Written by PETA
I ♥ Target. In addition to the mega-retailer carrying cruelty-free cosmetics and stylish, skin-free kicks, Target recently made the decision to save the lives of hundreds of frogs.
When PETA found out that Target was selling a miniature aquarium called "Planet Frog"—a tiny, plastic prison that's very similar to Brookstone's "Frog-O-Sphere"—we reached out to the corporation's execs. We told them that biologists and wildlife specialists believe the mini-aquariums are cruel and inadequate for frogs and can be hazardous to children's health, exposing them to diseases such as salmonellosis, sparganosis, and psittacosis. We also pointed out an alarming stat: Since May 2009, at least 85 people from 31 states have become ill after exposure to water frogs, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (Hmm … National retailers start selling frogs in tiny tanks. People all across the country get sick from exposure to water frogs. Coinkidink? Methinks not.)
We asked Target to stop selling "Planet Frog," and they agreed to do just that—easy peasy. No need to send out the troops, call on our celebrity friends, or launch a letter-writing campaign.
Brookstone execs could learn a lot from Target about how make a responsible, compassionate decision without weeks of hand-wringing. Will you ask them to follow Target's lead?
Written by Karin Bennett
For two years, we've been protesting the U.S. government's declaration of war on animals. The military abuses thousands of healthy animals in trauma training exercises, even though superior non-animal methods are available. In these exercises, pigs are shot, stabbed, and burned; goats have their legs broken with bolt cutters and cut off with shears; and monkeys are poisoned with toxic chemicals.
Now, U.S. Representative Bob Filner (D-Calif.) has joined the effort to replace the cruel and crude use of animals in military medical training by introducing the BEST Practices Act (H.R. 4269). This act, if passed, would replace the current deadly use of live animals with sophisticated, human-focused training methods, such as high-tech human patient simulators, that better prepare soldiers to treat their fallen comrades on the battlefield.
This week, the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine is leading Citizen Lobbyist Week, encouraging people across the country to back the BEST Practices Act and speak out in behalf of the pigs, goats, and monkeys who are tormented on military bases. You can take action by asking your congressional representative to support the bill. Get out your pleather boots, soldiers—here's to no more animal casualties!
Written by Logan Scherer
This year is coming to a close, but we're not done yet: The victories keep pouring, or should I say, roaring in! We recently reported the end of cruel cat labs at Texas Tech and Robert's "retirement" from experiments at the University of Utah. Today, we're thrilled to announce yet another huge victory—this time, for thousands of monkeys.
For months, PETA has been working with an international coalition of animal protection groups to stop the construction of a massive monkey-breeding facility in Guayama, Puerto Rico. Bioculture, a company that sells primates to laboratories, had plans to capture thousands of monkeys from Mauritius and ship them to Puerto Rico so that their offspring could be sold for use in frightening, painful, and deadly experiments in the U.S. and elsewhere.
We have just learned that in response to a lawsuit filed by local citizens and PETA, a Superior Court judge in Puerto Rico has ruled in activists' favor and halted all further construction of the Bioculture facility.
Turns out there are serious problems with Bioculture's applications and permits, including that the construction of the primate facility on the land it currently occupies would be against the law. An investigation by Puerto Rico's Senate Environmental Committee also discovered that Bioculture did not properly address the detrimental impact the project could have on local citizens and their water supplies and land and stated that it "is not sensible" for Puerto Rico to support the project.
Despite this great news, I imagine Bioculture execs trying to regroup, telling themselves, "Where there's a will [for us to cash in on cruelty], there's a way." Help us nix that notion by urging officials to permanently put a stop to this monkey-breeding facility and others in the future.
Earlier this week, PETA called on caring people to urge the University of Utah to retire Robert, a sweet tabby purchased by the school for $15 from the Davis County animal shelter and used in a cruel experiment in which his skull was cut open and electrodes were implanted.
PETA has just received confirmation from university officials that Robert will be retired from the laboratory and adopted into a new home. Hip, hip, hooray!
While we pause to celebrate Robert's release, we cannot forget that other homeless cats and dogs purchased from animal shelters are still languishing in the University of Utah's laboratories.
Please speak out in their behalf by contacting the school again. Demand an end to its cruel betrayal of dogs and cats in shelters by telling the school to stop purchasing homeless animals for painful—and often lethal—experiments. Let's work to protect other vulnerable animals like Robert from this awful fate, shall we?
After pressure from PETA and our supporters, Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center (TTUHSC) has announced that it will no longer use homeless cats obtained from Odessa Animal Control in deadly medical training exercises. E-mails from concerned individuals, celebrity support, and rejected newspaper ads have had an effect. Thanks to each and every one of you who took action to help homeless cats escape cruelty at Texas Tech.
Has Texas Tech abandoned the practice of shoving hard, plastic tubes down the throats of cats altogether? We're not completely sure, but documents we've obtained indicate that TTUHSC has not purchased or used cats from any source within the past year. Could it be that officials have finally wised up to recommendations from both the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Heart Association, which endorse the exclusive use of manikins, not live animals, for the kind of training taught at Texas Tech?
While we nail down a definitive answer from Texas Tech officials, please take a moment to speak out against cruel experiments conducted on dogs, cats, rats, rabbits, mice, and other animals obtained from animal shelters by the University of Utah. PETA's successes depend on your support and willingness to take action. Let's keep the momentum going!
"I was like, 'Um, could you make two of those?' And I'd make a cute face, and they'd roll their eyes and give me another falafel."—Natalie Portman, on how easy Brothers co-star Tobey Maguire, who brought his own vegan chef to the set, made it for the newly vegan starlet to eat humanely.
Jake Gyllenhaal hasn't issued a statement yet, but I'm willing to bet he chowed down with his co-stars on some vegan vittles too. Could you resist food from a personal vegan chef?
Problem: You're head of an engineering firm hired to simulate and analyze a customer's fall in a Dollar General store in order to provide testimony in a lawsuit.
Solution(?): Get some goon to shoot a sensitive, intelligent pig in the head and then drop the pig's body repeatedly onto a concrete floor.
It doesn't take a rocket scientist to realize that killing a pig to mimic a human fall is inhumane and unnecessary, but that's exactly what Linda Weseman of Gainesville-based Weseman Engineering Inc. did.
Since shooting a pig execution-style violates USDA regulations, we filed a complaint with that agency in September 2008 after a whistleblower alerted us to the incident.
Exactly a year later, we learned that the USDA has issued Weseman three citations and a "serious warning" for violations of the federal Animal Welfare Act (AWA).
The following are the violations Ms. Weseman was cited for:
Weseman also agreed never to do another experiment on a USDA-regulated animal again (so pigs are safe, but rats and mice beware).
In case those citations and a warning aren't enough to drive home the point for Ms. Weseman that sentient beings shouldn't be killed for pointless experiments, I suggest some compassion training with rescued piglets at her nearest animal sanctuary.
Written by Heather Drennan
This guy wasn't monkeying around when he and 300 animal defenders recently descended upon Guayama, Puerto Rico (aka "Pueblo de los Brujos" or "city of witches"), to condemn the proposed construction of a Bioculture monkey-breeding facility within city limits.
This plan is driving everyone—from PETA to local citizens—bananas because Bioculture reportedly wants to use the facility to breed wild monkeys and sell their babies for use in painful and cruel experiments. Even Guayama's mayor, Glorimari Jaime, is opposed to the facility's construction. Halfway through the protest, she came out of her office, stood on a bench, and told the group that she was on their side—and that she would support and join in civil disobedience with them.
The protest was picked up by media across the city, so my guess is that Puerto Rican governor Luis G. Fortuño has already caught wind of the public's outrage. Yesterday, we sent him a letter calling on him to halt consideration of the Bioculture facility—hopefully it will be the final nudge he needs to prevent its construction.
Our hats are off to the hundreds of caring people who have voiced their opposition to Bioculture—please join them.
Oscar-nominated, Emmy-winning actor—and animal defender extraordinaire—Woody Harrelson might have played the laid-back Carson Wells in No Country for Old Men, but he was almost as mad as his controversial character Mickey Knox when he learned about deadly medical training exercises involving cats at Texas Tech.
Homeless cats at the Odessa animal shelter—just a stone's throw away from the star's birthplace in Midland—are purchased by the university's Health Sciences Center and then abused and killed in medical training exercises. Faculty members and trainees force plastic tubes down the cats' throats and stab needles into their chests for procedures that invariably result in pain and death for the animals. Both the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Heart Association exclusively endorse the use of modern, human-like manikins—not live animals—for this kind of training in their courses.
Here's part of Woody's letter to Texas Tech President John Baldwin:
Harming and killing shelter animals for these exercises is unjustifiable, especially as realistic manikins that more accurately represent human anatomy and better prepare medical professionals to treat injured and sick children are readily available. . . . I and countless others around the state are deeply discouraged to learn that Texas Tech is taking advantage of the tragic abundance of abandoned animals.
Cheers to Woody for speaking out against these cruel exercises. Wood you (ouch) join him in protesting these cruel, outdated procedures?
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.
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