ci.arcadia.ca / CC

Oil's not the only thing they're changing at L.A. Jiffy Lubes. After learning that Ringling beats and whips animals behind the scenes (among other things), the prez of the chain's SoCal operations has promised us that the Jiffy Lubes in the greater Los Angeles area will no longer give away free Ringling tickets with the purchase of an oil change.

That's one way to stick it to those dip sticks at Ringling!

Written by Amy Elizabeth

Thanks for all of your wonderful comments on this Win It Wednesday. The winners of the dog windows are Michael Essi and Nicole Linklider. Congratulations!

How much is that doggie in the window …

… loving his view of the neighborhood?!

Regular walks are essential to a dog's physical, mental, and social well-being, but chillaxing with you in your shady yard is nice too. Now those breaks in the backyard can be a lot more entertaining for Fido, thanks to the Dog Window, which offers curious dogs a window to the world beyond the privacy fence.

Sure, you could order one today from PETA's Catalog, but wouldn't it be more fun to win one? We've got two to give away, and you can score yours by describing the perfect day, from start to finish, from your dog's perspective.

The contest ends on August 19, 2009, and we'll choose the two comments that really get tails wagging as the winners on August 21, 2009. Be sure to read our privacy policy and terms and conditions, as you're agreeing to both by commenting. Good luck!

Written by Karin Bennett

Why not list five or ten? In honor of World Breastfeeding Week, we're doing everything in pairs. So, come take a walk down Mammary Lane as we revisit some of our most titillating pro–breast milk moments from the past couple of years:

4. "If It Was Good Enough for Jesus" billboard. Mother's milk is the best thing for every baby. 'Nuff said.


3. While we're on the subject of being Religulous, WWBMD (What would Bill Maher do) if we asked him to do a funny ad for our "Dump Dairy" campaign? Here's the answer.


2. Ben and Jerry's breast milk ice cream. We wrote to this ice cream icon asking it to ditch the dairy products and use breast milk instead. While our dream of having flavors called "Breast Milk Brittle" and "Baby Mama Milk Shake" never came to fruition, we did manage to get people thinking about how bad cow's milk is for their health.


1. "Milk Gone Wild" video. It was banned from the Super Bowl, but it lives on years later in the viral world of YouTube. This sassy spoof shows how udderly gross and wrong it is to exploit underage heifers.

Written by Amy Elizabeth

Update: The Petland store has closed, and the employee has been charged with cruelty to animals. Click here for details.

Warning: disturbing image.

This photo was taken in the back room of a Petland store in Akron, Ohio, and posted on Facebook by Elizabeth Carlisle, who can be seen grinning as she holds two dead, soaking-wet rabbits by the scruff of the neck—rabbits she just drowned while on Petland's time clock. On Carlisle's Facebook page, she confirmed a friend's guess that she had drowned these two rabbits and wrote, "[T]he manager took the pic for me. [S]he reminded me that there were people outside as [I] was swearing at them to just hurry up and die but then she was so kind as to take this picture."

These horrific deaths followed what was apparently an equally horrifying life for these rabbits. Other comments Carlisle posted made it clear that the rabbits were drowned after sustaining agonizing injuries when they were allowed to "attack and eat each other." The rabbits suffered from "deep wounds all over," "an eye missing," what Petland staff "suspected was a broken jaw," and paralysis from the waist down—injuries that would not have occurred had these animals been provided with proper care and supervision.

Undercover investigations have revealed time and time again that companies that breed and sell animals are concerned about profits, not animals' well-being. We are urging Petland to think long and hard about what this incident makes clear: The company has no business selling any animals.

To prevent future incidents like this one, please, never buy from pet stores and urge Petland at the very least to stop selling rabbits.

Click here to take action against Petland.

Written by Liz Graffeo

animalrights.about / CC

That's the grand total of years that the 18 elephants used and abused by two of Ringling's touring units have been forced to endure beatings, chaining, and standing in cramped, sweltering boxcars. If you break that down, Ringling has tormented just these elephants—they have dozens more—for a total of 5,724 months, 24,804 weeks, or 174,105 days.

To put this in perspective, Baby, Sarah, and Banana (three of the elephants who are traveling with Ringling) were forced to perform for the first time in 1968—the year that Martin Luther King Jr. was shot. We've come a long way since then—or have we?

Ringling talks a big game about "elephant conservation," but the reality is that Ringling has actually removed more elephants from the wild than it has bred. Most of the elephants you see pirouetting and standing on their heads in Ringling performances at one point in their lives roamed vast jungles. You might call it Ringling's other dirty secret (besides that little issue of beating the @#$% out of elephants when they think nobody's looking).

Ringling's elephants are also dying faster than they are breeding: At least 26 elephants, including four babies, have died since 1992. Eight were under the age of 40 (which is just about half an elephant's natural life expectancy of 70 years). Oh, and those babies Ringling does manage to breed are only used to replenish its stocks as other elephants die—they will never be released into the wild—ever.

Pretty depressing, isn't it? Ringling must be using some kind of new math to make all that add up to "conservation."

If you follow the jump, you can read about each of the elephants—and the life sentences to which Ringling has condemned them.

Written by Alisa Mullins

Today we released a new investigation inside Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey circus that shows workers on video as they beat and whipped elephants dozens of times in venues across the country. It's an investigation that I helped work on.

Once investigators capture video from an investigation, my job is to review all the footage and meticulously record the abuses and other notable findings. From that, I prepare condensed versions of the video for the public to view and draft complaints to officials, which in the new investigation into Ringling amounted to nine complaints to a total of 20 federal and state offices.

At times, reviewing so much footage can be tedious and extremely upsetting, but it's nothing compared to the relentless suffering that the animals who are used by Ringling are subjected to.

Most of the investigations that I work on involve farmed animals, in which the longest life span is about two years (for a pig used for breeding purposes). Her two years going from gestation crate to farrowing crate and back, over and over, are miserable, but her suffering comes to an end. For the elephants used and abused by Ringling, the suffering can go on for decades, and there's no end in sight—unless PETA and the public can convince the USDA to seize these majestic, elderly psychologically damaged animals.

Many of these elephants have not known anything close to a "natural" life since they were caught in Asia decades before I was born, but now the USDA has the chance to make things right by moving these animals to a sanctuary where they will be able to roam around the vast area that they need in order to be healthy and happy. Our brave investigator has armed the USDA with the information that it needs in order to make this happen and finally end these animals' decades of suffering.

It is an honor to work on all our investigations, which are the heart and soul of PETA, but it has been the highest compliment ever to be able to work with our investigator to document the heartbreaking plight of the gentle giants who are abused by Ringling and give them a chance to escape from their long years of torment and beatings.

Now that we have given the feds more than sufficient evidence to seize these animals, I hope we will finally be able to make history for elephants.

Written by Dan Paden, Senior Research Associate

rd / CC

Back in May, we told you that a bill was under consideration in Bolivia to ban all animals from circuses—and that bill was recently made law! With the passage of law number 4040 by Bolivian President Evo Morales, the day has finally arrived when "It is forbidden to use wild and/or domestic animals in circuses throughout the country." As far as we know, Bolivia is the first country in the world to enact such a landmark measure for animals abused in circuses.

Bolivia is no stranger to looking out for animals. The country already set a precedent when it banned its military from mutilating dogs and other animals during training exercises. And with the passage of this new law, elephants, lions, tigers, horses, dogs, and all other animals who are forced to live in shackles or cages—and are routinely beaten into submission in order to perform unnatural circus "tricks"—will no longer be subjected to these cruelties in Bolivia.

And as if that weren't enough, PETA is now working closely with the Bolivian government on the country's first national animal protection framework law. If the measure is adopted, it would make Bolivia a global leader in animal welfare.

With the way things are moving, it seems that animals in Bolivia are on a fast track to having all the simple inalienable rights they deserve.

On behalf of animals in Bolivia, muchas gracias to President Morales, Member of Congress Ximena Flores, and concerned citizen Ana Serrano Revollo for all their hard work in making this law prohibiting animal circuses a reality!

Written by Missy Lane

thesun.co / CC

Natascha Kampusch made headlines around the world when she was finally able to escape her kidnapper after being held for eight years in a dungeon in Austria. "I suffered from claustrophobia and I thought I was going crazy in there," Kampusch told Austria's ORF television after her escape. "I was very distraught and very angry."

Recognizing that her ordeal was chillingly similar to that of tigers, elephants, and other animals who are snatched from their native homes and loving families only to be caged or chained by circus trainers for the rest of their lives, Natascha has joined PETA Germany in calling for freedom for animals in circuses. She looks forward to the day when circuses will stop depriving wild animals of everything that is natural and important to them. Here's what Natascha had to say:

Thank you, Natascha, for speaking out in behalf of so many animals whose cries for help have yet to be heard by German lawmakers. Hopefully, Minister Aigner is listening.

Written by Karin Bennett

sfgate / CC

Last month, our scalded "chickens" appeared at a Chicago-area McDonald's to draw attention to the many chickens who are boiled to death in scalding-hot water by McDonald's suppliers. Since the company still refuses to implement controlled-atmosphere killing to ease some of the suffering of millions of chickens killed every year to become McNuggets, we've enlisted the help of hilariousman Andy Dick to try scaring McDonald's execs straight.

Tomorrow, Andy will swap the scissors he wielded in a peta2 anti-dissection poster for a bloody knife and appear as a terrifying "Ronald McDonald" at our McCruelty demo at 600 N. Clark St. in Chicago.

In anticipation of his performance, Andy said that "if kids knew how chickens were mutilated for McNuggets, they'd burst into tears every time Ronald McDonald showed his face—and that may well happen when they see what this clown has to say about it."

I confess that I've always considered clowns to be scary—certainly McDonald's execs will agree after Andy Dick's performance at Thursday's demonstration.

Photos to come!

Written by Karin Bennett

Last month, the Newmarket Council in Ontario voted to deny a permit to the Shrine Circus for performances that were scheduled to take place at Ray Twinney Recreation Complex on June 17 and 18 because of safety and other concerns.

Unfortunately, the circus promoter decided to challenge the council's vote. But all is not lost. On Friday, while a judge was scheduled to review the challenge, local residents stood outside the courthouse to show support for the council's ruling. But the hearing was postponed! Undeterred, our heroes hit the streets again today to ask the court to say "No!" to Shrine Circus cruelty.

Newmarket and its residents have good reason to worry about the safety of circuses that use animals, especially elephants. Captive elephants are beaten, chained, and denied everything that is natural and important to them, and they have been known to go on rampages. And because of elephants' tremendous size, even minor accidents can be dangerous. Just three months ago, 12 children were injured when a Shrine Circus elephant bumped into a mobile staircase where the kids were waiting for rides.

While we're all waiting on pins and needles for the judge's decision, we encourage you to reach out to your local lawmakers and urge them to enact legislation banning circuses with animal acts.

Written by Liz Graffeo