Written by PETA
I have good news and, well, not-so-good news. The good news is that as a result of a lawsuit filed by environmental groups, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has agreed to pay closer attention to all the factory-farm manure that often spills into our waterways.
The not-so-good news is that the EPA plans to rely on factory farms to provide the data that the agency needs—every five years. The farms will be expected to disclose, among other things, information about their manure-storage facilities and how the "excess manure" is disposed of. In other words, the EPA is letting the fox guard the henhouse.
It's good that the EPA is doing something. But I have more faith in people like Goldman Environmental Prize–winner Lynn Henning, who gathers water samples and uses aerial photography to help hold factory farms accountable for mucking up our rivers and streams. Her efforts can really make a difference—and so can you by reminding people that farms cater to consumers. If there were no demand for flesh, eggs, or milk, then there would be no problem. So here's to a different kind of report: our success in encouraging people to help preserve America's waterways by going vegan.
Try passing out a copy of our vegetarian/vegan starter kit at your nearest stream!
Written by Heather Moore
Media outlets everywhere are reporting that a home on New York's Long Island is for sale. Why all the buzz? This house is well known as the "Amityville Horror house," the infamous site of alleged paranormal activity brought on by gruesome murders at the home as depicted in the horror classic The Amityville Horror.
Whether or not you believe in ghosts, there's no denying the horrors that countless animals suffer in factory farms before they are cruelly killed in slaughterhouses. So enter PETA: We've written to the current owner to propose that we be allowed to rent the residence so that we can set up shop—er, haunted house.
PETA's "Amityville Slaughterhouse of Horrors" would guarantee chills (and likely some sleepless nights) for visitors who will experience what life and death are like for victims of factory farms and slaughterhouses. Of course, it wouldn't be all gore and horror: Our walk-through exhibit would also include an on-site café where visitors can learn about simple, tasty alternatives to butchered animal bits.
Will we be bringing the haunting real-life tales of tormented animals to Amityville? We'll let you know—in the meantime, make sure your own kitchen doesn't look like a murder scene by going vegan.
Written by Karin Bennett
As a die-hard baseball fan (go Rockies!), I was bummed to hear that the iconic Field of Dreams has been put up for sale. But I broke out my foam finger when I heard about PETA's proposal to temporarily lease the Iowa landmark for "The Field of Nightmares: Pig Empathy Display."
Iowa is the number one pork-producing state and pigs raised for meat get more of a bum rap than Shoeless Joe Jackson. In addition to the everyday abuses that pigs suffer on factory farms, they are often harmed in other ways. For instance, an undercover investigation of a Hormel supplier in Iowa documented that workers beat pigs with rods and sexually abused them with canes.
PETA's Pig Empathy Display will teach visitors how they can stop the abuse of these smart, sweet, and adorable animals by leaving pork off their plates. Did I mention that there will also be faux-pork Riblets and stickers? Score!
We'll keep you posted. While you're waiting, please take a moment to contact Hormel and demand that the company follow PETA's nine-point policy to help stop cruelty at its suppliers' pig farms.
Written by Amy Skylark Elizabeth
The verdict inside the courtroom on Friday's People's Court was against a consignment shop that donated a fur-wearer's musty minks after they didn't sell, but outside, the show's host and legal analyst, Harvey Levin, announced his own judgment about wearing fur: "It's just cruel. … The skin ought to stay on the animals."
Caring people should always find in favor of animals by boycotting fur—or risk being found guilty of supporting an indefensible industry that profits from horrific animal suffering and slaughter. Thanks to all the warm, stylish alternatives to animal fur and skins, there's no excuse not to follow Levin's verdict: "Don't wear fur."
Woot, woot—or should I say "woof, woof"?—to the California Assembly for passing a bill last week that would make it illegal for landlords to require tenants to declaw or devocalize their animal companions.
A place that requires its residents to amputate their family members' toes or cut out their vocal cords sounds more like a detainment facility than "home sweet home." But, some properties require renters to put their animal companions through these painful, debilitating, and unnecessary procedures. Let's hope that this bill clears all the remaining hurdles and gets written into law soon. Its next stop is the California Senate—so, Golden State residents, please urge your senator to save animals' toes and throats by supporting AB 2743!
Written by Lindsay Pollard-Post
Check out sexy Austrian tattoo-model Sandy P. Peng's awesome new tat.
That baby's not photoshopped, it's real. Sandy's so supportive of PETA Germany's anti-fur efforts that she sent them the pic of her "Ink, Not Mink" artwork to use as an advertisement, and she's doing not one but five anti-fur demonstrations with a PETA Germany campaigner this week. Wow! (That's German for "Wow!")
Those of you who speak German (that's most of you, right?) can read more about Sandy on PETA Germany's brand-new VeganBlog. Check it tomorrow to enjoy the photos of her as she speaks out for animals.
Sandy joins a long list of sexy celebs who've posed for PETA's and its affiliates' "Ink, Not Mink" campaigns. Take a look, and maybe even show us your tats too.
If you're looking for a place to plant some cash, Goldman Sachs might not be a wise investment. That probably doesn't surprise many of you, seeing as how the firm is facing fraud lawsuits for its questionable mortgage-trading activities. But did you know that Goldman is also involved in some shady factory-farm deals in China? As the executive director of Brighter Green recently pointed out, Goldman paid $300 million for 10 intensive poultry farms in China in 2008.
If you listen closely, you can still hear the "ca-ching!"
While the number of vegetarians in the U.S. grows every year, meat consumption has quadrupled in China since 1980. Filthy U.S.-style factory farms are becoming increasingly common there, and while Goldman has outsourced its factory farms, it retains control over the prices of the meat it sells. Goldman clearly wants a portion of the cash cow. But I don't guess that Goldman is concerned about investing in the future, considering that more factory farms means more death, pollution, and other environmental consequences.
I'm no high roller, but even if I were, I wouldn't be casting my lot with Goldman Sachs. I prefer savings that can't be put in the bank: animals' lives and the environment. How about you?
Finally! Someone who fights factory farm pollution has received some serious recognition. Lynn Henning, a Michigan corn and soybean farmer, has just been presented with the prestigious Goldman Environmental Prize (known worldwide as the "Green Nobel") and the accompanying $150,000 award for her efforts to expose factory farms for the pollution-spewing cesspools they are. She plans to donate much of the money to environmental groups and spend a portion on water-monitoring kits. Go, Henning!
Encouraging people to recycle and use energy-efficient light bulbs is all well and good, but everyone needs to hold factory farms accountable for their dirty deeds by refusing to buy their dirty goods. Just last week, millions of gallons of manure from a dairy farm spilled into the Snohomish River. Both Perdue Farms and Hudson Farm—an 80,000-bird factory farm—were recently sued for mucking up the Chesapeake Bay.
Meat's not green, so I hope that everyone is celebrating Earth Day—and making Henning's work less lonely—by eating only vegan food.
Oh, and check out some of the winners in other countries. Most of them are also helping animals and the environment at the same time. Feel inspired?
Ask a million different people what happiness is, and you might get a million different answers. Happiness is … a warm dog. A choice. A girls' night out.
Now animal agriculture proponents are talking about launching an ad campaign boasting, "Happiness is a dead animal." That's right—the communications "whiz" who proposed the slogan has got people arguing that it's high time "to take a positive approach and tell [the public] to go ahead, eat that dead cow, it's OK."
Wow. I mean, wow.
When farm operators and immature steak addicts are done yucking it up about this ad campaign, they'll still have trouble explaining how "it's OK" that downed cows are left to languish for days; that male baby chicks, who are "useless" to the egg industry, are ground up alive; and that farm workers get away with kicking, stomping on, and otherwise abusing animals. Good luck telling that umpteenth heart attack victim's weeping wife and children how "it's OK" that all those bacon cheeseburgers helped make their loved one obese and unhealthy and his ticker to conk out at 50 years young.
We're not concerned that this ad campaign will actually get the green light. Oh, no, no, no. That's not it at all. We've already seen this type of sophomoric pro-meat push on T-shirts, bumper stickers, etc. Yawn. Been there, done that.
At this point, the biggest concern we have about this moronic ad campaign is that they'll decide not to run it. Someone might figure out that farm operators will have an even tougher time convincing anyone—from Jane Doe to legislators—that they care one bit about the animals in their charge if they announce to the world that they believe "Happiness is a dead animal."
Your thoughts?
What do you get when two of our all-time favorite people—Oprah Winfrey and Alicia Silverstone—tackle the topic of America's addiction to cheaply raised, unhealthy animal products? An episode of Oprah that's both a chilling reality check and a charming hunger-inducer.
Oprah's never been one to shy away from the hard-hitting issues, and on yesterday's show she took a critical look at modern factory farming methods. Viewers were given a glimpse of modern farming methods and were, no doubt, shocked to see footage of chicks tumbling down a chute—as though they were nothing more than paper clips on an assembly line—and adult chickens, belly up, struggling to breathe in jam-packed, stench-filled sheds. But, never one to leave her audience without a solution to an issue, Oprah invited the vivacious and lovely Alicia Silverstone to the show to teach viewers about delicious, satisfying vegan alternatives to meat-laden and dairy-drenched foods.
While Alicia set to work making mouthwatering recipes from her cookbook, The Kind Diet, she also revealed that her acne, insomnia, and asthma all vanished when she went vegan. If I weren't already dining on a cruelty-free diet, those facts combined with Alicia's recipe for Artichoke, Mushroom and Leek Crostinis would have been enough to get me to try it out. So tell us: Was it the food or the health benefits that finally convinced you to try a vegan diet?
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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