Confronted by PETA over misleading propaganda, Papa John's has amended its opposition statement to remove outright falsehoods since it's clear that calves suffer miserably when their horn buds are burnt off or developing horns are gouged out or cut off. 

What Papa John's really needs to do is to stop opposing PETA's shareholder resolution and take decisive action to stop its suppliers from dehorning cows. 

The following was originally published on February 28, 2013:

Owning stock in a company allows PETA to suggest policy changes, attend annual meetings, and propose resolutions to help animals in a way that can't be easily ignored. Unfortunately, this doesn't guarantee that corporate bigwigs won't dig in their heels and refuse to make simple changes that would reduce cruelty to animals nor stop them from trying to mislead other stockholders about PETA's resolution—as pizza giant Papa John's has done in response to a proposal to address the painful dehorning of cows on the dairy factory farms in the company's supply chain. Now PETA is calling on the pizza giant to set the record straight by removing falsehoods and misinformation from its statement of opposition to PETA's resolution.

As shown in PETA's video exposé of dehorning, narrated by Oscar-nominated actor Casey Affleck, workers on dairy farms burn searing-hot irons into calves' heads to destroy horn tissue or use sharp instruments or other tools to saw off, gouge out, or cut off the horn and sometimes the surrounding tissue. Cows struggle desperately during these procedures, which are typically performed without the use of pain relief. Dairy farmers can easily eliminate this cruel, expensive, and labor-intensive procedure by breeding for polled (hornless) cattle, which causes at least half the calves to be born hornless since the polled gene is dominant.

Both common sense and scientific evidence reveal that calves suffer from agonizing pain when their sensitive tissue is burned or sawed off or gouged out of their heads. It's time for Papa John's to stop pretending and come clean about the cruelty of dehorning—and then take decisive action to stop it.

What You Can Do

Cow's milk is vile and unhealthy stuff—don't swallow it. Live (and let live) better, the dairy-free vegan way! 

I was already stoked about PETA's Marketing Department's upcoming move to Los Angeles, but after watching this exclusive footage of PETA peeps at Cruzer Pizza—the city's all-vegan pizzeria—I'm ready to get on the next flight and finish the construction of our new office myself. Check out the epic culinary journey of Royale, our Twitterer and veganista extraordinaire, and Lauren, our celebrity marketing coordinator, who went behind the scenes to help choose the ingredients in Cruzer's new "PETA" pizza.

Free of cholesterol, trans fat, and cruelty, the vegan pizza at Cruzer has 33 percent less fat than do pizzas made with dairy ingredients. And the only torment involved is that it makes those of us here on the East Coast salivate. So if you're in the area, stop by Cruzer Pizza and make sure to order the PETA (a portion of the proceeds is donated to us)!

Written by Logan Scherer

The following is a guest post from peta2's Marta.

Can a group of 11- to 14-year-olds from San Diego get people to eat less meat? The Sandy LEGO Beachbots can! The Beachbots build LEGO robots for competitions (where they sometimes give out vegan pizza), and they've also launched an initiative called Kids Keep the Earth Cool to persuade people to eat less meat by showing them the connection between animal agriculture and climate change.

We're really impressed with what they're doing and had to learn more. Check out what Brennan (one of the Beachbots) had to say:

How did the Sandy LEGO Beachbots come about, and what do you guys do?
We do First LEGO League, which is an international LEGO robotics competition. FLL involves building and programming a LEGO robot to do certain missions. These missions are based around a certain theme, and the teams competing also have to do a project on this theme and present a presentation to the judges. We have been doing this for six years now, with various team members.

Tell us about your robot design and how you incorporate veganism.
Our robot design itself isn't really related to vegetarianism—that is our solution to this year's project! The theme this year is climate change. Some of our team members (including me) were already vegetarians, so we decided to do our project on how vegetarianism relates to global warming.

How long have you been vegetarian? Do you have a favorite vegetarian recipe?
My sisters and I have been vegetarians since birth—our mom, the coach, is also a vegetarian. A favorite recipe? I don't know—there are tons of great recipes out there. One of my favorites is the vegetarian lasagne my mom makes.

Do you have a recommendation for people who are not quite ready to make the full transition to vegetarianism yet?
If you aren't ready to completely give up meat, reducing your meat consumption still has a huge effect! If you reduce your meat consumption by only six meatless days a month, it has the same affect as switching from a sedan to a hybrid vehicle.

Are there any other animal rights issues that are important to you?
I personally am opposed to the use of animals … in any way [that] harms them. There are much better ways to do things that do not involve hurting or killing the other inhabitants of this Earth!

Isn't Brennan awesome? Check out the Web site that he and the other Sandy LEGO Beachbots made—www.kidskeeptheearthcool.org.

We love what the Beachbots are doing so much that we're giving them a Compassionate Kids Award. As the Beachbots say, "Eating a bean burrito instead of meat helps save the world!"

Written by Marta Holmberg

heraldinteractive / CC

Quick: Who wins the cheese, the mouse or the mob boss? Answer: No one wins. In this unusual game of cat and mouse, the cheese is clearly the villain. Just ask reputed Boston Mafia godfather Carmen "The Cheeseman" DiNunzio, who, according to the Boston Herald, has been locked in his home under house arrest since May for his part in an alleged bribe.

It's clear that this "big cheese"—who earned his name after his local cheese shop and who weighs in at a whopping 400 lbs.—has done his time gorging on gouda and snacking on Swiss. Following a request from his doctor, the court will now allow DiNunzio to leave his home for two hours each day so that he can hit the gym and lose the pounds that are putting extra strain on his already bad heart and diabetes.

His doctor recently told the court, "I need him to have at least 30 minutes a day of sustained aerobic exercise. The best exercise he can do is sustained walking allowing for both arm and leg exercise."

OK, I'm confused. Wouldn't a reputed Wise Guy who is under house arrest for allegedly receiving money most likely be able to afford a mail-order Bowflex?

Well, regardless, we say: Hey, Big D! Drop that cheese! And listen up to our little business proposition. Yes, we sent "The Cheeseman" his very own delicious nondairy cheese pizza from Boston's own T.J. Scallywaggle's—recently voted one of the top 10 vegan-friendly pizzerias in the U.S.! We'd tell him to go there, but you know, he's a shut-in.

We suggest that Mr. DiNunzio try stocking his cupboards full of nondairy treats that aren't full of artery-clogging fat and cholesterol, like their dairy counterparts, if he really wants to whack those unhealthy pounds. He certainly has the time to cook up some tomato sauce for that spaghetti, a side of broccoli with garlic, and some pure vegetable minestrone. He will be getting those recipes and a copy of our "Vegetarian Starter Kit." You know, for some leisurely reading?

Written by Jennifer Cierlitsky