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PETA's savvy legal team never stops uncovering new ways to expose the ugly business of vivisection. The Wall Street Journal, The Scientist, Nature Medicine, and an ABC News affiliate have all recently done pieces about our innovative approach to exposing the torment that animals are forced to endure in laboratories.

PETA has recently filed lawsuits against the University of Wisconsin–Madison and the University of Maryland–Baltimore for allegedly violating public records laws by withholding documents related to experiments in which holes are drilled into animals' skulls and others in which animals are given electric shocks to their tongues when they take a sip of water. We're also using a rarely invoked Wisconsin law to petition a judge to allow for prosecution of University of Wisconsin–Madison faculty members and administrators who have violated state law by subjecting sheep to painful and deadly decompression experiments.

The biggest fear for those who imprison, cut up, burn, shock, and poison animals for a living is exposure. We'll continue to find and use every available legal avenue to make sure that laboratory doors are thrown wide open. Those responsible for harming animals must know that they are not above the law and that they will be held accountable in courtrooms—or at least in the court of public opinion. Please join our fight.

Written by Jennifer O'Connor

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George and Weezie Jefferson may have moved up, but I'm jonesing to move out. My destination: Switzerland, which just might become the most animal-friendly nation in the world.

Last year, Switzerland passed a law that guarantees rights for all animals. Next month, voters will weigh in on a referendum that, if passed, will require that lawyers be assigned to protect companion and farmed animals from abuse.

I can only imagine the relief if such legislation caught on in the U.S. (and how much Judge Judy I'd wind up watching). Goldfish could be rescued from their scum-caked tanks. Lonely, cold dogs banished to back yards could enjoy warmth and companionship inside. Pigs, chickens, cows, ducks—any and all factory-farmed animals—might never again have their body parts burned or chopped off, and they'd be freed from their filthy cages, crates, and pens. Those examples are just off the top of my head. Jot yours down in the comments section below.

Written by Karin Bennett