Animals across Japan are making a bid for freedom (hopefully, captive animals everywhere are taking notes). First, a dolphin who was being forced to perform stupid tricks for loud, obnoxious audiences day in and day out at Japan's Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium decided that he'd had enough. During a performance, he leaped over the side of his tiny tank. Unfortunately, he landed on the concrete instead of being transported back to his ocean home.

Then, earlier this week, 15 monkeys at Kyoto University's Primate Research Institute (PRI) escaped from an enclosure (dubbed a "forest home" in news reports—yeah, right) by using tree branches to fling themselves over a 17-foot-high electric fence.

Sadly, freedom was short-lived for the monkeys as well. All the runaways were eventually recaptured. The head of PRI said that the monkeys didn't stray too far, probably because they wanted to be near the monkeys who were left behind.

Someone should listen to the SOS signals that animals in captivity are sending. Instead of keeping dolphins in chemically treated tanks and forcing them to "dance" for fish or locking monkeys in enclosures so that vivisectors can drill holes into their skulls, attach electrodes to their brains, and fasten small wire coils directly to their eyes to study eye movement (which is what some experimenters at PRI do), we should be leaving animals in the wild.

Please take action today to help us free captive marine mammals and put an end to senseless and cruel experiments on monkeys and other animals.

Written by Shawna Flavell

Yesterday, Ringling announced that it had euthanized Lima, the 12-year-old zebra who ran amok for 40 minutes in Atlanta after he escaped from the circus last month. According to a statement released by the circus, numerous medical treatments failed to repair the damage to the zebra's hooves.

Shortly after Lima escaped, PETA called on the U.S. Department of Agriculture to ensure that Lima be provided adequate veterinary care for his injuries and to remove all zebras from Ringling's traveling shows. Now we're hoping that the tragedy of Lima's death moves officials to end the exploitation of all zebras in circuses.

It shouldn't come as a surprise that time after time animals in circuses try to make a break for freedom. While we mourn Lima's traumatic and painful ordeal, we are thankful that he will no longer be forced to endure a life of constant confinement, in fear of being beaten to perform unnatural tricks. Help stop the suffering of animals abused by Ringling by urging everyone you know to forgo circuses that use animals.

Written by Logan Scherer

LA Zoo, this time. Last week was Tampa. Could it, just possibly, be because these animals don’t want to be there? At least no one was hurt during this particular attempted escape, but that doesn’t change the fact that in addition to being (quite clearly) unsafe for visitors, the conditions animals are kept in at zoos are inhumane and unacceptable. There’s more information on this issue here.