tuesdayshorse / CC

In a historic first, decades in the making, Madeleine Pickens—founder of the National Wild Horse Foundation—has secured a spot on a soon-to-be-formed national committee dedicated to ending the crisis faced by thousands of wild horses across the country.

Pickens' solution to the crisis—in which the animals are currently confined in usually unkempt pens where they are often subjected to extreme temperatures without shade and with little to no room to roam—is to create a wild-horse sanctuary to provide long-term care and protection for the animals. She recently met with Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar to tell him that paying ranchers or other contractors to warehouse wild horses until they die is an unacceptable method of dealing with the horse population, and her proposed solution prompted Salazar to announce the formation of a committee to address the issue.

Right now, more than 30,000 wild horses and burros are in holding facilities. Please lend your voice to them: Join Pickens in urging senators, congressmembers, and other government officials to stop the capture of thousands of American wild horses immediately.

Written by Logan Scherer

walten.files / CC

Earlier this afternoon, another trainer at SeaWorld in Orlando was killed after being pulled into the tank by an orca named Tilikum (or Tilly, for short). According to a witness, the whale, who has been involved in two previous fatal incidents involving human beings and who our captive wildlife director, Debbie Leahy, describes as "12,300 pounds of sheer rage," leapt out of the tank and grabbed the trainer by the waist, pulled her into the water, threw her around like a rag doll, and then held her underwater until she drowned. SeaWorld officials canceled the dolphin and whale shows for the rest of the day, but SeaWorld remains open (have they no shame?!) and will continue to exploit and abuse these captive animals despite the many horrific injuries and deaths of trainers and animals that have occurred throughout the theme park's history.

PETA has long been asking SeaWorld to stop taking wild, ocean-going mammals from their families and ocean homes and confining them with no semblance of a life to an area that, to them, is the size of a bathtub. No wonder these huge, intelligent animals, like the beaten elephants in the Ringling Bros. circus, lash out after being forced into subservience and forced to perform stupid circus tricks for their food for so long. For years, PETA has been calling on SeaWorld to switch to hugely popular robotic replacements like those used in the amazing "Walking With the Dinosaurs" exhibit. The public needs to stand up now against this cruelty and stop patronizing aquariums and whale and dolphin shows. Please join us in saying, "Enough!"

Written by Logan Scherer

innovation.freedomblogging.com / CC

"Louis Vuitton foxtail handbag accessories make me sick. Please do not purchase those! It's heinous."
—tweet from Sharon Osbourne

We're not the only ones loving Sharon Osbourne's compassionate tweet against Louis Vuitton—her wise words have been retweeted again and again by people across the Internet. Sharon—who donated her furs to PETA in 2004—speaks her mind and takes flack from nobody, which is why she's definitely my pick for who's going to win the upcoming season of Celebrity Apprentice.

Louis Vuitton, because of your bloody bags, YOU'RE FIRED!

Written by Logan Scherer

If a tree falls in the forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound? Apparently, people have lost sleep trying to answer this philosophical question. The answer seems obvious to me: Animals live in forests and animals have ears, so they would hear the sound of a falling tree.

Next …?

How about the one asked by the adorable (and offensive) T-shirt below from our friends at Portland's Food Fight! Grocery?

foodfightgrocery / CC

I know, the answer to this one is a no-brainer too. So go ahead and ante up your answer—in just one sentence. (And keep it clean, guys: no uncensored swear words.) The three people who submit the cleverest, snappiest responses will each score a shirt.

The contest ends on March 10, 2010, and we'll choose three winners on March 12, 2010. Be sure to read our privacy policy and terms and conditions, as you're agreeing to both by commenting. Good luck!

Written by Karin Bennett

Twilight star Kellan Lutz may be totally convincing as an alpha vampire, but he's got a soft side that could eclipse Emmett Cullen's brute force any day. Lutz poses in PETA's newest "Adopt, Don't Buy" ad with his adorable rescued mutt Kola, spreading the message that every time someone purchases a dog or cat from a pet store or breeder, a door is shut in the face of an animal waiting in an animal shelter or roaming the streets. Check out our exclusive interview with Kellan, who gushes over meeting Kola (spoiler: It was love at first sight!) and has some special words for "Twilighters":

Kellan—who will star in the upcoming remake of A Nightmare on Elm Street—is so committed to ending the nightmare suffered by millions of homeless animals that since shooting our ad he has adopted another lucky dog! Want more compassionate Cullen goodness? Enter our contest to win a Twilight DVD signed by Kellan himself.

Written by Logan Scherer

freedomblogging / CC

It's Spay Day—do you know where your neighbors' cats and dogs are? Or, more importantly, do you know whether they have been spayed or neutered? I do. In fact, one of them is here with me as I write this (and he seems to think that I need to write "#%^)tfr*^lpxc%$#?.>l" here instead of a period). Sam is one of nearly a dozen cats who once belonged to one of my neighbors. The cats came to my attention when I noticed the "free kittens" sign outside my neighbor's house.

I called the number on the sign and offered to get the mama kitty and the kittens spayed and neutered. Rather than being offended, as I feared she might be, my neighbor gratefully accepted my offer. "She just keeps having kittens," she sighed, "and I can't afford to get her spayed." She also agreed to let me find homes for those kittens I could convince her to part with. (I wanted to carefully screen the adopters, which I knew she wouldn't do.)

According to a recent survey, people's reasons for not spaying and neutering their animals usually boil down to simple economics and logistics, rather than a conscious decision not to do it. The neighbor whose cat kept having litters has three kids and is on welfare—she just couldn't afford to pay for the surgery. (Eventually, the bank foreclosed on her house, which is when she asked me to take the remaining animals—Sam, his sister Bibi, and his mother, Tiger.)

Another neighbor doesn't have a car, so I offered to drive her to the clinic for her cat's appointment. Yet another neighbor didn't realize that his 5-month-old female kitten could come into heat any day. Wanting to ensure that this busy single dad didn't put it off until it was too late, I offered to make the appointment and take her myself. He readily agreed, and I did the same with the family's other cat and two dogs.

In total, I have arranged for more than a dozen dogs and cats in my neighborhood to be spayed and neutered at PETA's "Spay and Neuter Immediately, Please!" (SNIP) mobile clinic. In some cases, the animals' guardians were willing to pay for the surgery—it was just a matter of making the appointments and arranging transportation. That was a small investment in time that reaped huge rewards in terms of the prevention of unwanted litters—and suffering.

No matter where you live, there are animal companions in your town who have not been spayed or neutered. Here are some easy steps you can take to make your neighborhood a "no-litter" zone:

• Print out PETA's Top 5 Reasons to Spay Today" poster and plaster them all over town. Post them in your veterinarian's office, grocery stores, and pet supply stores or on bulletin boards at your local dog park or where you work—anywhere you have permission to place them. You could also create your own posters offering to help animals get spayed or neutered. Distribute them in low-income areas in your vicinity, and remember to include your contact information.
• Have dogs and cats sterilized at a local clinic (ask the vet for a special "rescue" rate) or through a low-cost spay and neuter program.
• Raise money for surgeries by having garage sales or bake sales and by "passing the hat" among friends and coworkers.
• Write to your governor and urge him or her to support a statewide spay and neuter ordinance.
• Ask your local TV stations to air PETA's spay-and-neuter public service announcements.
• If your local animal shelter doesn't spay or neuter animals before adoption, push hard for a policy change.
• Donate to SNIP. A $70 donation will cover the cost of spaying or neutering one animal (plus shots, flea prevention, and more), potentially saving hundreds of lives.

Written by Alisa Mullins

Baby, it's cold outside,
And—wow!—the snow's piled high,
But these sexy celebrity ads
Will make it very, very warm inside!

After you take a few moments to cool down, tell us which ad you think is the hottest.

Written by Karin Bennett

I didn't hesitate for a second to jump from 12,500 feet or touch clouds over Kauai—but I'm pretty certain it would take a lot of convincing to get me to strip in front of a camera.

Check out the NSFW video.

So I say "Hats (and skirt, blouse, and stay-ups) off!" to L.A.-based actor Marissa Lewis for her rousing delivery of PETA's annual State of the Union Undress. Not only was the curvy cutie willing to bare her body for animals, she took time to sit down and share her thoughts and feelings about animal rights—and why she didn't hesitate to take it all off for this project.

What made you decide to take it all off for PETA's State of the Union Undress?
When I was a little girl, I dreamed of being a veterinarian when I grew up. As I got older, I decided to choose a different career path. I have always had a strong love for animals, and I believe that your mind, body, and soul is a supernatural inheritance from God, and how you use it is your choice! It's up to us as individuals to make a difference.

A vegetarian diet looks great on you! What inspired you to go vegetarian, and how has it changed your life?
My love for animals inspired me to go vegetarian. PETA's informative videos are very eye-opening—seeing all the cruelty that is imposed upon animals turned me vegetarian instantly. Since I stopped eating meat, I have felt lighter and leaner.

What is one major victory for animals that you'd like to see happen in 2010?
I would love to see a law passed saying that no animal could be caged or chained.

While talking about her naked PETA ad, Eva Mendes recently said, "My mom cringed when she saw me naked." Does your mom know about this video? What does she think?
When I told my parents about the video, they were pretty excited. They are very supportive of me and my choices. My mother told me that when she was pregnant with me, her doctor placed her on a vegetarian diet. She could not keep meat down at all. :) That was something that I never knew until I shared my choice with my parents. :)

You're an actor in L.A., so—besides this PETA video—what else can your newfound fans see you in?
Follow me at Twitter.com/MarissaForPETA. :)

OK, I know that there are a lot of readers out there wondering this: Are you single?
I'm definitely not ruling out the idea of a boyfriend, but right now I'm focused on God, myself, and my career.

Besides being vegetarian and willing to strip for the cause, is there anything else that you do to stay active for animals?
I actively post and tweet PETA links at Twitter.com/MarissaForPETA, I suggest animals rights books to friends, I place animal rights stickers on each envelope I mail out, and I refuse to wear fur! In the future, I plan on getting the message out to local, national, and international media and to as many people as I possibly can in the hope that I can make a difference. I also want to mention that I adore my kitty Simba. She means everything to me—I love to pamper my beautiful lioness (meeeoww). :)

Now I'd like to ask you: Which of PETA's naked demos or events would you jump to join in on?

Written by Karin Bennett

It's official: President Obama's State of Union address will air on January 27. Of course, this announcement has John and Jane Does everywhere wondering—but not about possible GOP outbursts or changes to the rules of the game.

Here's the hot topic on caring viewers' minds: When will PETA's annual State of the Union Undress be aired—and will the bodacious speaker reveal the naked truth of PETA's titillating 2009 victories and 2010's targets? We will tell you that PETA's State of the Union Undress will premiere this Wednesday, but we won't strip away all the mystery. What fun would that be? You'll have to wait and watch. But we wouldn't leave you without any hint of things to come, though: Here's a taste of what you'll see:

 One thing is certain: PETA's State of the Union Undress will be a rousing speech. We bet you'll get up and cheer.

Written by Karin Bennett

last.fm / CC

Some of my best friends r bitches... Its ALWAYS fake fur. I don't do the real shiz. My rekords called ANIMAL!I dont do fur!duhh
—Tweet from Ke$ha

I wake up every morning feeling like Ke$ha (clearly, the radio station my alarm is set to has flawless taste). And now that she's blasted recent reports that the fur coat she wore on Wendy Williams' talk show was real, via Twitter, she and fellow fur-shunner Gaga will always be my go-to ladies when it comes to synth-pop.

With this Billboard music chart-topper speaking up for animals who are skinned alive for the fur industry, I'd love to see Ke$ha bare it all in one of our anti-fur ads. A Ke$ha-Gaga double feature, anyone?

Written by Logan Scherer