In what was perhaps the PETA India demonstration that turned the most heads to date, a group of women in "cricket uniforms" gathered outside the stadium where the Cricket World Cup 2011 games are held in order to call on the International Cricket Council (ICC) to punt leather balls and replace them with synthetic ones. 
 

 
By switching to synthetic balls, the ICC would spare cows from cruelty, such as being forced to march for days to slaughter without food or water and being skinned and dismembered, often while they are still conscious, which often happens in India. These days, with the technology that's available, synthetic options can be made to play well while being kind to animals, unlike their leather counterparts.
 

A cow bleeds to death in a standard Indian leather slaughterhouse. © Anthony Lawrence

 
We're hopeful that the ICC makes the switch. After all, any game that uses the word "pie-thrower"  is right up our animal rights alley.

Even if you don't play cricket, you can help cows by switching to leather-free sporting gear. See PETA's cruelty-free clothing guide for a list of synthetic options.

 

Written by Michelle Sherrow 

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The good folks at PETA Germany just sent this letter to Pope Benedict XVI, asking him to encourage Catholics not to buy bibles that have been bound with leather. Pope Benedict is well-known for his compassionate stance on animal issues, having spoken out against the cruelty of factory farming (particularly the production of foie gras) in the past, and—being the pope and all—he's in a position to make a huge difference for the billions of animals (including cats and dogs, btw) who are killed for leather. With as many as 168,000 bibles sold or given away every day, a large percentage of which are bound with animal skins, there's a lot at stake here. From a religious perspective, there's something particularly sick to me about wrapping a bible in a dead body, so I'm hoping this letter has an effect.