Written by PETA
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!
This week, PETA started a national tour to promote a cruelty-free Thanksgiving. Droves of lucky San Franciscans were the first to receive free Tofurky roasts, kindly donated by Turtle Island Foods.
The only thing I can think of that would be more worthy of thanks than gobbling (sorry, had to) up a succulent, savory Tofurky—while saving the lives of turkeys—would be to get one for free. Luckily for you, our turkeys are strutting their way through cities across the country and giving away roasts at each stop.
Join PETA's Action Team to get updates on upcoming events in your area.
Purrrrr. The San Francisco Board of Supervisors voted Tuesday to make disabling declawing cats illegal, and other California cities are set to vote on similar measures this week.
Painful and traumatic, declawing is really 10 separate amputations in which the last joint of every single toe gets cut off along with the nail. Declawing a cat is the equivalent of cutting a person's fingers off at the first knuckle and leads to gradual weakening of cats' legs, shoulders, and back muscles. Declawed cats are more likely to have behavior "problems" such as avoiding the litterbox and biting, and they are commonly surrendered to shelters by frustrated guardians.
Germany and other parts of Europe have outlawed declawing as a form of cruelty, and many conscientious veterinarians in the U.S. refuse to declaw because they realize that all someone needs to do to save their furniture (or whatever other lame excuse people come up with to justify mangling their kitties) is take the time to simply trim their cats' nails and buy proper scratching posts.
The Beverly Hills, Los Angeles, and Berkeley city councils will be considering or voting on declawing bans this week, so please tell anyone you know in these cities to send an urgent e-mail to their councilmembers today.
Written by Heather Drennan (with help from Wellington)
San Francisco's gay pride parade—touted as the world's largest—got a healthy infusion of vegetarian pride on Sunday. Working with local group Bay Area Vegetarians, PETA showed up in full force—accompanied by more than 100 men and women who were eager to educate the public about the benefits of a vegetarian diet.
Obviously, everyone who participated in the parade had tons of fun—but the icing on the (vegan) cake is that more than 500,000 people attended the event and learned that by cutting meat out of their diets, they could be healthier, reduce their carbon footprint, and save over 100 animals' lives per year.
Check out even more pictures of the parade here.
Written by Liz Graffeo
Tony Kushner, in his astonishing two-part play, Angels in America, describes San Francisco as "unspeakably beautiful." Foie gras, on the other hand, is unspeakably horrible. So something seemed amiss when we heard that foie gras was still being sold at a Bay Area café chain called PlumpJack (named after another theatrical figure, Shakespeare's Falstaff), founded and co-owned by San Fran Mayor Gavin Newsom.
As you might expect, we got in touch with Newsom's office to say that we'd been hearing from concerned folks. We let Hizzoner know that we were sure that once the issue was brought to his attention, he would want to make sure that PlumpJack pulls the foie gras—especially in light of the impending statewide ban and the San Francisco Board of Supervisors' resolution supporting restaurants that shun foie gras.
Long story short, we got a quick call back from Newsom's sister—herself a vegetarian—assuring us that they've pulled foie gras from all their restaurants. Apparently, it was supposed to have been phased out years ago, but somehow it crept back in, so she thanked us for bringing it back to their attention.
No problem, Newsom clan. Thank you for being so ducky to ducks.
Written by Jeff Mackey
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.
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