The PETA Files

Use Foursquare, Leave Tips, Eat Vegan!

Michelle Sherrow — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 17:00:00 GMT

We all know how easy it is for vegans to dine out, with options popping up everywhere from five-star resorts to Chipotle. But people who are just coming around to the vegan way of eating or are thinking about making the switch could probably use some helpful hints about which restaurant dishes are vegan or could easily be made so.

Enter foursquare, an app for iPhone, Android, and more that allows users to "check in" when they are at restaurants or other public places and leave helpful comments.

How can you use foursquare to help animals? Simply share vegan tips with prospective patrons—comments such as "The vegan chicken fajitas rock" or "The faux-sausage and vegan-cheese pizza is awesome."

Share Your Tips!

Got a good recommendation? Then share it!

It's easy. Just check in on the restaurant's foursquare page:

Leave your tips:

And other users can see your tip when they check in:

It's handy for seasoned vegans, too, when we're traveling or just trying out a new restaurant. And if you check in at your favorite place often enough, you can become the "mayor" of the venue on foursquare. Some restaurants give discounts and freebies to their mayors. Who doesn't love free food?

Let Us Know!

Did you share a foursquare tip? Let us know by sharing your link in the comments below.

Photo: 'Pig' Has a Gig at Bacon Festival

Michelle Sherrow — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 20:35:00 GMT

Fresh off a stint asking politicians to "cut the pork" out of the federal budget, PETA's plucky "pig" asked attendees of Iowa's Blue Ribbon Bacon Festival not to cut the pork off pigs' bodies.

When the "pig" implored, "I am not bacon," the fans of fried fat stopped to listen and take our leaflets. I guess all that bacon grease hasn't ruined their hearts yet.

Why ‘No-Kill Shelters’ Make Animals Rely on Us Now More Than Ever

Jeff Mackey — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 17:31:00 GMT

The length of the current economic downturn has taken its toll both on people—many of whom are struggling to find housing and jobs—and on the animals who depend on them. As a result, animal shelters are receiving record numbers of abandoned animals, stretching their already limited resources to capacity.

Overcrowding at a limited admission (no-kill) shelter

These problems are intensified by the animal overpopulation crisis, which, even in a strong economy, causes many animal shelters to struggle with the burden of homeless and unwanted animals. Unlike complicated fiscal policy, though, the solution to this problem is simple—by implementing and enforcing mandatory spay-and-neuter laws, communities can reduce animal populations to manageable levels, ensuring that every animal can be cared for. PETA not only is working to promote the passage of such legislation but also operates several mobile spay-and-neuter clinics, sterilizing 10,564 animals in 2011 alone and nearly 80,000 to date!

Sadly, at this critical time, many animal shelters are implementing shameful limited-admission (no-kill) policies without first having reduced the number of unwanted animals (though some have now wised up). Many of these animal shelters are betraying animals by adopting guidelines that make the problem much worse, such as requiring appointments and admission fees for people to surrender animals, turning away strays who aren't well socialized because they are not adoptable (even if they're at risk of being harmed by people who consider them a nuisance), forcing people to wait until space opens up to take in any more animals, refusing to accept animals from outside a certain town or region, and giving animals away for free without proper screening.

These horribly misguided practices are a blueprint for disaster. The failure of these limited-admission policies has been proved again and again, as in these stories from 2011:

The mayor of a Pennsylvania town with an out-of-control feral cat problem explained, "The no-kill killed us. That's what did it. We can't have a no-kill shelter that doesn't euthanize animals."
A Louisiana animal shelter was turned over to a no-kill group and was almost immediately found to be keeping animals in criminally cruel and severely crowded conditions. After one month, the animal shelter began euthanizing animals because of humane concerns.
A Missouri hoarder said that before opening her home to nearly five dozen animals, "she reached out to many animal shelters, but she said none of them have been able to help."
Two cats died when they were left in a box outside a New York animal shelter that charges a surrender fee.

Companion animals depend on us to take care of them, which is why PETA accepts all animals who need help—without requiring a fee or an appointment—whether they are suffering from a terminal illness that requires euthanasia that their guardians can't afford, were abandoned during a natural disaster, or were injured in Afghanistan and brought stateside by a caring soldier.

How You Can Help Abandoned Animals

Is there an animal shelter that's turning away animals in your community? Find out—and try to ensure that it does what's right to help animals.

A Gentle Hand for the Toughest Cases

Jeff Mackey — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 18:31:00 GMT

Over the last couple of days, we've told you about some of the ways that PETA worked in 2011 to end the suffering of animals in its own "backyard"—southern Virginia and northeastern North Carolina. PETA staffers are in the field every day working with guardians and local authorities, delivering doghouses and straw, providing transport to our clinics for spay/neuter procedures and other veterinary care, and much more.

On Friday, you may have read about many of the animals whose lives and futures were made brighter by PETA's fieldworkers, which is always what we hope for. But since PETA's hands-on work focuses on finding and helping the most abused, neglected, and underserved animals—those whose years of illness, injury, deprivation, exposure, and isolation typically make rehabilitation and adoption into a loving and responsible home impossible—offering love, kindness, and a peaceful release from suffering is sometimes the kindest option possible.

The following are a few of the animals PETA helped in 2011, along with information about how you can help us prevent more animals from suffering from neglect and abuse (warning—graphic images):

DJ

An elderly couple called us for a doghouse for their dog, DJ. PETA's fieldworker discovered that DJ was not just terribly unsocialized but also had a chain wrapped directly around his neck that had become deeply embedded into his skin as he grew. DJ's guardians had no idea that this had been happening and were shocked to discover his condition. They surrendered DJ to PETA, and he is no longer suffering.

Trixie

The girlfriend of the person responsible for two dogs, Trixie and Hitler, contacted PETA because Hitler was already dead on her property and Trixie was severely emaciated. A necropsy later confirmed that Hitler had starved to death—the tip of his own tail was found in his stomach. The vet determined that Trixie was about 20 pounds underweight. The animals' guardian signed a contract agreeing not to acquire any more animals.

An Unnamed Cat

PETA took in this cat who was suffering from an open wound over his entire back that was teeming with maggots. A local woman had been feeding stray cats in her yard for months but was totally oblivious to this cat's condition.

Pokey

When little Pokey's family moved away, they simply left this ill puppy in the yard to die. Despite days of intensive treatment and being showered with love, Pokey's condition deteriorated, and her veterinarian said that the most humane option was to give her an immediate release from her suffering.

Doing What's Right

Turning away cats and dogs like these just to avoid having to euthanize them doesn't help unwanted, suffering, and dying animals. If PETA, like many animal shelters today, cared more about how its statistics look to the public than the well-being of the individual animals who so desperately need help, animals like Pokey would be left to suffer and die in agony instead of being gently relieved of their misery in the soothing embrace of probably the first and only people ever to show them any kindness.

PETA Demands Action

PETA has renewed our call for the National Governors Association to use its influence to end animal homelessness by helping pass mandatory spay and neuter legislation across the country in 2012, requiring dogs and cats to be sterilized unless their owners purchase an annual breeding permit, the cost of which would fund low-cost spay-and-neuter services. Without such laws, animal homelessness and neglect will continue—causing animals like DJ, Trixie, the homeless cat, and Pokey to continue to suffer.

How You Can Help Neglected and Homeless Animals

Please join this effort by asking your governor to support strong spay and neuter legislation.

The Week in PETA (Feb. 17, 2012)

Michelle Sherrow — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 22:10:00 GMT

Poignant words on when animals die, sticking it to Ringling and its torture sticks, and a treat for extreme couponers: It's everything you might have missed this week.

PETA News on Tumblr

PETA's Tumblr page keeps you up to date on all the latest animal news.

New Features

New Action Alerts

Meet Some of the Animals PETA Helped in 2011

Jeff Mackey — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 20:32:00 GMT

PETA's SNIP (Spay and Neuter Immediately, Please!) clinics and Community Animal Project (CAP) are on the job year-round to help animals in need in Virginia and North Carolina—and in 2011, they succeeded again and again in improving the lives of animals and the people who care about them.

SNIP's fleet of mobile spay-and-neuter clinics has "fixed" nearly 80,000 cats and dogs over the past decade—10,564 of them in 2011 alone! In the past year, PETA also helped thousands of guardians keep their animal companions by offering counseling tips, information about animal-friendly housing, and assistance with offering humane care.

Today, we'd like you to meet just a few of the animals whose lives were big-time brightened—and even saved—by CAP and SNIP this past year:

Moose

Moose's coat was severely matted, a painful and dangerous condition that can lead to sores and maggot infestations. Moose's family didn't realize how serious matting was and couldn't afford to have the little guy groomed. PETA's fieldworkers spruced him up!

Bailey

Bailey was suffering from a large mammary tumor that was affecting her ability to walk. PETA's veterinarian successfully removed the tumor, and Bailey was spayed at the same time.

Prue

Unlike many pit bulls PETA's fieldworkers meet, Prue lives indoors, but she had already had one litter of unwanted pups. PETA helped prevent more pit bulls from being born by spaying this sweet girl. No more pups for Prue!

Bentley

Bentley's guardian lives in a very rural area. The closest vet clinic is almost an hour's drive from her house, and she didn't have the $200 that the vet charges for neutering dogs, so PETA took care of Bentley's sterilization, transporting him to and from surgery.

Brownie

Brownie's guardian is a young single mom with two children. PETA spayed Brownie—who, like Prue, had already had one litter—and provided the family with a leash to walk Brownie (which they now do daily), toys, treats, and a sturdy handmade doghouse, along with warm, dry straw.

Biscuit

Biscuit's guardian took this kitten in as a stray and desperately wanted to keep him but couldn't afford to have him fixed at a vet clinic. If it weren't for PETA, who transported Biscuit to and from his neuter appointment, Biscuit's guardian would have had to surrender him to the local animal shelter.

How You Can Help Dogs and Cats Like These

Please join PETA in calling on elected officials to pass mandatory spay-and-neuter laws in your state, county, and town.

Please also help make sure animals continue to get the help that they so desperately need by making a donation to help keep SNIP's mobile clinics going strong, sponsoring a doghouse (or two) to be built and delivered by CAP, and being ready to help neglected animals in your own community.

Companion-animal neglect and homelessness is a preventable tragedy. By working together, we can end it!

Overheard: Celebrity Gossip (Feb. 17, 2012)

Michelle Sherrow — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 18:19:00 GMT

Is Vince Vaughn a valorous vegan? It's sure looking that way. While filming Neighborhood Watch in Atlanta, he ate mostly vegan foods, and his mom bragged about his healthy lifestyle on The Marilyn Denis Show. We sent the funnyman some cookbooks to give him some delicious new meal ideas.

Maybe Vaughn will be the next Phil Collen of Def Leppard—vegetarian for 30 years and proud of it!

Designer Vivienne Westwood also has a lot to be proud of. Not only does she keep fur-bearing animals out of her designs, the newly minted vegetarian also keeps animals off her plate too.

Sexy vegan Jared Leto is a fellow fur foe. Here's what he and other celebs have been buzzing about on Twitter:

The cast members of The Real Housewives of Miami will need to rethink their furry wardrobe choices with animal defender and supermodel Joanna Krupa joining the show.

Photo: www.SebreePhoto.com | Hair and Makeup: Tony Yates | Styling: Joline Towers

Photo: Ringling's Chilly Reception in Atlanta

Michelle Sherrow — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 22:10:00 GMT

Ringling Bros. might have gotten a reprieve from the bullhook ban in Fulton County, Georgia (claiming it can't have elephants without the weapons), for the moment, but The Cruelest Show on Earth couldn't escape the throngs of people who showed up to protest on its opening day.

Armed with a bullhorn, posters, leaflets, a flat-screen TV that showed a video of trainers as they beat elephants with bullhooks, giant inflatable pachyderms, and large, eye-catching pictures of "elephant training," the protesters drew quite a crowd.

The circus … not so much. Word from inside was that it didn't look like many people had bought tickets.

Let's show Ringling that we aren't going to let it get away with skirting the bullhook ban. Urge Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed to enforce the ban and make Ringling either stop beating elephants or pack up and leave.

Pepper's Story: Justice for a Forgotten Victim

Lindsay Pollard-Post — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 20:45:00 GMT

PETA and other Virginia animal shelters have just submitted to the state the numbers of animals they received, found wonderful homes for, reunited with guardians, had to euthanize, or were able to release back into nature in 2011. Because numbers can't begin to tell each animal's story, let me describe one of those animals: Pepper.

PETA's emergency fieldworkers are on call 24/7 and leap into action even when that means getting up in the middle of the night to drive long distances in response to calls about suffering, abandoned, neglected, and abused animals. Since we refer healthy, highly adoptable animals to traditional, well-trafficked animal shelters, the animals we focus on with our hands-on work are the most abused, neglected, and underserved, usually the "unadoptables."

Like Pepper.

For months, PETA tried to engage local law-enforcement officials to take action on a monstrous woman who kept a terribly neglected and miserable dog named Pepper, who needed urgent veterinary treatment, penned in her backyard. When PETA found her, Pepper had been languishing in the filthy backyard cage for years and had slowly deteriorated, yet the woman—a nursing assistant—couldn't be bothered to provide her dog with basic vet care and dignity.

Finally, PETA obtained custody of Pepper and whisked her to a veterinarian, who determined that Pepper was suffering from dehydration, "severe emaciation" (the veterinarian's exact words), a severe eye infection that caused both of Pepper's eyes to ooze discharge, a chronic hematoma (blood pocket) on her left ear, chronic dermatitis, a raging flea infestation (more than 500 live fleas were picked off her body), extremely worn-down teeth from biting at her own infected skin, toenails on all four feet so curled inward that they were embedded into the skin (causing an infection), a large mammary tumor, and cancer. For Pepper, euthanasia was a sweet release from the painful existence that she'd endured for so long. PETA's fieldworker stayed with Pepper as she peacefully slipped away from this world.

PETA filed cruelty charges against Angela Williams, Pepper's owner. This month, there was a small measure of justice meted out for Pepper when a judge found Williams guilty of cruelty to animals. The judge said that the woman's treatment of Pepper was as inexcusable as it would be to know that one of her patients had had bed sores for months and do nothing about it.

How we wish that Pepper's heart-wrenching case was unusual! PETA's caseworkers take in scores of animals who are in equally miserable, and even worse, condition almost every single day. For many of these suffering souls, the only kind thing to do is to hold them, make a fuss about them, tell them that they are loved, and let them slip away.

How You Can Help Dogs Like Pepper

If a dog is kept penned or chained in your neighborhood, please take action. Urge the homeowner to allow the dog indoors and make him or her a part of the family. Offer to take the lonely dog for walks. Report abuse and neglect. Get the dog fixed, vaccinated, and dewormed. Look for other medical needs. Together, let's help wipe out the cruel practice of tossing dogs in the backyard and forgetting about them. Please push for anti-chaining legislation in your city or state.

Avon, Mary Kay, Estée Lauder Paying for Tests on Animals

Michelle Sherrow — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 18:45:00 GMT

After two decades of touting their "no animal testing" policies, Avon, Estée Lauder, and Mary Kay have quietly resumed paying for cruel tests on animals—without letting consumers know about this stunning about-face. After confirming with each company that chemicals are being dripped into rabbits' eyes and that substances are being rubbed onto animals' skin because of requirements of the Chinese government in order to market products in that country, PETA has downgraded the companies to our "do test" list.

All three companies were among the first large international cosmetics manufacturers to ban all tests on animals after being targeted by PETA. Avon was the first in 1989, following PETA's "Avon Killing" campaign, a play on the company's then-slogan "Avon Calling." Mary Kay came next, after being publicly lampooned by cartoonist Berkeley Breathed in a series called The Night of the Mary Kay Commandos in his hilarious Bloom County comic strip. Estée Lauder soon followed suit.

For each test required by the Chinese government, superior non-animal methods are available. Mary Kay had taken steps to work with Chinese officials on the acceptance of these tests, but Avon and Estée Lauder seem to have agreed to the tests without objection. PETA has jump-started the effort for non-animal test validation by awarding a grant to the Institute for In Vitro Sciences, which is working with scientists and regulatory bodies to replace animal tests in China.

Please let Avon, Estée Lauder, and Mary Kay know that you won't buy their products until they are 100 percent cruelty-free once again. Fortunately for animals, you can still choose from more than 1,000 companies in PETA's online searchable database of cosmetics and personal-care companies that don't harm animals at home or abroad.