Mahatma Gandhi said, "The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated." What, then, can we surmise about the U.S., where 59 billion animals a year suffer intensive confinement, are deprived of all that is natural to them, have their bodies mutilated by dehorning, castration, ear cropping, and more, all before they are killed for a fleeting taste of flesh? October 2, Gandhi's birthday, marks World Farm Animals Day, a day to honor Gandhi's advocacy of nonviolence and vegetarianism and to remember the animals killed for what he called "the satisfaction of our bodily wants."

The plain facts are appalling: Every year in the U.S. alone, more than 7 billion chickens and 275 million turkeys have their legs slammed into shackles and their throats cut before being immersed—often while still conscious—in scalding water to remove their feathers. Many of the 118 million pigs killed annually are improperly stunned and scream in pain as they are scalded to death. More than 39 million cows are hung upside down and left to dangle with all their body weight suspended by one leg before their throats are cut and they are skinned and gutted, some aware of what is happening to them as their bodies are hacked apart.

If humanity is to make real moral progress, we must treat animals as sentient beings whose lives are their own and do not belong to us. This World Farm Animals Day, we're trying to get 10,000 people to visit Meat.org and watch the site's "Glass Walls" video. Please share the page on Facebook, on Twitter, and in any other way you that can imagine to get the word out there!

Written by Michelle Sherrow

Today is Gandhi's birthday, and it's also the second day of Vegetarian Awareness Month. I can't think of a better way to celebrate both than by giving a vegetarian diet a try.

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Gandhi ardently advocated nonviolence and campaigned to end poverty, expand women's rights, encourage self-reliance, and promote peace and respect for all living beings. He believed that "the greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated."

If you think about the billions of animals who suffer in America's filthy, crowded factory farms and who are cruelly killed in slaughterhouses every year, it's clear that this nation has a long way to go to become "great" and "moral."

So if PETA's sexy babes haven't yet inspired you to go vegetarian, check your pulse. Then read Gandhi's book The Moral Basis of Vegetarianism and PETA President Ingrid E. Newkirk's The PETA Practical Guide to Animals Rights.

Written by Karin Bennett

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Sam Neill, star of that "oldie but goodie," er …

(pause)

… Shoot, what was that one?

… Oh, yeah, Jurassic Park! Anyway, Sam Neill's fossilizing career now has him plugging the consumption of artery-clogging meat from abused cows, pigs, and other animals in commercials for Meat and Livestock Australia (MLA).

In the ads, MLA has Mr. Neill suggesting that eating meat will make a person smarter (hardly) and more energetic (not so). And as if that weren't offensive enough, Sam's co-star in the two spots is an orangutan named Dennis.

Jason Baker, director of PETA Asia-Pacific, wasted no time—or words—in his letter to Mr. Neill:

"Seeing you pimp for an industry that is linked to the main killers of human beings as well as of animals is, well, sad."

Jason continues:

"Some of the most accomplished and brilliant thinkers in history were vegetarian—including Einstein, Leonardo de Vinci, Plato, Pythagoras, Mahatma Gandhi and Isaac Newton. Studies published in the British Medical Journal have shown that people with a higher IQ are more likely to go vegetarian—yes, it really is the smart choice."

It's a no-brainer. A vegetarian diet is better for your brain, animals, and environment. Hopefully, Mr. Neill will realize this and get out of the meat-promoting business before his career reaches full-blown extinction.

Written by Karin Bennett

Thanks for all of your wonderful comments on this Win It Wednesday. The winner of the Bella Dog Bed is Jeanette Rampersad. Congratulations!

Years ago, I used to bring my dog, Lulu, to work with me at the PETA office. Lulu was content to snore the afternoons away, burrowed deep in a box of recycled paper. She was comfy in her eco-friendly dog bed, but I thought it was a bit undignified. She was, after all, sleeping in a waste bin.

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If Lulu were around today, I'm sure she'd be ecstatic to learn that today's canine siestas can be comfortable and eco-chic, thanks to the Bella Dog Bed, which is made from recycled plastic soft drink bottles. The folks at Modern Eco Homes, an online emporium that sources all its eco-friendly products from the Internet's most innovative green merchants, were able to contribute one Bella Dog Bed for us to give away. And if you want it, you got it—if you leave a comment with the most appropriate caption for the photo below:

flickr / CC

The contest ends on July 29, 2009, and we'll choose one comment as the winner on July 31, 2009. Be sure to read our privacy policy and terms and conditions, as you're agreeing to both by commenting. Good luck!

Written by Karin Bennett

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Last night, I was glued to the television for the Home Run Derby. I had to be there to support my boy, Prince Fielder, who was competing against some heavy hitters—including 2006 derby champ Ryan Howard. The competition was definitely fierce, but my man did not disappoint. He nailed 17 home runs in the first two rounds and then blasted six off in the championship … all to be crowned 2009 Home Run Derby Champion!

Not that I had any doubt in Prince. After all, this vegetarian is the youngest player in history to hit 50 homers in a season.

Prince's ability to knock the socks off the crowd while knocking ball after ball out of the park got us thinking about the power of tofu and the rest of the derby participants. It's no secret that they could benefit if they followed in Prince's footsteps and made the switch to a vegetarian diet. Not only would they likely see an improvement in their health, they might see an improvement in their game, too—as Prince Fielder is home run–hitting proof. So, in the hopes of "beefing" up the competition for next year's derby, we are sending a copy of our "Vegetarian Starter Kit" to each of this year's sluggers. Hopefully, they'll learn that by dropping the ballpark franks and picking up veggie dogs, they'll be hitting a grand slam for baseball fans and animals.

Written by Shawna Flavell

PETA President Ingrid Newkirk has been in India for the past couple of weeks on a tour for the Indian version of her book “50 Awesome Ways Kids Can Help Animals.” We’ve been getting daily updates about the demonstrations, rallies, and educational events she’s been attending to fight animal abuse in India, and it’s all been pretty amazing stuff. But this morning’s news was the most interesting yet:

According to India’s national newspaper, The Hindu, Ingrid was arrested last night in Coimbatore for blindfolding the statue of Mahatma Gandhi at Gandhi Park to protest the Indian Supreme Court’s decision to legalize a stupid macho ritual called jalikkattu, in which a crowd of men take turns taunting and abusing a terrified bull, who is forced to drink alcohol and deliberately agitated by having chili peppers rubbed in his eyes before being released into the crowd.

According to the news reports, Ingrid urged children to speak out against jallikattu, arguing that the cruel blood sport was a direct violation of Gandhi’s principles of non-violence. Ingrid described the protest as a symbolic action to close Gandhi’s eyes “towards the horror meted out to animals in the name of jallikattu.”

After detaining her for some hours, Indian police eventually allowed Ingrid to leave the city, and her Indian visit is going ahead as scheduled. I’ll keep you posted …

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When this new video for the holiday season was debuted at a recent meeting, a lot of PETA staffers were really excited about its potential. To be quite frank, I was not one of them. But now that I’ve watched it a few times, it is starting to grow on me a bit, and I’m fascinated to hear how people react to it — both people who already believe that it’s important to care about animals, and those who are still “on the fence” about the issue (or, as I like to put it, “stuck in the dark ages”).The idea behind the video is a powerful one — that the great social justice issues of our time have always met with widespread resistance from people who are resistant to change, and that those issues were only brought into mainstream thought by people who weren’t afraid to dedicate their lives to an unpopular idea that they knew was right — to give a voice to the voiceless. I’m still undecided about whether that point comes across in this video, though it’s clear that there’s a lot more to it than I thought when I first watched it. I'd love to hear what you think about it.