No one is more effective than PETA in stopping animal abuse in film production and at zoos, circuses, and other entertainment venues.

Using video footage showing that Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus “trains” animals by abusing them with chains, whips, and bullhooks, PETA convinced Denny’s, Lukoil, Harris Teeter, and numerous other companies to stop promoting Ringling—leaving the world’s largest circus with no national corporate sponsors.

For the first time ever, all major U.S. film studios were urged to stop using great apes. In a PETA campaign launched in 2008, Academy Award winner Anjelica Huston sent a letter (along with our video, which she narrated) about how newborn chimpanzees and orangutans are torn from their mothers’ arms and beaten during terrifying training sessions to ad agencies and Hollywood directors, producers, and writers asking them not to use great apes in their work. In related efforts, PETA convinced the Ad Council, SEGA, Subaru, and MovieTickets.com to stop using great apes in their ads.

Federal complaints filed by PETA resulted in sanctions against numerous abusive animal exhibitors in 2008: Charlotte Metro Zoo, a hellish roadside zoo in North Carolina, had its license suspended for eight years; Wesa-A-Geh-Ya—a pseudo-sanctuary in Missouri that kept animals in atrocious conditions—closed down completely; and Tiger’s Eye Productions, an animal-training facility in Florida where lions and tigers were beaten with sticks and pipes, gave up its federal license and no longer has any animals. And as a result of PETA pressure, the last licensed bear-wrestling act in the U.S. also had its license pulled by the government.

Thanks to PETA, 2008 also saw important progress for elephants. Lena Headey, star of Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, appeared in a PETA anticircus ad. PETA organized the first-ever workshop at the National Animal Control Association conference to teach anti-cruelty officers how to identify elephant abuse in traveling circuses. Our expert witnesses continue to testify in support of Chicago's Elephant Protection Ordinance while the circus industry, including Ringling and its lobbyists, have contributed tens of thousands of dollars in cash and circus tickets to City Council members to fight the pending legislation. Our message of compassion also led several venues to cancel performances involving elephants.

For the first time in decades, important reforms were made in the horse-racing industry, thanks to PETA protests following the death of Eight Belles at the Kentucky Derby. Maryland and Kentucky banned steroid use for racehorses, and Kentucky banned side-whipping and the use of “snappers” (welt-producing whips) in harness racing.

PETA also took center stage in the campaign to end the abuse in New York’s horse-drawn carriage industry by holding demonstrations and media-worthy events involving celebrities. Notable participants included Chrissie Hynde, Pink, Alec Baldwin, and Kristen Johnston.

“Most of us can see a middle ground between the line drawn by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals and the occasionally tone-deaf ‘That’s horse racing’ set. That ground shrinks every time a horse is put down or a trainer is exposed as cruel or indifferent to the suffering of his charges. And when that middle ground shrinks, mainstream thinking shifts toward PETA’s line.”

—The Philadelphia Inquirer, June 25, 2008