Written by PETA
Here's an idea that hockey star and seal defender Georges Laraque would probably like to take credit for: We're planning to place a giant version of our Olympic Shame 2010 logo under the ice at several Canadian skating rinks. After all, denizens of the Great White North love their icy sports. Once they start slipping and sliding around the rink, they won't be able to miss our message that the 2010 Olympics will be hopelessly tarnished if the seal slaughter isn't permanently canceled before Vancouver's big show. Pretty slick idea, if you'll pardon the pun.
Written by Jennifer Cierlitsky
So, Michael Vick has been reinstated, although so far, there are no takers.
Vick has served the reduced sentence negotiated by his high-priced team of fancy lawyers, and the law says that he is entitled to walk free. But that doesn't mean it is acceptable to put him in the position in which children will look up to him as a role model and wear any new jersey that bears his number. For the sake of all the young football fans and all the dogs he electrocuted, drowned, slammed to the ground, and hanged, we will watch carefully to see if he is a newly contrite, kind man these days or still just a lout. Meanwhile, please add your voice to ours in our request to the NFL to add "cruelty to animals" to its personal-conduct policy as an offense that won't be tolerated. Doing that might reduce the likelihood that such lowlife violent crime will happen again.
Written by Shawna Flavell
It's National Veggie Dog Day! This means that vegetarians across our great nation are pulling out the charcoal and gathering their friends for a summer feast that they won't soon forget. In honor of this year's "holiday," we assembled several of our nation's finest ladies, including Playboy Playmate of the Year—and stunning vegetarian—Jayde Nicole, on Capitol Hill.
Wearing only a lettuce bikini and her 1,000-watt smile, Jayde helped us get our healthy, humane, and tasty veggie dogs to our nation's finest congressmembers. While serving up the "dogs" to politicians and passersby, Jayde reminded each person that "the best way to safeguard your health, reduce your carbon footprint, save animals' lives, and look your very best is to go vegetarian."
For those of you who can't get enough of Jayde, there are more photos of her after the jump.
Written by Christine Doré
Yesterday, PETA's "Soy Cream" Ladies were willing to brave the 107-degree Arizona high-noon heat in order to bring delicious—and cruelty-free—frozen desserts to the citizens of Tucson. Not a single person who ventured past these lovely ladies was able to resist a free Tofutti Cutie or a sexy smile. The PETA gals gave away 200 of the frozen treats and even more leaflets explaining why dairy-free is always the way to go.
And remember: If it's iced coffee weather, it's absolutely Tofutti Cutie weather.
Written by Amanda Schinke
Maxim just released its "Hot 100" list, and apparently the editors understand the appeal of kindness toward animals. The list isn't just a "who's who" in hotness—it's a "who's who" in compassion too.
Number one on Maxim's list is Olivia Wilde, who always gets House fans' pulses racing. While she plays a naughty doctor, she still knows how to play nice with animals. You guessed it, Maxim's number one is vegan!
Chan Marshall, aka Cat Power, gets her audiences purring with her sultry voice and gorgeous looks, but we're happy as a kitty in catnip over the fact that she helped us promote spaying and neutering.
How much hotness can one woman dish up? Eva Mendes is the answer! Need more proof? Check out her sexy "I'd Rather Go Naked Than Wear Fur" ad. Eh, what'd I tell ya?
Stunning Charlize Theron is as compassionate as she is talented—just ask her dog.
Audrina Patridge's sunny smile could light up Las Vegas—but it's her heart (which has a gigantic soft spot for animals) that we're interested in.
Millions idolize blonde beauty (and Sexiest Vegetarian contest winner) Carrie Underwood, and we can't say we blame them.
Tricia Helfer's luminous looks and love for animals are otherworldly.
The evidence is in: There's no trace of a doubt that Roselyn Sanchez's steamy anti-fur ad is muy bonita.
The reason we're happy that ravishing Joanna Krupa graces magazines all over the newsstand? She refuses to compromise her values and never wears fur.
Written by Karin Bennett
Why has Cheers star Kirstie Alley packed on 83 pounds after her widely publicized diet as a spokesperson for Jenny Craig in 2007?
She told People magazine, "A vegetarian would probably be eating vegetables. But to me being a vegetarian meant I'm going to eat enchiladas with no meat, and I'm going to eat lots of bread, lots of carbs."
Hey, Kirstie: put the slimy, butter-slicked fork down! Vegans are, on average, 10 to 20 pounds lighter than meat-eaters are, so we promise you'll see results!
If Nia Vardalos can drop 40 pounds by kicking cheese, Kirstie surely would slim down if she said, "Bye, bye, butter!" and gave vegan fare a shot. To help her in this endeavor, a copy of Skinny Bitch is on its way to her, courtesy of PETA.
Ah, the plot thickens. Smithfield—the same folks who sent a memo to employees a couple of weeks ago claiming that the swine flu outbreak isn't connected to pigs—has been sued by the family of Judy Trunnell, the first U.S. resident to die of the disease.
In that same "spin in haste, repent at leisure" memo, Smithfield claimed that "there is no evidence that any of the people affected had contact with pigs." But, as we reported last month, several news reports indicate that La Gloria—a Mexican village near the enormous Smithfield-owned Granjas Carroll factory pig farm—is home to the first confirmed case of swine flu and may have been ground zero for the outbreak. Apparently, the family of Judy Trunnell—who was a pregnant special education teacher in San Antonio, Texas—has seen those reports too.
To get an idea of just how foul and disgusting Smithfield's Granjas Carroll factory farm is, check out these photos, which were reportedly taken there.
Right now, we still don't know for sure where the swine flu outbreak originated or how it spread. Hopefully, this lawsuit will shed some light on that.
Written by Alisa Mullins
"Hold the cheese, please!"
Nia Vardalos, star of the smash movie My Big Fat Greek Wedding and the upcoming film My Life in Ruins, dropped 40 pounds simply by repeating those four little words at every meal.
Nia attributes her skyrocketing "Wow!" factor to her dairy-free diet. She told People magazine, "I broke up with cheese. … [C]heese keeps calling me and trying to get me to meet at a cheap motel but I'm really committed to just staying single for awhile."
Drop dairy to shed flab and help cows? It really can be that simple.
PLEASE NOTE: There's a picture below that is very disturbing, but for people who are concerned about animal suffering and homelessness, it's important to face the tragic reality of the overpopulation crisis and its consequences. Animals can't afford to have people look away.
Her name was Big Girl, but there was almost nothing left of her. She was so still, so slight, and so cold to the touch that field workers thought that she was already dead. But the tiny 6-month-old pit bull was still alive. Barely.
Big Girl never knew the love and care that we wish every dog experienced; by the time we arrived, she had endured prolonged, incomprehensible agony. When we found her collapsed on the ground, she weighed less than the chain she was tied to. She had clearly been starved—she was a pile of bones and had raw, mostly hairless skin with absolutely no body fat. A veterinarian later told us that Big Girl's stomach contained nothing but dirt, leaves, a piece of corn cob with two kernels on it, and a piece of dry, caked fecal matter. Big Girl had been left to suffer for so long that she had begun to decompose. Four different generations of maggots were eating away at her body. When we gently peeled her off the ground, she moaned. She could not see us or hear us, but we hope she knew that we were there to help her.
We sent Big Girl off to heaven with kind words and a gentle lethal injection. We wished we could have ended her misery much, much sooner. Those who condemn open-admission animal shelters and organizations like PETA for having to euthanize sick, injured, dying, and unwanted animals must look closely at the source of the overpopulation crisis—people who breed animals, those who neglect and abuse them, and consumers who choose to buy animals from breeders and pet shops instead of adopting from their local animal shelter.
No one hates the ugly reality of euthanasia more than the shelter workers who hold the syringe. Sometimes, especially when animals have known no kindness and are suffering, the best that we can offer an animal like Big Girl, Asia, and others is a painless and dignified release from a world that showed them no love or compassion.
P.S. The man responsible for Big Girl's horrific condition (as well as that of another dog, who suffered from a vaginal prolapse) was charged and convicted for the condition of both dogs, and he was prohibited from owning animals.
Written by Jeff Mackey
While the rest of us were working our fingers to the bone responding to the Michael Vick indictment yesterday, PETA Campaigner Mike Brazell got to traipse off to DC to live out my greatest fantasy—eating veggie dogs with a pair of Playboy Playmates (hey, I'm a man of simple desires.) I will keep you up to date throughout the week as the Vick case develops, but I think something a bit more lighthearted is in order for this morning's entry. Besides, these pictures, from yesterday's "Congressional Veggie Dog Lunch" are just too good to pass up.
Positively dreamy.
And now, with those pictures to bolster you up against the trials of the day, back to Michael Vick …
Sign Russell Simmons and Al Sharpton's pledge to stamp out dogfighting
Sun Times Columnist says Vick must go
Court date is set for next week
ESPN talks animal rights
And finally, despite leading The Girls of Norfolk High to the Fantasy Super Bowl last year (we lost), Michael Vick will definitely not be making my fantasy roster when the draft begins in August. I can only hope the Falcons management makes the same smart decision to suspend him from their team.
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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