Written by PETA
One unaltered female cat and her offspring can produce an estimated 420,000 cats in only seven years, and a female dog and her offspring can produce 67,000 puppies in six years.
With that in mind, here are my personal favorites among the many videos we’ve produced over the past couple of years to raise awareness about this issue. Let me know which one you think is the most effective. And have a glorious Spay Day.
And just in case you need even more Spay Day inspiration, check out this great story about a Michigan group who are doing their part to end animal overpopulation.
Janez Drnovsek, the Slovenian president who led his country to independence in 1991, died this weekend at the age of 57. Mr. Drnovsek’s prodigious accomplishments included building a stable democracy in Slovenia and preparing the way for his country to join the European Union in 2004. He was also passionate about animal rights: An ethical vegan, Drnovsek urged Slovenians to be kind to animals with the same keen awareness of the suffering of others that gained him a reputation as a champion for oppressed people and a progressive leader who refused to stay silent in the face of injustice. Drnovsek became vegetarian after he was diagnosed with cancer in 1999, and he credited his diet with prolonging his life as he battled the disease over the next nine years. In a 2005 interview, he discussed the philosophy behind his decision to adopt a vegan diet:
“If we think for a moment how man manages animals and what impact he has on animal world, we could say he was not human at all. Just think of all slaughterhouses and production of beef or poultry where conditions for animals are impossible. … It is not that people are bad—they just don't think about it. When the final product is in front of them on the plate, they don't think what was has been before and how it got to this stage.”
Drnovsek was a man of principle, courage, and most of all, compassion, and his example inspired countless people to look with fresh eyes on the world around them and live their lives in a way that showed kindness to all beings. He will be greatly missed.
I’ve written about these Colonel Sanders effigy-burnings before, but this video really shows just how striking these demonstrations can be. This one’s from a protest in Pittsburgh earlier this month.
If you want to organize your own demonstration against KFC, (no need to get quite so fancy as this—a few friends and some simple signs is all it takes), we can walk you through the process.
Topshop is one of Britain’s largest clothing retailers, and for a long time now, they’ve been busy doing for animal-free fashion what the Body Shop has done for cruelty-free cosmetics. Not only do they refuse to sell fur or exotic skins, but they advertise their ethical choices with pride. In 2006, they filled the window of their flagship store in London with this beautiful anti-fur display, and this week, they’ve outdone themselves. Check out their latest display, which draws attention to the cruelty inherent in the exotic-skins trade. It’s a piece of art.
Twenty-one-year-old Flagstaff resident Rachel Feather knows about making sacrifices—not only does she (apparently voluntarily) live in Flagstaff, but she’s recently given up her own name to help PETA make a point. Heretofore, Ms. Feather will be known as FishingHurts to friends and family, having legally changed her name as a way of starting conversations about how fish experience stress and pain just like chickens, cows, pigs, cats, and dogs, and—conveniently for us—directing people to PETA’s pro-fish website FishingHurts.com.
FishingHurts, who has been vegetarian since she was 13, calls fish the "forgotten animal" and was adamant that her name-change be used to help her finned friends, who tend to get overlooked even by people who are good enough to recognize that land animals deserve our compassion. As FH puts it, "Fish should be respected, not mutilated on hooks or dragged up from the sea. I'll remind people of that every time they say or read my name."
A big thanks to FishingHurts for making what’s honestly a really big change in her life to help draw attention to the horrific practices inherent in the industrialized slaughter of fish. Amazing stuff.
Also, to make up for my gratuitous slander of Flagstaff, Arizona, for the sake of a cheap laugh, here are three fun facts about that fine city—which is already that much more beautiful for numbering compassionate souls like FishingHurts (née Rachel Feather) amongst its citizens:
1.) Flagstaff is the birthplace of singer Michelle Branch, actor Ted Danson, and astronomer Clyde Tombaugh—who discovered the (now ex-) planet Pluto in 1930.
2.) Flagstaff has an annual rainfall of 23 inches and an annual snowfall of 110 inches.
3.) Getting back to the animal-friendly theme here, Flagstaff is home to the confusingly named New Jersey Pizza Company, which serves a delicious assortment of soy cheese pizzas to Arizona’s vegans and soy-cheese enthusiasts.
So yay, Flagstaff. And yay, Rachel FishingHurts. Keep up the great work.
I’m back! I hope reading Amy’s posts wasn’t too much of a trial in my absence. If, for some reason, you find yourself missing her unique stylistic flair now that I’m back, you can still get a daily dose of Ms. Cook on PETA’s Veg Cooking blog. Fair warning, though: All of the posts are about cooking stuff, from what I can tell. The woman has an obsession with food.
Speaking of food, here’s a great little spoof on the cooking show format that was made for us by PETA member Eric Steinman. It’s called Cooking With Liz:
-Jack
Deflocked, baby. Deflocked.
To check out the archives of past strips, click here.
Sometimes it’s kind of hard for people to make the connection between their pets and the animals they eat, so here are some masks our Production department made to help with that. What do you think?
In case you haven't heard of him, Tom Regan is a philosophy professor at NC State who has been one of the most important and compelling advocates for animal rights in the academic world since early on in the movement. His clarity of expression and his passion for the subject make his thinking accessible to anyone—whether they've studied philosophy or not—and this video, which I discovered recently on YouTube, is a great example of Professor Regan's prodigious abilities, both as a thinker and as an advocate for animals.
The excerpt is from a debate that took place in 1989 for the BBC—it's well worth watching and passing around to friends who may be new to the philosophy behind animal rights.
My boss, Tracy, sent me this great photo her brother Brad took last week while he was touring Russia with the Rolling Stones (yeah, I know, some people just end up with really fun jobs). Here's what Brad said about the image:
"This photo was taken on a back street around the "Novisky Prospekt" neighborhood of St.Petersburg. I was surprised and pleased to see this message in a place where most of the kids you see are homeless and just looking for their next meal or a stronger solvent to inhale. Most of the graffiti I saw in these neighborhoods reflected the blossoming "white power" or "russia for russians" movements at a time when skinheads have just beaten to death 4 African exchange students in St Peterburg. For this reason, this pleasant image really caught my attention with its positive message."
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.
Follow PETA on Twitter!