Written by PETA
Elle Macpherson has had to eat her words, which is better than popping a pill that tastes like "fungus," according to her earlier statement. After kind people from Australia to India—including myself—called the model out on her confession in the U.K.'s The Sunday Times that she tosses back powdered rhino horn in a vain (yes, I know) attempt to combat the march of time, Macpherson has had to issue a new statement to the effect that she was only joking about swallowing critically endangered animals' body parts.
I'd say she owes wildlife one. Meaning, Elle, we'd better not catch you in exotic skins, please.
Written by Ingrid E. Newkirk
Award-winning chef Amanda Cohen can add another notch to her (cruelty-free) lipstick case: Her not-so-sinfully delicious Mushroom Mousse has won the top prize of $10,000 in PETA's Fine Faux Foie Gras Challenge. Cohen, who is a veteran of New York City vegan hot spots TeaNY, Angelica Kitchen, Pure Food and Wine, and Blossom Café, wowed the judges with her deceptively simple combination of puréed vegan margarine, onions, soy milk, portobello mushrooms, and truffle oil. "I really wanted to make something decadent," says Amanda. "I thought it would be fun to recreate that [foie gras] in a vegan version that didn't lose any flavor and could stand on its own."
Yes, I think you could say that it stands on its own. And so do the second- and third-place vegan delicacies created by Eric Lechasseur from Seed in Venice, California, and Vincent Moellman from 50 Forks at the Art Institute of California in Santa Ana. I only wish I could say the same for the ducks and geese who are force-fed to make real (bad) foie gras, many of whom become so sick and debilitated that they can't even walk or stand.
If you can't get to Amanda's New York restaurant, Dirt Candy, to taste-test her mind-blowing Mushroom Mousse for yourself, you can find the recipe at PETA Living.
New Yorkers, if you've already tried Amanda's prize-winning concoction, please feel free to post your reviews below.
Written by Alisa Mullins
Searching for the Fountain of Youth? It won't be found in rhino horn, but it may be in your refrigerator—or at your local supermarket. Scientists believe that they have developed a way to estimate the likelihood that someone will live past the age of 100, and they found that many people with a vegetarian diet (along with other healthy lifestyle factors, such as not smoking) had an increased life expectancy.
Many plant-based foods have anti-aging properties, and a vegan diet can help manage and in some cases even prevent heart disease, diabetes, cancer, and other deadly diseases. Studies have shown that, on average, vegetarians and vegans live six to 10 years longer than meat-eaters.
And they don't usually while away those years in a rocking chair, either. Take vegetarian and PETA India supporter Fauja Singh, for instance. In 2005, Fauja, who is now 99, led a senior relay team in the Edinburgh Marathon in Scotland. He holds a world record in his age bracket. Go, Fauja!
If you want your loved ones to be alive and kicking well into their "golden years," why not encourage them to go vegan?
Written by Heather Moore
People have been enjoying soy and reaping its health benefits for thousands of years, but there are still some myths circulating about soy and soy products. Last week, the Guardian printed an eye-opening article that uncovers the shady origins of anti-soy propaganda—most of which can be traced to a group that sings the praises of eating artery-clogging animal fat and tries to scare people away from soy by citing the results of scientifically flawed animal experiments. The article explains the myriad health benefits of soy foods, including protection against diabetes and breast cancer and improved bone health and brain function.
Of course, soy foods are just one option in a nutritious, animal-friendly diet, and it's easy to be a healthy vegan without touching tofu or sipping soy milk. Other excellent protein sources include lentils, nuts, beans, peanuts, seeds, chickpeas, green veggies, and whole grains.
But for anyone who's ever wondered, "Tofu or not tofu," here's the real deal: Soy is safe, smart, and infinitely kinder than dining on decomposing animal flesh or drinking bovine mammary secretions. So discover the joy of soy and wear that "Powered by Tofu" shirt with pride!
Written by Lindsay Pollard-Post
Before the drunken partiers filled Pamplona's streets today to kick off the annual Running of the Bulls tormenting of bulls, scores of animal defenders from PETA U.K. and the Spanish animal rights group AnimaNaturalis creatively banded together to put the bulls' perspective in the picture.
During this annual celebration of torture, bulls are jabbed with prods and sharp sticks to whip them into a frenzy. Then the panicking animals are stampeded through crowds of people, slipping and stumbling on the wine-soaked cobblestone streets. The exhausted bulls are later prodded into the bullring, where they are stabbed to death.
The majority of the Spanish population no longer supports this cruelty. In 2004, the Barcelona City Council declared Barcelona an anti-bullfighting city, and 40 other Spanish towns have followed suit. State-run Spanish television has also stopped televising the violence.
Let's call the Running of the Bulls what it really is—sickening cruelty to animals—and call on Pamplona's mayor to ban it.
Written by Karin Bennett
Look at this photo and tell me: Do you think the shorter girl looks as if she can't wait to tattle on the taller one? Of course, I do—and my sister could offer endless examples of how I tattled on her for all sorts of naughty behavior. Especially cursing, which she did so often that our exasperated mom set up a swear jar.
Both the tattletale and animal defender inside me are very excited to learn that SwearJarr has chosen PETA as one of the charities that will receive donations from social networking potty mouths who are busted by other Tweeps ("Swear Police"). Imagine raising money to combat cruelty by busting foul-mouthed offenders on Twitter.
So sign up to follow the @swear_police on Twitter, and then head to the SwearJarr Web site. Once you are there, enter in your Twitter screen name to figure out your fine, and then make a donation to PETA based on how much you've sworn. Take a tip from our Twitterer extraordinaire and share the amount that you owe with all your followers.
Please act quickly—PETA's time to receive SwearJarr donations is limited. After the end of this month, another charity will be named to receive donations.
Elle Macpherson has told the Times online that she uses rhino horn to try to stop the aging process. Quackery aside, this has huge consequences for animals—and it's illegal. Here's the letter that PETA President Ingrid E. Newkirk sent Macpherson today:
What was Elle's response to the outcry about her comment? Click here to find out.
July 6, 2010
Dear Ms. Macpherson,
We've read that you have confessed to a reporter for the Times online that you use an illegal substance: rhino horn. Considering that there is nothing beautiful about the slaughter of wildlife, will you please give up your use of rhino horn and tell the world why you did?
Like shark's fin, which is hacked off the shark, who is then thrown back into the water to spin helplessly to the bottom of the sea, rhino horn is hacked off, too, and the rhino is left to die with a machete hole in the face. It is not a quick death, as photographs and video footage attest.
Rhinos are interesting animals, not that it would matter if they were boring as hell. It isn't too long ago that human beings discovered what this species knew all along: that its members communicate by means of complex breathing noises. In my book The PETA Practical Guide to Animal Rights, I recount how Anna Mertz, the founder of a rhino sanctuary in Kenya, came to realize that these animals live in a completely different sphere from ours. They are the Mr. Magoos of the animal kingdom, barely able to see a thing, which unfortunately makes it convenient to poach them, and their world is dominated by their senses of smell and hearing.
To communicate, rhinos use a highly complicated method of regulating their breathing, a sort of Morse code, to talk to one another. Mertz says that rhinos are absolutely terrified of humans because people chase them, separate them from their calves, and slaughter them for their horns, which are cut off for use as aphrodisiacs and in cosmetics.
Mertz raised and released an orphaned bull she named Makara who had never witnessed an attack by hunters and had never learned to fear people. Over time, he came to regard Mertz as a friend.
On one occasion, Mertz was out with a tracker when the two of them saw a rhino moving very slowly toward them, looking very odd. When he got close, they saw that it was Makara and that he was completely entangled in barbed wire. Barbed wire is terrifying to animals, and most panic when they encounter it, but Makara had recognized the sound of his friend's Jeep engine and come for help. Although trembling all over, he gave the pair the greeting breathing. Mertz managed to get a handkerchief between Makara's eye and the jagged wire that was cutting into it, then took off her jacket and worked it under the wire that was cutting into his thigh. Without wire cutters, the tracker used a cutlass and a flat stone to cut the wire while Mertz, talking gently to the bull, disentangled him. The whole affair took about 40 minutes, and the whole time Makara stood stock-still except for the tremors that shook his body.
When the last of the wire fell away, he breathed goodbye and moved slowly back into the bush. Mertz says she knew that they had witnessed an act of outstanding intelligence, trust, and courage. That this bull had come to them for help and had exercised such control over his state of panic, standing still and allowing himself to be freed of the frightening barbed wire, must have been very difficult and painful to him—even more so, given the fact that although Makara knew Mertz's voice well, she had never before attempted to touch him.
I wrote in the book that perhaps if we could sit rhino hunters down and let them see that a rhino is not an inconsequential gray lump, not a trophy or a heap of body parts, but a living, thinking, feeling being—a son, a mother, a friend to others, a vulnerable individual—perhaps they would not blow these magnificent animals to kingdom come or cut off their horns via machete. Perhaps you might also sit down and look at the photos of the rhinos who are ground up for human vanity and complete quackery.
Jackie Chan, who works hard to combat the devastation to wildlife caused by Chinese medicine, from tiger penises to bear bile and claws, is appalled by this vile trade and has helped many groups, including PETA, work to combat such cruelty. He says, if you know anyone who is buying the stuff, "Ask them to think first. Do they really want to be responsible for the cruel killing of an individual animal and to contribute to the extinction of the species? Don't they know that there are herbal alternatives to endangered animals in traditional Chinese medicine? And do they really need that endangered species product? There is no excuse."
Elle, you are a role model in many ways, and I hope you will agree that wildlife should be left in peace. Will you please condemn the trade in rhino horn and other substances that are stolen from wild animals? I look forward to hearing back from you.
Very truly yours,
Ingrid E. NewkirkPresidentPETA
Jenna Dewan-Tatum makes a ravishing reptile! The sultry star (and wife of smokin' hot actor Channing Tatum) recently shed her clothes and transformed into a snake for a new PETA ad exposing the cruelty of the exotic-skins industry. Find out why the alluring actor leaves wildlife out of her wardrobe in this exclusive behind-the-scenes interview:
While we're on the subject of fabulous fake snakes, we're giving away a pleather python bag from Melie Bianco and an Energy Muse bracelet—designed by Jenna herself specifically for this campaign and modeled by Jenna below.
After you enter to win this prize pack, tweet @jennaldewan and let Jenna know how this campaign has convinced you to show some love to snakes, lizards, alligators, crocodiles, and other reptiles by pledging to purge your closet of any exotic skins.
Written by Amy Skylark Elizabeth
What will it take to make California stop misleading consumers about its unhappy cows? Last fall, we filed a complaint against the California Milk Advisory Board (CMAB) for alleged false advertising, asking the Federal Trade Commission to make the CMAB end its misleading campaign, and big names like John Robbins and Ginnifer Goodwin have shown cows big love by writing to the FTC in support of our complaint. Now, PETA's latest move in the pursuit of happiness for California's cows is sure to turn heads in the state's capital:
Cows on dairy factory farms are not given much more than the numbered ear tag that's used to identify them. PETA's undercover investigation inside Land O'Lakes supplier Reitz Dairy revealed deplorable, filthy conditions for cows on the Pennsylvania farm, such as pens that were filled with deep excrement and cows who collapsed, becoming "downers," but who were not given veterinary care or put out of their misery. Yet when this information was presented in a court of law, the judge found the owners not guilty after testimony that our heartbreaking photos and video footage showed "standard practices" for the dairy industry.
Drugged, over-milked, and kept in filthy, crowded lots, the typical California cow is anything but happy. Instead of encouraging CMAB to continue misleading consumers, take a minute to contact the FTC and then save a cow by downing a tall glass of soy milk.
Written by Logan Scherer
Showing cruelty of gastronomical proportions, restaurants in Queens (Sik Gaek and East Seafood Restaurant) are chopping up and serving live octopuses to customers. Octopuses have their tentacles cut off while they are still conscious and are then served, writhing, while their hearts are still beating. Others are slowly steamed alive in front of customers before their tentacles and upper bodies are cut into small pieces with scissors.
Since we can't "release the Kraken" on these animal abusers, we're unleashing our legal team on the district attorney—calling on the DAs to file cruelty charges against the restaurants. Because octopuses have sophisticated nervous systems and feel pain just as acutely as mammals do, we feel that the restaurants' practices clearly violate the state's anti-cruelty statute.
Recently, octopuses were observed carrying around coconut shells to use as shelter—making these complex cephalopods the first known invertebrate animals to use tools. These "deep" thinkers are also fond of decorating. They decorate their dens with bottle caps, stones, and other objects that they find on the ocean floor. They are so smart that they can also learn how to do things such as unscrew jars by watching someone else do it—once!
Let's hope that the district attorney in this case is just as smart and sentient. You can call or fax the Queens County District Attorney's Office and politely ask that they take action against these restaurateurs. We'll keep you posted. Until then, take this octopus-inspired poll.
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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