Written by PETA
Before Pamela Anderson, before Eva Mendes, before Dennis Rodman, there were the Go-Go's. The iconic ladies of pop-punk weren't just pioneers for women in music, they were also animal rights innovators, as the first celebs to proclaim that they would rather go naked than wear fur.
Gina Schock, Kathy Valentine, Belinda Carlisle, Jane Wiedlin, and Charlotte Caffey were music to animals' ears when they launched PETA's "naked" ad campaign in 1991.
Today, as the Go-Go's are being honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, PETA would like to celebrate them, too, for getting our "rather go naked" campaign go-go-going and inspiring people all around the world to follow their beat. What will you do to celebrate being fur-free?
Written by Michelle Sherrow
Things are getting muy caliente at the PETA office during National Hispanic Heritage Month. We rounded up some of our favorite ads starring Latino supporters and created a slideshow hotter than the month of August.
From fighting fur and "fixing" animal homelessness to goring bullfighting and getting gorgeous with veggies, these Latin stars are true amigos to animals.
Jennifer Lopez is one American who gets no idol worship from anyone who cares about animals. The diva has once again shown that her beauty is only skin deep by posing in a coat made from the skins of arctic foxes in the September issue of Vanity Fair.
When asked what he thought of J-Lo's coat of many cruelties, PETA Senior Vice President Dan Mathews had this to say:
People who wear fur are either ignorant or arrogant. Because we have sent Jennifer Lopez videos showing how foxes on fur farms go insane from confinement to tiny cages, suffer from broken and exposed bones, and are killed by anal electrocution, J-Lo is situated firmly in the arrogant camp. Maybe the real story behind their breakup is that Marc Anthony left because he couldn't stand looking into her morgue of a closet.
Of the split, Lopez told Vanity Fair, "Sometimes we don't realize that we are compromising ourselves." Would now be one of those times, J-Lo?
Willis McGahee is off to the Broncos, and Chad Ochocinco is headed to the Patriots, but we know one thing that they won't be loading up in the moving van: fur. These two PETA pals may swap jerseys, but they will never swap their cruelty-free style for fatal fur.
Considering the warm hearts and smokin' bodies that these guys have, they'll be plenty warm in Denver and New England without being mean to animals. Team PETA will be cheering you on, guys!
After coming under the Gunn, the Miss Florida USA pageant will no longer award fur coats to its winners. PETA's 2009 Man of the Year, Tim Gunn, wrote a letter to Grant H. Gravitt Jr., the executive producer of the pageant, explaining that animals killed for their fur are electrocuted, drowned, bludgeoned, or skinned alive and asked him to drop animal skins from the competition. Gravitt apparently agreed that ugly fur has no place in a beauty competition, earning him a thank-you from the Project Runway star.
There is nothing glamorous about cruelty to animals. It's time for all pageants that still give fur coats as prizes, such as the Miss Maryland pageant, to celebrate the beauty of kindness. Sign PETA's fur-free pledge and be beautiful in your own skin so that animals can keep theirs.
When our beauties in the buff graced Bourbon Street to show that baring skin is better than wearing skin, one passerby was so inspired that he shed his shirt and joined in.
While it takes a lot to raise eyebrows in New Orleans, the ladies (and gent) managed to capture the attention of hundreds of passersby, who walked away with informative leaflets about the cruel fur and leather industries.
A new bill making it illegal to buy, sell, or possess steel-jaw traps (a common torture device used to trap animals for their fur) has passed in Taiwan. Pamela Anderson and PETA Asia-Pacific sent a bouquet of flowers to legislator Ting Shou-chung, who proposed the motion and was instrumental in pushing it through.
Thanks to the hard work of Ting Shou-chung, Taiwan has officially joined the 88 nations that have completely banned steel-jaw traps ... It warms my heart to know that Taiwan will no longer allow dogs, cats, and wild animals to die slow, painful deaths in these cruel traps.
Animals caught in steel-jaw traps struggle in excruciating pain to get free as the jaws cut into their flesh, often down to the bone. Some animals, especially mothers desperate to return to their babies, will attempt to chew or twist off their trapped limbs. Animals may struggle for hours and even days before they finally succumb to blood loss, exposure, frostbite, or dehydration. All this before they are killed, usually for their fur.
Shockingly, these cruel devices are still legal and in use in the United States. Take a stand against them by signing PETA’s fur-free pledge today.
Just in time for William and Kate's (the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge) first official visit to Canada, two PETA volunteers wearing little more than faux-bearskin hats and smiles joined the Changing of the Guards ceremony in Ottawa to ask for a change of their own.
God save the bears!
PETA and PETA U.K. are asking the Ministry of Defence to replace its barbaric bearskin caps with cruelty-free faux fur.
The fur for The Queen's Guards' caps come from Canadian black bears, many of whom die in agony as they are shot multiple times. Some are even mothers whose babies are left to starve or fall victim to predators. It can take an entire bear's hide to make just one of these caps. If that's the kind of cruelty you just can't bear, urge the Ministry of Defence to stop being a royal pain and switch to faux fur.
Written by Jared Misner
According to a statement on its website, athletic behemoth Adidas has sworn off the skins of exotic animals—including crocodiles, snakes, sharks, and fish—joining compassionate companies such as Nike and Cole Haan, H&M, Overstock.com, and Victoria's Secret that rock the mock croc. Adidas also refuses to use fur or wool from sheep who were mulesed in any of its shoes or clothing.
We applaud Adidas for making great strides for so many animals, and look forward to the day when all its footwear is faux.
Animals killed for their skins don't get to choose whether or not to shed their coats. Humans do have a choice, however, and three PETA protesters chose to shed their coats, and pretty much everything else, to remind Toronto Fashion Week attendees that every fur coat, leather shoe, snakeskin bag, and wool sweater caused animals tremendous suffering.
Volunteers handed out leaflets describing the cruelty of the fur and leather industries, such as bludgeoning and electrocuting animals and sometimes even skinning them alive.
For the compassionate beauties who braved the cold, the demonstration raised some chill bumps, but they said the awareness they also raised was worth it. To see how easy it is to be warm and warm-hearted, check out PETA's Compassionate Clothing Guide. Paparazzi aren't included, but you'll still turn heads.
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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