Written by PETA
Originally posted by Forbes.com
Michael Tobias (MT) What is the most pressing problem that animal rights groups like PETA face today?
Ingrid Newkirk: (IN) That’s a bit like asking which shoes pinch the most. It’s got to be what people eat, simply because, while not everyone wears fur or experiments on animals, everyone eats. That means a mind-boggling number of animals suffer for the palate. And the cruelty isn’t just in daft and cruel killings. It’s the casual cruelty of the lunchtime sandwich or the evening meal. This is not to say that dietary habits aren’t changing. Putting aside the New Jersey woman who is vying to be the fattest person on the planet, we see cookbooks like Alicia Silverstone’s The Kind Diet and programs like Dr. Neal Barnard’s 21- Day Weight Loss Kick Start become bestsellers right out of the gate. But, in America alone, human beings breed, raise, transport, and then slaughter more than 16 billion land animals every 365 days. That doesn’t even count fish and crabs, who aren’t inanimate objects, no matter how hard it may be for us to relate to them.
MT: What one thing would you ban?
IN: Supremacism! That’s like racism and sexism―the idea that others are less than you in intellect or table manners or looks and that therefore that gives you carte blanche to manipulate, use, abuse, and slaughter them as you like. It’s self-serving, ignorant malarkey.
MT: Animal stories are constantly in the news. Which ones do you think have been helpful to PETA, if any?
IN: You’d have to live in a cave to have missed the Michael Vick trial―that has at least put dogfighting, the silent blood sport, on the map in this country. And the story about the chimpanzee who tore a woman’s face off has made some legislators think about a ban on wild animals, who get so frustrated in captivity that they go berserk. When newspapers ran the whistleblower photos of how the circus trains baby elephants with beatings and tie-downs, that woke a lot of people up―so much so that almost 1,000 people showed up in Los Angeles to protest when the beast wagons rolled into town. PETA’s “silly” stunts get ink and air time. Like our beating Michelle Bachmann to the punch by bringing back two dollar a gallon gas first. We paid the extra pump cost and served up Tofurkey sandwiches to motorists, and it allowed us to make the point that you can do more to reduce your carbon footprint by going vegan than you can by driving a hybrid car. Our “sexy” ads get a lot of play, and while people might laugh at them, they also look at them, and they come to PETA.org to watch the sexy videos but go away the wiser for it.
MT: People must ask you “Aren’t there more important causes?”
IN: That’s a sort of “As long as I’m all right, Jack” attitude. When Martin Luther King Jr. protested U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War, his followers admonished him and said that he should stay out of it, that it didn’t directly involve civil rights. Dr. King replied, “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” I don’t subscribe to the idea that we must look after men or whites or Americans or whomever we most closely identify with first, and then and only then can we help others. Our compassion is big enough to let us look beyond the identity of the victim to the injustice and object to that. To me, it is one world, and the non-human animals bear the brunt of oppression and suffering.
Read the rest of the interview at Forbes.com
Michael Tobias is the President and CEO of the Dancing Star Foundation, a global ecologist, anthropologist, historian, explorer, author and filmmaker.
PETA supporters have spoken, and they don't want Michael Vick on the cover of Madden NFL 2012. In the final round of ESPN's video-game cover contest, Vick lost out to the Cleveland Browns' Peyton Hillis.
Hillis' win is a victory for everyone who didn't want to send the message to the millions of children playing the game that someone who has fought dogs is acceptable cover material.
To continue taking a stand against dogfighting, please contact the Android marketing team and ask it to stop offering the cruel Dog Wars app.
Written by Michelle Sherrow
The Super Bowl is over, but NFL players are still going head-to-head in an EA Sports competition to determine who will be the face of the next Madden video game. Fans pick their favorite player from each matchup in the bracket, and the player with the most votes advances to the next round. One of the 16 players remaining in the competition is convicted dogfighter Michael Vick.
Do we really want to heap accolades on someone who hanged, electrocuted, drowned, and shot dogs? Is the Madden cover spot only about athletics and nothing about being a decent person? Considering that millions of children are likely to scoop up the new video game, featuring a convicted dogfighter on the cover will send the dangerous message to them that they can commit the most heinous acts of cruelty to animals and still be celebrated and revered.
Let's not send that message. Throw your support to Andre Johnson by voting for him every day until the round ends on April 3. There are still three more voting rounds to go, so please keep voting in the next rounds to make sure cruelty to animals doesn't pay.
Our lunch with Internet Soup has as many neat animals as Lunch With Soupy Sales, but nobody gets a pie in the face. We think he would still enjoy it anyway.
Michael Vick's last-minute cancelation of his scheduled February 24 appearance on Oprah is all over the news, and the big question everyone's asking is, "Why did Vick back out?"
PETA pal Simone Reyes tweeted her theory: "Rumor has it @Peta was prepping @oprah w/ the tough questions for Vick." We can't blame Vick for fearing the grilling he might have received from an avowed dog lover and PETA's 2009 Person of the Year, but, so far, the only explanation Vick has given for canceling is that it was for "personal reasons."
Hopefully, Vick will take the advice of Los Angeles Times blogger Joe Flint, who wrote yesterday, "Part of what Vick needs to learn and show is humility, and going on a popular TV show to say look at me now is not humble." But in case Vick decides to try his luck with Piers Morgan (who lost a $300 bet with Oprah that he would be the first to snag Vick for an interview), PETA president Ingrid E. Newkirk has already sent Piers a friendly e-mail asking him not to book Vick on his show.
Written by Lindsay Pollard-Post
Yes, you read that right. The guy whose name has become synonymous with hanging, electrocuting, drowning, and shooting dogs and forcing them to rip each other to pieces in dogfighting rings is now bemoaning the fact that he can't have a canine companion.
No need for immediate concern. Vick has been banned from owning dogs for three years as part of his probation. PETA believes that no one who abuses dogs as Vick did should ever be allowed to have access to vulnerable animals again. And really, being prohibited from experiencing the unconditional love of a dog is a tiny price to pay—much smaller than the ultimate price paid by the dogs Vick abused and killed at Bad Newz Kennels.
We're not ones to say "I told you so," but …
A new study has confirmed what we've known all along: Vegans and vegetarians have more empathy—for both animals and people—than meat-eaters do.
Researchers in Europe recruited vegan, vegetarian, and meat-eating volunteers and placed them into an MRI machine while showing them a series of random pictures. The MRI scans revealed that when observing animal or human suffering, the "empathy-related" areas of the brain are more active among vegetarians and vegans. The researchers also found that there are certain brain areas that only vegans and vegetarians seem to activate when witnessing suffering.
We've always thought that people who lack empathy may have something wrong with their brains. That's why we urged the NFL to give Michael Vick an MRI scan to look for evidence of clinical psychopathy, and it's why we sent U.S. Vogue editor and fur pusher Anna Wintour a certificate entitling her to a brain scan as well.
So, to sum up: Vegans are smarter, sexier, and healthier than meat-eaters, and they're more empathic too. If you haven't yet made the switch, what are you waiting for?
Written by Paula Moore
PETA Files readers already know that few "retired" racehorses live out the remainder of their days frolicking in rolling green pastures. Now, Washington Post readers know it, too, thanks to a great article that was published over Memorial Day weekend.
The article describes one of the many ugly sides of the horse-racing industry—the fact that with approximately 35,000 thoroughbreds born in the U.S. every year, there are thousands of horses who don't have quite enough speed and stamina to be champions. What becomes of these also-rans? Most are eventually sold at auction, where many are bought by "killer buyers."
While no horse slaughterhouses are currently operating in the U.S., horses are still being shipped to slaughterhouses in Canada and Mexico. Some retired racehorses—even Derby champs like Ferdinand and Charismatic—also wind up in Japan, where they may initially be used for breeding. But when they stop being moneymakers, they, too, may be slaughtered, as a PETA investigation at a Japanese slaughterhouse last year revealed.
You can help by contacting your U.S. representatives and asking them to sponsor the Prevention of Equine Cruelty Act, which would make it illegal to slaughter horses for consumption in the U.S. or to export them for slaughter.
Written by Alisa Mullins
Between the Trollsen twits and cruel reality show "celetestants", I'm soooo ready to say, "Bye-bye, '09. Hello, 2010."
We at PETA are feeling optimistic about the New Year. But before we ring it in, let's have a look at 2009's low points and our predictions for 2010's animal-friendly hot topics and trends.
Now let's all raise our glasses to compassion for all!
Written by Karin Bennett
While Nike the shoe company is named after Nike the Greek goddess of victory, unfortunately, in dogfighting, there are only losers: Even the victors end up in the grinder at the end of the day. Nike seems to have forgotten that little fact, as the company is reportedly now supplying Michael Vick with "product," although it says it has not signed a promotional contract with the disgraced former dogfighter and current NFL QB.
This begs the question posed in a letter sent by PETA President Ingrid E. Newkirk to Nike President and CEO Mark Parker: Why is Nike giving free swag to a guy who admitted laughing when he tossed "family pets" into the ring and watched them get ripped to shreds by trained fighting dogs? Is this a guy you want parading around Philly displaying the Nike swoosh? Unless Nike aspires to corner the bottom-feeding dogfighting market, this plan seems designed to have the company's competitors cheering.
We hope you'll contact Nike, too, and let the company know that if it aspires to alienate anybody and everybody who's ever loved a dog—and to encourage them to change their brand away from Nike—it is sure to be, er, Vick-torious.
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.
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