October 2007 After receiving a complaint about goldfish giveaways at the annual community festival sponsored by the Circleville Volunteer Fire Department in North Huntington, Pennsylvania, PETA wrote a letter detailing the cruelty of giving away animals. Chief Hinish agreed to prohibit animal giveaways at future festivals, admitting that animals are not trinkets and that bringing a … Read more »
October 2007 When PETA learned that AC Reynolds High School in Asheville, North Carolina, intended to hold a “Kiss a Pig” contest, we sprang into action. We contacted the school principal and alerted her to the cruelty involved in bringing a young, frightened piglet into a huge auditorium packed with screaming students. The principal agreed that … Read more »
October 2007 After learning from PETA how animals killed for their fur are treated, Swiss watchmaker Swatch, Burton Snowboards, and fashion giants Rebecca Taylor and Nicole Miller made the compassionate decision never to use fur in their designs again. In a letter to PETA, Swatch chief operating officer Reto J. Stockli wrote, “Swatch Ltd. and the … Read more »
October 2007 PETA received complaints about a “rat roulette” game at the 2007 Sacred Heart Fall Festival at Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Pinellas Park, Florida, in which a rat was placed in the middle of a spinning roulette wheel and had to locate one of the holes along the side of the wheel in order … Read more »
July 2007 Following years of campaigning, a milestone was reached for animals when Louisiana joined the other 49 U.S. states in acknowledging that the cruel “sport” of cockfighting has no place in civilized society and passed a bill to ban it. Roosters used in cockfights are fitted with sharp razors called gaffes that tear through flesh … Read more »
July 2007 Following a PETA action alert and protests targeting the company, which resulted in thousands of e-mails to the company’s executives, PetSmart has announced that it will no longer sell rabbits in its stores! Considering that thousands of rabbits are abandoned to die in animal shelters every year, this is big news for bunnies–and for … Read more »
After learning that Pennsylvania’s Delaware County Wage Peace and Justice organization planned to release “doves” for a special event’s opening ceremony in September 2007, PETA got on the phone with the organizers and asked them to replace the dove release with an animal-free alternative, such as using dove-shaped kites. The birds used for “dove releases” … Read more »
July 2007 Coca-Cola had a history of conducting invasive and deadly animal experiments–including cutting open chimpanzees’ faces in order to conduct taste tests and force-feeding chemicals to rats to test “caramel color”–none of which is necessary or required by law. After discussions with PETA and after we learned that Coca-Cola was funding a deadly physiology test … Read more »
July 2007 After the president of Country USA – an annual music festival in Oshkosh, Wisconsin – heard from PETA that live goldfish were given away by a carnival booth at the 2006 event, he let the vendor know in no uncertain terms that live animal giveaways would not be tolerated: “It has come to my … Read more »
July 2007 After three chickens were thrown onto the court at a KSU basketball game and at least two were killed, PETA contacted the university president and asked him to ban the use of live animals at all events and to enforce that ban rigorously. KSU responded by releasing an open letter to all its fans, … Read more »
July 2007 On Friday, July 27, 2007, PETA sent out a dozen news releases announcing demonstrations the following Monday outside every Niketown storefront in the United States–from Los Angeles to New York City to Boston to Atlanta. PETA had already protested outside Niketown’s New York City store, and PETA activists had flooded Nike with calls and … Read more »
July 2007 After learning that a carnival game vendor notorious for handing out live animals – such as rabbits – as prizes to fair attendees was to be at the Delta Fair and Music Festival in Memphis, Tennessee, PETA contacted the fair’s owner, Mark Lovell. We explained that giving away animals at such an event to … Read more »
July 2007 For more than a year, PETA worked with PepsiCo–the parent company of brands like Pepsi-Cola, Frito-Lay, Tropicana, Quaker Oats, and Gatorade–to convince the corporation and its partners to end their funding of animal tests, one of which involved infecting mice with a respiratory virus and then forcing them to exercise on a treadmill for … Read more »
July 2007 AIDS Walk New York, a 45,000-person event held annually in New York City’s Central Park, is the largest AIDS fundraiser in the world. Organizers contacted PETA to ask about a planned release of live doves. We let them know about the risks that these domesticated birds face – including predation, exposure, and becoming lost … Read more »
July 2007 After learning that a promotional stunt for the Los Angeles Pink Taco restaurant featured a live donkey whose entire body was painted pink and who was paraded around on busy sidewalks in the hot summer sun, PETA sent a letter to the chain’s owner, Harry Morton, pointing out the cruelty involved and asking him … Read more »
