Written by PETA
Ladies and gentlemen, it's show time. We have a new video to add to our list of hard hitters—our "To Animals, It's Not Entertainment" video, which takes you behind the razzle-dazzle of the entertainment industry to let you witness the routine abuses that animals suffer in circuses and on film sets—abuses such as frequent beatings and solitary confinement in cages that are too small to allow the prisoners to turn around or take a single step in any direction.
After you've checked that out, take a minute to tune in to "Meet Your Meat" and learn about the mechanized madness that animals endure before they are killed and ground up for hamburgers, hot dogs, and chicken nuggets; "Testing … One, Two, Three," which shows the ways that cruel and dangerous animal experiments hurt animals and people; and "Whose Skin Are You In?" which exposes the cruelty involved in the leather, wool, fur, and exotic-skins industries.
These videos pack punches. After you've watched them all, leave a comment letting us know which one inspired you to take action.
Written by Karin Bennett
All this week, Slate has been running a five-part series on animal experiments. The series starts out by telling the story of a dog named Pepper who was stolen in 1965 and who "changed American science." As the author, Daniel Engber, points out, the fall-out from Pepper's story led to the 1966 passage of the Animal Welfare Act—the first federal law protecting animals in laboratories.
In today's installment, Engber describes the time he spent as a grad student working on a macaque named Clayton in a university laboratory. He describes how he returned to the lab years later to find that, while his life has moved on—and out of the laboratory—Clayton is still imprisoned, his whole world limited to just two rooms:
In all the time I'd been gone, Clayton had lived in the same room, on the same feeding schedule, and with many of the same neighbors. … Every day or two, he's carted off to a room painted all in black, and his head is fixed in place by the post that still protrudes from his skull. He sits there as always, staring at targets on a computer screen. When he moves his eyes the way he's supposed to, he gets a droplet of Tang as a reward.
Engber also talks about PETA's famous Silver Spring monkeys case, which was the impetus behind sweeping changes made to the Animal Welfare Act in 1985, including the creation of oversight committees that we are currently hounding to do their jobs.
While the series of articles focuses on the use of dogs in experiments, it also describes what is done to rats and mice. That's because no discussion of vivisection can rightly avoid the elephant (or, in this case, mouse) in the room—which is the fact that most of the whopping number of animals used in experiments are these small mammals, who, for no reason other than prejudice and convenience, are still specifically excluded from the Animal Welfare Act.
We strongly recommend taking a minute or two to check out the series—and don't miss part IV, which talks about PETA's undercover investigation at the University of North Carolina–Chapel Hill.
Written by Alisa Mullins
A: The Wrestler director Darren Aronofsky!
That's right, the man best known for his portrayal of human suffering in movies such as the award-winning The Wrestler is now focusing on a different type of suffering … elephant suffering.
As a Brooklyn native, when Darren learned that notorious elephant abuser Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus would be setting up shop at Coney Island all summer long, he sprang into action faster than you can say RoboCop. He penned a powerful letter to the folks at Taconic Investments—who are donating the use of their Coney Island land to Ringling—asking them to reconsider their offer or, at the very least, impose restrictions that could reduce the suffering of elephants and other animals used by Ringling.
Not a Hollywood heavyweight? You can still follow Darren's lead by sending your own letter to Taconic and New York City officials letting them know that you won't stand up for animal abuse at Coney Island.
Written by Christine Doré
Alicia Silverstone’s wonderful ad is in some very impressive company in TV Guide’s “Best of 2007” viral video list, including two of the very greatest videos of all time (IMHO): Will Ferrell’s “The Landlord,” and Justin Timberlake’s utterly glorious “Dick in a Box.” For anyone who works in marketing, you’ll know that companies tend to use the term “viral video” for pretty much any visual media they can come up with (it tends to be more of a wistful hope than an actual description of the video in question), but some videos really are “viral”—i.e., millions of people watch them, post them on their blogs, and pass them onto their friends—and it’s a truly incredible experience to be involved with one.
You can see TV Guide’s full list here, and here’s a reprise of the stunning pro-vegetarianism PSA that took 2007 by storm.
If you haven’t seen it yet, it is imperative that you watch this new video for our ABC Campaign, which is both an initiative to educate people about the importance of spaying and neutering their animals, and stop breeders from pumping out thousands of pups every year who take homes from those destined to die in shelters. What I like about Sex Talk, and the other spot we’ve put together for this campaign, is that it’s a lot more than just a funny ad. There’s something about it that makes you really uncomfortable—which, I guess, is exactly what a proper chat about the birds and the bees is supposed to. Check it out if you haven’t seen it yet, and you can watch the other video (Buy One, Get One Free) here.
‘It became very difficult when Linda died because I said I would support cancer charities,’ said Sir Paul. ‘But then animal rights group wrote to me pointing out that many were heavily into vivisection.’
File this one under “hilarious.”
PETA Asia-Pacific, which may or may not be comprised of drunken frat guys, had a clever demonstration planned in which inflatable sex dolls would assert the fact that “KFC Blows”. Unfortunately the dolls were confiscated by customs officials in the Philippines, who may or may not be lonely men.
PETA Asia-Pacific had planned to take the dolls on a tour of red-light districts, including Pat Pong in Bangkok, Kings Cross in Sydney, Kabukicho in Japan, and the Philippines' Angeles City. The dolls were confiscated by customs officials when they arrived in the Philippines via U.S.-based package carrier UPS en route to PETA Asia-Pacific's office in Makati.
"The blow-up dolls were a trouble-free prop because KFC also treats chickens like inanimate objects," says PETA Asia-Pacific Director Jason Baker. "KFC profits from using crude killing methods—the company has an international obligation to stop torturing the birds who end up dead in its buckets. We're calling on people worldwide to boycott KFC until the company implements minimal animal welfare standards."
Next maybe PETA Asia-Pacific will challenge KFC’s executives to Beirut to decide the fate of the 850 million chickens raised and killed for KFC.
I’m a fan of lists. I’m also a fan of Jack Shepherd (as in the guy who usually writes this blog not the doctor on Lost—though I like him too). Jack’s off enjoying the holidays with his family so I thought I’d use part of my time on the blog to spotlight some of Jack’s non-blog work at PETA. (Hopefully Jack will keep this in mind when he comes back and sees all the typos I left on “his blog.”) Jack’s primary job duty other than writing The PETA Files is coordinating what we call “online viral projects”—projects that are funny, shocking, or emotional in some other way so much that when people see them they forward them on to their friends and the content spreads around the Internet through word of mouth.
My 10 Favorite Projects That Jack Masterminded or The Ten Projects that I’m Most Proud to Have Worked with Jack On
1. Super Chick SistersSuper Chicks Sisters, a parody of Super Mario Bros. that highlights KFC’s abusive practices was Jack’s first mega-hit. We really made an impression on the gaming world—and Jack knows better than anyone that it’s a tough world to penetrate. Over a half a million people have played Super Chick Sisters on our web sites. Probably an equal amount of people have played it on other sites. Not bad!
2. Trollsen Twins: Full House of Horror Video
Jack had to watch endless hours of Full House to be able to write the Full House of Horror script. Then he put his money where his mouth is and got naked for the project in true Terminator style. Really just seeing Jack walk down the Tanner’s kitchen stairs is why this project is my second favorite. It’s that simple.
3. Santa Got Run Over by His ReindeerJack not only wrote the lyrics but he sang the song as well. It’s the singing that gets it the high ranking. I love the whole animation because it highlights how we have a sense of humor about ourselves.
4. State of the Union Undress Jack certainly has an interesting job! He’s paid to recruit his co-workers to shed their clothes for the Internet. Watch the video if you don’t know what I’m talking about. This makes the top 5 of my list of favorite projects because it’s a great example of how ballsy PETA is. We’re not afraid to be edgy and neither are the brave individuals who work for PETA who are willing to put themselves out there.
5. Trollsen Twins: Dress Up the TrollsensThis campaign, which is about how Ashley and Mary Kate Olsen should stop promoting and wearing fur, is so wonderful it’s on the list twice! We had been talking about doing a dress up dolls game for over a year before the Trollsens campaign came around and we knew we had a match.
6. KFC Cruelty Sign Generator I love this project because it’s something KFC should have done themselves and probably would have if they had thought of it. Although their version would have educated far fewer people about cruelty to animals…
7. PETA’s Holiday Snow Globe E-card
The sleeper hit of 2007. I was pretty psyched when I met up with a friend I hadn’t seen in years and he mentioned he saw this the other day. Not bad for a holiday e-card in a world that’s drowning in them.
8. The Fast Food Nation GameThis game, which we created to help promote the Fast Food Nation movie is truly addictive. When making this list I got sidetracked and had to play the game for 20 minutes. Actually every time someone so much as mentions it I have to play it through again. It has a power over me.
9. Burberry ChavsThank goodness Jack is British. Otherwise I don’t know how we would have pulled this one off. It’s a great project though because it’s funny even if you don’t know what a “chav” is. I’d explain what this project is but really you just have to experience it for yourself.
10. Pirates of the Carob BeanI’m obsessed with choose your own adventure stories. In fact this project is almost like Jack’s present to me (Thank you, Jack!). The jokes were actually a bit too niche nerdy for this to be the hit we had hoped but I love it enough to make up for the rest of the world not knowing it exists.
Jack of course would want me to mention that he doesn’t work on these projects alone. Our web folk (Karen, Reannon, Elizabeth O, Shawn, Hasan) are crucial, as are our AV dudes (Hey Jamie and Hayden, what’s up?). Then there are all the people who help with ideas, media, and well there are people all over the organization who’ve helped out. Just like all of PETA’s campaigns and projects these are a real team effort.So if you haven’t already take some time to explore all of these web sites and send them along to your friends who might be open to animal rights but need a soft approach. These projects should warm them right up.- Joel
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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