whatismatt / CC

Blayne Doyle, a retired Florida police officer, had several harrowing experiences during his many years on the force. He was shot and stabbed and was involved in life-threatening automobile, motorcycle, and airplane accidents. But if you were to ask him which event stuck out as the most frightening, he would tell you that it was the day he was forced to shoot and kill an 8,000-pound rampaging elephant named Janet, who was carrying a woman and five children on her back. Yesterday was the 17th anniversary of this tragic event. Sadly, not much has changed in the intervening years. For example, the Liebel Family Circus, which tours throughout Florida, is currently using an elephant named Nosey to give rides.

Blayne has reached out to the governor of Florida, Charlie Crist, asking him to ban elephant rides in Florida. You can read Blayne's moving letter here.

The most shocking part to me is that, in 2004, a circus worker reported that Nosey attacked him during an appearance in Clinton, Iowa. While the worker was tending to the elephant's water dish, Nosey hit him with her tusk, lifted him off his feet, and propelled him down an incline. The worker was rushed to the hospital and received stitches for a head injury. But somehow it's safe to let children ride on Nosey's back? I don't think so.

So, Gov. Crist, won't you please ban elephant rides in Florida? By doing so, not only will you send the powerful message that elephants should not be abused for entertainment, you might also prevent history from repeating itself.

Written by Liz Graffeo

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We were blown away when we read that Jess Origliasso, one-half of the gorgeous pop duo The Veronicas, feels the way she does about the nasty fur trade.

Not only is Jess fur-free, but she certainly ain't shy about lettin' the world know it. She told Confidential, "Death for these animals is a horror story—the most common method used for killing foxes is electrocution. I can't speak for Lisa [her twin and bandmate], but I admire the approach to the eye-catching photo shoots PETA [does] to get the important message out there." Wow! Well-worded, and thanks for the shout-out!

She's so bold with her animal rights message that she's even worn a faux fur jacket that reads "F*** Fur." In-your-face sass like this makes her fans set down their soy mochas, snap their necks, and say "Daaaaaang!" at how fly this girl is.

Written by Missy Lane

We approached Spirit Airlines about buying ad space for our G-rated and quite cute "Let Birds Keep Their Wings" ad, which promotes going vegetarian. After Spirit offered us some bogus reasons for rejecting the ad (too small a buy, it only accepts industry ads), we got to the bottom of it. Spirit admitted that it just doesn't want to work with us at all, period. It would rather carry on irritating its flight attendants and captains with ads that have caused a staff uproar for featuring specials for "Double D's," "Red Light Specials," and a "MILF Sale." See our proposed ad below:

Apparently, Spirit has deemed our ad inappropriate, but an ad for a "MILF Sale" is totally fine with them.

We have sent a letter to Patricia Friend, president of the Association of Flight Attendants–Communications Workers of America, asking for support. We figure that most flight attendants would prefer not to have to deal with heart-attacks that may be linked to meat-heavy diets anyway.

Written by Lianne Turner