Greetings from peta2!

Being the wild youth that we are over at peta2, since Jack is away we thought we'd take this opportunity to, well, bum rush the blog and tell you what's going on in our neck of the woods. And there's a lot.

Right now we're in the midst of a SuicideGirls blitz. More than 40 nearly nude SuicideGirls—45 to be exact—stripped down to their tats and piercings to star in a series of provocative new "Ink, Not Mink" and "I'd Rather Go Naked Than Wear Fur" anti-fur ads for peta2. The SuicideGirls for those of you not in the know, are members of a 1,500-strong all-female online pin-up community.

The ads, which are a bit risqué for some of peta2's younger visitors, are being released throughout the month on peta2's MySpace page where you'll be able to read blogs from some of the SuicideGirls who took part in the campaign.

We launched the super sexy ads at a big bash at The Roxy in LA on Valentine's Night, where there was standing room only. Nicole, who has been tirelessly working on this campaign since October, had this to say about the party, "We were thrilled to see that so many people came out to party with peta2 and the SuicideGirls to support such a great cause! And the ads turned out beautifully!"

Check out some of the pix of the event.













xox

Patricia

While Jack is away in Cali, I pledged that I wouldn't make The PETA Files too girly. Not that I'm really known to be the type of girl who focuses on clothes or make-up more than, say, how the Saints are a better football team than the Redskins. But in the absence of the second-best PETA blogger, I vowed to keep girl talk to a bare minimum—that is, until I found a reason to write about H&M.

In addition to turning out trendy clothing that is both affordable and stylish enough for all of us hipster wannabes (Jack included), H&M is now on my list of top places to shop for an even better reason. The international retail giant has pledged to stop buying cruelly produced Australian wool!

That's right! In addition to already carrying a wide variety of synthetic leather purses and an abundance of cruelty-free clothing, H&M is going a step further by pledging to buy more wool from countries that don't use mulesing—the crudest, cruelest, and cheapest method used for flystrike "prevention." H&M also vows to ensure that the Australian merino wool used in its designs comes only from farmers that don't practice mulesing.

To learn more about mulesing—in which Australian farmers use shears to cut chunks of skin and flesh from lambs' backsides, without any painkillers—please visit SaveTheSheep.com.

- Amy

I’ll leave the historians to argue about how accurate that Lincoln quote is, but it’s a hell of a nice sentiment. While we’re waiting for them to figure that out, here are some other historical animal lovers for your viewing pleasure.

I almost forgot! I’m going to be away next week in sunny Berkeley, California, but my arch-rival Amy Cook, whom you may know from the Veg Cooking Files (or whatever it is she calls her blog) will be running the show in my absence. What Amy lacks in worldliness and savoir faire, she makes up for with a certain plodding intellect (she’s also a keen typist), so you’ll be in good hands until I return. Amy is also a lot prettier than I am, so please don’t get too attached before I come back next Friday. Have a great week!