandal doesn't stop at the Kentucky Derby—it goes all the way up to the Olympics.
That's right—four horses forced to compete in the Olympics have tested positive, and have subsequently been banned, for the drug capsaicin. Capsaicin is banned because, in the words of one article, "it is derived from the chilli pepper and is used for either medication, as a pain-killer, or for its hypersensitizing properties. In both cases a horse might jump better as a result of its use." Of course, when you mask pain and overuse a limb, the repercussions can be bone-shatteringly bad.
The four horses banned were competing in team show jumping. Their riders have also been banned from participating in individual events—and if more horses are found to have been drugged, the Olympic medals may be shifted around. Of course, this wouldn't be the first Olympics where horse-dopers have been stripped of their medals—Germany lost the gold in Athens for the same crime.
People will be shocked to hear of this scandal—and for good reason. If horses are subjected to this kind of mistreatment at the highest level of the "sport," maybe "sport" isn't the right place for these beautiful, sensitive animals. Horses should not be drugged up and run into the ground by greedy people for money or for medals, even if it means abusing animals whose athleticism wins the gold. Oh, and did you see any of the close-ups, with the horses' heads being yanked all the way to their chests and up again, their eyes almost popping out of their heads as they were jerked around? Nice.
Written by Amanda Schinke
Earlier this morning, PETA sent a letter to Yankees pitcher Roger Clemens (the latest player to face scrutiny in the steroids scandal), urging him to prove that he is committed to being drug-free—by going vegetarian. I’ll leave it for the sports pundits to discuss whether or not Clemens ever deliberately took steroids to help with his pitching, but there's no question that the guy has been ingesting growth-promoting drugs for as long as he’s been a meat-eater. In order to make them grow fatter faster and to ward off the disease in the filthy conditions on today's factory farms, cows, pigs, and chickens are pumped full of growth-promoting hormones, and anyone who eats their flesh will be getting an unhealthy dose of the drugs themselves—no injections from trainers required.
As an aside, I should point out that this is by far the nicest letter that my friend and colleague Dan Shannon—who is an avid Red Sox fan—has ever written to a Yankee. You can check it out here.
Following an undercover investigation which revealed unbelievable cruelty to animals at the Weizmann Institute in Israel, PETA members gathered outside the American Committee for the Weizmann Institute of Science yesterday to express their outrage at experiments in which live cats and monkeys have holes drilled into their skulls and are confined in restraint chairs for up to 8 hours at a time. You can see pictures from the demonstration below, as well as footage of the investigation, which was conducted by the Israeli group Let the Animals Live.
The Weizmann Institute is funded in part by generous donations from people who probably have no idea of the torture that they’re paying for. You can be sure that we’ll be doing everything in our power to make sure these donors know exactly where their money is going.
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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.