cbc / CC

The ever-lovely Pamela Anderson is back on television, and to the delight of all her fans—including those of us right here at PETA—this time, she'll be playing the person that she knows best: herself! Her documentary series, Pam: Girl On the Loose, premiers August 3 on E!, and it's sure to satiate the needs of gossip queens everywhere.

Pam says, "Aside from keeping up with my kids, I don't exercise much, so I credit my veggie diet for my good health. Los Angeles is the easiest place in the world to eat vegan."

So while you're anxiously waiting for a hugely fun dose of Anderson reality, check out some of Pam's favorite places to eat at in Los Angeles. And if you don't live in the City of Angels, well, don't fret! It doesn't mean your future is full of boring green salads. Just visit HappyCow.net, and search for vegetarian restaurants in your city. Here's the list from Pam herself:

1. Flore Vegan CuisineYou've never—even when you ate meat—eaten a Rueben sandwich as rich and yummy as the one Flore cooks up.
2. Madeline BistroBeet tartare to beat the band and you don't have to like beets! And vegan chocolate soufflé.
3. Pure Luck RestaurantFried pickles, vegan sloppy joes and BBQ sandwiches. And they cook with jack fruit, which is an amazing fruit they use to make the mock meat tangy.
4. Astro BurgerLastly, if you are a fast food junkie you can always count on the Astro Burger on Melrose near Paramount Studios for veggie chili dogs and soy chicken fajitas.

dailymail / CC

So in an effort to find out if Sharon is cruel because of a brain glitch, PETA President Ingrid E. Newkirk sent Stone a letter volunteering to "pay for a scan of the prefrontal region of [her] brain to determine if comments and actions that seem to demonstrate a lack of empathy are the result of a physical defect."

Will she respond to the offer? And if so, will we find out that Sharon's thoughtlessness is the result of being dropped as a baby or that she's cruel because the "empathy gene" skipped a generation? And most importantly, will she seek professional medical help if the results show that her cruel mindset is actually a medical problem? We'll keep you posted! ConnieTalk has more on this story and one really fantastic picture!

Posted by Jeff Mackey

I know what you're thinking: There's an upside to rising fuel costs? We won't see it at the fuel pump or in the grocery story, but perhaps there really is a silver lining—and not just for the Saudis and the speculators.

This isn't news to loyal readers of The PETA Files, but fattening and killing animals so that we can eat them is wildly inefficient, to say nothing of gross. It uses up a lot of grain and fuel. With the prices of corn—which makes up 60 percent of turkey feed—and fuel going through the roof, some factory farms and slaughterhouses have started cutting production.

A turkey slaughterhouse in Utah is putting operations on hold for three months, and the turkey breeders, turkey hatcheries, and other operations that supply turkeys to the slaughterhouse will be cutting back on production. Over one million turkeys—"smart animals with personality and character," in the words of Oregon State University poultry scientist Tom Savage—will be saved. Check out the letter that we sent to the farm today asking it to consider stopping turkey production all together!

Here are five more good things about rising fuel costs:

1. Squid fishers suspended fishing for two days to protest rising fuel costs. Don't let any dopey people shrug their shoulders and think, "So what?" When you can, show them this mind-blowing video about squids' satin-smooth seduction moves.
2. Later this month, 230,000 Japanese fisherman will strike over fuel prices. Sushi lovers fear shortages of tuna sushi and sashimi, but vegan sushi is delicious and doesn't require that the seas be fished until they're devoid of all life. Win-win.
3. A rash of gas thefts across the nation might inspire reward money for nabbing criminals caught siphoning gas. Crime is bad. Reward money for catching criminals is good.
4. With airlines now charging for checked bags and soda, there's speculation that they might start charging by weight, which could inspire more people to go vegetarian.
5. And leave it to our friends in Boulder, Colorado, to strip down to the basics and wheel out the fun with a caravan of naked bicyclists. The cyclists' message? Depending too much on oil is nuts.

Her new role in The Wackness is already getting rave reviews, and we couldn't be happier! The Rama's Screen review says, "Every year there's always one independent movie that premieres at Sundance Film Festival that goes on to be the year's most groundbreaking film worthy to compete with other Oscar worthy contenders and for this year, The Wackness is definitely it." Right on, Famke! Ya'll need to get your behinds to your most eclectic lil' indie theatre tomorrow to see this movie!

You probably remember that Famke showed that she deserved a halo and wings for her devotion to her dog Licorice. Both Licorice and Famke appeared in a PETA "Be an Angel for Animals" ad. In the ad, Famke reminded everyone to spay or neuter their companion animals and ensure that they receive proper veterinary care and get plenty of attention and exercise.

Thanks, Famke, for using your beauty in the most attractive way possible! We all wish you the best with The Wackness!

Posted by Robbie LeBlanc

Now imagine the spectators' surprise if the corner was rounded not by tortured animals but by Formula 1 racing cars. The mighty, 600-kilogram (1323-pound) masses of metal are operated by professional drivers who squeal their tires on the cobblestones and maneuver around corners so tightly that spectators are forced to scramble to safety. How freakin' awesome—and better—would that be?

Well, it turns out that that's what actually happened last weekend. Red Bull sponsored an event where two drivers, David Coulthard and Sebastien Bourdais, tore through the streets of Pamplona early on the morning of June 28. They finished the Red Bull Run with car demonstrations in the bullfighting arena and on a 1.2-mile track.

The best feature of this event was that—unlike what happens at that other Running of the Bulls—the drivers who gave chase weren't beaten before the race, and chemicals weren't smeared in their eyes. The drivers were paid, too. Oh yeah—and the drivers weren't stabbed to death afterward, either, which is nice.

You can check out all sorts of details and videos of the rockin' event here.

Posted by Sean Conner

evilbeetgossip / CC

So it was great to read on People.com this morning that the actress and producer is jumping headfirst into the blogging world. And by headfirst, I mean straight into the deep end of animals rights. Hey, we like a girl who gets right down to business!

She mentions her love for her dogs, nonprofit organizations, and Hole in the Paper Sky, a recent short film about the life of a man who is forever changed by the companionship he receives from a laboratory dog. Whether you've seen PETA's video about animal testing or not, Hole in the Paper Sky sounds like a definite tearjerker.

Anyway, Biel is MySpace Celebrity's feature icon, and here's her blog. So while she's mastering the whole blog-lingo thing, I recommend jumping on over there to see what she has to say.

And don't worry, Jessica. There are no blurkers here. ...

Posted by Jennifer Cierlitsky

Our very own Pam Anderson has auctioned off her Dodge Viper. Why did she give up this super speedy racer? Because she cares more about real reptiles—and all other exotic animals whose skin is torn from their flesh for fashion. (Don't you love the alliteration bug that I caught today?) Pam has pledged to give the proceeds from the auction to PETA so that we can use the money to inform people who think that they might want a reptile-skin bag about how these amazing animals are treated when they're converted from captivating creatures to cruel clothing. (There I go again!)

Snake skin and alligator skin—heck, all animal skin—were designed for the original occupants' use only. Several thousand years of evolution went into making their scales and hides fit them beautifully—not some misguided fashionista who's going for the "I just got kicked off the island" look.

Posted by Sean Conner

It's a bird! It's a plane! Wait! It's a plane looking to help birds—chickens, to be precise.

Beachgoers flocking (geddit?) to Panama City's crowded beaches had something far more interesting to gawk at this weekend than women in skimpy bikinis, as an airplane hired by PETA flew overhead, towing a banner that read, "Boycott KFC Cruelty."

Now if you've been following PETA campaigns for the last, oh I don't know, 7 years or so, you'd know that this is a huge success considering we spelled all the words right this time around! Way to go, literate banner-manufacturers! (Yes, we got our money back when one banner company misspelled "dangerous")

After reaching a landmark animal welfare agreement earlier last month that will mean better living and dying conditions for all chickens killed for KFCs in Canada (the new faux fried chicken sandwiches offered at most Canadian KFCs are even causing us to celebrate that today is Canada Day), PETA is unleashing its "air force" to turn up the heat on Canadian KFCs' lousy, mean U.S. affiliate. Celebrities from Ryan Gosling and Pam Anderson to Sir Paul McCartney and Russell Simmons have all spoken out against KFC's extreme abuse of chickens, but this is the first time that an airplane has "spoken up" for chickens.

Check out this picture of our superhero for chickens in action!

You might remember when we broke the news back in December about our undercover investigation at a pig farm in Garland, North Carolina, owned by Murphy Family Ventures, which supplies pig meat to Smithfield Foods. Murphy Family Ventures workers were documented cutting off piglets' tails and pulling out piglets' testicles without any pain relief, among other abuses. You might also remember that at least one employee at the pig farm was fired in response to our investigation. Well, this story just keeps on progressing in the right direction—and that's the way we like it!

Thanks to PETA's undercover work and follow-up, criminal charges have been filed against one of the workers employed by the farm during the undercover investigation.

That worker faces six misdemeanor counts of cruelty to animals for actions documented by PETA's investigator, including dragging pigs by the ear, striking a pig in the face with a handling board, and poking a pig in the eyes with his fingers. If he returns to North Carolina from out-of-state, a second worker will face one count of cruelty to animals for also dragging a pig by the ear. FoxNews.com has a great article with more details on the investigation, and you can view footage from the investigation below.

I have to say, it's great to see that the officials who are presiding over the case are taking this one seriously—as seriously, in fact, as they would a case that involved a sadistically tortured dog or cat. And rightfully so: Just like dogs and cats, pigs have the ability to feel pain. And if someone just happened to say that a pig is smarter than a dog or a three-year-old child, well, he or she would be right.

It's about time that these pigs—whose suffering and misery PETA has caught on film—finally get some justice. This case sends a message loud and clear to factory farms and slaughterhouses that cruelty to farmed animals will not be tolerated and that violations of animal welfare laws will have consequences such as, oh, say—a court date.

Posted by Jennifer Cierlitsky

Are there any Monty Python fans in the house? In one classic Monty Python sketch, John Cleese plays a self-defense instructor who insists—despite his class's protests—on demonstrating ways to protect oneself against attackers armed with various types of fruit.

Well, it turns out that he might have been on to something.

Last week's news was filled with food-related violence. First, in Michigan, Frederick McKaney allegedly hit a woman over the head with a frozen chicken. Then word arrived of a Maryland man who reportedly held up a convenience store with—what else? A banana! Somewhere, Graham Chapman is shaking his head.

All this violence is enough to make you worry that we're headed for a future filled with bumper stickers that read, "You'll take my French bread only when you pry it from my cold, dead fingers," and cop shows that feature officers who yell, "Drop the carrot sticks, and put your hands where I can see 'em."

So can we all agree that it's time to chill with the edible aggression? We've started the ball rolling by asking authorities to make sure McKaney is fed a vegetarian diet should he end up spending some time in jail, since everybody knows (right?) that animal abuse is connected to violence against humans!

So let's all take a deep breath and reach for tasty veggie fare to help end the violence inflicted on others—both human and nonhuman. Plus, going vegetarian helps you and the environment too! Though you might want to leave the bananas alone until you're a bit calmer.

Posted by Jeff Mackey