Written by Michelle Kretzer
Students attending District of Columbia Public Schools no longer have to choose between their grades and their morals. On PETA's recommendation, the school district has adopted a dissection-choice policy, giving students the option to use advanced software and other humane methods of studying anatomy.
mcamcamca|cc by 2.0
To help district teachers implement the new policy, PETA is offering to donate computers and software through our national educational grants program so that D.C. students have access to state-of-the-art virtual-dissection equipment. Teachers are already taking us up on the offer! Advanced computer models have proved to be more effective teaching tools than cutting up animals, and they allow students to learn compassion while learning about anatomy.
Animals used in dissection could be lost or abandoned companion animals or could be bred in squalid mass-breeding facilities and then killed. Frogs, the most commonly dissected animal, are often ripped out of their natural environments, stuffed into bags without food or water, and shipped across long distances, and many of them sustain injuries or die during transport. But states and school districts across the country are honoring students' right not to contribute to this cruelty by implementing dissection-choice policies.
To learn how to cut out dissection at a school near you, contact us to request a free "Cut Out Dissection" pack.
When Gladys Bleakney's home-daycare class in Ottawa, Ontario, learned that the turtles and frogs in their favorite pond were under siege by people who were catching and eating them, the children took matters into their own tiny hands. The world's cutest demonstration was born:
The kids believe that, just like people, all animals have feelings and deserve respect. The future looks bright for animals.
Written by Jeff Mackey
After hearing from PETA, a Brooklyn gallery quickly canceled plans to present a demonstration in which frogs would be cruelly injected with women's urine and also given away to event attendees. PETA decried the needless suffering of the frogs involved and called for the gallery to abandon the demonstration.
jfinnirwin|cc by 2.0
Lacking Compassion and Common Sense
The gallery, Proteus Gowanus, had planned to host an exhibit in which an anthropologist would invite women to watch as he injected their urine into two African clawed frogs, replicating an archaic pregnancy test. The frogs would be injected as many as 60 times each, resulting in significant pain and distress. Animal pregnancy tests were long ago replaced with better non-animal methods.
The anthropologist was also going to give away five frogs to exhibition attendees so that the women could perform the test in their own homes—with no guarantee that the frogs would not be mistreated, killed, or released into the wild, where a fungus that African clawed frogs carry that kills other species of frogs could wreak havoc on wild amphibian populations.
Making a Statement
After learning about the gallery's plans, PETA immediately called on the gallery to cancel the exhibition and was in the process of filing a cruelty complaint with local authorities, issuing an action alert, and calling in amphibian experts—but this turned out to be unnecessary as the cruel and risky demonstration and giveaway were quickly replaced by a lecture.
The moral of the story? Cruelty to animals may occur in unexpected places—but wherever we see it, we must never be silent.
'Tis the season of peace and goodwill, and students and teachers across the country are extending both to animals who would have been killed and dissected for crude biology lessons.
All too often, PETA receives complaints from compassionate middle school, high school, and college students who are faced with the daunting dilemma of whether to mutilate a dead frog, rat, or cat or receive a failing grade for standing up for animals. When we hear from these students, we quickly spring into action and contact faculty and administrators to urge them to respect the students' wishes by providing them with modern non-animal learning methods and asking them to cut out dissection altogether.
Photo: Robert Sebree; Makeup: Chantal Moore for The Cloutier Agency
One of the ways in which PETA facilitates schools' transition to humane science teaching tools is through our TeachKind educational grant program. Teachers can apply to receive free computers, software, and models to replace animal dissection in their classrooms. Not only do these modern and effective teaching tools save animals' lives, they also help create a positive learning environment that does not exclude students because of their moral beliefs.
The following are just a few of PETA's recent successes for students and animals:
To learn how to get modern non-animal science teaching tools for your school or to help fund these lifesaving donations, visit TeachKind.org.
Written by PETA
It's a heaping, hearty helping of Internet Soup today, and just like Justin Bieber's tower of trophies at the Teen Choice Awards, it's guaranteed to make u smile.
Written by Michelle Sherrow
More than 200 people—mostly children—have been sickened by a unique strain of salmonella, a serious infection that can cause nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, and fever. The culprit? The African dwarf frog breeder who supplied frogs for EcoAquariums. These cruel tiny plastic cubes—to which frogs are confined for life—are sold by national retailers across the United States and Canada. The California Department of Public Health has issued an urgent notice asking vendors to discontinue selling the frogs immediately, and PETA is seconding that call.
Jamming delicate frogs into plastic cubes with just a few ounces of water is usually a death sentence for the animals. The frogs can barely move and are slowly poisoned by their own waste. A PETA investigation into Wild Creations—one of the suppliers of the frogs used for this gimmick—documented filthy conditions, starvation, and rampant neglect and mishandling of frogs.
Many national retailers have stopped selling these tiny tanks, which put both amphibians and customers at risk. Please ask Learning Express, Kirlin's Hallmark, Toy Jungle Enterprises Inc., Scholar's Choice, and Coach House Gifts to pull these cruel "novelties" off the shelves for good.
Written by Jennifer O'Connor
After 18 months of protests, thousands of calls and e-mails, and appearances outside Brookstone stores by our giant "frog," Brookstone has finally decided to pull a cruel product called the "Frog-O-Sphere" from its shelves!
PETA started campaigning against the tiny plastic frog prisons after receiving complaints from Brookstone customers and after a whistleblower reported that frogs and snails housed in the tiny 4-inch-by-4-inch plastic boxes were neglected, deprived of veterinary care and adequate food, and kept in filthy water. The whistleblower told PETA that when frogs became obviously ill and "unsaleable," they were moved to the stores' storage rooms, where they often wasted away and died.
PETA's undercover investigation of Wild Creations—the company that came up with the idiotic idea of throwing two frogs and some gravel into a container smaller than a shoebox and leaving them there for their entire lives—revealed filthy conditions and deadly neglect. In some cases, frogs were so hungry that that they chewed each other's legs off.
Brookstone joins Magic Beans, Target, and other retailers that have stopped selling these cruel products, but Coach House Gifts is still selling frogs in "EcoAquariums" to make an easy buck. In one shipment to Coach House Gifts, 37 out of 40 frogs died after they were left in a container so long that they suffered from heat prostration. Please take a moment to urge the company to stop selling its deadly EcoAquariums.
We received a call recently from a whistleblower who alerted us to a situation at Coach House Gifts, a Clovis, California–based business where 37 out of 40 frogs in a shipment died after being left in a shipping box so long that they succumbed to heat prostration.
Wondering what a store that specializes in greeting cards and silly bracelets is doing with frog shipments? Well, Coach House Gifts also sells frogs who are crammed into 4-inch plastic cubes. These "desk decorations" are similar to Brookstone's "Frog-O-Spheres."
The similarities between the two novelty gifts don't stop there, either. Both Coach House Gifts and Brookstone buy their frogs from a hellhole called Wild Creations. Our undercover investigation into Wild Creations documented rampant neglect and mishandling of these delicate animals and a total disregard for their needs, welfare, and lives. Our investigator witnessed frogs being thrown around and even tossed into the garbage while they were still alive.
Please ask Coach House Gifts President Craig J. Walker to pull these cruel novelties off the shelves immediately. And then demand that Brookstone do the same!
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
Victory Update: Following a national PETA campaign against Brookstone's sale of Frog-O-Spheres —tiny plastic boxes containing two African dwarf frogs—the retailer has discontinued the sale of these little frog prisons in its stores. Learn more about this victory for frogs.
The following is a guest post from peta2's Rachel.
Quick! Think on your toes! What things in life do you hold dear? Is it friendship or family—or even just plain old freedom? All good things ... and pretty essential, right?
Frogs imprisoned in Brookstone's tiny tanks being so brilliantly marketed as "Frog-O-Spheres" are denied all of those things, even though they desire them as much as you or I. Why? To make a quick buck, of course.
Brookstone, what will it take to get you to stop supporting cruelty to animals? It's not just us at PETA who are concerned—it's your own employees, your customers, and millions of others who've seen our recent undercover investigation into the supplier your Frog-O-Sphere prisoners come from—where these frogs were seen being thrown around carelessly and even tossed into the garbage while they were still alive. Brookstone, the complaints don't just come to us—they come to you. Check out some of the more concerning/awful/just-plain-dumb comments from the Frog-O-Sphere review page on Brookstone's Web site:
"Our family cat knocked over the tank and 'played' with the the frogs for over three hours. I was able to find the frogs (scattered through the house), who were still alive??"
"It's hard to keep track of which frog ate however many pebbles and making sure the other one got enough. ... I guess it's not that crucial though ...."
"My grandsons received this as a gift and we thought the 'living gravel' was the packing pouch of black/brown stuff. We almost killed the frogs before we started."
"A lot of people on here have said that their snail has died. It's VERY common for the snail to die, they told me that at the store."
Luckily, in large part because of e-mails and calls from people like you, Brookstone stopped selling snails in its tiny frog prisons, but frogs are still dying. Please call Brookstone and ask it why, after undercover investigations, employee concerns, and comments on its own Web site about frogs suffering and dying, it refuses to stop selling animals. Ask the company to do the right thing now.
Written by Rachel Owen
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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