There's a lot of buzz on the interwebs about Eva Mendes' Calvin Klein ad that showed so much skin, it's been banned from U.S. television.I just wanted to remind the world that before Eva revealed her smoldering body for CK (a designer who WON'T use fur, by the way), she bared it all for the animals. How hot is Eva?!?!Not only do PETA and CK share a friendship with Eva and a dislike of fur—PETA has also had one or two ads banned from TV in our day. Heck, who are we kidding—we’ve had dozens. View our favorite banned ads here!

An Excerpt From "Grooming Sounds Grand Until Bowser Gets Baked" (From KP's Dog Blog)

Little Miss came away from her grooming appointment with a broken tail.

Many people saw the grooming exposé "Pet Grooming Dangers," on the Today show on August 1, which was prompted by the grooming death of Sushi, the 2-year-old Labrador retriever of one of the Today show's employees. Sushi had been left for a week at a boarding facility and was supposed to get a bath before being picked up. When her guardian, Amanda, arrived to pick her up, instead of the thrill of a joyful reunion, she experienced the horror of learning that Sushi was unconscious. Not long after that, Sushi died at the vet's. Later it was determined that Sushi had been put inside a "cage dryer" for 30 minutes with the temperature set at 100°F.

I took one look at those dryers in the Today piece and shuddered. I couldn't believe my ears as I watched person after person, including someone from The Humane Society of the United States repeat some version of the mantra, "These cage dryers are safe if used properly."

Excuse me? First of all, the cage dryer has a setting that goes up to 100°F, so it has a built-in setting for death. Secondly, machines malfunction. A groomer might think that the dryer was set at 80°F, but in reality, it might go haywire and shoot up to 100°F or even 135°F. Thirdly, there are many dogs who, for various reasons, are automatically going to be at high risk inside one of these contraptions. These include dogs with flat muzzles, older dogs, dogs with heart problems, dogs with respiratory problems, etc. Finally, the dryers are run by mere mortals, who work for a largely unregulated industry. On any given day, a person can be distracted, tired, hung over, ill, depressed, or just plain stupid—any of which could cause a careless mistake, leading to tragedy…

Read the full entry on KP's Dog Blog.

Snake charmers, fairies, and leprechauns…if you thought all three only existed in the pages of fairytales, here's a surprise. Snake charmers have been and still are entrancing villagers into believing the myth that the sounds from their instrument can hypnotize a snake, who will "dance"—for money, of course.

Sound a little slippery? That's because it is. There is no magic involved, only cruelty. Here's how:

Snakes are trapped and taken from their natural habitats. Their teeth are yanked out without any painkillers, their mouths are often sewn shut (leaving a little gap to pour water or milk down), and their venom ducts are often pierced with a hot needle, causing the glands to burst and incapacitating this animals' most effective defense mechanism. None of the snakes lives very long, and death comes slowly and painfully.

The "dance" these snakes perform is actually a terrified reactive sway to the snake charmer's movements—as a means of self-defense from "attack" by the pipe. Snake charming is so violent, in fact, that the Indian Wildlife Act of 1972 actually banned it. But snake charmers show their disregard for the law and these animals by continuing their cruel ways.

With the upcoming holiday of Naga Panchami, which is held in honor of the Serpent God, PETA India decided to do a little charming of their own by releasing a brand-new ad urging people to boycott snake shows. The ad tells the story of a snake and a snake charmer, played by supermodel Jesse Randhawa and Hollywood/Bollywood dance instructor Sandip Soparrkar, and features the tagline "Snakes Are Not Natural Performers—We Are."

Jesse Randhawa and Sandip Soparrkar say, "Snakes Are Not Natural Performers—We Are," in a new PETA India ad.

The ad sends out a great message to people in India. It points out that a country that has worshipped snakes throughout its history can't "honor" the reptiles with acts of cruelty. Check out PETA India's new mesmerizing ad here!

Pamela Anderson, PETA's honorary director, was in Canada, her home country, today. Where'd she have lunch? At a KFC with local animal rights advocates, just to sample the new faux-chicken Classic Vegetarian Sandwich! For the past five years, Ms. Anderson has been a big part of PETA's international campaign against KFC, whose suppliers have been responsible for some serious Kentucky Fried Cruelty. While the KFC boycott continues to rage outside Canada, the United Purchasing Group of Canada—which is responsible for coordinating the purchasing of all chickens for Canadian KFCs—entered into an agreement with PETA to dramatically improve animal welfare standards and reduce suffering. Yes, before you comment—we'd rather all the KFCs were all-vegan and we'd rather the whole world went vegan. But if you were a chicken with the choice of whether or not you wanted to have a wing painfully broken and be scalded to death, and PETA could help you get that relief but didn't control the whole world, I'm guessing I know which option you'd go for. The new faux-chicken Classic Vegetarian Sandwich is available at most KFCs in Canada, so head on up north of the border and try one yourself!

It looks like scientists do sometimes spend time on worthwhile projects and have now found that being caged, having your bone marrow sucked out, and being used for bioterrorism research is torture—no matter whom it's being done to.

A recent study showed that 95 percent of 119 chimpanzees who had been used for "research" exhibited the same symptoms as humans who suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder. This really shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone—I mean, chimpanzees and humans share the same blood types and have at least a 98 percent genetic similarity. Why wouldn't they have shellshock and nightmares if we do?

This study is being presented today at a primate conference in Edinburgh—I hope it shakes things up in some rigid minds!

Update 12/22/2008: Donna Karan has announced that her fall 2009 lines will be fur-free and that she has "no plans" to use fur in the future! Read more.

Today, pajama-clad PETA members paid a visit to Donna Karan at her Intimates and Sleepwear Fashion Show in New York, wielding signs that read, "We're Tired of Your Fur."

Why won't PETA let Karan rest? Because the flip-flopping designer once promised to stop using fur in her designs but has since broken that promise and now uses lots and lots of dead rabbits to line her coats. PETA wants Donna to return to her pre–bunny butcher days and opt for cruelty-free materials instead.

What happens to rabbits and other animals killed for their skin is simply hideous. Animals in the wild are trapped, drowned, or beaten to death, and animals on fur farms are killed by gassing, electrocution, or cervical dislocation (neck-breaking).

Donna's bunnies are probably from a source that does neck-breaking, but whatever the method, we're betting that it's no fun for the bun. And many poor bunnies are even skinned alive in a business that sees them as nothing more than trim and linings. Some people just don't get the horror of the fur industry until they see it for themselves, so please show this video to as many people as you can.

Many top fashion designers—including Calvin Klein, Stella McCartney, Ralph Lauren, and Tommy Hilfiger—are 100 percent fur-free. Gucci is on the way—they have agreed to not use seal fur (ask them to stop using all fur here).

If you didn't make it to the protest in New York, you can definitely still help PETA and our campaign to urge Donna Karan to stop using fur in her designs.

Big thanks to everyone who came out to the demonstration!

An Alabaman evangelist named Anthony Hopkins was apparently arrested last week when his wife—who'd been missing for three years—was reportedly discovered in his freezer. (Now, why does that name sound so familiar…?)

Local police reportedly found the body of what they believe to be Hopkins' wife, a mother of eight, and reportedly arrested him on a murder charge as he preached at a church in southern Alabama. We're not sure what the subject of the sermon was. News reports say he's now sitting in a Mobile County jail, awaiting a bond hearing.

He's not been tried yet, so whether or not he planned on eating her liver with some fava beans and a nice Chianti is a matter of speculation.

While people are rightly horrified at the thought of Hopkins' frozen wife, we're hoping that some good might come from pointing out that there's something wrong with stowing away any flesh. To highlight this, PETA has launched a new thought-provoking billboard, which we're attempting to run in Mobile, Alabama. We hope it makes some folks stop and think about how everyone—not just humans—is made of flesh, blood, bone, and emotions.

So, how about trying an easy and tasty vegetarian meal?

Everyone needs to pay attention because this is getting a lot less hype in the media than the original story did. There's scientific evidence to prove what PETA has been saying all along: The recent salmonella outbreak wasn't all about tomatoes or jalapeños but rather contaminated water.

Why is the water contaminated, you ask? Long story short, it's because massive overproduction of factory-farmed animals leads to tons of feces. Cattle are sick (rhymes with "ick"), and so are chickens. Living in filth makes their disease spread. Those tons and tons of contaminated feces then end up in the irrigation water (ick)—the same water that then ends up on the produce (double ick).

The meat industry is the culprit! (I keep hearing my mother's voice in my head ... "If I've told you once, I've told you 1,000 times.") So stop blaming the poor tomatoes already!

Better yet, join the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM) in demanding that the Department of Health and Human Services investigate the meat industry—the real reason why our produce is contaminated!

lockeyebc / CC

Poor Leroy. He's done nothing wrong, and he just wants to be loved. So what does his trainer do? Spray water in his face, squirt lemon in his face, and even put a vacuum nozzle up to him. And we all know that there is nothing a dog hates more than a vacuum.

On Wednesday night's episode of Greatest American Dog, the show actually aired previously taped footage in which Leroy was what I can only call abused by his trainer … what were they thinking?!? PETA received numerous complaints from viewers, and rightfully so. We hope that the executive producer of the show will hear viewers and PETA loud and clear: Abusive behavior against a dog or any other animal is never, ever acceptable. Check out PETA Senior VP Lisa Lange's letter to the show:

speedysigns / CC

Fried chicken, fried shrimp, fried fish, chicken-fried steak ... seeing a pattern here? A recent study shows that good ol' Southern-style, high-calorie, high-fat, meat-filled dishes are why the U.S.' Southern states are the nation's most obese. Lordy, y'all! Let's have us some massive amounts of deep-fried animal flesh!

Is your state one of the most obese? The study, conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, announced that the top 10 most obese states are Mississippi, Alabama, Tennessee, Louisiana, West Virginia, Arkansas, South Carolina, Georgia, Texas, and Oklahoma.

In an effort to combat soaring obesity rates, PETA has sent a letter to the governor of each of the above-mentioned states with an easy solution: Simply promote a vegetarian lifestyle and encourage more vegetarian options within their respective states. Easy as pumpkin pie.