Approximately 50,000 minks got a taste of freedom after someone apparently broke into two fur farms in Greece last weekend and released the animals from their hideous, cramped, filthy little cages. So far, no one has claimed responsibility for freeing the minks, but you only need to watch a few seconds of this undercover footage, which was shot on a mink farm in Sweden, to understand why minks are best left in the wild.

We can all emancipate minks and other animals who are imprisoned, trapped, electrocuted, gassed, stomped on, and skinned alive for their fur. All we have to do is pledge never to buy or wear even a tuft of real fur and urge everyone we know to do the same.

Written by Lindsay Pollard-Post

With Sweden poised to consider whether it should ban all fur factory farms (the country has already banned fox fur farms), the Stockholm-based Animal Rights Alliance has just released a new video showing the horrors that it found during its undercover investigation of 17 mink farms across the country. To help ensure that the footage is seen by decisionmakers, CSI star Jorja Fox sent the video to Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt along with a letter describing the nightmarish conditions on Swedish fur farms—conditions that clearly violate Sweden's Animal Welfare Act. You only have to watch the first 30 seconds of this undercover footage to understand exactly why fur farming must end, but please show it to people who might need a bit of a push.

Written by Jeff Mackey

radiofacts / CC

This is my confession, Usher. When I read that you'd fallen victim to a robbery over the holiday season, I felt bad for you. Someone ripped off your unreleased music and you lost more than $1 million in jewelry! Tough blow. But I hope you realize that you weren't the only victim. Considering that the original owners of the fur coats stolen from your car—the animals—were probably skinned alive, I'd say you got off lucky.

Instead of stealing other animals' skins, I'd love to see you make a donation we can all benefit from. It's been three months since Glee's "Confessions"-"It's My Life" mash-up, and we're dying for more.

So, to sum: Glee donations = good, fur = bad. Robbery = hassle, being skinned alive = horrific. I hope that you will listen when we urge you not to replace the fur coats and to take our pledge to be fur-free.

After all, they call you U-S-H-E-R R-A-Y-M-O-N-D—it would be great if we could call you C-O-M-P-A-S-S-I-O-N-A-T-E.

Written by Logan Scherer

I think we can all agree that in this day and age, there's no excuse for pore poor Photoshopping, but someone at Bloody Burberry seems to have missed that memo.

hellomagazine / CC

In what must have been a tragic Photoshop accident by the oh-so-tragic Burberry, actor Emma Watson seems to have lost one of her legs. Luckily for her, that nub can be transformed back into a leg again with a few clicks of the "undo" button.

The question I'm asking about the whole fiasco is this: Can the magic of Photoshop help the countless animals who have suffered chewed-off limbs in the horrific process of making Bloody Burberry's fur cuffs, collars, and coats?

No, I guess not.

Written by Karin Bennett

The naked gold guy who reigns over Rockefeller Center's skating rink made way today for a naked gold medal champ, Tai Babilonia, who bared all this afternoon for PETA's "Rather Go Naked Than Wear Fur" campaign.

Click here to see images of the event.

Tai is urging shoppers to cross fur off their wish lists. "Just because it's cold outside doesn't mean we should be cold inside," she says. "There are many more warm things to wear nowadays than fur." Indeed, whether your style is sporty or super-glam, you can find fauxfillment here.

She joins a long list of huge-hearted big names—including actor Eva Mendes, Dancing With the Stars' Karina Smirnoff, and Tony Gonzalez and his wife, October—who have taken off all their clothes for PETA campaigns and drawn attention to the cruel killing of millions of animals for their fur.

Tai's action will surely motivate many people, including cold medalist Oksana Baiul, to forgo fur forever.

Written by Karin Bennett

You've seen what it's like on Chinese fur farms, but what about Norwegian ones?

Animals on fur farms around the world are often driven to cannibalism because of the extreme stress and frustration caused by intensive confinement.

Yep, the fur industry is heinous wherever you go.

Need more proof? Check out the rest of the images from Network for Animal Freedom of Norway's 2009 investigations.

Written by Shawna Flavell