Written by Jeff Mackey
Hey, Soul Sister! PETA has sent an urgent letter to the rock band Train urging the group to cancel their performance at KFC's franchisee convention in San Antonio—or else face the music from PETA supporters—because of KFC's refusal to stop its suppliers' cruelty to chickens.
Many of the top names in music have taken a strong public stand against KFC, including Sir Paul McCartney, Pink, the Smashing Pumpkins, and Chrissie Hynde. Let's hope that Train gets on board, too, but if they take KFC's dirty money, they must carry the company's baggage—and PETA will protest their show.
Even those of us who are not quite famous can tell KFC to take cruelty to chickens off the menu. Sign Pink's petition demanding that KFC require its suppliers to stop abusing birds (and don't eat at its restaurants until it agrees).
Written by Michelle Sherrow
Pink is proving once again that she has a big heart. After someone threw a puppy off a Los Angeles overpass and into the river below, Pink donated $5,000 for emergency surgery, saving the young dog's life.
Actor Dawn Olivieri (of Vampire Diaries fame) might have jumped into the river herself. She told Marie Claire magazine, "I will stop my car if there's a stray animal along the side of the road. I've spent hours trying to catch lost dogs wearing collars so I can help people get their pets back."
There were no animals on Paula Patton's back at the Mission: Impossible—Ghost Protocol premiere in Moscow—her rep tells us that she braved Russia's cold in a faux-fur coat.
Ke$ha recently traveled to the Ukutula Lion Park and Lodge in South Africa to help rehabilitate an orphaned lion cub. Although she fell for the cub (now named Ke$ha), she said, "I was glad to leave my lion, because an animal like that should live in the wild. Keeping [a lion] confined is really just inhumane."
When True Blood star Kristin Bauer thinks something is inhumane, she spells it out. When the actor visits her family, she writes, "Tested on animals" in black marker on her family's products that aren't cruelty-free.
The cruelty-free and fabulous Lea Michele graces DoSomething.org's list of Top 20 Celebs Gone Good for 2011 in honor of her work with PETA, including her ever-present animal-friendly tweets. Case in point:
A new report found that celebrities and their children often inspire baby names among the rest of us. For example, pop singer and PETA supporter Pink's daughter's name, Willow, made a list of top celeb-inspired names.
With the plethora of animal-friendly celebrities out there, people who want to name their baby after someone whose heart is as big as his or her star power have many options to chose from, such as Portia, for a vegan role model who embodies cruelty-free beauty; Taraji, in honor of someone who wears her heart (but never animals) on her sleeve; and Kellan, for a boy who's not afraid to show his sensitive side, especially when it comes to helping animals.
Who knows—maybe next year's top baby names will be Lea or Steve-O or even Metta World Peace.
Which animal-friendly stars do you think have names worthy of consideration for a new bundle of joy?
Written by PETA
Whatever Milwaukee is brewing, we want some of it. We were already rooting for the Brewers because of veggie royalty Prince Fielder, and now we learn that vivacious outfielder Nyjer Morgan, with whom Fielder shares this week's Sports Illustrated cover, attributes his out-of-the-ballpark energy and .306 batting average to his healthy vegetarian diet.
Could Roseanne Barr be the next star to "do a Clinton" and convert to a vegan diet? Extolling the virtues of faux meat and tweeting at McDonald's to stop abusing chickens sounds like a great start.
Eli Roth is such a talented tweeter for animals that we gave him his own web feature. (Wait 'til you see what he says about Go Daddy CEO Bob Parsons. #hilarious.)
Fellow animal-friendly tweeters Pink and Tommy Lee took to Twitter to express their outrage over Indiana's barbaric "snapperfest." And Indiana native Bree Olson was so determined to stop the turtle torture that the Green Goddess posted the local sheriff's department's contact info on her website and asked people to call and complain.
Not to be out-tweeted, Glee star Lea Michele opined about her dream of retiring all the horses who are forced to spend long, hot days hauling around carriages full of tourists in her native New York City.
The next time she visits New York, Lea may spot Whoopi Goldberg out buying toy and treats for the lucky kitten she adopted after he was tossed from a moving car. Adopting instead of buying is catching on across the pond, too, if we can judge by Camilla Parker Bowles and her new rescued pup, Beth. We think dedicated dog guardian Michael Vartan, who stars in this weekend's highly anticipated thriller Colombiana, as well as a new PETA ad, would approve.
While Michael steams up the big screen, fellow PETA pal Bethenny Frankel will be taking over the small one with her new talk show. Will she get naked for animals again? Stay tuned.
To stay up to date on all celebrity/animal happenings, follow PETA on Twitter.
A horse pulling a carriage in New York City collapsed to the ground twice yet was right back waiting at the curb before her driver was challenged by the woman who had been riding in the carriage at the time and who caught most of the horrifying incident on her cell phone. See the woman's emotional confrontation with the driver here (warning: graphic language):
PETA pals Chrissie Hynde, Pink, Lea Michele, and Pamela Anderson have all called for these cruel and dangerous rides to be eliminated. New York City Councilmember Melissa Mark-Viverito has introduced a bill (Intro. 86) that would phase out the industry and replace it with electric-powered antique cars or "green" horseless carriages. Carriage drivers would be given first dibs.
Please never patronize these cruel rides, and e-mail City Council Speaker Christine Quinn to let her know that you support Intro 86.
Written by Jennifer O'Connor
Harry Morton, owner of popular Mexican eatery Pink Taco, had reason to be pink in the face following the public outrage generated over the restaurant's decision to paint a donkey pink and tie her to the sign of his establishment at a busy shopping mall for hours in the blazing Los Angeles heat as part of a Cinco de Mayo marketing promo. PETA compadres including Pink, Stephanie Pratt, Lo Bosworth, and Lea Michele tweeted their disgust at the restaurant’s promotion. PETA immediately wrote to Morton, reminding him of a pledge that he made to PETA back in 2008, when he used the same stunt at the restaurant’s opening.
PETA has received the following statement from Morton, reaffirming his pledge never to use animals in promotions again: “…Pink Taco has agreed not to use animals at our events and promotions and we are looking forward to…discussing how we can work together in the future.”
We hope that this time his pledge is sincere. The message that nobody accepts animal exploitation has been made loud and clear thanks to PETA’s awesome supporters who acted quickly and gave a voice to Pinky the donkey. Together, we make a difference!
Celebrities took to Twitter yesterday to make a huge splash for seals. We asked compassionate celebrity supporters to tweet a message to their fans telling them that the Canadian commercial seal slaughter had begun and including a link to our "It's Time to End the Seal Slaughter" donation page. So many of them responded that our Twitter page looked like an A-list party.
Supporters who spoke up for seals who are bludgeoned and sometimes skinned alive for their fur include Ellen Degeneres, who also posted it on her blog, Pink, Sophia Bush, Daniella Monet, Jayde Nicole, Lea Michele, Vida Guerra, Alicia Silverstone, Dave Navarro, Stephanie Pratt, The Veronicas, Bill Maher, Ian Somerhalder, Diablo Cody, Sasha Grey, and, of course, Honorary PETA Director Pamela Anderson.
Get in on the action! Tweet this link to your Twitter followers: http://bit.ly/gNMLOJ. Or go to our donation page to help stop Canada's barbaric seal slaughter.
Rock icon and animal defender Pink recently fired off a letter to President Obama asking him to find out why the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has closed three investigations into serious allegations of cruelty to animals by the Ringling Bros. circus without taking action. The investigations expired because of the statute of limitations—a delay caused by the USDA, the very department that was supposed to be investigating Ringling!
PETA is challenging the Office of General Counsel to reopen these investigations because the following animals suffered and died while in Ringling's "care":
Five years ago, while still serving as a senator, Barack Obama asked the USDA on PETA's behalf for an update on these pending cases and was assured that appropriate action was being pursued.
The lack of action in these investigations is particularly troubling since government officials have already been found to be in cahoots with Ringling.
We're also calling on the USDA to seize four elephant traveling with Ringling right now who are suffering from painful arthritis. Please don't wait to speak out for these animals—they need you now.
The ever-awesome Pink has just released a new video, "Raise Your Glass," which is filled with both cool and disturbing animal imagery, including a row of women producing breast milk that's being consumed by a calf. (Pink isn't afraid to knock fans out of their complacency!) The video also features an anti-bullfighting segment in which Pink shows a matador how it feels to have someone come at you with a sword.
It's little wonder that Pink's video is so cutting-edge and thought-provoking. After all, it was directed by another PETA friend—the fabulous (and vegan!) Dave Meyers, who directed our sizzling Alicia Silverstone public service announcement.
Watch the video and tell us what you think about Pink's unique way of getting the animal rights messages across.
The prestigious Telly Awards "honor the very best local, regional, and cable television commercials and programs, as well as the finest video and film productions." And guess who just won four—yes, count 'em, four—Tellies this year for outstanding public service announcements (PSAs)? You got it: PETA!
Eli Roth's spot about the link between animal abuse and violence against people took the bronze in the Public Service category.
Both our Thanksgiving PSA, reminding viewers that the holidays can be murder on turkeys and our too-hot-for-TV "Veggie Love" ad took silver awards in the Nonprofit Campaign category.
And my favorite, PETA's "Stolen for Fashion" ad featuring the voices of Pink and Ricky Gervais, also won Nonprofit Campaign silver:
Check it out, and then tell us which PETA PSA is your fave.
Written by Paula Moore
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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.