Pretty, pleasant Pia Toscano bears a striking resemblance to another PETA pal—Lea Michele—and the similarities don't stop at their lovely faces, with voices to match and rhyming monikers. Like Lea, Pia jumped at the chance to use her platform to help stop cruelty to animals.

In her debut single, "This Time," Pia bids a powerful adieu to a bad boyfriend. And she thinks it's time that everyone broke up with two businesses that are bad for animals: the fur industry and circuses. 

In an exclusive interview with PETA, Pia expounded, "It was very difficult for me to watch the videos on how fur coats are made and how these animals are brutally beaten and skinned alive. There's no excuse for that." And when talk turned to the circus, she was quick to express her disgust. "I'm a performer, and I make a conscious decision every time I get up on that stage to do what I love, but these animals, they don't have a choice, they don't have a voice, and they are not choosing this lifestyle." 

Since animals don't get to choose not to be forced to perform or killed for their fur, as Pia notes, it's up to us to add our voices to the ever-growing chorus of people speaking up for them.

Loz Flowers | cc by 2.0

Dworkin Furs in Ottawa has been peddling pelts for more than a century. But 100 years of cruelty is coming to an end as Dworkin Furs sells off the last of its skins and shuts its doors.

While management at Dworkin is staying mum, business professor Ian Lee said fur sales are down because PETA and other groups have exposed the cruelty of the fur industry. "[PETA] have made it less fashionable—or less acceptable, I should say—to wear fur," he told news sources. "You don't close your doors because you're making lots of money … you close your doors because you aren't making money."

Thanks for showing retailers that fur is headed the way of the stagecoach. Let's keep the pressure on by sharing the Pledge to Be Fur-Free on Facebook and adding to the long list of people who wouldn't be caught dead wearing dead animals.

Back in the 1950s, Rosa Parks was arrested for refusing to move to the back of the bus in the segregated South. After learning of Parks' arrest, an African-American resident in Montgomery declared, "They've messed with the wrong one now."

Let's fast-forward to Virginia Beach, Virginia, 2009: Longtime PETA member and ardent animal defender Sheila Rybak was arrested outside a fur store where she'd been peacefully protesting. She was accused of causing an illegal ruckus by Maria Folch, who had "happened by" this off-road site in a full-length mink coat.

Sheila Rybak with PETA president, Ingrid E. Newkirk.

Unfortunately for Folch, Rybak doesn't take any injustice lying down. After Folch failed to show up at the first court hearing, Rybak sued for malicious prosecution. Makes sense right? Protests aren't illegal, and Rybak was only trying to spread the word about the hideously cruel fur industry.

Earlier this week, a jury found in Rybak's favor, and the court has ordered the defendant to pay $12,500 in damages. Here's the kicker: Rybak has declared that if Folch will hand over her full-length mink coat for use in PETA anti-fur displays and events, she'll call it even!

Talk about inspiring. What do you think?

Written by Karin Bennett