The following was adapted from a post on PETA Asia's Hot and Sour Scoop blog:

After Egyptian media reported that a scientific committee was recommending that all Australian cattle have their ears cut off prior to slaughter, PETA Australia encouraged its supporters to speak up. As a result, the Australian government has assured PETA Australia that it has discussed this issue with Egyptian officials and that the ears of animals will not be cut off prior to slaughter.

The recommendation to cut off the ears of cattle came after Australian cattle in Egypt were held for several weeks following the discovery of hormone growth promotants (HGPs) in some animals' ears. Egyptian authorities have demonstrated their mistrust of HGPs, and PETA Australia feared that they were likely to accept the findings of the committee, leaving Australian cattle open to this extreme mutilation—most likely with no pain relief—prior to their inhumane slaughter.

However, it's still unclear if Australian animals in Egypt will have the implants removed from their ears prior to slaughter as has occurred previously, according to Australia's Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry. PETA Australia investigators have seen firsthand how cattle are treated in Egypt, so this procedure likely would not be performed humanely, either. PETA Australia is waiting for a response from the Australian minister of agriculture.

It's very clear under Islamic law that for meat to be halal ("permissible"), animals must not experience any discomfort prior to being slaughtered. Cattle can't be mutilated before being killed—otherwise, the meat becomes haraam ("sinful").

As an Australian program, Four Corners, revealed, animals exported alive from Australia are not protected from abuse and mistreatment once they have left that country. As in the case of the barbaric killing of 20,000 sheep in Pakistan, the Australian government would have been powerless to stop cattle from having their ears cut off if Egyptian authorities had mandated this mutilation.

Investigations conducted by PETA affiliates have exposed the abuse and mistreatment of animals used for live export on numerous occasions. It's time for Australian officials to end live export. Please e-mail Joe Ludwig, the minister of agriculture, fisheries and forestry, at joe.ludwig@maff.gov.au and politely ask him to ban these ships of death.

Thanks to a donation of simulation equipment from PETA, goats will no longer have holes cut into their chests and necks and be killed for trauma training exercises in Egypt.

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Traumatic Trauma Training

Earlier this year, PETA was contacted by Dr. Abdelhakim Elkholy—director of the Egyptian Life Support Training Center (ELSTC) in Cairo, who conducts Egypt's only Advanced Trauma Life Support (ATLS) course—requesting PETA's help to switch from the cruel and crude use of goats to non-animal trauma training.

While Dr. Elkholy wanted to switch to Simulab Corporation's TraumaMan simulator for ATLS, budget limitations kept him from making the transition. PETA was pleased to donate three TraumaMan simulators—thanks to the generous support of the McGrath Family Foundation—so that the ELSTC can conduct ATLS courses without using any animals.

Better Learning Through Technology

Numerous studies have shown that the TraumaMan simulator better prepares trainees to perform the lifesaving medical techniques taught in ATLS than cruel animal labs. For this reason, TraumaMan and other simulators are used instead of animals in nearly 95 percent of ATLS courses across the U.S. and Canada—and now, thanks to PETA, in 100 percent of ATLS courses in Egypt. Because, unlike animal labs, the simulators are portable and reusable, Dr. Elkholy's team will now be able to offer lifesaving ATLS training at other sites across the country.

Dr. Elkholy wrote: "With the help of PETA, now ATLS can be spread to every part in Egypt. … No more animals will be used in ATLS training in Egypt after PETA['s] donation [of] TraumaMan to [the] Egyptian Life Support Training Center …."

What You Can Do

Please join PETA in urging federal officials to modernize U.S. military trauma training by completely replacing the use of animals with superior simulation methods.

UPDATE: PETA has sent a second letter to Secretary Hillary Rodham Clinton urging that the Department of State allow U.S. citizens in Egypt to allow their companion animals to be evacuated with them. The evacuation of companion animals from disaster zones is a life-or-death issue affecting animals and people. Please help these animals and U.S. citizens in Egypt and use our e-mail form to urge the State Department to allow companion animals safe transport out of Egypt with their families.

Amid the political riots in Egypt, the U.S. State Department is evacuating U.S. nationals. But evacuees are being told that they are not allowed to take their companion animals on the planes. People are being forced to choose between risking their lives by staying in Egypt or abandoning their nonhuman family members to fend for themselves.

For people fleeing Egypt, having their entire family together—including their companion animals—is important to their peace of mind. Please use our e-mail form to urge the State Department to allow companion animals safe transport out of Egypt with their families.

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Written by Michelle Sherrow

When you work for PETA, it's hard to ever really go on vacation. That's because everywhere you go, you are bound to encounter people doing not-so-nice things to animals. Take my recent trip to Egypt. Skinny stray cats and dogs were hanging around outside all the hotels and restaurants, camels were living in squalor outside the pyramids for the sake of a photo opportunity, and the streets at all the big tourist spots were thick with horse-drawn carriages. I took these photos in Luxor, home to the famous Karnak temple and the Valley of the Kings and therefore overrun with sightseers. The carriages were lined up for a whole city block, waiting to draw in gullible tourists:

Many of the horses are hobbled when they aren't working. This one was hobbled so tightly that he couldn't move even an inch in any direction:

Notice the sores on the horse's knees. I saw many horses with such sores. I saw no indication that working horses were ever provided water or shade. The cracks of the drivers' whips could be heard blocks away.

These people are in business strictly to cater to tourists, who ignorantly think horse-drawn carriage rides are "romantic." Somehow, I miss the "romance" in staring at the rump of a tired and dejected horse.

Fortunately, the good folks of Rome (the birthplace of romance) agree. Rome's city council recently restricted the use of horse-drawn carriages to city parks, allowing them on city streets only on weekends. During the week, carriage operators will instead ferry tourists around in vintage-looking electric cars, (similar to the cars that New York City is currently thinking of employing). The move came in response to the death of Birillo, a horse who broke his leg after being hit by a truck and who lay on the street in agony for four hours before being euthanized.

In honor of Birillo and all his toiling brethren, give a carriage driver a piece of your mind and give the horse an apple (carry some with you for the purpose) instead of spending your hard-earned coin the next time you're on vacation.

Written by Joel Bartlett

We just had our monthly staff meeting last week, where everyone gives a presentation about what their departments have been up to and shows pictures and video of the highlights of last month's work. We also get some reports on what PETA's affiliates around the world are up to, and there's usually something really, profoundly weird and compelling that they came up with (I'm looking at you in particular PETA Germany). Anyway, these are all old stories that made big headlines in their respective countries, but I got a real kick out of them, so I figured I'd share:

PETA Asia Pacific's Jason Baker, dressed in a chicken costume, was attacked by angry KFC employees at a demonstration in Egypt. This story is funnier if you actually know Jason, though of course there's a whole big WTF KFC? element to it as well:

PETA India made a headdress out of vegetables for supermodel and actor Aditi Govritikar to wear in their newest ad campaign: Use Your Head, Go Veg. Fundamentally odd as that sounds, the picture is actually really striking, and Aditi looks stunning:

And finally, PETA Germany, which never, ever disappoints, held a hilarious demo outside the offices of Agriculture Minister Horst Seehofer, who has been trying to reverse the ban on battery cages for egg-laying hens in Germany. Seehofer has also been in the German press lately for upsetting his wife by getting his mistress pregnant, so PETA Germany stood outside his office on Valentine's Day with a big sign asking him to "Have a heart for animals, not just for women." Priceless.