• PETA Wins Convio Innovator Award

    Written by PETA

    3 Comments

    Woo-hoo! We rock, we rock! OK, I know that no one likes a braggart, but we're so excited about winning the Convio Innovator Award for Best Email Communications—our second Convio Award in a row—that we can't help but gush a little! PETA's Marketing Department—led by Joel Bartlett, who accepted the award at a recent ceremony held by Convio—gives its all to make sure that our members and supporters know about our campaigns and can take immediate action to help stop animal abuse and exploitation.

    Special thanks to all of you who subscribe to PETA E-News, A-Team alerts, or other online communications for PETA for getting involved and making this award possible. You're truly helping to make PETA a force to be reckoned with. Keep up the good work—and get everyone you know to visit PETA.org and our other websites!

    Written by Heather Moore

  • Joel Bartlett: Rising Star

    Written by PETA

    5 Comments

    Click to see Joel’s OMMA Bio
    Joel_Bio_OMMA_thumb.jpg
    Earlier this year, when I announced that I was, officially, the greatest Dr. Mario player in history, my good friend Joel Bartlett was completely unimpressed. But now that the folks at OMMA magazine have decided to name him one of their “Rising Stars”, he’s acting as if it’s suddenly just the coolest thing to be officially recognized for doing what you do best.

    Joel, whom regular readers will know from his often rather lowbrow but occasionally inspired posts on this very blog, is the brains behind PETA’s online marketing strategy, and—to be fair—OMMA (which stands for Online Media Marketing and Advertising) magazine were right on in recognizing him for his work. Because he really is infuriatingly talented. Here’s what they said:

    Joel_OMMA.JPG
    "In his five years at PETA, Joel has used his online marketing savvy to throw haterade on the Olsen twins, flaunt some sexy vegetarians and boost PETA's advocacy campaign participation by 90 percent last year alone. But he's particularly fond of "Super Chick Sisters," PETA's online video game spoof, for "calling kfc out for the company's abusive practices, like cutting off chickens' sensitive beaks, all while staying fun."

    It takes a few seconds to fill out their webform, but the full OMMA article is definitely worth checking out if you’re interested in marketing, PETA, Joel, or all of the above. In the meantime, since this post is rapidly degenerating into a Joel Bartlett lovefest, I figured I’d just give in and congratulate him myself. He may never be quite as skilled as I am at medicine-themed, 8-bit Nintendo games, but the guy is unbelievably good at what he does, and he deserves the hell out of this recognition. Nice work, JB.

    -Jack


  • Didja Miss Me?

    Written by PETA

    14 Comments

    First of all, Happy New Year! Joel’s reign of terror over this blog has officially come to an end now that I’m back from vacation, so the PETA Files will be starting off the New Year with a return to the high-brow intellectual discussions, the lyrical prose style, and the rigorous grammatical standards that you may have missed in my absence.

    I had actually been planning a whole long post devoted to making fun of Joel, but while I was skimming through his entries in search of material, I came across this little masterpiece, which made me change my mind. It may well be the most insightful, eloquent, and informative entry to appear on the PETA Files all year. So a big thank you to Joel for running the show last week—I should probably take vacations more often.

    In other news, if you’re in New Year's resolution mode like I am, you should definitely check out PETA’s New Year's pledges to help animals. Whether it’s making an effort to buy cruelty-free products, taking more time to get active for animals, or cutting the eggs and dairy out of your diet, every little thing you do can make a big difference—and now is the perfect time to make the changes that you may have been putting off. For my part, I’m going to set aside more time to hang out with my friend Princess Cuteyface. And be nicer to Joel.

    -Jack


  • Ultimate Fighting Champ Sticks Up For Animals in New PETA Ad

    Written by PETA

    43 Comments

    Ultimate Fighting champion Mac Danzig, best known as the winner of Spike TV’s Ultimate Fighter 6, devours fighters not flesh. At 155 pounds of pure fighting fury, Danzig is tough enough in the ring, but when it comes to animal abuse, the 27-year-old Danzig—who is vegan—takes no prisoners.

    Back before joining in the UFC, Mac did a Q&A with PETA. Now that he’s a household name, Mac’s back and we’re pleased to announce that he’s starring in two hard-hitting public service announcements for peta2’s veggie testimonial series (view some others in the series here, here, and here).

    In the print version of the ad (click the thumbnail to see a full-size version) we see Mac with gloved fists raised and standing next to the tagline "I Am a Fighter in the Best Shape of My Life. I Am Mac Danzig, and I Am a Vegetarian." I hope all you guys who think you need to eat meat to be a “real man” are you catching this.

    If you’re still not convinced that vegans can be tough as nails watch Mac’s video below.

    So why is a vegan diet the diet of champions? Consumption of meat and other animal products has been conclusively linked to heart disease, strokes, diabetes, and obesity. Meat production is also a leading cause of greenhouse gas emissions, water pollution, and land degradation. And, of course, the best way to fight the cruelty of factory farms and slaughterhouses is to kick the meat habit.

    Order a free Vegetarian Starter Kit today so you too can be an Ultimate Fighting champion. Or at least a healthy and compassionate individual.

  • Deflocked, by Jeff Corriveau, Takes on the Olsen Twins

    Written by PETA

    23 Comments
    I love it! This one is a real winner. It’s got the Trollsens and it’s New Years relevant!
    SMLstrip_12_27_07.jpg
    Click for a larger version
    To check out the archives of past strips, click here. - Joel
  • No-Kill Shelter Workers Get Jail Time for Animal Abuse

    Written by PETA

    43 Comments
    Did we need more evidence to know that no-kill shelters are not the solution? According to news reports two members of a no-kill animal rescue group will serve time behind bars for keeping nearly 300 dogs and cats in squalid conditions. Former Noah’s Ark Animal Rescue, CA owner Alexiea Tiraki-Kyrklund was sentenced to 16 months in prison, and Gloria Yvette Ramos, head volunteer at the shelter, was sentenced to a year in jail and five years probation for felony animal cruelty.According to prosecutors, animal control officers found 152 dogs and 147 cats inside the building, and a state-licensed veterinarian determined that the conditions were detrimental to the animals' health and safety.The defense attorney argued that most of the animals had been in poor health when they were rescued from other facilities and that his clients "didn't do anything wrong." It’s that last quote about not doing anything wrong that bothers me. The police only found out about this because the stench was so overwhelming. If humans were overpowered by a smell beyond closed doors, imagine what the animals, with their sensitive noses, were subjected to inside! Good intentions can cause as much harm to animals as the worst abusers sometimes. - Joel
  • Knowing Without Question How Smart Animals Are...

    Written by PETA

    25 Comments
    Animals are pretty impressive. Most of them are faster than us humans. Many of them are stronger. And now we see that some are even smarter than some of us.This isn’t a new story, but it just keeps floating around and has finally made its way to my inbox. Researchers in Japan have showed that chimpanzees can outdo college kids with some counting and memory games. Watch some of the videos below (and then scour YouTube for more). Along a related note here’s a nice clip of a crow using a tool.
    Chimpanzee
    vs.Human
    For those who like to reader in the audience, here’s a great piece from the Sunday New York Times Magazine about “the two greatest nonhuman linguists of our day: Washoe, the sign-language-wielding chimpanzee with an intense footwear fetish; and Alex, the wildly outspoken parrot.” It all begs the question, what are we going to do in 2008 knowing now without question how smart animals are?- Joel
  • Sex Talk

    Written by PETA

    21 Comments

    If you haven’t seen it yet, it is imperative that you watch this new video for our ABC Campaign, which is both an initiative to educate people about the importance of spaying and neutering their animals, and stop breeders from pumping out thousands of pups every year who take homes from those destined to die in shelters. What I like about Sex Talk, and the other spot we’ve put together for this campaign, is that it’s a lot more than just a funny ad. There’s something about it that makes you really uncomfortable—which, I guess, is exactly what a proper chat about the birds and the bees is supposed to. Check it out if you haven’t seen it yet, and you can watch the other video (Buy One, Get One Free) here.


  • Bhutto: "All Muslims should take to Vegetarianism"

    Written by PETA

    32 Comments
    When tragedy strikes at such a large scale as with the assassination of Former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto and death of 20 others, it’s impossible to ignore its impact. A colleague sent me the following quote by Ms. Bhutto that I did think readers of this blog would find interesting and worth passing along. “A Vegetarian diet keeps me fit in spite of the strains of office. All Muslims should take to Vegetarianism, or otherwise the livestock would not be found."Over six years ago I wrote an op-ed for my college school paper titled “For peace’s sake, stop eating meat”. I might not agree with everything I wrote six years ago, but I still believe that there’s a strong relationship between the respect we give both our human and animal companions on this planet. Is it so hard to just be kind?If Ms. Bhutto’s words do inspire you to explore vegetarianism here’s a free Vegetarian Starter Kit to help you along the way.- Joel
  • Quickies

    Written by PETA

    16 Comments
    Trollsen Twin UpdatePage Six reported earlier this week that Hairy-Kate and Trashley are “groveling at the non-leather shoes of PETA” in response to our Trollsen Twin campaign. According to one source, "The Olsens want to make peace with PETA." Well Trollsens, I think we’ve made our demands clear. Stop supporting the cruel and frivolous torture of animals. Cut it out!Hey Charities, Stop Testing on Animals. OK?OK! magazine had an article in their January issue about how Sir Paul McCartney has been unable to honor the memory of his first wife Linda by giving money to some cancer charities because they support vivisection (that’s a big word for animal experimentation), which Linda was passionately against.
    ‘It became very difficult when Linda died because I said I would support cancer charities,’ said Sir Paul. ‘But then animal rights group wrote to me pointing out that many were heavily into vivisection.’
    Check out HumaneSeal.org to see if charities you’re interested in supporting fund animal experimentation.Jack Hanna—Expert on Tiger AttacksBy now everyone has heard about the tragic tiger attack at the San Francisco Zoo on Christmas. What you might not know is how you can help make sure a similar tragedy never happens again by urging the zoo to permanently close their tiger exhibit.One bit of irony that a reader of this blog pointed out to me is how the media has been trotting out everyone’s favorite wildlife pimp Jack Hanna as an expert on exotic animals. But maybe that does make sense, after all Jack was involved in a similar incident in 1973 when a lion at his menagerie tore off the arm of a kid. Almost 35 years later and he still hasn’t stopped abusing animals...Are you sexy?Prove it. - Joel
REPORT CRUELTY

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.