We were recently informed by a whistleblower that Ringling trainer Joe Frisco Jr. was attacked by one of the elephants used by the circus, sustaining injuries severe enough to send him to the hospital. The source claimed that Frisco "has been pounding" on the elephant, which, given the Frisco family’s penchant for violently abusing animals, sounds about right to me. Joe’s brother Tim Frisco was caught on tape viciously beating elephants with steel-tipped bullhooks for the Carson & Barnes Circus, and you can watch video footage showing some of Tim Frisco’s “work” for the circus below. We’ve asked the USDA to look into this incident, so I’ll let you know how that investigation turns out.

After receiving a call from a concerned member informing us that arts and crafts superstore AC Moore was selling rabbit pelts (the skin and fur of a whole rabbit), PETA wrote to AC Moore CEO Rick Lepley about this issue, and immediately received the following promising response:

Just three days later, AC Moore sent us this letter confirming that they are removing the pelts from their stores and online catalog, and have adopted a permanent no fur policy! Not to get all cheesy on you, but this is a beautiful example of how one person can make a huge difference—thanks to one alert activist, a chain of events was set in motion that resulted in a big victory for animals within a week.

Thank you to AC Moore for their speedy, understanding, and compassionate response. If every company were this easy to work with, we could all retire early. Or at least take, like, a long weekend every now and then.

Update: The California Healthy Pets Act has passed the Assembly, and is on its way to the State Senate Committee! Thanks to everyone who worked so hard to push the bill this far — I’ll keep you updated on the Senate vote as it progresses.

California's Healthy Pets Act just got a lot more Hollywood support with a new celebrity-filled petition. Star Trek's Captain Kirk, Grey’s Anatomy hottie Katherine Heigl, Studio 60's Bradley Whitford, and CSI's Jorja Fox, along with Oscar nominee Ryan Gosling, director Richard Linklater, and more than a dozen other Hollywood stars, including Captain Kirk, have signed a PETA petition pledging support for Assembly Bill 1634—the California Healthy Pets Act—which mandates spay-neuter surgeries for cats and dogs. The bill is scheduled for a floor vote this week. Did I mention Captain Kirk signed the petition?!?! (I know it’s not the first time PETA's teamed up with The Captain, but it’s the first time I got to report on it. Thanks for understanding.)

This petition is just the latest act of celebrity support for the bill. In recent weeks funny guy Bill Maher recorded a “New Rule” supporting the bill and PETA released another PSA for the bill featuring Kevin Nealon, Mike White, Ami James, and other celebs.

It's not just celebrities who are coming out in support of this bill. The Healthy Pets Act has already gained support from hundreds of animal protection organizations, veterinarians, city police departments. The vote is coming up early this week and if you live in California the animals need your support. Please use our handy web form to contact your assembly person today. If you won’t do it for the animals’ sake, do it for The Captain.

Click the image below to view the full petition.

Anyone familiar with lolcats? This is a take on the phenomenon that my friend Joel made with an image that’s been circulating everywhere on MySpace. Childish? Yes, a little. Joel’s particular brand of genius can manifest itself in odd ways sometimes—but the message is still sound, methinks.

How am I just hearing about this? Come on, the first ever veggie dog eating contest, I would have been on a plane to get there faster than the Olsen twins throw up their lunch. Seriously.

The soon to be annual event happened last Saturday in Austin, TX, and the report I got said that over 300 people attended, and 40 contestants devoured some 600+ veggie dogs in about 24 minutes. Not bad, eh? The inaugural World Veggie Hot Dog Eating Champion, at a count of 16 ½ veggie dogs, is Colin "the Tim Duncan of Competitive Eating" Kalmbacher, a vegan.

Full results and photos will be posted here soon. And of course, mad props go out to ilovemikelitt for putting this event on. Fair warning to you, Colin, I’ve already started training for next year. I’m coming for your title. Be afraid. Be very afraid.

Have you heard of Jason “Gummi Bear” Davis? Don’t worry if you haven’t, he’s just another in the long line of disposable tabloid fodder LA rich kids. Usually Gummi’s only real claims to fame are having a slightly less un-famous brother and not getting into clubs, which while funny of course, wouldn’t land him on this blog. But I just heard he was spotted at a KFC event the other day, and honestly, I don’t think I can come up with a better advertisement for vegetarianism than having this kid roll around town in his KFC shirt he’s so proud of . . .

The voting has officially opened. Last year, Veronica Mars' Kristen Bell took home the coveted prize of World's Sexiest Female Vegetarian, and Prince beat out some of the best-looking dudes in Hollywood to win the award for the guys. According to my source over in our Vegetarian Campaigns department, Heroes star Milo Ventimiglia has taken an early lead in the voting, and Bryce Dallas Howard, who's starring in this summer's Spiderman 3—which, if the box office numbers are anything to go by, everyone in the country has seen a couple of times already—is currently inching ahead in the votes for the ladies.

Remember, it's not that meat-eaters can't be sexy. It's just that they could be sexier. You can pick your favorite vegetarian celebrity by clicking here. I will be voting for Alyssa Milano. Multiple times. Just FYI.

Mercy for Animals, an animal rights group based in Ohio, has just released video footage of an undercover investigation into a House of Raeford Farms slaughterhouse in North Carolina. House of Raeford Farms, which is one of the biggest turkey processors in the country and supplies companies such as Denny’s and Arby’s, turned 250 million pounds of live turkeys into dead turkeys in 2006 and raked in about 276 million bucks for their efforts. If this video is anything to go by, they're not putting an awful lot of that money back into animal welfare. But, as Mercy for Animals point out on their website, the workers responsible for the abuse can't even be charged under federal law, because the USDA's Humane Slaughter Act doesn't protect turkeys and chickens. The blasé attitude towards unbearable suffering and the outright sadism that you can see on this video turns up again and again and again when one of these hellholes is exposed, but you can bet that the poultry industry is going to act like this is an isolated incident and do everything they can to fight the PR fallout, and the absolute bare minimum to correct the abuses this investigation has uncovered. There are hundreds of great reasons for going vegetarian, but honestly, this is the only one you'll ever need:

Have you ever wondered what it would be like if hundreds of dogs took over a brewpub? Well, people in Portland, OR, found out yesterday, at the annual Portland “Pug Crawl”, a benefit for the Oregon Humane Society. The event was basically a traditional pub crawl, but dogs were invited along as well.

Cute Overload eat your heart out.

This little guy’s outfit served two purposes, it protected him from the ever present Portland drizzle, and was a great entree into conversations about KFC cruelty.

Thanks to Donna from Portland for the pics and “Pug Crawl” report.