Written by PETA
Most of us here at PETA adore sweets, but we've got zero tolerance for sugarcoating—the truth, that is. That's why we're planning to run this public service announcement in Mackinac Island, Michigan, the hometown of Sadie, who was crowned "top dog" (after a slight interruption) at Westminster on Tuesday night.
We want residents of Mackinac Island and beyond to wise up: A "win" at Westminster is no cause for celebration. In fact, a mass funeral might be more fitting.
Bottom line: Every person who purchases a puppy or kitten from a pimp breeder or pet shop (or obtains one from the "free" ads) is signing a death certificate for an animal in an open-admission shelter. I think PETA President Ingrid E. Newkirk said it best: "[P]eople don't see themselves as signing some animal's death warrant when they sign their credit card receipt, but that's what they are doing." That's not a half-baked notion cooked up by animal protectionists—it's simple math. There aren't enough homes. And dog shows such as Westminster feed the myth that a French bulldog puppy is somehow "superior" to a lop-eared, one-of-a-kind mutt.
Au contraire!
Remember Uno, the beagle who bayed his way into first place at Westminster two years ago? Just months after Uno's win, I was searching for a new friend in animal shelters in New York City, and I was struck by the number of barely housetrained beagle babies who were pawing at the cage walls. Apparently, a lot of fickle viewers who watched Uno at Westminster scrambled to buy their own beagles—and then realized that they didn't want to deal with the ear-piercing baying, crack-of-dawn walks, or chewed-up Manolo's. (BTW—I, too, am a sucker for big, brown eyes. It's why a lumpy old furry gal named Lucy, who spent her first seven or so years sleeping on the streets, now snores beside me every night.)
True love can come in all shapes and sizes—with floppy ears, crooked teeth, and mismatched eyes. And true love can be easy to find at the local animal shelter. PETA is determined to save lives by sending this message to all would-be animal parents: Always adopt from animal shelters, never buy from pet stores or breeders, and always spay or neuter your four-legged friends. Will you help?
Written by Karin Bennett
I'd be willing to bet my lucky four-leaf clover that carrying a rabbit's foot only brings nightmares of screaming cottontails. On the other hand, I do believe the folks who say that these delightful little three-legged pigs will bring good luck to giftees. I mean, just look at them:
I get giddy when I imagine the good fortune that I'll receive after I toss a handful of salt from my lucky piggy salt shaker over my shoulder. I'll have to wait until my birthday rolls around in June to score my own set (hint, hint), but you can receive yours much sooner just by telling us about a superstition that you just can't shake. Don't have one? Make one up. I did: Whenever Tim and I are out and about and a streetlight burns out over our heads, I plant one on his kisser. I know it's corny, but we don't see many shooting stars here in the city.
You know you want 'em, so post a comment that gets us feeling superstitious and you might win. We've got one set to give away to the person who posts the most creative entry.
The contest ends on March 3, 2010, and we'll choose one winner on March 5, 2010. Be sure to read our privacy policy and terms and conditions, as you're agreeing to both by commenting.
Good luck!
"They buy them as babies," said the officer on the scene. "They don't realize it's going to get to be hundreds of pounds, eat an awful lot of food and become dangerous." I can picture Joe Schmo at home with his 6-month-old tiger now ... wow! Who knew a hyper-carnivorous alpha predator with 1,000 lbs. bite strength could eat so much? And wow, she's already way too big for a doghouse!
Sadly, it's actually become quite a trend to have a tiger, as 15,000 are kept as "pets" in the States. Since most of the shortsighted people looking to acquire an exotic animal on the black market don't happen to live in a 400-square-mile forest, when adopted into civilian homes, tigers face futures filled with malnutrition, loneliness, and captivity-induced mental illness. Now, while pondering to make the wonderfully progressive decision to write a letter or support a tiger sanctuary, if you want, you can still go ahead and spit.
Posted by Missy Lane
The one from The Dallas Morning News is my favorite, but I must say that the NY Post gets extra credit for including a photo of the fur hag editor of Vogue Anna Wintour with pie on her face.
I really believe the tide has turned on this issue. Prada shows its first fur-free line in decades, other heavy hitters like Calvin Klein, Marc Bouwer, Betsey Johnson, Stella Mccartney, Kenneth Cole, and Ralph Lauren are all fur-free now, and huge retailers like J.Crew, Limited Brands, Ann Taylor, Banana Republic, and The Gap refuse to sell real fur.
It's a tough time to be a fur pimp.
The high school I went to was a small Catholic school in DC called St. Anselm's Abbey School, which was run by Benedictine monks. Although it was pretty stressful academically—and kind of traumatizing that there were no girls there—the experience was one of the best of my life, in no small part because of the powerful example of wisdom and kindness that all of the monks provided, both in their teaching and in their daily life. (I also really liked the fact that we had a ping pong table in our senior lounge, but that's a different story.) But the point here is, as those of you who have seen the huge breaking investigation on the front page of our website will have guessed, that my personal experience with the genuine compassion that's a fundamental part of the Catholic monastic tradition has made it even more difficult for me to try to comprehend the tragic blindness to horrifying cruelty that is shown by the monks at the Mepkin Abbey, who run an egg factory farm to fund their South Carolina monastery.
One of the worst parts of this video for me is when a monk compares the process of forced molting to a fast that he and his brethren practice to show their devotion to God. The difference—for the benefit of any Mepkin Abbey monks who happen to be reading this—is that a fast is a voluntary religious practice, while forced molting is an excruciating torture in which chickens who are already crammed together in cages so small that they barely have room to spread their wings are starved for up to two weeks to shock their bodies into another laying cycle.
Before I get too carried away here, the point I want to make is that, while torturing birds is particularly reprehensible when you find out that the people who are doing it should damn well know better (because, for instance, they're monks, for God's sake), the truth is that most of the horrific practices documented in our investigation are industry standard. If you're looking for something to give up this Lent, please think seriously about giving up eggs. You can always give up chocolate next year.
I’ve talked before about my friend Dan Mathews, PETA’s fancypants VP, who spends his life jetting around the world getting celebs on board with our campaigns, disrupting fashion shows, and sometimes ending up in the slammer. Every time Dan gets home from a trip, he has another amazing story to tell.
One of Dan's best qualities is that no matter how serious the issue is that he’s working on, he never lets it get him down. He always finds a way to have fun and make our campaigns accessible to everyone. Dan once told me that the way he’s been able to keep working at his crazy pace for so many years is that his first thought when he wakes up every morning is not about work or politics or animal rights or anything like that—it's “How can I have fun today?” That's some pretty solid advice for anyone, and something I should probably try and remember next time I throw my alarm clock across the room at 6:30 a.m. (I'm not quite the morning person Dan Mathews is).
Anyway, the reason for this whole love fest is that Dan just finished writing his first book, Committed: A Rabble Rouser’s Memoir. The book isn’t out until April, but the buzz is already starting, as the crazy stories in it are starting to get leaked. I just saw this one about Chrissie Hynde getting arrested for protesting The Gap right after the company offered her $100,000 to use one of her songs in a commercial and Pam Anderson shooting this ad ... while she was six months pregnant:
Don’t think she looks six months pregnant? During the shoot, Pam told Dan, "Don’t worry. Nowadays, they can airbrush out a baby as easily as a birthmark." Priceless. The book is out April 17, and I'm actually really looking forward to it. If you're interested, you can pre-order that bad boy here.
OK, so admittedly I’m not the world’s biggest fashionista, but even I know that Prada is a big deal in the fashion world. Like, the biggest deal there is. So this is just beyond incredible.
Not even 24 hours after a PETA Europe member disrupted the Prada fashion show at Milan Fashion Week, and less than a month since PETA reps showed this video to Prada execs in Milan, the mood has swung 180 degrees and founder Miuccia Prada received a bouquet of roses from PETA Europe this morning. The sudden about-face happened because, for the first time in decades—yes, I mean literally decades—there wasn’t a single fur item in Prada’s fall/winter collection. And check this: Miuccia Prada herself said that she is “bored” with real fur. It seems that Prada has finally realized what we’ve been saying for years, that designing with fur is unimaginative as hell, not to mention cruel.
Prada’s new line is called “Fake Classic”—I love it. Check out this incredible orange faux-fur coat. I guess this is what “Fake Classic” means.
Prada’s announcement is making headlines worldwide, but my favorite one so far is from a huge paper in Australia: “Animal liberationists scored a victory today when Milan's style matron, Miuccia Prada, proclaimed she was bored with fur.” Are we on a roll or what? We finished up last year with heavyweights Kenneth Cole, J.Crew, Ann Taylor, and Ralph Lauren going fur free, started this year off with a bang with the Marc Bouwer show, and now this amazing news from Prada.
It all just makes Burberry seem that much more out of touch.
Check this ish out—this piece in our local paper brought a smile to my face today, since all of us here at PETA are gonna be out in the freezing cold tomorrow night protesting opening night of the Ringling Bros. Circus.
And they included this beautiful photo of some local kids at an anti-Ringling demonstration. Love it.
I'm kicking myself today because I ended up deciding not to watch the Daytona 500 this weekend after everyone I invited told me they'd rather watch paint dry. The only other person I know of here at work who's into car racing is Ingrid Newkirk, but you don't exactly call the big boss up on a Sunday morning and invite her round for a couple of sixers, some vegan bratwurst, and four hours of restrictor plate racing. Besides, Ingrid's big thing is Formula 1 (click here for more on that)—I don't know how she feels about stock cars. Anyway, it turns out that not only did I miss one of the most exciting races in NASCAR history, but a few of my colleagues actually got to go! Admittedly, they had to attend the event wearing nothing but skimpy yellow bikinis and spend the entire time holding signs and passing out faux chicken and anti-KFC leaflets to surprised NASCAR fans, but I totally would have done all that for a free ticket. OK, maybe not. Check it out though—the girls were a huge hit with everyone except the police.
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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