Less than two months ago, PETA called on the Little Rock Zoo to retire its lone elephant, Ellen, (Mary, her companion, had just died), and send her to a sanctuary where she could spend her remaining years in peace and comfort. Now it’s too late: Ellen is dead. Benoit Dupont/cc by 2.0 Rather than … Read more »
PETA members converged on the Hollywood premiere of the new movie Zookeeper to remember Tweet, a giraffe who collapsed and died on set during the movie’s production. An elephant used in the film may also have been abused. Animal Defenders International took video footage of elephants as they were beaten and shocked by trainers at Have … Read more »
More than 100 supporters of PETA U.K. and the Spanish group AnimaNaturalis lay naked and “bloodied” in Pamplona’s main square on Sunday to protest the cruel bull runs and subsequent bullfights, in which bulls are tortured and killed during the city’s annual festival of San Fermín. They aren’t the only ones exposing Spain’s … Read more »
Update: Eighteen people with homes near the Yerkes National Primate Research Center have filed a complaint with city and county officials demanding that the facility be shut down. The female rhesus monkey still has not been found. It shouldn’t come as any surprise that the 4,000 intelligent, sensitive nonhuman primates at Emory University’s Yerkes National Primate … Read more »
The baby born to lowland gorilla Kumbuka at Zoo Miami on Father’s Day has died of unknown causes. The grieving mother refused to turn her infant’s body over to zookeepers, who had to immobilize her in order to retrieve the body. When looking at a photo like the one above of Kumbuka and her baby, … Read more »
Animal Defenders International (ADI), which released video footage of an elephant, Tai, and others being hit with bullhooks and shocked with a stun gun, has filed suit against exhibitor Have Trunk Will Travel (HTWT) for allegedly making misleading claims about how Tai was treated. PETA Files readers may recall that HTWT is the same outfit … Read more »
ViNull/cc by 2.0 Tennessee officials agreed with PETA that the Knoxville Zoo should be penalized for allowing handlers to come into direct contact with elephants and has recommended $8,400 in fines in connection with the death of a handler earlier this year. Since the attack, the zoo has switched to a safer and more humane … Read more »
Soon, Greyhound might be driving home the message about the importance of spaying and neutering. PETA is asking Greyhound Lines, Inc., to temporarily switch its well-known moniker to “Spayhound” and/or to “fix” at least one of its buses with this dog-friendly message: Click image for larger version One Greyhound bus takes an average of 19 … Read more »
After years of campaigning by PETA, Zoocheck Canada, and local residents, provincial authorities in Alberta, Canada, have finally ordered a decrepit roadside menagerie called Guzoo Animal Farm to close its doors. Numerous reports have documented that hundreds of animals—including tigers, cougars, dogs, a lynx, and a baboon—were living in feces-filled cages and cramped … Read more »
Queenie, an Asian elephant who spent her entire life in captivity, has died at Georgia’s Wild Adventures Water and Theme Park at age 59. Queenie was only 6 months old when her owner began training her to water ski—yes, water ski—at a Florida theme park. For 15 years in the ’50s and ’60s, Queenie performed … Read more »
Demi Moore is making a decent proposal to the Fulton County, Georgia, Board of Commissioners. The actor is urging boardmembers to vote in favor of a proposed ban on bullhooks tomorrow. In her letter, Moore explained how elephants used in circuses are beaten bloody with the sharp instruments to force them to perform tricks that … Read more »
I’ve got some great news and some not-so-great news. The great news is that the Toronto Zoo has heeded the call of animal defenders, including Bob Barker, and decided to close its elephant display, joining more than a dozen other zoos that have done the same thing. What’s more, the Toronto Zoo has agreed that … Read more »
Voters in Ecuador recently banned bullfighting in the country, ending 500 years of stabbing bulls to death for “entertainment.” While it is still legal for matadors to fight bulls (as long as the animal is not killed), a similar 2004 restriction in the city of Cuenca resulted in the virtual disappearance of bullfighting. Bulls are still being … Read more »
If rats, mice, dogs, and monkeys were choosing public enemy number one, they would probably go with Charles River Laboratories (CRL), which breeds and sells millions of animals every year to laboratories around the world, supplying half of all the animals used in experiments. CRL is the second largest U.S. importer of nonhuman primates sold … Read more »
Video footage just released by Animal Defenders International shows trainers with Have Trunk Will Travel—the company that provides elephants for rides at the Santa Ana Zoo—as they strike elephants with sharp metal-tipped bullhooks and shock them with electric prods. PETA has filed multiple complaints against this exhibitor, and we’ve repeatedly urged Santa Ana officials to end the … Read more »
