Written by Jeff Mackey
When former congress member Jesse Jackson Jr. and his wife pled guilty to using hundreds of thousands of dollars in campaign funds to pay for personal items like fur coats and capes, elk heads, and taxidermied animals, it effectively put an end to what was once a promising career—not to mention dozens of animals' lives.
Now, in hopes of seeing some good come from this sad waste, PETA has asked the U.S. marshal to donate the furs to the homeless in Chicago instead of auctioning them off, as is reportedly planned.
Only people who are truly struggling to survive have any excuse for wearing fur. For every cuff, collar, piece of trim, or coat made from real fur, animals endured misery and died after being beaten, electrocuted, or even skinned alive. By donating the coats to the homeless, the U.S. marshal would underscore the importance of need over greed while giving back to the community in Illinois.
What You Can Do
We can't give these animals their lives back, but we can prevent more from being killed. Please go fur-free—and encourage others to do the same.
Written by Paula Moore
At last night's Golden Globe Awards, the hot topic on the red carpet was the cold snap in L.A.: Temps had dropped to 37 degrees. But not one of the nominees (and no other celebrity we could find) wore fur. Hollywood has had quite the animal-friendly makeover over the past generation with PETA on the scene!
The majority of fur today comes from fur farms, where animals slowly go insane from the intense confinement. Many animals on fur farms circle frantically in their cages, a sign of severe psychological stress.
© StarMaxInc.com
Not only was the glitzy event fur-free, it also showcased a few of today's most vibrant vegans! Jessica Chastain—PETA's reigning Sexiest Vegetarian Celebrity—and previous champ Anne Hathaway nabbed the top actress awards.
Written by Michelle Kretzer
Ashley Bell earned a nomination for "Best Scared-as-S**t Performance" at the MTV Movie Awards for her portrayal of the possessed Nell Sweetzer in The Last Exorcism, produced by our buddy Eli Roth. Now, before The Last Exorcism 2 hits theaters, she's releasing an exclusive video for PETA that's scarier than anything even Eli could come up with.
A longtime animal rights activist and vegetarian, Ashley believes that everyone, even if they are scared, should see the videos of PETA's undercover investigations: "[W]hen you really see pictures and videos of what animals go through on a day-to-day basis, you can't get those images out of your head."
Halloween may be over, but every day is a nightmare for animals on factory farms, in laboratories, and on fur farms. Share Ashley's new video and encourage others to exorcise cruelty.
Written by Alisa Mullins
Motorists cruising down L.A.'s Beverly Boulevard might get a little distracted when they spot Olivia Munn's sexy new "I'd Rather Go Naked than Wear Fur" billboard, which The Daily Show correspondent unveiled in person today in Los Angeles.
"When you think about even that little tiny trim of fur on your gloves or on your collar, that is still coming from an animal that had to endure so much pain just for you," says Munn. "There's nothing good about pretending like you don't know."
Munn, who is currently shooting the new HBO series The Newsroom and the Steven Soderbergh movie Magic Mike, sat down with PETA for an exclusive video interview, which you can watch here.
Munn is also the host of PETA's brand-new video exposé of fur farms in China, the world's leading fur exporter. "As a proud person of Chinese descent, it broke my heart to learn just how terribly animals suffer and die on Chinese fur farms and that there are no penalties for this abuse," explains Munn in the video, which reveals conscious raccoon dogs writhing in pain as workers rip the skin off their bodies. Rabbits scream as workers slit their throats and cut off their heads. Dogs and cats—some of whom still wear collars—are crammed into tiny cages and thrown off trucks.
Please "like" and tweet Olivia's new video so that all your friends can learn why they should leave fur on its original owners' backs.
Megan Park, the star of The Secret Life of the American Teenager, has great fashion sense both on- and off-screen. So, of course, she never wears fur, as she makes crystal clear in a new anti-fur ad for PETA.
Before she was an American teenager, Megan was growing up in Canada and was appalled by the Canadian seal slaughter. With her beau, musician Tyler Hilton, by her side, she chose to reveal her stunning new ad in her native country so that she could encourage fans on both sides of the border to keep fur where it belongs—on animals.
"These animals are skinned alive and kept in small little cages. It's just awful, awful treatment, and there's no reason for it," she says.
Megan and an adorable rescued pup named Tyson remind people that Chinese fur farms often sell dog and cat fur labeled as something else, so if you buy fur, there's no way to know whose skin you're really wearing.
Click here to see the behind-the-scenes video from Megan's photo shoot and join her in getting the secret out: If you wouldn't wear your dog, you shouldn't wear any fur.
Written by Heather Faraid Drennan
Unless you live in a sensory deprivation chamber, you probably get queasy at the mere mention of Kim Kardashian. But wait! PETA's new billboard should give the reality TV star a much-needed reality check—at least when it comes to her furry wardrobe, which often features the pelts of animals as dead as her brief marriage.
Kim © StarmaxInc | Foxes © Patricia Kullberg/ Dreamstime.com
We've contacted Kim several times about the notorious cruelty of the fur industry, in which animals on factory fur farms are kept in tiny wire cages in all weather extremes and are genitally electrocuted and even skinned alive. In fact, Kim's compassionate sister, Khloe Kardashian, posed naked for a PETA anti-fur ad and kindly showed fur-farm video footage on Keeping Up With the Kardashians. But the hardest thing to keep up with is the number of carcasses that Kim wears.
Hopefully, our arresting billboard on Beverly Boulevard in West Hollywood will inspire the entire Kardashian klan and other shoppers to follow Khloe's example and leave fur off their holiday lists.
When Kim is ready to put an end to her much-publicized relationship with fur, PETA will be happy to take her discards and donate them to the homeless. She can even help us pass them out! I'm sure there's an E! special in there somewhere.
You can get in on the action, too—donate your furs to PETA today.
Written by PETA
Imagine how it must feel to have to wear a heavy coat outside in August! PETA members in Lansing, Michigan, no longer have to wonder after sitting in cages on a hot sidewalk in order to illustrate the misery of animals on fur farms during hot weather, when they have no escape from the heat.
Summer brings extra hardships for animals who are already suffering physical and psychological distress from constant confinement in a small wire cage. And there is no peaceful end to their suffering. Animals killed for their fur endure some of the most gruesome deaths imaginable, including death by neck-breaking, bludgeoning, poisoning, anal and genital electrocution, and being skinned alive.
"We may be hot, but it's worth it to raise awareness about the suffering of minks, raccoons, and other animals and—their babies—when they are left in feces- and urine-covered cages in the searing heat."
There is never a good season to wear real fur. Send a message to the fur industry by adding your name to PETA's growing list of people who have pledged to be fur-free forever.
Written by Michelle Sherrow
Pamela Anderson was as perplexed as we were to learn that despite Denmark's recent ban on cruel fox-fur farms, some in the country's royal family still wear fur. Perhaps the Queen is harking back to her girlhood, when fur was integral to the royal robes, but since she enjoys all the other trappings of a modern life, it’s time to lay cruel stodgy fashions to rest. Pam penned a letter to Queen Margrethe II explaining that all fur means animal suffering:
Undercover investigations into fur farms have shown cruelty to animals across the board, from Denmark to the United States. Most fur comes from China, where animals—including dogs and cats—are bludgeoned and even skinned alive for their fur, as seen in this short video. Minister Eva Kjer Hansen of Denmark stated, 'Mink breeders break animal welfare rules. And that is unacceptable.' Animals trapped in the wild are no better off: Many suffer for hours and even chew off their own limbs to escape.
Hopefully, Queen Margrethe II will join the scores of leading ladies, including Michelle Obama and Carla Bruni, who refuse to wear fur. Until she does, we have a feeling she hasn't heard the last from Pam.
PETA welcomed the sultry start of summer Tuesday with a reminder that summer is no vacation for animals who are bludgeoned to death, anally electrocuted, or drowned on fur farms year round.
Ready to take a vacation from cruelty? Sign PETA's Pledge to Be Fur-Free today!
Written by Jared Misner
Pamela Anderson finds so many new and creative ways to help animals every day that we're starting to think she should be called Saint Pam. When she was invited to launch a swanky new club in Los Angeles owned by a Danish entrepreneur, Pam used the opportunity to talk to the Scandinavian media covering the event about the cruelty of Danish fur farms.
Denmark is not far behind China in mink production, and Saga, an international organization that pushes designers to use fur, is based there. Danish animal advocacy group Anima published the findings from 26 Danish fur farms that found injured, sick, and dead animals on all of them. Minks were missing legs, tails, and ears and had oozing wounds covering their faces. Dead minks were cannibalized or left infested with maggots and rotting in cages with live minks. One of the farms, owned by the chairperson of the European Fur Breeders Association, is often shown to designers as an example of how well animals on fur farms are treated. Even at a farm where conditions are said to be the "best in the world," animals were suffering horribly.
Pam's L.A. event was packed with media representatives for whom she detailed the cruelties of the Danish fur industry, and she also called on Scandinavians to ditch fur. Quite the saintly act, if you ask us.
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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