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Hello. I’m Dan Shannon, and I’m crying foul over leather game gear. Many major pro sports teams are courting animal cruelty through their use of leather balls. But here’s the good news: All major professional soccer teams have kicked animal abuse by using synthetic-only balls—and PETA is asking the National Football League (NFL), Major League Baseball (MLB), and National Basketball Association (NBA) to bench cruelty by switching to synthetics, too.
Our efforts to convince the NFL to ditch the “pigskin” (actually, footballs today are made from cow skin) are gaining yardage with football fans. It takes 3,000 cows to supply the NFL with enough leather for a year’s supply of footballs and 3.8 steers just to make the 72 footballs used in every Super Bowl. The cows suffer painful branding, unanesthetized castration, tail-docking, dehorning, and cruel treatment during transportation and slaughter.
We’ve contacted the owners of all major league baseball teams, as well as MLB’s commissioner, Bud Selig, and Donald Fehr, the president of MLB Player’s Association, asking that they pitch Rule 1.09, which states that all major league baseballs must be made of leather.
Next up, PETA will be asking NBA officials to follow the lead of the Women’s National Basketball Association and the majority of amateur players, who slam-dunk basketballs made of synthetic skins.
— Dan Shannon is PETA’s Animals in Sports Campaign coordinator.
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 • Pass on the pigskin by ordering a football made of synthetic skin from Spalding (www.spalding.com) or Wilson Sporting Goods Company (www.wilsonsports.com). Urge the NFL to do the same by writing to:
Paul Tagliabue, President, National Football League,
280 Park Ave., 31st Fl., New York, NY 10167, calling: 212-450-2000 or faxing a letter to: 212-681-7573.
• Go to bat for cows by urging MLB officials to drop Rule 1.09, which mandates the use of leather balls. Write to: Bud Selig, Commissioner, Major League Baseball, 245 Park Ave., New York, NY 10167, call: 212-937-7800 or
fax: 212-949-8636.
• Visit PETA’s Web site CowsAreCool.com to order our free “Shopping Guide to Nonleather Products”—and to stay updated on our efforts to score big league victories.
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 ANIMAL TIMES® READERS ARE HELPING THE ANIMALS
PETA members Christian and Dawn Pilosi wowed their wedding guests with a lavish all-vegan affair, from the gourmet animal-free feast—including Mock Chicken Scallopine Marsala and Spicy Louisiana Tofu—to wool-free suits for the groomsmen. A vegan wedding can be a big hit with guests. “We are the proof!”
 “The Goose people” saved hundreds of geese in Seattle who were slated to be killed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Led by Bob Chorush and equipped with cell phones, the 50 activists patrolled the beaches and parks every day for four weeks, beginning at dawn (the killers like to do their work before people are up) and chasing the molting geese into the water wherever the government assassins showed up. Finally, when the geese’s new feathers were grown in and they could fly again and their babies had learned to fly, the killers gave up. |
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