Written by PETA
Actually, to be precise, Jerry's a steer. A PETA investigator found him hobbling around a field and scrounging for weeds at the appallingly filthy Pennsylvania dairy farm we told you about last month. This is how the investigator described the 5-month-old calf in her log:
[I] found a steer at the entrance to the barn (outside of the fence) who looked [to be] in a pitiful condition. He is thin, pot-bellied, buckled over at the front knees and pasterns … and when he looks at you he has a tilt to his head. Flies were covering both of his eyes, which appeared cloudy.
In addition to being crippled, the young calf was crawling with lice and was nearly blind because of pinkeye, a bacterial infection that spreads like wildfire in the disgusting conditions on factory farms. PETA's investigator bought Jerry and whisked him away to a "safe house" until he could be driven to his new home at a sanctuary.
Although he was initially (and understandably) terrified of humans, we're told that Jerry became mysteriously calm during the ride to the sanctuary. It was as if he considered the journey to be an adventure and knew that it would end at a safe and loving place.
Jerry has now almost fully recovered and regained most of his sight. He loves to wait outside the back door every evening at dinner time, and he's become the adopted "big brother" of another calf who was rescued from the same farm. If the younger calf strays too far, Jerry will go off in search of his adopted sibling.
Unfortunately, not all calves are as lucky as Jerry. Most male calves who are born on dairy farms are sent to slaughter, usually after they've been confined for up to 23 weeks to cramped veal crates that are intended to prevent the calves from moving so that their flesh will stay unnaturally pale. Making sure that you don't contribute to their suffering is as easy as giving up dairy foods.
To read a more about Jerry, you can head over to Facebook, where he is featured on our "causes" page.
Written by Alisa Mullins
PETA's headquarters in Hampton Roads, Virginia, is well known to local residents, many of whom volunteer to help animals in their spare time. Thousands in the area have taken advantage of our low-cost animal clinics and the Bea Arthur Dog Park, which is open to the community.
But every once in a while, someone visits PETA headquarters with ill intentions—like the guy who dumped this sweet, starving, nearly-naked bag of bones in our parking lot late one August night and then tried to drive away.
Not realizing that people were watching, the driver shoved an ailing cat, who has since been named Nadia, out of his car, and ignored the terrified and confused animal as she tried to get back into the car, running after it as the man drove away. Fortunately, he was spotted by two PETA Foundation staffers who immediately approached him and saw right through his lame excuses for dumping Nadia on the street.
It took us more than 10 days, during which time the temperature soared to more than 100 degrees, to catch the poor, petrified cat. When we finally did, we rushed her to a veterinarian, who determined that Nadia was 3 pounds (!) underweight—she weighed just 5 pounds—and that she was missing hair on more than half her body, likely because of a severe allergic reaction to fleas. Nadia has been recuperating in foster care ever since and is waiting for her new forever home.
As for the heinous man who attempted to abandon her, he had his moment in court on Friday. He pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of abandonment and received a suspended sentence of a $1,000 fine and five days in jail. He was also sentenced to two years of probation, during which time he cannot own or keep any animals, and he had to pay restitution to PETA. Most importantly, he learned that abandoning an animal is never an option, no matter the circumstances.
Written by Karin Bennett
What do you get when you cross a turtle with a swimming pool? Salmonella soup.
According to a recent news report, two Union County, North Carolina, teenagers contracted salmonella after taking a dip in a backyard pool with two "pet" turtles. Both suffered stomach cramps, bloody diarrhea, fever, and vomiting—one of the girls developed kidney failure and had to spend eight days in the hospital.
These girls are only two victims of the largest turtle-related salmonella outbreak in U.S history. More than 100 people in 34 states—most of them children—were sickened by the same strain of salmonella between 2007 and 2008.
Authorities believe that the outbreak may have occurred during the shipping process, when one infected turtle—who was probably being stored in an extremely crowded, cramped, and inadequate space before being mailed off to a pet shop or flea market—contaminated his buddies.
This outbreak isn't an isolated incident. The FDA reports that there are more than 74,000 "pet" turtle–related cases of human salmonella poisoning every year. And that's understandable when you consider how easily salmonella spreads. Simply by playing with turtles at school, kids can bring the germs home to family members.
Many of the parents of infected kids had no clue that turtles even carried salmonella. Um, hello—there's a reason why it's illegal to sell turtles with shells less than 4 inches long. After all, kids do the darndest things—like put baby turtles in their mouths …
So what have we learned? Let's see—don't buy turtles or other exotic animals, refrain from putting reptiles near or in your mouth, and never, ever invite turtles to your pool party.
Written by Amy Elizabeth
Having been put out to pasture by the producers of Jon & Kate Plus 8, Jon Gosselin was recently spotted taking his new lady friend out for a ride in a horse-drawn carriage.
Doggie abandonment (and his lady friend's questionable vest) aside, we're still willing to give Jon the benefit of a doubt, so we've sent him a letter educating him on the not-quite-fairy-tale horse-drawn carriage trade and asking him to make cruelty-free choices for his future dates.
Too bad he no longer has any use for these excellent date ideas …
Written by Amanda Schinke
Today, PETA unveiled footage from our five-month undercover investigation of a filthy factory dairy farm in Pennsylvania that supplies milk to St. Paul–based Land O'Lakes, the largest seller of branded butter in the U.S.
Our investigator documented abuse and neglect of cows and calves at the facility, including that cows who were in terrible pain and resisted standing were electro-shocked and jabbed with the blade of a pocket knife in an effort to force them to move and that sick and injured cows were left to languish—often so weak that they couldn't even get out of their own waste—for days and even weeks without veterinary care. In one case, workers were told to wrap an elastic band around a cow's gangrenous, infected teat in order to "amputate" it. The cow's condition deteriorated for 11 days before she finally died.
It is a violation of Pennsylvania law to neglect animals, deprive sick and injured animals of veterinary care, and deny animals clean and sanitary shelter. Charges against the farm's owners have been approved and filed by a local magisterial district judge. The factory farmers are innocent until proven guilty, of course, but they would face up to 90 days in jail and $750 in fines if convicted.
We have also called on Land O'Lakes to buy milk only from farms that meet our 12-point animal welfare plan, which would prevent much of the suffering we documented at this farm.
For those of you who can't stomach the thought of eating butter after watching that video, take a minute to tell Land O'Lakes to implement our 12-point animal welfare plan. Then check out one of the many vegan butter alternatives that are widely available. My personal favorite is Earth Balance margarine. It's 100 percent vegan and free of trans fat (and pus), and it tastes even better than butter. Best of all, it's also 100 percent free of cruelty to cows and calves.
Claire Parker outraged animal protectionists worldwide with her gruesome, cruel method of making "mad money." Parker, a mother of three, held dogfights in the garage of her Kexby home in England. She and her husband, a convicted drug dealer who died earlier this year in prison, would offer beer and sandwiches for dogfighters who attended the bloodbaths, where dogs would maul each other for up to an hour at a time, all as part of one of Europe's largest dogfighting operations.
We're happy to report that Parker and three of her cohorts are headed to the slammer.
PETA Europe urged the presiding judge, Richard Blake, to throw the book at Parker and the others. It asked that the defendants never again be allowed to own animals and that they receive the maximum jail sentences and attend mandatory psychological evaluations and counseling. Now Parker has been sentenced to 18 weeks in prison and is banned from keeping animals for 10 years. The others received jail sentences ranging from 23 to 28 weeks.
One former special forces soldier who infiltrated the operation reported that one dog was so badly injured that he looked like his face had been blown off by a shotgun. That dog, like many others, died from his injuries.
Judge Blake noted, "There's widespread public objection at these sorts of offences; of the sadistic abuse of animals for entertainment." I'd say that's putting it mildly.
If real fur really is frowned upon at furry conventions—as we were recently told by the chair and CEO of Anthrocon, the world's largest furry convention—San Jose's Further Confusion (a.k.a. FurCon) is set to have an awful lot of frowny-faced foxes, bears, chipmunks, skunks, and other cute critters roaming around in January.
FurCon plans to allow real fur to be sold in its Dealers' Room and Furry Marketplace, which immediately raises the question "Do 'fursuiters'—people who love animal characters so much that they adopt their identities—really want to support an industry that skins animals alive?"
Since we're pretty sure the answer to that question is "No," PETA has written to convention organizers asking them to implement a permanent fur-free policy—for the animals' sake.
Furries: As the old saying goes, "When the fur flies—ditch it!" OK, maybe I made that up, but it has a nice ring, doesn't it?
Written by Heather Drennan
William Safire, who passed away yesterday at the age of 79, is perhaps best known as the genius who penned the words "nattering nabobs of negativism." OK, maybe he's only most famous for that among English majors. In truth, he is best known as being a pioneering conservative pundit.
Here at The PETA Files, we are longtime fans of his "On Language" column in the New York Times Magazine, where he once wrote about the history of vegetarian diets and even gave kudos to the "charmingly crotchety" Donald Watson for inventing the word "vegan."
You had to admire the man's way with words. In turn, he admired others' way with words, most notably in his book, Lend Me Your Ears: Great Speeches in History.
In William Safire's memory, we are posting an excerpt from a speech from that book by 19th century Senator George Graham Vest. In his introduction to the speech—which is actually then-prosecutor Vest's closing statement* at the trial of a man accused of killing his neighbor's dog—Safire warns, "If there has ever been a good dog in your life, read this with a handkerchief handy …."
Gentlemen of the Jury: The best friend a man has in the world may turn against him and become his enemy. His son or daughter that he has reared with loving care may prove ungrateful. Those who are nearest and dearest to us, those whom we trust with our happiness and our good name may become traitors to their faith. … The one absolutely unselfish friend that man can have in this selfish world, the one that never deserts him, the one that never proves ungrateful or treacherous is his dog. A man's dog stands by him in prosperity and in poverty, in health and in sickness. He will sleep on the cold ground, where the wintry winds blow and the snow drives fiercely, if only he may be near his master's side. He will kiss the hand that has no food to offer. He will lick the wounds and sores that come in encounter with the roughness of the world. He guards the sleep of his pauper master as if he were a prince. When all other friends desert, he remains. When riches take wings, and reputation falls to pieces, he is as constant in his love as the sun in its journey through the heavens. If fortune drives the master forth, an outcast in the world, friendless and homeless, the faithful dog asks no higher privilege than that of accompanying him, to guard him against danger, to fight against his enemies. And when the last scene of all comes, and death takes his master in its embrace and his body is laid away in the cold ground, no matter if all other friends pursue their way, there by the graveside will the noble dog be found, his head between his paws, his eyes sad, but open in alert watchfulness, faithful and true even in death.
Gentlemen of the Jury: The best friend a man has in the world may turn against him and become his enemy. His son or daughter that he has reared with loving care may prove ungrateful. Those who are nearest and dearest to us, those whom we trust with our happiness and our good name may become traitors to their faith. …
The one absolutely unselfish friend that man can have in this selfish world, the one that never deserts him, the one that never proves ungrateful or treacherous is his dog. A man's dog stands by him in prosperity and in poverty, in health and in sickness. He will sleep on the cold ground, where the wintry winds blow and the snow drives fiercely, if only he may be near his master's side. He will kiss the hand that has no food to offer. He will lick the wounds and sores that come in encounter with the roughness of the world. He guards the sleep of his pauper master as if he were a prince. When all other friends desert, he remains. When riches take wings, and reputation falls to pieces, he is as constant in his love as the sun in its journey through the heavens.
If fortune drives the master forth, an outcast in the world, friendless and homeless, the faithful dog asks no higher privilege than that of accompanying him, to guard him against danger, to fight against his enemies. And when the last scene of all comes, and death takes his master in its embrace and his body is laid away in the cold ground, no matter if all other friends pursue their way, there by the graveside will the noble dog be found, his head between his paws, his eyes sad, but open in alert watchfulness, faithful and true even in death.
If William Safire had dogs, I imagine their heads are between their paws as I write this. Our thoughts are with them and Safire's family.
*Not surprisingly, he won the case.
Many of you have been writing to and calling the University of California–Irvine to demand that it stop using animals in horrible classroom experiments, and your efforts have paid off. The university has just announced that it's ending deadly procedures using rats and replacing them with sophisticated computer simulations.
In the cruel neuroscience experiments conducted at the university, undergrads were drilling holes into rats' skulls, damaging their brains with chemicals, and forcing them to perform in behavioral experiments to assess the brain damage they inflicted. Then the rats were killed. Following a complaint filed by PETA that included suggestions for non-animal alternatives, as well as thousands of e-mails, letters, and phone calls from our supporters, UC–Irvine conducted a review of the experiment and decided that modern, effective non-animal methods will now be used instead of animals.
Because of this victory, as many as 200 rats will be saved from suffering each year.
This is great news, but animals are still suffering in other labs, so it's no time to rest on our laurels.
Case in point: At Arizona State University (ASU), baby rats are killed in classroom experiments in which students remove the animals' small intestines and uteruses. In other experiments, frogs' brains are destroyed when pins are stuck through their skulls, and rabbits have holes cut into their chests and are injected with various drugs before being killed.
Please take a moment to contact ASU and urge the school to follow the example of UC–Irvine by putting an end to the use of animals in classroom laboratories once and for all.
Written by Jeff Mackey
For months, we had received calls from tourists, residents, and whistleblowers about six horses in Chicago who were under the "care" of carriage-ride operator JC Cutters. These horses were reportedly forced to endure Chicago's freezing winter weather in a tent without adequate food or water. In February, we let you know that Chicago officials had investigated the horses' living conditions and their quickly diminishing weight and had impounded the horses.
After receiving endless complaints about these cruel operators, working with tireless Chicago activists, and making repeated calls and sending numerous letters to city officials, we're glad to report that two former employees (a manager and horse owner) of JC Cutters were found guilty Wednesday on six misdemeanor counts related to animal neglect and one misdemeanor count for failing to meet the minimum standards for feeding and sheltering the animals in their care.
The story of these six horses has a happy ending, but unfortunately, there are still countless others in the carriage industry who are living in decrepit conditions in cities across the U.S. How about taking a cue from our friend Jon Stewart? While you might not have an Emmy-winning talk show, you can speak up for the tired and weary horses who are forced to pull carriages day in and day out. Let city officials know that horse-drawn carriage operations should be shut down in Chicago, New York City, and in your own hometown. With the widespread availability of humane transportation around the world, horse-drawn carriages are clearly a thing of the past.
Written by Liz Graffeo
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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