Written by Michelle Kretzer
Presidential debate moderator Candy Crowley likes getting into meaty issues—but not into meat. Maybe it was her vegetarian diet that gave her enough energy to keep the candidates in line?
Newly vegan Kristen Bell doesn't miss an opportunity to advocate for animals—and she doesn't miss dairy products, either. "[H]onestly, there are so many good substitutes available now that I really don't miss anything," she told Shape magazine. Kristen also mentioned that as much as she loves sloths, she would never keep one because, she says, "I don't support the exotic animal trade."
Salma Hayek agrees. She told Jimmy Fallon, "I am completely against people having exotic animals as pets. This is completely, completely wrong." Gushing about her passion for rescue, she rattled off all the animals who inhabit her estate, adding, "See, I had no husband, no children. I only had my animals, and I'm not going to get rid of them just because I fell in love, and, you know, motherhood. "
Ben Stiller realizes that exotic animals don't belong behind bars, either. The funnyman got serious when asked how he feels about zoos, saying, "I used to be for it. Now I'm against it. I don't love zoos; I've taken my kids to them but I saw that documentary a couple of years ago, The Cove, and that affected me in terms of knowing how these dolphins get into these dolphin parks. So I stopped supporting them." What else have Stiller and his family stopped supporting? The meat and dairy industries—Stiller and his wife, Christine Taylor, are vegan and are helping their kids embrace veganism, too.
The winner of RuPaul's Drag Race, Sharon Needles, embraced flesh of the human variety for her Halloween-themed pro-vegetarian ad for PETA. Drag royalty Lady Bunny was one of the multitude of folks speaking up for animals on Twitter this week, posting her excitement about the new ad:
Leonardo DiCaprio knows that sometimes you need a little more than 140 characters, so he is devoting his Facebook page to the protection of whales, orcas, seals, and penguins. The actor asked for support for the Antarctic Ocean Alliance, which aims to create "the world's largest network of marine protected areas."
Pamela Anderson is ready to take her advocacy for horses face to face: She invited New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn on a date! Pam is set to host a gala that will benefit the campaign to replace horse-drawn carriages with eco-friendly replicas of classic cars, and she thinks that if Quinn attends, the speaker will reconsider her support of the horse-drawn carriage industry.
To keep up with what your favorite stars are doing for animals, follow @PETA on Twitter.
Written by Jeff Mackey
Update: After this latest tragic horse-drawn carriage accident, New York native Adrien Brody has thrown his support behind PETA's campaign to get horses off New York City's streets. The Academy Award–winning actor wrote to City Council Speaker Christine Quinn on PETA's behalf urging her to adopt the proposed pilot program to replace the carriages with eco-friendly replicas of classic cars. You can read Adrien's letter here.
Originally posted August 19:
Yet another scary incident involving a horse occurred in Manhattan last week as Oreo, a horse forced to pull carriages around Central Park, panicked at the chaotic automotive traffic at Columbus Circle and fled down Broadway, overturning the carriage, which contained the driver and two passengers. Shocked onlookers—including Soledad O'Brien of CNN—watched as the carriage struck an object, splitting in two. Oreo was finally restrained and tranquilized by the police.
In addition to the public danger that crashes like this pose, as PETA has often pointed out in its campaign to help New York City's horses, it's simply cruel to make horses pull heavy loads on hard pavement in all kinds of weather, dodging loud traffic and inhaling exhaust fumes. Celebrities—including Martina Navratilova, Pink, Kristen Johnston, and Lea Michele—have offered their support for PETA's campaign to get these anguished animals off the mean streets of Gotham.
It's high time for the horse-drawn carriage industry to be put out to pasture permanently. Please join PETA in asking City Council Speaker Christine Quinn to support a bill seeking to replace the carriages with eco-friendly classic cars.
While most of us are grilling veggie dogs in the park or sipping drinks by the pool today, working animals won't have it so easy:
Horses pulling horse-drawn carriages today will tromp on hard pavement all day long in the intense heat. They will breathe exhaust fumes and will not have adequate food or water. Tonight, they will be crammed into a tiny stall for a few hours until they are dragged out in the morning to start again.
Hens used by the egg industry are spending the day crammed five deep into wire "battery cages" about the size of a file drawer. Because they are packed so closely together, they will have to urinate and defecate on each other.
Today, Indian donkeys will struggle to pull heavy carts that are overloaded with bricks and sugarcane. They will toil under the blazing sun with little rest, food, or water. They may be beaten or whipped to force them to keep going.
iStockphoto.com/Rpsycho
Orcas who are enslaved at marine parks today will perform meaningless tricks in front of crowds of screaming people in order to get food. They will swim endless circles in a tank that is, for them, comparable to a bathtub. The reverberations from their sonar will bounce off the walls, adding to their frustration and anger.
Female dogs in puppy mills will likely spend Labor Day in either a crude, filthy cage or chained to a tree. They will suffer from painful medical conditions, such as ear infections, mange, and abscessed feet, for which they will receive no veterinary care. They will either be pregnant with or nursing yet another litter of puppies, who will be taken away from them and sold.
Pregnant cows on dairy farms will be hooked up to milking machines several times today. They may be suffering from a painful udder inflammation called "mastitis," likely brought on by the drugs that increase their milk production. They may also be lame from being intensely confined and being forced to stand amid their own waste.
This Labor Day, resolve to help the animals who rarely have a day off. To learn what the PETA-supported working animal relief organization Animal Rahat is doing to help animals in India, visit AnimalRahat.com.
Did you catch this online video showing a New York City horse-drawn carriage driver who spewed homophobic and racist slurs at some people who were peacefully distributing literature about the cruel carriage industry during NYC's Pride weekend?
Well, PETA pal, tennis legend, and gay icon Martina Navratilova has sent the video footage to NYC City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, also an outspoken gay rights advocate, along with a request on behalf of PETA to pass an initiative that would phase out the use of horse-drawn carriages in the city and allow electric, 1920s-era replica cars to gradually take their place.
As the list of accidents involving horse-drawn carriages grows and horses continue to endure pain and suffering on hot and hostile city streets, PETA has been campaigning to bring attention to the animals' plight. Martina says in her letter:
We share a heightened sense of responsibility in fighting the callous disregard that many have for animal suffering because we have experienced a similar disregard for the cruelty that we ourselves have faced. You are a champion of gay rights; won't you extend your compassion to the city's beleaguered working animals?
If horse-drawn carriage drivers are this abusive toward women, imagine how they treat their horses. Animal abuse and virulent bigotry are hardly appealing to visitors of tourism-dependent NYC.
Please join Martina Navratilova, Lea Michele, Kristen Johnston, and many others in supporting an end to horse-drawn carriages in New York City by urging Speaker Quinn to support the initiative to replace them with eco-friendly classic cars.
The world has fallen for Lea Michele, but the lovely songbird uses her popularity to help stop cruelty to animals. Lea and PETA scored a spot on Teen.com's list of the "Top 5 Celebrity Charities You Should Support." (We also noticed our buddy Justin Bieber on the list.)
Joining Lea in the crusade to get horses off New York City's congested streets is Smash star Anjelica Huston, who asked the City Council to replace horse-drawn carriages with eco-friendly classic cars. Anjelica's Smash co-star Debra Messing also tweeted her support.
Rescued-dog fan Miley Cyrus is using Twitter to urge Khloe Kardashian to adopt, not buy. After Khloe tweeted that she was ready to share her life with a dog, Miley responded that she would love to help Khloe find a rescue, and Khloe kindly accepted! PETA jumped in to help, too, tweeting Khloe a link to a wonderful open-admission shelter in Dallas. Perhaps we'll be seeing the new addition to Khloe's family on an upcoming episode of Khloe & Lamar?
Flip the dial to NBC to catch Wilmer Valderrama's new show, Awake. Before Wilmer was exposing secrets as a detective, he was exposing circuses' cruelty to animals. We know Ringling won't be popping up in any Awake episodes.
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Having a celebrity as the face of an animal rights campaign has helped PETA achieve huge victories. For instance, vocal protests by Sir Paul McCartney and Alicia Silverstone helped convince NASA not to blast squirrel monkeys with harmful doses of radiation. Celebrities such as Olivia Munn and Sarah Silverman have helped publicize Ringling Bros.' cruelty to animals, which recently resulted in the largest U.S. Department of Agriculture fine in circus history. And with the help of Lea Michele, the suffering of horses in New York City's carriage trade is garnering attention.
Michelle Cho, the senior manager of communications, dishes about what it's like behind the scenes of some of PETA's most visible work:
What is one of the most exciting things happening right now with PETA's work with celebrities?So many professional athletes are enthusiastic about getting involved. Tony Gonzalez, Chad Ochocinco, Chase Utley, Gilbert Arenas, Amar'e Stoudemire, Willis McGahee, Lance Briggs, Chris Andersen, and many others are allowing us to reach legions of sports fans about animal issues.
What is one of your favorite celebrity stories?When I first met Steve-O six years ago, I was interviewing him about elephant abuse that he had witnessed as a student at Ringling's clown college. I recall him saying that he didn't think vegetarianism was possible for him. Then began the phone calls inquiring about feathers, leather, wool, and even animal products in chewing gum! And just two years later, he had an "aha moment" in which he decided that he didn't want to contribute to the unnecessary suffering of animals and went vegan. He is one of the most inspirational people I've ever known, and I'm so proud to call him a dear friend.
Is Hollywood more animal-friendly than it used to be?Definitely. Thanks to the Internet, we disseminate a lot more information, and it's reaching powerful people. Major ad agencies are pledging never to use great apes, filmmakers are using computer-generated imagery rather than using live animals, and TV shows and movies are including animal rights–related storylines. The support of so many influential people in show business can only pay bigger dividends for animals in the future.
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Join the A-list party! Become a PETA member today.
Written by Jennifer OConnor
Update: Another horse collapsed in Hemet, California, after participating in a Christmas parade. The horse—who is now recovering—got spooked and took off down the street, running over the driver and striking light poles and parked cars before collapsing.
The following posted 12/5/2011
Another horse pulling a carriage fell to the street in New York City this weekend, and a spokesperson for the Horse and Carriage Association of New York admitted that it "is quite common" for horses to catch their hooves on uneven pavement.
Considering that four horses have now collapsed—and at least one has died—in New York City in the last six weeks, it is outrageous for the industry and city officials to continue to downplay the risks.
Please click here to ask the New York City Council to vote "Yes" on Intro 86A, which would replace living, breathing animals with eco-friendly antique cars, before any more horses collapse on the streets of New York.
Written by PETA
'Tis the season for awards and accolades, and one person everyone is talking about is Glee star and PETA supporter Lea Michele. For her dedicated work with PETA to end animals' suffering, Lea was one of the Lifetime Impact Honorees at Variety magazine's annual Power of Women event. In her acceptance speech, Lea highlighted the cause closest to her heart—horse-drawn carriages. Watch her moving speech, which you can only see here on The PETA Files, and learn about her journey and activism with PETA:
Lea narrated a shocking undercover video, which has shown countless people how horses suffer when they are forced to pull heavy carriages all day long in all weather extremes on busy city streets. In the past month alone, three horses have been involved in accidents, including a horse named Charlie, who collapsed in the street and died. Lea promptly fired off a letter urging Mayor Bloomberg to end carriage rides.
An auction organized as part of the Power of Women is helping raise funds for the honorees' selected nonprofits. Check out (and bid on) the custom-designed dress Lea wore to this year's Met Gala that she donated to benefit PETA.
Written by Heather Faraid Drennan
If it seems like just last week that Mayor Bloomberg was callously dismissing the death of a horse used for New York's infamous carriage rides, that's because it was. And in the days since Bloomberg made unintentionally ironic comments like "[they] probably wouldn't be alive if they didn't have a job" (talk about a catch 22), there have been two more horse-drawn carriage "accidents." (Although what else can be expected when sensitive, easily frightened horses are forced to work 10-hour days in all weather extremes on New York City's crowded streets?)
On October 28, a horse hitched to an empty carriage became spooked and bolted straight into traffic. One witness said that the horse just missed several taxis, then crashed into a curb and fell on his side before running off again, only to become tangled in the broken carriage and harness.
The most recent incident happened during Friday's rush hour when a horse fell down in the middle of the busy street. Witnesses said the horse either collapsed on his own or because his leg became caught in the carriage when he bucked.
New York State Senator Tony Avella has renewed his call on Mayor Slayer Bloomberg to ban the barbaric carriage rides, which are a hazard to horses and to public safety. Please join him and click here to contact the mayor and New York City lawmakers now to urge them to support Intro. Bill 86, which would replace horse-drawn carriages with eco-friendly (and horse-friendly) classic cars.
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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