Last week marked the end of legal public nudity in San Francisco—and you wouldn't expect PETA to sit it out, would you? Several all-star volunteers gathered full-monty style at City Hall to protest the theft of animals' skins by declaring that they are comfortable in their own skin. 

Unlike humans, who can (or at least used to legally be able to) choose how much skin to expose in public, animals raised and killed for their skins often have their flesh unwillingly ripped off their bodies while they're still alive. Please don't ever buy leather, fur, or other items made from animals' skins and fur—choose garments and accessories made from pleather, faux fur, and other cruelty-free materials instead!

A trio of PETA mermaids came ashore at San Francisco's Fisherman's Wharf to remind everyone that "seafood" comes from animals who feel pain and suffer when they're netted or impaled and pulled into an environment in which they can't breathe. After all, who would know better than these hybrid lovelies that fish, lobsters, and other sea-dwellers feel pain and want to live—just as the rest of us do.

What You Can Do

Cut the line on cruel seafood and make vegan fare the catch of the day instead!

Animal advocates are up in arms over San Francisco's new plan for keeping panhandlers off the streets. The city wants to pay panhandlers who are staying in publicly funded housing $75 per week to foster "problem" dogs from San Francisco's animal shelter. But as a letter that PETA sent to Mayor Edward M. Lee points out, "Handing over troubled animals to troubled people will save neither, and it places both at risk of injury, further trauma, and a bad end."

Franco Folini|cc by2.0 

Many homeless people are battling substance-abuse or mental-health issues. If they are unable to adequately meet their own needs, the last thing the city should do is saddle them with the needs of another individual. And while the organizers of the WOOF program (which stands for Wonderful Opportunities for Occupants and Fidos) say that the panhandlers will be screened to weed out anyone who is still living on the streets or is severely mentally ill (emphasis added), they say nothing about the foster caregivers' lack of experience dealing with traumatized dogs with special needs who are "rowdy, hyper or too shy to interact with humans." The last thing the city's most vulnerable dogs need is to be put in a precarious situation and exposed to improper, counterproductive, or (heaven forbid) cruel training methods, which could result in their being bounced from one foster home to another and make their behavior problems worse, not better.

PETA has offered to give San Francisco $10,000—the amount of the private grant that the city received to start the program—if it would instead pay panhandlers to perform any other service for the city, such as leafleting for spaying and neutering. 

Please e-mail Mayor Edward M. Lee and ask him to place the city's indigent population in jobs that won't risk hurting them or dogs.

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.

1. Lincoln Financial Field (Philadelphia Eagles)
   Defending last year's title, Lincoln Financial claims top honors again with a "dream team" of tasty, healthy vegetarian options for Eagles fans. Their taste buds get some Philadelphia freedom from boring burgers and dogs, with faux-steak and "chicken-steak" sandwiches, a brand-new seitan brisket, veggie dogs, black-bean and garden burgers, and vegetable wraps. In premium dining areas, fans can also choose a grilled vegetable hoagie, fresh roasted vegetables, hummus with pita chips, fruit, or a vegetable platter. 
2. O.co Coliseum (Oakland Raiders)
   With the Raiders showing signs this season of turning things around, it's the perfect time for fans to turn around their health by enjoying low-fat, protein-packed, delicious vegetarian meals. The team already has one "super bowl" this year: the delicious veggie burrito bowl. The stadium also offers the classic veggie burrito, veggie dog, and veggie burger in concessions and a chipotle black-bean burger, grilled portobello sandwich, grilled vegetables, hummus, crudités, and fruit in premium areas.
3. Lambeau Field (Green Bay Packers)
   Packers fans might be inspired to do the Aaron Rodgers championship belt touchdown dance after sinking their teeth into a mouthwatering, meat-free bratwurst or veggie burger. They can also stay lean and green with such choices as the grilled vegetable pasta salad, peanutty dan dan noodles, spicy orange chili glass noodles, vegetables with hummus, quinoa, warm black-eyed pea salad, baked potato, and the classic PB&J.  
4. Gillette Stadium (New England Patriots)
   Gillette Stadium has more delicious vegetarian options than the Pats have weapons on offense. This is the stadium's first time on our list, but we're betting that with foods like these, it won't be the last. Choices include a veggie burger and veggie dog, hummus with vegetables, and fruit cups, and in premium areas, a vegetable gyro and a fresh fruit plate.
5. Georgia Dome (Atlanta Falcons)
   Between sampling the delicious vegetarian options and watching Tony Gonzalez climb the all-time receptions list, Georgia Dome is the place to be for animal-friendly football fans. Birds of a feather are flocking to the concessions stands for veggie burgers, veggie dogs, PB&J, vegetables with hummus, salads, and fruit cups. In premium areas, fans can order grilled vegetable pasta salad, peanutty dan dan noodles, spicy orange chili glass noodles, quinoa, warm black-eyed pea salad, or an Eden Organic berry mix.

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

• Puppy and kitty kisses to the city of Toronto for banning retail sales of dogs and cats, which will prevent breeding and give the awesome animals in shelters a greater chance at finding a home. 
• Hisses to Eric Poeschla at the Mayo Clinic, whose creepy experiments with glow-in-the-dark kittens are so nauseating that they make us turn green too.
• Here's something to tweet about: The city of San Francisco requires new buildings to use bird-safe glass.
• Hisses to the owners of a cat boarding facility in Malaysia, who left nearly 300 cats alone and starving for a week. Kisses to the volunteers who broke in to save them and to the Malaysian government for considering a new mandatory $34,000 fine for cruelty to animals. 
• Kisses to Louisville, Kentucky, couple Jessica Pfohl and Florian Speier for offering vegan eco-friendly, low-VOC Unearthed Paints to color our homes in pretty hues without the ugliness of the milk industry.

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.

jmurawski/cc by 2.0

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.

Written by Michelle Sherrow

beth rankin/CC by 2.0

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.

Written by Michelle Sherrow

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