Written by PETA
In a recent interview with Maxim magazine, longtime vegan animal defender Woody Harrelson talks about the chance encounter that made him go vegan. He says that "[t]he first thing was dairy. I was about 24 years old and I had tons of acne and mucus. I met some random girl on a bus who told me to quit dairy and all those symptoms would go away three days later. By God she was right."
I'm curious about how the actual conversation went down. "Hey, stranger! Your skin is gross. Go vegan!" seems a bit harsh, but if it worked ...
The star of Zombieland then realized that eating hamburgers and steak made him feel—and act—like the living dead, so meat was nixed from his menu too.
So tell us: How did you get the push you needed to go vegan?
Written by Shawna Flavell
Academy Award–winning actor and animal advocate extraordinaire Kim Basinger has stepped up, yet again, to speak up for animals who are skinned alive for their fur.
Kim's classic anti-fur ad was one of the first in PETA's "Rather Go Naked Than Wear Fur" campaign, and the issue remains vitally important to her. Today she sent a letter to leading Chinese designer Luo Zheng reminding her that there's nothing fashionable about using the skins of dead animals in her designs. Kim writes:
As you may know, this is an issue that is very dear to my heart. I have avoided wearing real fur for many years …. PETA's heartrending investigations have documented that animals, including dogs and cats, are bludgeoned, hanged, bled to death, strangled with wire nooses, and skinned alive. Workers have been caught beating raccoons, dogs and foxes with metal rods and leaving them to convulse on the ground. Some animals are injured but still completely conscious as they are skinned, and they kick and writhe as their skin is ripped from their bodies.
As you may know, this is an issue that is very dear to my heart. I have avoided wearing real fur for many years ….
PETA's heartrending investigations have documented that animals, including dogs and cats, are bludgeoned, hanged, bled to death, strangled with wire nooses, and skinned alive. Workers have been caught beating raccoons, dogs and foxes with metal rods and leaving them to convulse on the ground. Some animals are injured but still completely conscious as they are skinned, and they kick and writhe as their skin is ripped from their bodies.
As China's leading designer, Zheng could have a huge influence on the fashion world by joining compassionate, world-class designers such as Qi Gang, Stella McCartney, Betsey Johnson, Vivienne Westwood, and Todd Oldham who have already refused to use fur.
Take a cue from Kim, and tell another behind-the-times designer that fur is cruel and outdated.
Written by Heather Drennan
With Yom Kippur just around the corner, we'd like to urge all our Jewish readers to speak out against the killing of chickens for kapporos.
Kapporos is a sacrificial ritual that takes place on the eve of Yom Kippur. This ritual is sometimes performed by swinging a live chicken around the head three times and then slaughtering the terrified, abused bird. In Brooklyn alone, 50,000 chickens are killed every year during kapporos ceremonies.
Rabbi Joseph Karo, who composed the Shulchan Aruch (an important codification of Jewish law), wrote that killing an animal for kapporos is "a foolish custom."
Using money instead of live chickens to perform the kapporos ritual is an acceptable substitute for outdated chicken sacrifices, which all compassionate Jews should condemn.
After all, you can't expect forgiveness and mercy when you have blood on your hands.
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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.