Written by PETA
Sharon McDonough has been accused of running what her son calls "a concentration camp for animals" after officials found the bodies of 20 dogs buried in her backyard in Selden, New York, and discovered six living animals (who were reportedly confined to soiled cages) inside her house. McDonough allegedly forced her children to commit nightmarish acts of cruelty, including restraining a dog and duct-taping his mouth shut while she beat the animal. McDonough was arrested, and her six children have been taken into protective custody. Dozens of neighbors remain worried that their missing companion animals will soon be found inside the shallow graves of McDonough's backyard.
In the wake of this ghastly discovery, we're sending our PSA featuring Eli Roth to TV stations in the New York City area to warn viewers about the vicious cycle of violence that often begins with animal abuse and, as research has proved, often ends with violence against humans:
Written by Logan Scherer
Former Alaska governor and vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin's new book is hitting bookstores this week, and the advance word is that the lady who never saw a wolf, polar bear, or moose she wouldn't like to see ground up into burgers doesn't have many nice things to say about vegetarians. As was pointed out by PETA President Ingrid E. Newkirk in her open letter to Palin, the only surprise is that Palin's jibes are as yawn-inducing as a rerun of The Man Show.
One has to wonder if there is an original line in Sarah Palin's book, given her remarks in it about vegetarians. (She seems to believe that we only eat salad, but if she's keeping an eye on the New York Times bestseller list, she will spot two vegan cookbooks in the top five with barely a salad recipe in either of them.) The long-brandished rebuttal to Ms. Palin's filched quote "If God had not intended for us to eat animals, how come He made them out of meat?" is "I guess God also intended for humans to be cannibals then because we are also made out of 'meat.'" And as for the amazingly glib "I love animals—right next to the mashed potatoes," the first time I saw that slogan was a few decades before America was graced with Ms. Palin's public presence, when it was used interchangeably with "I love spotted owls: baked or fried." Ms. Palin reportedly finds evolution a bit hard to swallow. Judging from her book, that applies to the evolution of ideas and attitudes as well. Very truly yours, Ingrid E. Newkirk
One has to wonder if there is an original line in Sarah Palin's book, given her remarks in it about vegetarians. (She seems to believe that we only eat salad, but if she's keeping an eye on the New York Times bestseller list, she will spot two vegan cookbooks in the top five with barely a salad recipe in either of them.) The long-brandished rebuttal to Ms. Palin's filched quote "If God had not intended for us to eat animals, how come He made them out of meat?" is "I guess God also intended for humans to be cannibals then because we are also made out of 'meat.'" And as for the amazingly glib "I love animals—right next to the mashed potatoes," the first time I saw that slogan was a few decades before America was graced with Ms. Palin's public presence, when it was used interchangeably with "I love spotted owls: baked or fried."
Ms. Palin reportedly finds evolution a bit hard to swallow. Judging from her book, that applies to the evolution of ideas and attitudes as well.
Very truly yours,
Ingrid E. Newkirk
Written by Alisa Mullins
How could we not plug the new, adorable polar bears at the Saint Louis Zoo? After all, we are all about the zoo of the future, and this zoo exhibit is unlike anything we've ever seen before. Instead of flesh-and-blood bears, the zoo is currently displaying electric proxies, and we couldn't be more thrilled.
A study out of the University of Oxford determined that polar bears fare especially poorly in captive situations. These large, roving predators develop neurotic behaviors because of stress when kept in captivity because they are unable to satisfy their instinct to roam. The report noted that "a polar bear's typical enclosure size, for example, is about one-millionth of its minimum home-range size," and the authors concluded that "the keeping of naturally wide-ranging carnivores should be either fundamentally improved or phased out."
The Saint Louis Zoo has a miserable record of polar bear "care." Four years ago, a polar bear named Churchill ate a toxic meal of cloth and plastic and died during his subsequent stomach surgery. Just one month later, the polar bear Penny died from infection. She had two dead fetuses inside her uterus, though zoo officials didn't know she was pregnant. Hope, the zoo's last surviving polar bear, was euthanized earlier this year after veterinarians discovered she had cancer.
We're hoping that the zoo maintains its merry instillation year-round, making every day a cause for polar bears to celebrate. And if they decide that the still-lives don't quite cut it, we'd love to see the zoo invest in animatronic bears that look and act like the real things.
Classrooms are for students, not animals. This is the conclusion that Margaret Barthel, the head of the science department at Tampa, Florida's Freedom High School, has finally come to after an appearance in court this week resulted in Barthel's being punished for cruelty to the animals she kept in her classroom.
In Barthel's classroom at Freedom High, several class "pets" were abused and neglected: Nine gerbils died after they were deprived of food and water for more than two weeks, finches died of exposure, and a ball python froze to death. As a result of the cruelty citations, Barthel has relinquished her (still-living) ball python to Hillsborough County Animal Services, paid a $1,000 fine, donated $500 to animal services, and committed to keeping animals out of her classroom permanently.
We're hoping that in light of this incident, Freedom High School Principal Chris Farkas will heed our calls and prohibit the use of animals in all the school's classrooms. Please use this form to let him know that students can and do learn about responsibility, animal behavior, and hands-on science without keeping animals on display in classrooms.
Written by Liz Graffeo
Actor/director Eli Roth wasn't afraid to get his hands dirty bashing "Natzees" with a baseball bat as Sgt. Donnie Donowitz, aka "The Bear Jew," in Inglourious Basterds, nor has he shied away from gore in his "oh-my-god-this-is-so-disgusting-but-I-cannot-look-away" films Hostel and Cabin Fever. But now, Eli Roth—who, behind all the (fake) blood and guts, has a heart of gold—has teamed up with PETA to direct and star in our very first MySpace exclusive PSA. In the ad, he reminds everyone that the violence in his movies is fake—but violence against animals is real and is an important issue.
View the ad on MySpace and then check out behind-the-scenes footage from the shoot:
A guy who enjoys an "all in good fun" beheading and long walks on the beach? What more could you ask for?
How about some exclusive pictures?
Posted by Liz Graffeo
If you’re anything like me, you start getting psyched around Noon on Sunday just knowing that The Sopranos is going to be on later that night. Well last night, as Carmela and Tony had another one of their knock-down-drag-out fights (I’m with Carm on this one, the spec house was HER project, so the proceeds should be hers to do with as she pleases), it reminded me of the amazing PSA Edie Falco did for us, pointing out the link between violence to animals and domestic violence.
Even if you’re not a die-hard Sopranos fan, this PSA is powerful stuff. But really, the price of HBO is worth it for the Sopranos alone (I’d sell a kidney to pay the cable bill before I’d miss an episode), not to mention that it’s followed by Entourage. Sunday nights and the Sopranos, its just one of the little things that makes life worth living . . . especially with Edie absolutely killing it as Carmela every week.
Ever hear of the town of Totnes, England? It’s a small town in southwest England known for being a pretty progressive place to live. How progressive, you ask? Well, yes, it has the art shops, coffee houses, used bookstores, street markets, musicians and other tell-tale signs typically associated with places like Boulder, CO, and Eugene, OR, but check this out: the city government is actually considering re-covering its furniture in pleather instead of leather to keep from “offending vegetarians.” Even in a place like Totnes, this is amazing and is hopefully a sign of things to come. Boulder and Eugene, you listening?
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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