Just a month after HBO canceled Luck amid protests over the deaths of three horses, a whistleblower has released to PETA startling documents alleging abuse far beyond what anybody had guessed—and much worse than HBO or producers David Milch and Michael Mann ever admitted. See the full story in The Washington Post.

Among the information that the whistleblower released was this heartbreaking photograph, which allegedly shows the body of Marc's Shadow, the 8-year-old arthritic thoroughbred whose leg fractured when he was being filmed in a racing sequence:

The documents, which are e-mails, notes, and complaints from the American Humane Association (AHA) representatives on the set, paint a picture of drugging, deception, and neglect. The following are among the allegations:

• To save money, horses were underfed. One horse was an alarming 300 pounds underweight. Trainer Matt Chew proposed to cover the protruding ribs of another horse with a blanket during filming.
• Horses who were sick were still used in filming.
• Some sick horses disappeared from the set without explanation, and the trainer was warned that he could be charged with neglect.
• Improperly trained, unprepared horses were used in racing sequences, endangering the horses and jockeys.
• Horses were regularly drugged, including being tranquilized in order to keep them docile.
• The trainer attempted to deceive humane officers by providing false names for horses, apparently to keep the humane officers from finding out that the horses were unfit for running the "races" required for filming.

The situation was so dangerous for the horses on the Luck set, the documents allege, that AHA-hired humane officers urged AHA executives to recommend the dismissal of trainer Matt Chew. However, there's no evidence that the AHA acted on its officers' advice.

PETA has presented this new evidence of abuse to the Los Angeles District Attorney's Office and renewed our request for an independent investigation. We will keep you updated.

After PETA released video footage sent to us by a whistleblower inside Shin Nippon Biomedical Laboratories (SNBL) in Everett, Washington, showing egregious abuse of monkeys inside the laboratory, area residents were so outraged that they decided to do something about it. More than two dozen residents, local PETA supporters, and members of Action for Animals held signs and chanted slogans outside SNBL during the morning commute, calling on the company to stop its mistreatment of animals and switch to humane, non-animal alternatives.

According to the whistleblower, monkeys at SNBL have their blood drawn so many times a day that their veins become damaged and workers dig and poke for a spot to draw blood as the monkeys scream in pain and try to jerk away. The whistleblower reported, "Eventually, many of the monkeys stop fighting and reacting … it is like the life is gone from them." Monkeys are also immobilized in restraint chairs for many hours while workers pump drugs into their bodies. They struggle to break free but sometimes collapse under the physical and emotional stress. Some of the monkeys never recover.

The protesters in Everett didn't get mad—they got active! You can, too, by clicking here to urge the airlines that are still delivering primates to SNBL and other laboratories to ground the practice.

Dozens of animals were rescued from a ramshackle farm in Arnsberg-Hüsten, Germany, after a whistleblower alerted PETA Germany that the animals were being kept in filthy, dilapidated sheds or were enclosed in broken wire fences—exposed to the elements, predators, and the beer-bottle-littered ground.

Upon investigation, staffers found 59 chickens, 34 rabbits, 25 ducks, and six geese, as well as the skins and heads of two dead rabbits and the carcasses of three dead and decaying animals, which were being eaten by rats. The whistleblower stated that the owner of the farm slaughtered animals and sold them to his neighbors.

PETA Germany staffers shot video footage, which they used to file a complaint with authorities, who ordered the farmer to surrender most of the animals. The church that owned the property also ordered the man out, and the city bulldozed the shacks. The man subsequently surrendered the rest of the animals, who were taken by PETA Germany and two other rescue groups and placed in sanctuaries. Not a bad weekend's work, PETA Germany!

Written by Michelle Sherrow

movieline / CC

Just a month after PETA wrote to the cast and producers of The Zookeeper to warn them that the company supplying animals for the movie's production has a long list of USDA citations, we have heartbreaking news to report. Tweet, a giraffe on the set who had also been forced to perform in Ace Ventura and a slew of Toys "R" Us commercials, has died.

Tweet collapsed in his pen while being fed on Friday. While giraffes in the wild can live into their mid 20s, Tweet was only 18 years old.

The results of Tweet's necropsy haven't been released yet, but according to a whistleblower who contacted PETA, Tweet's premature death may have resulted from his eating pieces of the blue tarp that covered his enclosure. The whistleblower alleges that Tweet's owner and trainers were notified that the giraffe had been eating the tarp but that they did nothing about it.

The whistleblower also said that Tweet spent the last few months of his life confined to a 20-foot-by-20-foot stall, which was barely large enough for the 18-foot-tall giraffe to lie down in. In their natural habitat, giraffes live in vast home ranges of up to 400 square miles.

PETA is now calling on the USDA to investigate Tweet's death. We're also asking for other people associated with the production of the movie to come forward with additional information about the treatment of animals on the set.

Written by Shawna Flavell

militaryplaques / CC

This is hot off the press, folks. We just heard from an Army medic today that several goats who had been used in a trauma training exercise at Fort Lewis were allegedly discarded in sealed plastic bags even though they were still breathing.

The goats had been subjected to all sorts of horrific exercises, including having holes cut in their chests to relieve an induced massive buildup of pressure in their lungs, having their throats punctured, and having their ribs cracked open to expose their beating hearts, all before being injected with a chemical to induce cardiac arrest. Apparently, their vital signs weren't checked before they were chucked into trash bags like rotten produce.

PETA has been arguing for months that such trauma training exercises are in violation of Department of Defense (DOD) rules that bar the use of animals for training exercises if humane alternatives exist (which they do, in abundance). But even if the DOD isn't ready to cede that point, surely it can agree that suffocating animals in plastic bags is inexcusable.

Our whistleblower tells us that dozens more goats are slated to be used in trauma training exercises in the coming days and weeks, so we're wasting no time in demanding that the exercises be stopped immediately. Read our letter to Fort Lewis and then see our action alert on this topic here.

Written by Alisa Mullins

After our recent demonstration in New Haven to let residents know that Yale is spending millions of taxpayer dollars torturing monkeys, the university wasn't exactly ready to throw open its doors and give guided tours to people who wanted to find out more. Well, Yale's secretive vivisectors may have been a bit surprised on their drive to work when they saw our massive new billboard near their facilities calling on anyone who witnesses cruelty in the university's labs to blow the whistle:

Whistleblowers have been instrumental in revealing neglect, carelessness, and cruelty in laboratories across the nation. This has led to countless victories for animals—so we're always eager to hear from people with the inside scoop.

Even if you don't work in a laboratory, you can blow the whistle on animal abusers. Whistleblowers have revealed details of Ringling's abuse of animals, shed light on beatings of animals on movie sets, and given us behind-the-scenes information on the horse-racing industry. Wherever you see animals abused—whether at a race track, pet shop, circus, carnival, or in your own neighborhood—speak up and let us know about it!

Written by Liz Graffeo