Written by PETA
First, Amanda Beard defended foxes in a, ahem, foxy ad for PETA just in time for the Beijing Olympics. Now, the gold-medalist is making a splash for her amphibious friends by urging people to help frogs and other animals escape a watery death in swimming pools by installing PETA's Frog Saver Lily Pad.
"I spend almost as much time in the water as I do on land, so I really relate to frogs and other amphibians," says Beard. "Sadly, I've found dead frogs in my pool and it's heartbreaking to know that they drowned because they weren't able to get out to dry land."
The Frog Saver attaches to pool ladders and pond walls to give baby ducks, lizards, toads, and other animals a way to climb out.
Installing one in your pool won't help you win an Olympic medal, but it will make you a winner in the eyes of your wildlife neighbors.
Written by Michelle Sherrow
When you're friends with Pamela Anderson, it seems like anything is possible … even snagging tickets to one of the hottest events in Canada.
After delivering our petition against the seal slaughter to Prime Minister Stephen Harper, the Dancing With the Stars beauty graciously gave her tickets for Sunday's Olympic closing ceremony to PETA's seal mascot. While Avril Lavigne, Alanis Morissette, and Neil Young performed, our seal was busy educating Olympic fans from across the globe about Canada's upcoming seal slaughter.
Written by Logan Scherer
Some say Olympic snowboarder Greg Bretz "won" an informal McNugget-eating contest by downing 60 blobs of fried chicken bits. But judging by the dazed expression on his face in the second photo, I'm thinking that even he agrees: major biff!
Regardless, we've asked Greg to lay off the McNuggets until McDonald's adopts a less cruel slaughter method. McCruelty in the U.S. and Canada refuses to improve slaughter methods for birds, instead allowing suppliers to break chickens' bones and scald many of them to death—never mind that controlled-atmosphere killing (CAK), approved for use in the U.S., is already used by McDonald's suppliers in Europe.
Perhaps he'll decide to follow Olympic medalist and snowboarder extraordinaire Hannah Teter's lead, who, when asked about life at the Olympics, scored gold in the hearts of caring people around the world when she quipped, "They have McDonald's at the athlete village, so I'll hit that up every morning. … Not!"
Written by Karin Bennett
Because TV stations in Victoria, British Columbia, have rejected PETA's anti–seal slaughter public service announcement, we've decided to go mobile with our campaign by placing a Bluetooth transmitter outside three of the city's high schools. The transmitters will automatically send PETA's ad to students' phones (and those of lucky passersby) to educate them about the imminent seal massacre that continues to tarnish Canada's reputation.
The upcoming extra-curricular activity comes just a week before tens of thousands of young seals are scheduled to be slaughtered in the name of "fashion." Join the compassionate people who have already called on the Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic Games to use its clout to help save the seals.
Remember PETA's 2007 undercover investigation of Rainbow World Exotics (RWE), a hellhole in Hamilton, Texas, that supplies PETCO and PetSmart stores with little hamsters, gerbils, and other critters? Before going public with that investigation, we sat down with three PETCO corporate representatives (one of whom was a vet) and showed them heartbreaking footage of a worker who was castrating rabbits and bleaching their wounds, a manager who was stomping hamsters to death, live animals who were being tossed in the trash, a cockatoo who was starving and dying, and more. We were sure that PETCO would want nothing to do with RWE after seeing the footage of all this misery. Boy, were we wrong. PETCO (as well as PetSmart) stood by RWE, refused to sever ties, and insisted that things there were not so bad. We are quite sure that the animals would disagree. Up until now, we thought that we knew how low this massive pet-store giant was capable of stooping.
It turns out that we were wrong.
On Tuesday, PETCO put out a news release saying that it had "stepped up" and was "calling all small animal lovers" to "adopt" "more than 2,000 recently rescued animals" who are being held in the company's Dallas-area stores—animals who were among the 26,000 critters who were confiscated from yet another hellhole supplier, U.S. Global Exotics (USGE), after a PETA investigation uncovered horrific conditions there. USGE was a supplier to RWE. Many of the animals seized from USGE were ultimately bound for PETCO stores.
In the news release, a PETCO rep actually proclaimed, "We were appalled by the tragedy at U.S. Global Exotics …." That's rich! But not as rich as PETCO—the company made more than $2.5 billion in 2008 by selling animals from massive mills like RWE and USGE. And according the release, it looks like the company was poised to make a pretty profit off this "adoption" deal. All the money to be made from the adoptions and the application fees for the animals was set to go to the PETCO Foundation, while all of the money from the pet supplies a new parent needs to properly care for an animal would have lined the pockets of PETCO's CEOs. The money would not have gone to the thousands of animals from USGE who need homes. No, that responsibility falls on the shoulders of PETA and other nonprofit organizations that have been working around the clock to get these animals out of harm's way and to provide them with the basic necessities of which they have been deprived.
After PETA made a few phone calls, we were able to get the animals—including anoles, geckos, toads, snakes, iguanas, hermit crabs, long-tailed grass lizards, mice, hamsters, and frogs—removed from PETCO's clutches. We were promised that they would be placed with reputable groups. PETCO told local media that it was "extremely disappointed" after this absurd plan was halted (we bet!).
These animals are now safe, but PETCO's exploitation of animals will continue as long as the corporate giant continues to buy and sell animals. So what can you do? Tell everyone you know to chime in and demand that PETCO cease all live animal sales immediately!
Written by Daphna Nachminovitch, Vice President of Cruelty Investigations
Oh, PETA Germany and your seal-loving supporters, you had me at "Hallo."
It's not even Valentine's Day yet, but these dedicated demonstrators melted hearts (and snow) with their moving commitment to the tens of thousands of young Canadian harp seals who will soon be slaughtered for their skin. Show your love for the seals by wearing your heart on your sleeve this V-Day.
With the Winter Olympics just a week away and all eyes turning to Vancouver, now is the perfect moment to draw attention to Canada's upcoming slaughter of tens of thousands of young harp seals. These sensitive animals are often less than 2 weeks old when sealers beat them, hook them in the eye, mouth, or cheek, and then drag them across the ice in order to steal their skins. The hope to finally end this bloody massacre and save these seals is literally pinned on the support of compassionate people.
So right now, PETA is giving one of our limited-edition pins to everyone who makes an online donation to help save the skins of seals and other animals (while supplies last).
Wearing your pin is an easy way to remind your friends of the massive slaughter that will begin only days after the world's athletes and TV cameras leave Vancouver. Where will you stick yours?
In planning for the upcoming Winter Olympics, will the folks at NBC take a cue from the CBS executives who decided to run more advocacy ads during this year's Super Bowl? PETA is about to find out. We're asking the network to air our animated anti–seal slaughter commercial during the Olympics:
While NBC decides whether or not it will seal our deal, urge Canadian officials to stop the seal massacre immediately.
Fur-loving figure skater Johnny Weir was pelted recently—with protests from animal defenders who were aghast to spot white fox fur in one of his costumes. Along with many others, we contacted Weir—and his agent was quick to point out that PETA made its case in a professional manner. Weir responded to the many complaints by announcing that he will go faux for the Olympics. Weir stated, "I do not want something as silly as my costume disrupting my second Olympic experience and my chance at a medal, a dream I have had since I was a kid."
There isn't anything sillier than an animal wearing another animal's fur, so we hope that fur is forever gone from Weir's wardrobe and that the flowers we've sent him to say thanks brighten up his dressing room as he prepares to take home the gold.
When PETA's giant dinosaur attacked D.C., residents were shaking in their boots. But at the unveiling of our latest enormous animal, a 12-meter-tall baby seal named Sparky, Halifax residents let out a collective "Aww!"
As a crowd gathered to watch the Olympic torch pass through Halifax—they weren't able to miss Sparky, who was right on the heels of the torch:
We've teamed up with the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) to inflate Sparky and put him on a mission to educate Canadians about the annual seal slaughter. Sparky is set to visit each city that the torch travels to until it reaches the final Vancouver Olympics destination.
Once residents recover from cute overload, Sparky and our crew will be enlisting them to call on their representatives in Parliament to support legislation to end the slaughter. As the Vancouver Olympic Games approach, all eyes are on Canada—and now is the time to put an end to this cruel industry.
Written by Liz Graffeo
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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.