PHOTOS OF THE DAY

PETA UK's 2011 Sexiest Vegetarian woman, Sophie Barrett, got inked (temporarily) with a butcher's diagram to show Londoners that all animals have the same parts. She asked Brits to follow in the footsteps of Sir Paul McCartney to mark World Week for the Abolition of Meat by abolishing all animals' parts from their plates. Here's hoping Sophie's chuck brings animals luck.

Imagine if you could be fired from your job just for supporting animal rights on your own time. That's what Joe Hashman believes happened to him. The vegan anti-hunting activist was sacked from his job as a gardener at the Orchard Park Garden Centre in the U.K. the day after ghastly TV chef Clarissa Dickson Wright pleaded guilty to charges of attending an illegal rabbit-hunting event. Dickson Wright was brought up on charges in part because of undercover video taken by Hashman. The owners of the garden center are known to be hunting supporters.

Hashman has filed a suit, which has now gone before the court, and a pre-hearing review has been called to determine whether his animal rights positions constitute a "philosophical belief" that's protected under the law. Here's what he had to say—judge for yourself:

We're pulling for you, Joe! No one should be afraid to speak out against injustice. Animals have rights—and so do the people who defend them. To find out how to work within the law to help animals, check out PETA's activism guide.

Written by Jeff Mackey

While nobody wants to get sick or injured while traveling abroad, if you're going to do it, make sure it's in the U.K. That's because all public hospitals in the U.K. are proposing to start offering meat-free menus as part of a National Health Service plan to curb the carbon emissions that cause climate change.

These hospitals should be seriously applauded for making progress and doing something positive in the fight against global warming (not to mention cruelty to animals). You don't have to be a scientist or climate-change expert to know that raising animals for food is the world's leading cause of carbon dioxide emissions.

PETA's "naughty nurses"—who have been visiting hospitals around the U.S. urging heart patients to go vegan—obviously endorse NHS's proposal. Click here to see for yourself!

Written by Lianne Turner

virginmedia / CC

Looks like one of the funniest celebrities in the world is joining PETA Europe's worldwide fight to stop the slaughter of Canadian black bears for silly hats. And I'm particularly excited about this celebrity, who is probably one of my favorite entertainers of all time: Ricky Gervais.

Gervais, whom you probably know as the star of Extras and the original version of The Office, has written a letter to U.K. Prime Minister Gordon Brown asking him to replace the bear fur on the Queen's Guards' caps with a cruelty-free material. In his letter, he points out that it takes the entire hide of a bear to make one hat—and that’s nothing to “have a laugh” about!

Oh, maybe you should just read the lovely man's lovely letter, before I manage to work in "Freelove Freeway" or Sir Ian McKellen's "wizard, you shall not pass" bit.

Click the letter to enlarge

 

Written by Amanda Schinke

worldproutassembly / CC

Traveling to Europe? Fantastic! Everybody needs a vacation, and what better way to spend your time than viewing the history, attractions, and culture of another country? Achtung, though! In your travels, you might stumble (especially if you've been pub crawling) across marine parks, roadside zoos, donkey rides, and even captive dolphins.

These animals never get a vacation. Day in and day out, they are confined to tiny cages, forced to dance around in tutus at the St. Petersburg circus, or left to live an unfulfilled life in an inadequate enclosure that is light years removed from their natural habitats. Europe offers so many great opportunities for tourists that your stay can be crammed full of cruelty-free memories. To make it easier on you, PETA Europe has put together a list of places to avoid like the Great Plague on your European vacation.

1. Running of the Bulls—Pamplona, Spain Every year, more than 40,000 bulls are taunted, stabbed repeatedly, and finally killed by the matador in front of a stadium full of onlookers. Before the bulls enter the ring, petroleum jelly is often rubbed in their eyes or they might be beaten with sandbags. And the Running of the Bulls isn't any more humane to these animals, who often crash into the walls when racing down the narrow street. Instead of paying to see these animals slaughtered, join the Running of the Nudes campaign!
2. Schwaben Park Chimpanzee Show—Baden-Württemberg, GermanyThe chimpanzee show at Schwaben Park is truly a house of horrors. The chimpanzees are forced to perform demeaning tricks on leashes and are often trained to perform with regular beatings or the use of shock collars. Instead of paying to see these animals perform confusing tricks that they don't understand, visit a non-animal theme park.
3. Donkey Rides—Beaches All Over the U.K.Sunning on the beach is great for us humans: We can take a quick dip or catch a bite to eat when we're too hot or hungry. But it's pure hell for donkeys who are confined to the beach and forced to cart children around in the hot sand. Some donkey-ride operators at beach resorts like Bridlington and Blackpool even keep the donkeys chained together at all times. Instead of taking a donkey ride, swim in the sea or build a sandcastle.
4. Berlin Zoo—Berlin, GermanyThis zoo might be known best as the home of Knut, the polar bear that the Berlin Zoo mercilessly paraded around in front of media cameras and throngs of visitors. More recently, however, zoo director Bernhard Blaszkiewitz has been accused of slaughtering the zoo's animals and selling their body parts to be used in Chinese medicines. Berlin is loaded with history; visit a museum or the great Berlin Wall instead!
5. Edinburgh Zoo—Edinburgh, Scotland In 2000, a number of endangered Arabian antelopes were bred and then destroyed by Edinburgh Zoo officials. Clearly, zoo officials don't have animals' best interests in mind. Instead of the zoo, we recommend visiting a loch, a castle, or the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. And if you're a wildlife lover, go deer-spotting!
6. Mediterraneo Marine Park—White Rocks, Malta The Mediterraneo Marine Park uses bottlenose dolphins in performances and offers visitors the opportunity to swim with dolphins. Unfortunately, visitors are often unaware that these dolphins are captured in the wild or imported from conflict-ridden countries. A great alternative is to take a dolphin- and whale-spotting holiday that doesn't involve capturing or handling these animals.

Posted by Jennifer Cierlitsky

Remember when your mom would tell you that you should finish your food because there were kids in China who were going to bed hungry? Well, it turns out that moms in the U.K. never told their kids that—or the kids just plain didn't listen. Earlier this month, the U.K.-based Waste & Resources Action Programme (WRAP) reported that a lot of food—much of it unopened and not yet expired—gets tossed by U.K. consumers. Perfectly good bread, potatoes, vegetables, baked goods, and packaged meals wind up in British landfills. Also on the list: 1.5 million (yes, million) single-serving containers of yogurt and 5,500 whole chickens (yes, five thousand and five hundred whole chickens on Styrofoam trays and wrapped in plastic) get discarded every single day in the U.K.Now, I don't consider the corpse of an animal to be food. I don't want that suffering anywhere near my plate. But the fact that there are people who will unthinkingly buy what in essence is misery wrapped in plastic and then throw away that misery without a second thought pretty much makes me lose my lunch (and breakfast and dinner). I remember reading once that in commercial egg operations, it can take a hen 34 hours to lay a single egg. I would see a plate of half-eaten scrambled eggs left by a diner in a restaurant or a recipe that called for just part of an egg with the rest presumably discarded, and I would wonder how many hours of suffering were represented in that waste. There are oceans of misery and oceans of indifference, but with all our teaspoon acts of kindness and mercy, we might just be the change that this world needs. —GracePosted by Grace Friedan, Researcher