When vegan swimmer and PETA Foundation staffer Becky Fenson set her mind to tackling the exhilarating 10K international Little Red Lighthouse Swim on New York's Hudson River, she wasn't just doing it for herself, she was also raising awareness about animal rights and the benefits of a vegan diet.  

Determined to make a good showing for PETA, Becky was off like a shot at the start. But much to her fellow swimmers' shock, she wasn't swimming freestyle—the stroke typically used in open-water races—along with everyone else. Becky was swimming the most difficult stroke, the butterfly—something no one else had ever done in that race—and she was keeping pace with her competitors.  

Before the start of the race, Becky used her conversation-starting PETA Pack shirt to reveal her "secret weapon"—her vegan diet—to the other swimmers. She joked that, as meat-eaters, they had an advantage over her in contending with the Hudson's nose-wrinklingly polluted waters: They're used to ingesting fecal matter. 

Becky raised awareness about animal rights just by doing what she loves. To learn how you can use your hobbies to help animals, check out PETA President Ingrid E. Newkirk's advice in "Newkirk Nuggets." 

Written by Michelle Sherrow

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jdebberly/ / CC BY 2.0

Really-old-but-still-totally-relevant history lesson (it's quick—I promise!): The Ancient Greeks were so awed by dolphins, whom they deemed friends to humans, that every time they spotted one swimming behind a ship, they considered him or her a good omen. Now, a new study suggests that in order to respect our marine friends and cognitive cousins, we must simply stay away from them. Findings from researchers at Newcastle University suggest that human interactions with dolphins—from following them in tourist boats to swimming with them to touching them—are harmful to these intelligent, sensitive mammals.

The report claims that when humans swim near bottlenose dolphins and touch them, they inflict severe stress on them, "preventing them from resting, feeding or nurturing their young." The study found that whenever tourist boats are present, dolphins become unsettled, and according to Newcastle University's Dr. Berggen, "[T]he dolphins are using more energy than they are taking in because they aren't resting or feeding as much but are swimming more as they try to avoid the tourist boats." This has a negative impact not only on individual animals but also on the population as a whole, and long term, it could be devastating.

Every dolphin is a self-aware individual with a unique personality, so it's no surprise that these animals are perceptive to their surroundings and susceptible to stress-related illnesses. If they're so intensely affected by the mere presence of humans, just imagine the kind of irreparable trauma they suffer when pulled from the ocean and placed in SeaWorld's chemically treated prisons. The only way that we can ensure that they'll live natural, happy, and peaceful lives? Leave them alone—no matter where they are.

Written by Logan Scherer

Long before Michael Phelps swam his way into our cultural consciousness—104 years before, to be exact—vegetarian swimmers were already wowing people with their superhuman stamina. Check out this 1904 headline from Montréal's The Gazette:

Vegetarians aren't weighed down by all that cholesterol-laden animal fat or their own guilty conscience. The advantages are clear: Vegetarians make better lovers, better fighters, and better swimmers!

Written by Logan Scherer