Written by PETA
Could the Brosnans be any kinder? First, Pierce helped homeless animals by designing a spay-and-neuter license plate, and now Pierce and his wife, Keely, are leading a truly vigorous international effort to make sure that the worldwide ban on whaling—which is now in jeopardy—remains intact. The ban has been in effect since 1986, but the International Whaling Commission (IWC) is considering lifting it if the three countries (Japan, Iceland, and Norway) that are currently ignoring the ban will reduce the number of whales they kill each year. In short, the IWC is proposing to reward these countries for their continued whaling during the international moratorium.
In the weeks leading up to the IWC's vote on this issue, more than 144 scientists and experts have signed a petition urging the IWC to keep the ban on whaling. Pierce has also made this heartfelt plea to the Obama administration not to support a proposed plan that would allow Japan, Iceland, and Norway to continue killing whales while the moratorium is in place: Please, listen and act: The time is now!
Join Pierce, Keely, and other compassionate people who are working to save whales by urging President Obama to take a strong stand against the slaughter of these animals. Call and fax, and get everyone you know to do the same—this minute. If we can't save the whales, what hope is there for other animals?
Written by Lindsay Pollard-Post
As a blonde myself, I always felt a twinge of sympathy for Jessica Simpson as the dumb-blonde jokes flew. But even her snarkiest critics have to give credit where credit is due: Jessica just tweeted about her first taste of tofu and called it "yummy."
With so many fab cookbooks (and condiments) out there to help spice up your foray into vegan cooking, there's no reason not to give tofu a try.
Written by Jennifer O'Connor
Anger continues to rise over the ongoing oil leak from a ruptured BP well in the Gulf of Mexico. Politicians, eager to show that they feel our pain, are taking a hard stance. Yet nowhere near enough attention has been paid to the most seriously harmed and still-threatened victims of the leak: The animals who live in and on the increasingly polluted waters.
But one notable exception is Barry Blitt's wonderful cover illustration for the June 7 issue of The New Yorker, which depicts an oil executive facing an inquiry conducted by coastal and aquatic animals. Now that's the kind of hearing that BP's bigwigs should be subjected to, because the stories and images coming out of the Gulf are devastating—and no amount of monetary compensation will save these animals: They cannot buy new wings or flippers. A dead sperm whale was found this week, though he or she may have died up to a week before being sighted. Other animals who are able to see and sense what is happening are fleeing to the shallow waters near the shore to try to escape the spreading oil, raising the risk of more deaths from lack of oxygen as a result of severe crowding.
This situation can seem overwhelming, but we can each help prevent these kinds of disasters by adopting a vegan diet as a way to reduce our dependence on oil. And we can insist that those in power address the dangers faced by the Gulf's most vulnerable residents.
Written by Jeff Mackey
Animals who are bred and killed for their fur in China live in misery from birth to death. Chinchillas, foxes, minks, raccoons—and, yes, even dogs and cats—are jammed into crowded wire cages, and the close confinement and filthy conditions quickly lead to mental illness. As documented in our undercover video, fur farmers kill animals by bashing their heads in or breaking their necks while they are still conscious.
Animal protection laws are nonexistent in China, but PETA Asia is working overtime to change that. Whether by submitting recommendations for China's first-ever animal protection legislation, going undercover at fur farms, or exposing the hideous conditions for animals in Chinese zoos, PETA Asia is tirelessly on the front line for animals.
Please take a moment to write to the Chinese ambassador to the U.S., Zhang Yesui, and ask him to do everything in his power to put animal welfare on the agenda in his country. Share the video with family and friends, and remember: If we don't watch it, we can't stop it.
For more information on animal welfare in China, please check out PETA Asia's Web site.
As a lifelong Hello Kitty fan, I nearly fell off my chair when I heard that Sanrio is looking for a new character to replace Kitty, who hasn't been a hot seller lately. Um, hello? Sanrio, have you heard that there is a recession going on? It's not Kitty's fault.
Luckily, PETA is proposing a plan to save the world's cutest cat and real kitties: a new ad campaign and merchandise line starring Hello Kitty featuring the message "Hello Kitty, Goodbye Animal Homelessness. Please Spay or Neuter." No doubt, compassionate connoisseurs of cuteness would snatch up HK spay-and-neuter stuff in a nanosecond.
Let's hope Sanrio takes us up on our offer. In the meantime, you can bring the issue of spaying and neutering to the forefront with a "Spay Today, Save a Life Tomorrow" mug. As sad as a world with no Hello Kitty would be, a world in which millions of real kitties are suffering on the streets and are euthanized for lack of a good home is a sad reality that we can easily fix with just one SNIP.
Bravo to the good folks at CBS 5 in San Francisco for running with a chilling Swedish investigative report on the down industry.
In case you think that the down filling in coats and pillows is gathered by a kindly farmer who just follows molting birds around all day and fills a sack with their lost feathers, here's an eye-opener: An investigative team from the Swedish TV show Cold Facts went undercover on goose farms in Poland, Hungary, and China and videotaped workers yanking fistfuls of feathers out of live birds, a process that a veterinarian contacted by CBS 5 described as "torture." At one farm, a worker is shown using a needle and thread to sew a goose's skin back together after the skin had been ripped apart during plucking.
Makes that down comforter seem less comforting, doesn't it? Luckily for geese and the people who don't wish to hurt them, down-alternative comforters are just as cozy and cuddly as those made from down. I speak from personal experience—I happen to have one on my bed … along with three toasty kitties and a dog.
Written by Alisa Mullins
Update: On Saturday, March 27, Utah's governor signed the bill into law, formally amending the state's pound-seizure law. This means that animal shelters are no longer required to turn over animals for use in cruel experiments. Hooray!
Thanks in large part to e-mails, letters, and phone calls from thousands of compassionate supporters, Utah legislators voted by an overwhelming majority to amend a state law so that government-run animal shelters will not be forced to sell dogs and cats to laboratories for use in cruel and deadly experiments upon request. Once the governor signs the bill, Utah will no longer have the dubious distinction of being one of only three states in the country that still mandate that animal shelters engage in this shameful practice. The new law also lengthens the required holding period for animals in shelters and mandates that shelters make greater efforts to find the guardians of lost animals.
These positive changes come on the heels of a recent PETA undercover investigation inside laboratories at the University of Utah. The shocking investigation revealed that each year, more than 100 homeless cats and dogs from government-run animal shelters in Utah are sold to the university for use in invasive, painful, and deadly experiments. In one instance, the university bought a pregnant cat from a local animal shelter and injected chemicals into her kitten's brains, causing fluid to build up inside their heads. All the kittens died.
With this new law, companion animals in Utah—and the people who care for them—can rest a little easier.
Please take a moment to contact the University of Utah and urge it to stop buying animals from animal shelters once and for all.
Written by Shawna Flavell
Earlier this month, the Detroit Zoo—a progressive facility with a compassionate history—welcomed more than 1,100 of the nearly 27,000 animals who were seized from the hellish exotic-animal warehouse of U.S. Global Exotics (USGE) by Arlington, Texas, officials. But that wasn't all the zoo did! Its staff came to the animals' rescue within days of the seizure, flying from Detroit to Dallas and working around the clock at a temporary rescue facility. Several weeks later, many of the animals—including five wallabies, four sloths, three agoutis, two ring-tailed lemurs (who had spent years in a tiny cage at USGE), two coatimundis, and hundreds of reptiles, spiders, and amphibians—made the trip to Detroit, where they are under quarantine before being released into habitats that may not be their native homes, but are the next best thing.
The animals were seized on December 15 following PETA's undercover investigation inside USGE, where tens of thousands of sick and injured animals were being denied food, water, and care. Since the raid—which was more than two months ago—USGE has not bought or sold a single animal, and just last month, a second judge ruling on an appeal affirmed that none of the animals would be returned to USGE. The decision ensures liberation from the clutches of the greedy pet trade for those who would've ended up on the shelves of pet shops like PetSmart and PETCO.
Until the profit-hungry PETCOs and PetSmarts of the world stop selling animals—all of whom come from cruel suppliers like USGE—the misery will continue. By shunning all pet stores that sell live animals and telling all your friends and family members to do the same, you can help prevent more abuse of those who have no voice of their own.
Written by Logan Scherer
Ladies—if KFC's cruelty to chickens hasn't convinced you to (as the company suggests) "UnThink the Wing," this wing-induced woe for women might wipe away any cravings for the Colonel's unhealthy offerings.
ScienceDaily.com reports that researchers have found a link between the consumption of E. coli-contaminated chicken flesh, which is available in abundance at supermarkets and restaurants such as KFC, and urinary tract infections (UTI).
For anyone who has ever suffered from an awful UTI, KFC's Web site currently features a chilling reminder of the burning pain (be sure to turn up your computer's volume before visiting the site): Flames light up the screen while a woman sings screeches, "Fire … Fire … Fire."
Could it be that a woman who has to go feels that way because she already went to KFC?
Written by Karin Bennett
Last week, PETA Germany released an undercover investigation inside a farm owned by "cage-free" Wiesenhof. The company is a giant producer in the world's chicken-meat industry, and it sells its chicken flesh worldwide, including right here in the U.S. Undercover footage taken at Wiesenhof's hatching facilities shows untrained workers breaking chickens' necks, failing to treat contagious diseases appropriately, and refusing to empty manure pits for 10 months. One worker punched a rooster who tried to escape and later urinated inside the barn next to the animals.
Unlike birds who are fattened and then slaughtered at the age of only 5 weeks, "parent animals" at hatching facilities suffer abuse and neglect for up to 10 months. PETA Germany has filed a legal complaint against Wiesenhof, claiming that the company is guilty of violating the German Animal Welfare Act, German slaughter and transport laws, environmental laws, and laws concerning epidemic outbreaks and hygiene.
Perhaps not coincidentally, Wiesenhof's parent company, PHW Group, has strong ties to Aviagen—owner of the turkey farms in West Virginia that were the site of PETA's landmark undercover investigation that led to the first-ever indictments for felony cruelty-to-animals charges for abusing birds as well as the first-ever cruelty convictions of turkey factory-farm workers. The owners of PHW Group and Aviagen's parent company are brothers. Cruelty apparently runs in the family, and if you aren't looking to support it, go vegan.
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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