Written by PETA
If "fantasy football" for you means a stadium where healthy foods are more abundant than foam fingers, check out this year's ranking of the top five most vegetarian-friendly stadiums in the NFL.
Scoring honorable mentions are the San Diego Chargers' Qualcomm Stadium, the Seattle Seahawks' CenturyLink Field, the San Francisco 49ers' Candlestick Park, and the Detroit Lions' Ford Field.
Football fans don't have to leave their health to a last-minute Hail Mary. They can start and finish strong with foods that don't cause unnecessary roughness to their bodies or to animals and that taste so good that fans won't care if they get fined for excessive celebration.
Written by Michelle Sherrow
San Francisco Animal Care and Control is so overrun with abandoned Chihuahuas that the dogs are being flown across the country by Virgin America to an animal shelter in New York. The little pups are traveling de primera clase in the main cabin, but they wouldn't have to make the journey at all if it weren't for people who acquire animals on a whim, only to discard them after they realize that they require more than occasional pats on the head and doggie treats.
Celebrities like Paris Hilton, who portray "purse pups" as accessories instead of living beings who require a lifetime of care, are largely to blame, as are movies like Beverly Hills Chihuahua, which also cause a rush on the "dog of the moment."
Compounding the problem are the people who purchase puppies from breeders and pet stores (which usually obtain their dogs from puppy mills), instead of adopting any of the millions of dogs waiting in animal shelters for a home.
Hopefully, the media buzz created by the Chihuahua airlifts will inspire more people to give shelter dogs the buenas familias that they deserve.
Besides being cruel, using poison to control wildlife is dangerous because children and animal companions can easily ingest it—and this can have fatal consequences. Recently, seven children in San Francisco ate rat poison that they found at their middle school, mistaking the blue cubes for candy. The children were taken to nearby hospitals and, fortunately, are all right.
The only way to ensure that children and animal companions don't ingest rat, mice, insect, or other poisons is not to buy the deadly chemicals. Many great live traps are available, such as PETA's Humane Smart Mousetrap, which uses a small plastic hut and peanut butter to safely catch animals so that they can be released outside with no harm done to them or anyone else. There are also many effective ways to animal-proof a building so that critters can't get inside in the first place.
San Francisco's Board of Supervisors has voted to require restaurant kids' meals that come with free toys to contain fewer than 600 calories, include fruits and veggies, and exclude fat- and sugar-laden beverages. And (surprise!) McDonald's Happy Meal doesn't make the cut.
As a kid (before I went vegetarian "cold turkey" at age 10 after realizing that meat comes from a living, breathing being), I would beg my parents to take me to Mickey D's for the latest cheap plastic doodad. I couldn't have cared less about the fat-and-cholesterol bomb in a bun that came with it, but the toy lured me (and my parents) to the drive-through month after month.
With 15 percent of American children now classified as overweight or obese—putting them in danger of serious health problems including heart disease, diabetes, and cancer—stopping restaurants like McDonald's from using "kid bait" to market unhealthy animal flesh to children seems like a pretty good idea to this former Happy Meal lover.
Written by Lindsay Pollard-Post
Healthy, humane alternatives to cruelly produced dairy products continued to make headlines this week. An executive order signed earlier this year by San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom has gone into effect requiring city vending machines to be stocked with soy and rice milks in an effort to curb obesity rates and improve consumers' overall health.
Considering San Fran's healthy and humane options in vending machines and L.A.'s dairy-free delight, the "Pamela Anderson" milkshake, California almost seems like heaven on Earth. Please take a minute to thank Mayor Newsom for his decision to provide his city with healthier, humane beverages.
Written by Karin Bennett
PETA's presence was felt by Australian wool producers who are attending a weeklong international trade meeting in San Francisco. Yesterday, 120 protesters made a striking appearance as they gathered outside the conference building and denounced industry executives for allowing wool producers to abandon their commitment to ending the bloody and painful practice of mulesing this year.
Leading designers and retailers around the world—including Gap Inc., Timberland, Abercrombie & Fitch, Limited Brands, Liz Claiborne, HUGO BOSS, and Perry Ellis—have pledged to move away from wool that comes from mulesed sheep or have instituted an outright ban on it.
Shoppers can make a difference by turning their backs on wool altogether.
Written by Jennifer O'Connor
The latest animal-friendly news from California makes me want to shout the state's motto and make the big move ASAP.
First, the California Assembly overwhelmingly passed a law that would require that all fur products be labeled with the type of animal (or faux fabric) and the country of origin. This would close a loophole in federal law that allows clothing with less than $150 worth of fur to be sold without any label identifying it as real fur, and it will stop many people from mistakenly buying real fur when they intended to buy faux.
The fur labeling bill is now headed to the State Senate, so if you have the good fortune to live in California, please urge your state senators to vote for it.
And that's not all! If you live in San Francisco, get ready to celebrate the city's first Meat-Free Monday, aka "Veg Day." San Francisco's Board of super-savvy Supervisors approved a resolution that calls on the city's restaurants, grocery stores, and schools to recognize the health and environmental benefits of meat-free meals. A plant-based diet also saves animals from the horrors of factory farming and slaughter.
For all you non-Californians, encourage your state and local politicians to follow California's example and make a commitment to helping animals, the planet, and their constituents' health. In the meantime, you can celebrate your own cruelty-free closet and table every day of the week.
California, here I come!
Written by Heather Faraid Drennan
As the home of Western Europe's largest Muslim population, it's not surprising that France is experiencing a boom in halal food sales. But in their zeal to cater to the second-largest religious group in the world, food retailers are marketing so-called "halal" foie gras. Because Mohammed (PBUH) admonished his followers always to be kind to animals, good Muslims know that it is forbidden (haram) to deliberately harm an animal before taking that life. So how on Earth could it be remotely halal (approved) to produce foie gras, the "delicacy of despair," which requires ramming a metal pipe down birds' throats and pumping corn mush into their stomachs until their livers become diseased and enlarge to up to 10 times their normal size? I can't think of any way that force-feeding can be done so that it complies with Islamic law.
You can find out more about Islam and animals at IslamicConcern.com.
Written by Logan Scherer
During the first weeks of spring, wearing a T-shirt sans jacket is a feeling that can't be beat. Actually, I take that back—wearing a T-shirt with an animal-friendly message sans jacket is the only thing that can beat that, which is why for this week's "Win It" Wednesday, we're putting the tee in generosity by giving away these 100 percent organic cotton shirts from Italy-based Tippitappi:
How do you win? Tell us all about the places you'll go while sporting one of these tees with a message. The three readers whose must-see spring hot spots most make us want to get out of our seats and travel will each get to choose the shirt of his or her choice from the five shirts pictured above.
The contest ends on April 21, 2010, and we'll pick the winners on April 23, 2010. Be sure to read our privacy policy and terms and conditions, as you're agreeing to both by commenting. Good luck!
Follow PETA on Twitter!
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.