Deflocked, baby. Deflocked.

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If you're looking for a good time, or maybe just an entertainment center, Craigslist is usually a great place to start. But there's a really worrying side to the online community that has directly facilitated a number of extremely disturbing cases of cruelty to animals.

Craigslist's "free to a good home" ads seem innocuous at first glance, but the fact is that giving away animals over the Internet to anyone who so much as expresses an interest is just unbelievably irresponsible, and Craigslist's ads have resulted in such hideous animal abuse cases as the recent torture and mutilation of three gray tabbies in Austin, including a 3-year-old cat named Taylor (pictured), who were evidently obtained through one of these "free to a good home" ads.

PETA has been begging the company for years to implement a policy prohibiting these ads for exactly this reason, but thus far Craigslist has done nothing beyond posting a mild warning about giving away animals on their site. So we're stepping it up a notch. If you have a moment, please click here to tell Craigslist to immediately ban these ads from its site before the company sees another incident like the Austin case.

Newsday/Creative Commons

As soon as we were tipped off to Bengal Stadium's cruel pigeon-control "solution," PETA sent an urgent letter to Cincinnati Mayor Mark Mallory, asking the city to reject the Bengals' request and consider one of the many humane alternatives available instead. The good news is that the city immediately responded by telling Paul Brown Stadium's manager that he needs to get his finger off the trigger and start actually trying some sensible pigeon-control methods first. We're keeping our eye on the situation, and we’ve offered to help the team with developing some humane solutions to their problem that are actually going to work. I'll let you know how it all goes.

I'm excited to let everyone know that following negotiations with PETA Europe representatives, UK-based luxury department store Harvey Nichols has ended foie gras sales at all of its stores. For you non-British readers out there, Harvey Nichols is a super posh chain of stores, kind of like Barney’s or Bergdorf Goodman in the US, so this is a very big deal.

This happened a few weeks ago, but I never gave PETA Europe props for it. Better late than never I guess. Anyway, PETA Europe isn’t resting on its laurels after this victory. They’re already targeting another big UK chain, Selfridge’s, and you can help by clicking here.

A gaggle of grim reapers made an appearance at Milan Fashion Week Thursday. The dramatic demonstration reminded attendees of the reality of real fur—it’s dead.

Great job PETA Europe!

Beautifulnewsmakers/Creative Commons

Live Free or Die Hard and Mission Impossible III star Maggie Q just released two sexy new pro-vegetarian ads for PETA Asia Pacific.

A vegetarian for many years, Maggie says that giving meat the boot is one of the most rewarding decisions she has ever made. "I feel better, I have more energy on and off the set, and I have the satisfaction of knowing that I'm doing something to help stop animal suffering."

You can see both of the ads here, and make sure to check out this amazing AP TV story about Maggie and the ads.

Kudos to you, Maggie. The animals are lucky to have you on their side.

Yesterday, one of my colleagues dressed as a chicken and drove a Hummer round the State Department building, where the Meeting of Major Economies on Energy Security and Climate Change was taking place, to make the point that a meat-based diet is responsible for more greenhouse-gas emissions than driving a gas-guzzling SUV. And yes, in case you're wondering, sometimes it does take a giant chicken in a Hum-V to get certain people to pay attention. Here's a pic:

After a landslide victory (14 to 6!) that I can't help thinking got a boost from the genuinely pathetic photo of him trying to look tough with a big gun and tinted glasses, Taser International's Rick Smith takes his spot next to Thomas Langfitt and David Waitzman as our very latest Vivisector of the Week! Rick's commanding victory is quite a testament to the extent of his sleazy practices, as he had a very tough opponent in the form of Vassar's Jeffrey Cynx, who tortures songbirds for a living and writes whimsical poetry about it.

To spice things up a bit, I've decided to give this week's contest a theme: Both of our contestants like to torment rodents; both are professionally cruel to animals under the auspices of UC Davis; and both have recently sold their services, and their souls, to Mars Inc., which has evidently decided that they need to kill animals to make candy bars. So here we go again—feel free to be horrified, but don't forget to vote, 'cuz it's time to crown the next Vivisector of the Week!

Robert Rucker, UC Davis. UC Davis/Creative Commons When the folks at Mars needed someone to cram baby mice into tiny Plexiglas chambers and submerge them in chilled water for hours, they knew that Rob Rucker was their man. But as Rob will no doubt be the first to point out, if you're going to go to all the trouble of torturing mice, there's more than just one way to ensure maximum misery! When Mr. Rucker's finished with the first stage of his experiment, he likes to force food down the animals' throats for 10 days, then starve them, and then kill them. If you find his zeal for this job disturbing, you're going to want to cast your vote for Rob Rucker now!

Carl Keen, UC Davis. UC Davis/Creative Commons Carl Keen, who holds the Mars, Inc., Endowed Chair in Developmental Nutrition, shares his colleague's passion for hurting rodents. Keen's work for the chocolate company involves feeding cocoa to rats, anaesthetizing them with carbon dioxide (a procedure which is known to be extremely distressful for the animals), and collecting their blood with a "cardiac heart puncture," which is exactly as unpleasant as it sounds. Only after he's finally killed these animals does our Carl pat himself on the back and get ready for his next round of experiments. Leave a comment below to vote for Carl "Cardiac Puncture" Keen.

Don't forget to vote, and check back with us next week* to see which of the "UC Davis Rodent Rippers" will be the latest Vivisector of the Week!

*The PETA Files cannot guarantee that they will remember to do this next week.

I’m psyched to let you know that we’ve just partnered with Helium, “the leading consumer destination where people can speak their minds and consider opposing opinions.” We’re excited because the partnership provides PETA members, and the public at large, an open and fair environment to debate any animal rights issue that you want. The site’s format is super user-friendly, so this should be a fun and easy way to talk to new people about the issues you’re most passionate about.

Should the NFL add cruelty to animals to its personal conduct policy? Do PETA’s naked protest tactics work? Should chickens be added to the Humane Slaughter Act? These and other debates are already heating up over at Helium, so check it out and let me know what you think.

Les Moonves, CBS News/Creative Commons

Please click here to let Les Moonves know that encouraging kids to kill animals is a new low for him (which is saying something), and that he needs drop these lousy stunts right now, no matter how good they may be for his ratings.