Written by PETA
It's been barely a week since the fabulous Pamela Anderson rolled up her sleeves and opened her wallet to help PETA rescue nearly 50 dogs from overflowing Gulf-area animal shelters, and she's already back in action—this time, she's helping PETA rescue a special group of cats.
Pamela is helping pay for veterinary care for nearly 30 "special needs" cats, many of whom are suffering from illnesses and injuries (one has a misshapen face, another is half a leg short of four) or from chronic stress from being left at an animal shelter some years ago. The gang of 30 is en route from New Orleans–area shelters to PETA's headquarters. uShip, an online shipping company, has generously donated its services to transport the cats, and our staff is taking care of the animals along the way. Two desperate dogs—Sandy, a lab mix with a flea allergy, and Cassie, a pug mix—came along as stowaways and will be transferred to our friends at the Washington Animal Rescue League's well-run shelter in Washington, D.C.
Countless cats have been abandoned in the wake of the Gulf oil gusher. Older and "special needs" cats have an especially hard time finding homes because animal shelters are flooded with kittens who were born because people didn't have their cats spayed or neutered. There are many advantages to adopting a mature feline—including knowing what the cat's personality is like and bypassing the rambunctious kitten stage. Virginia residents with exemplary veterinary references and quiet households who are interested in giving one (or two!) of these hard-luck cats a second chance can visit PETA.org to fill out an adoption application.
Written by Lindsay Pollard-Post
And, this week's 10% Wool "Tag and Release" winner is ... Beth Ann! Congratulations.
Don't forget to check out the archive of past 10% Wool comic strips here. Get more information on the series and the writer here, and learn how to get Jeff's other comic, DeFlocked, into your local paper here.
As promised on Friday, here are photos from Pamela Anderson's trip to New Orleans to walk and give treats to the dogs PETA is transporting from crowded animal shelters in oil-ravaged Louisiana to Virginia for adoption:
Pamela decided to adopt two of the dogs on the spot and named them Gina Lollobrigida and Bardot. The rest of the dogs—almost 50 adult dogs and puppies—are en route to PETA headquarters. Feeling inspired by Pamela's kindness? Saving dogs and cats in shelters is as easy as always spaying and neutering your animal companions and adopting animals from shelters instead of buying them from breeders or pet stores. And if your dogs and cats are already fixed, please consider either donating to PETA's "Spay and Neuter Immediately, Please!" (SNIP) program or helping someone in a low-income area near where you live to get his or her dog or cat fixed. Pamela is poised to blow a kiss in your direction for these good deeds.
The Gulf oil catastrophe has been hard on all animals, including the countless dogs and cats who have been surrendered at Louisiana animal shelters because their guardians have lost their jobs or left the area. But thanks to the generosity of our very own Pamela Anderson, dozens of dogs will be getting a lift from crowded shelters in Louisiana to Virginia this weekend. Pamela has paid for the dogs' local adoption, spay or neuter surgery, and flea treatment costs and will be helping volunteers walk the dogs before their journey north. Once the dogs arrive in Virginia, PETA will be holding an adopt-a-thon with the Virginia Beach SPCA in order to place the dogs in loving new homes. Special thanks also go out to American Airlines and Southwest Airlines for flying in PETA volunteers free of charge from both sides of the country to help with the dogs' move.
Want to help? The most important action we can take is to have our animals spayed or neutered in order to prevent more animals from ending up homeless and to help ensure that animal shelters have room to accommodate animals who are victims of disasters. Louisiana residents who are ready to open their hearts and homes to one of these dogs can learn about adopting at HumaneLA.org, and Virginia residents can visit VBSPCA.com.
Stay tuned for photos of Pamela and the dogs!
A cap on the massive gusher in the Gulf of Mexico has stanched the flow of oil (although seepage has been detected), but millions of gallons of crude in the water continue to wreak havoc. According to an Associated Press article, oil has now coated up to 400 pelicans and hundreds of terns who live on Raccoon Island, Louisiana's largest seabird-nesting area. Ten thousand birds nest there, and biologists now think that the government's original estimate of the number of birds who have been affected by the oil may have been far too low.
So what can we do? Reduce our dependence on oil by biking, walking, or carpooling and switch to an Earth- and animal-friendly vegan diet. And if this news makes you want to get rude about the crude, we've got just the thing to help you tell BP what you think about its failure to save wildlife and prepare for catastrophes such as the recent oil spill.
The following posting originally appeared in The Sacramento Bee.
If anyone out there is still wondering about the superiority of alternatives to animal tests, look no further than what is happening right now in the Gulf of Mexico. In its efforts to assist the devastated region, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is saving time, money, and the lives of countless animals—those suffering in laboratories—by using efficient and effective non-animal methods to study the endocrine effects of chemical dispersants that could be used to clean up the oil gusher.
In fact, using non-animal testing methods is the only way that the EPA can get information about these chemicals in a short period of time—a few weeks as opposed to years. Without such sophisticated methods, the EPA would have to rely on crude and cruel animal toxicity tests that date back to the 1930s, and we would be waiting years to know anything at all about these chemicals. Considering the dire conditions of the region, waiting years for an answer is simply not an option.
The modern in vitro tests that the EPA has on hand to study the endocrine effects of eight oil spill dispersants are rapid and automated, in contrast to what the EPA calls "time consuming and expensive" animal tests. Testing one chemical on animals can cost millions, versus the EPA's estimated $20,000 using in vitro testing. And while cost considerations are important, turn-around time is even more essential as ecosystems totter on the brink of disaster. The EPA states that, on average, it would take a researcher "eight hours a day, five days a week, for 12 years" to conduct these studies using traditional animal tests. The computer-driven in vitro tests deliver results in three days. The EPA has already completed the first round of toxicity testing on these dispersants.
The situation in the Gulf highlights the necessity of toxicology testing reform. Most of the tests used in standard chemical screening today were developed in the 1930s, '40s, and '50s. They are heavily reliant on animals, are slow and costly, and have yielded inaccurate information about the effects of chemicals on humans. And they have allowed dangerous chemicals such as benzene and arsenic to enter and remain on the market—even after millions of animals have been killed in decades of testing.
Our current system is overloaded and incapable of accurately screening the tens of thousands of chemicals reportedly in the environment already, with more entering every day. Scientists and government agencies are now recognizing that "it is simply not possible with all the animals in the world to go through new chemicals in the blind way that we have at the present time, and reach credible conclusions about the hazards to human health" (Dr. Joshua Lederberg, Nobel laureate in medicine).
Indeed, Congress and the EPA are now looking to overhaul the Toxic Substances Control Act to bring chemical regulation into the 21st century. The EPA and the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) are among the scientific organizations calling for toxicity testing methods that are human-relevant, faster, and cheaper and that use fewer or no animals.
In its 2007 report, the NAS confirmed that scientific advances can "transform toxicity testing from a system based on whole-animal testing to one founded primarily on in vitro (non-animal) methods." Such an approach will improve efficiency, speed, and prediction for humans while cutting costs and reducing animal suffering. As it should, the newly introduced legislation supports the continued development and implementation of this shift toward non-animal methodologies.
As the case in the Gulf demonstrates, non-animal testing is the stuff of science—not "science fiction" as critics often contend—and it is surely the future of ensuring chemical safety.
Posted by Jessica Sandler, director of PETA's Regulatory Testing Division, and Dr. Kate Willett, PETA's science policy adviser
Anger continues to rise over the ongoing oil leak from a ruptured BP well in the Gulf of Mexico. Politicians, eager to show that they feel our pain, are taking a hard stance. Yet nowhere near enough attention has been paid to the most seriously harmed and still-threatened victims of the leak: The animals who live in and on the increasingly polluted waters.
But one notable exception is Barry Blitt's wonderful cover illustration for the June 7 issue of The New Yorker, which depicts an oil executive facing an inquiry conducted by coastal and aquatic animals. Now that's the kind of hearing that BP's bigwigs should be subjected to, because the stories and images coming out of the Gulf are devastating—and no amount of monetary compensation will save these animals: They cannot buy new wings or flippers. A dead sperm whale was found this week, though he or she may have died up to a week before being sighted. Other animals who are able to see and sense what is happening are fleeing to the shallow waters near the shore to try to escape the spreading oil, raising the risk of more deaths from lack of oxygen as a result of severe crowding.
This situation can seem overwhelming, but we can each help prevent these kinds of disasters by adopting a vegan diet as a way to reduce our dependence on oil. And we can insist that those in power address the dangers faced by the Gulf's most vulnerable residents.
Written by Jeff Mackey
We've spoken out against BP, and suggested ways in which each one of us can help save the waterways and the environment. Now, by special request, we've created a new, fun, and in-your-face line of BP-related merchandise that will help fund PETA's work to save wildlife. Now we're giving away our BP T-shirt and coffee mug to two lucky winners (you can also buy the shirt for yourself and all your friends):
Ready to sport this compassionate gear? Tell us what you are doing to reduce your dependency on oil as well as what you would like to say to BP's big wigs if you could sit down and have coffee* with them. The two readers with the most inspiring comments will each score a T-shirt and a coffee mug. The contest ends on June 30, 2010, and we'll pick the winners on July 2, 2010. Be sure to read our privacy policy and terms of conditions, as you're agreeing to both by commenting.
Written by Amy Skylark Elizabeth
*Here's a little something to get you in the mood to tell us all about your imaginary coffee date with BP.
BP has more than the loss of human life, livelihoods and tourism to answer for. And so do the government inspectors who allowed this corporation—as seemingly greedy as the bankers, mining companies and marine park owners whose careless conduct has resulted in similar destruction—to put profit over safety.
If the criminal investigation of BP and those who signed off on the drill-site inspection sheets and safety assurances shows willful fraud and deception, dereliction of duty, bribes or who knows what else, there is one additional set of criminal charges that should be added to the list: cruelty to animals. For this is the largest case of cruelty to animals in U.S. history.
We are being spared, for political reasons, some think, but mercifully perhaps, most of the photographs of the animals who have died and are still dying, slowly, painfully, not just coated but drenched in oil. It is hard for anyone with a heart to see the gulls and pelicans, blinking up through a thick coat of muck that prevents them from flying, eating, taking a drink of water and escaping the burning heat of June. It is even too much to come across a snippet of video that shows a huge rubber-gloved hand gently plucking a tiny crab out of a puddle of black glop. Only the outline of his body tells you what he is, although his struggles tell you that he is still alive. For the moment.
For most of the animals, any help is too late. Studies show that even if wildlife rescuers capture an oiled bird in time, before much damage has been done, the terror of being handled by a predator, of being force-fed, doused and scrubbed, is too much for their pounding hearts to endure. Even if they survive the trauma of being cleaned and re-cleaned, it is suspected that most die after their release.
And in this case, one must ask, "Where can they be released?" Many birds mate for life; others are lost without their flocks. Their nesting grounds now lie under the oil slick; their friends and family are dead or dying. What is there for them to return to?
And what of the turtles, dolphins and—dare I write it—the whales? Cetacean experts do not expect whales to escape this slick completely. Once killed for their own oil, will they now be killed by ours?
And don't laugh, but what of the fish? As inconvenient as it may be to think about it, given the seafood buffets of summer, studies show that fish feel pain and fear just as acutely as mammals do.
Whether or not BP is charged with cruelty, there are many things that we can and should do other than just pointing a finger. Some suggestions are to provide less support to oil companies by consuming less oil, by buying fewer oil-based plastic goods (the beaches of Hawaiian atolls are inches deep in discarded plastic) and by following the recommendations issued by the United Nations this month and going vegan in order to save the waterways, forests and ozone layer. Paul McCartney's "Meat-Free Monday" project is getting institutions and individuals to look at the environmental devastation caused by energy-intensive factory farming and to do something about it by reducing meat consumption. In taking responsibility, President Obama would do well to announce that he, too, is embracing at least that one baby step.
Those responsible in the corporate world and in government can never truly make amends. How do you "make it up" to those who are suffering and dying in agony out there at this very moment or to those who have already lost their lives or loved ones? However, before looking away from the umpteenth heart-wrenching photo of an oil-coated pelican, the rest of us can do something positive and make some personal choices ourselves so that none of the oil companies will be able to claim consumer demand as a reason for misbehaving. It's just a thought.
Written by Ingrid E. Newkirk
The suffering that is being caused by the oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico is heartbreaking, and this brand-new PETA T-shirt speaks volumes about the crisis.
The most valuable thing about this touching, tell-it-like-it-is T-shirt and related merch is that the proceeds will go toward PETA's work to save wildlife from all sorts of horrors. So, for the love of Kevin Costner and wildlife in peril, buy a T-shirt and give BP a piece of your mind at the same time.
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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