So long, rat torture! After a year-long PETA campaign and complaints from students and our supporters, a neuroscience class at the University of Texas–Dallas dropped a deadly classroom experiment on rats from its curriculum. Previously, students in the class had to drill holes into rats’ skulls, cause brain damage with toxic chemicals, force the rats … Read more »
PETA has asked officials with Tennessee’s Division of Occupational Safety and Health to penalize the Knoxville Zoo for repeatedly allowing handlers to come into direct contact with the elephants there. Handler Stephanie James was crushed to death when an elephant named Edie pushed her into a bar in her enclosure in January. sdixclifford/cc by 2.0 Despite a … Read more »
It’s a bird, it’s a plane, it’s … Steve-O! The vegan comedian and daredevil led a PETA protest outside the Edmonton Valley Zoo to call on zoo officials to allow Lucy, the ailing and lonely elephant at the zoo, to retire to an elephant sanctuary. “I’m sympathetic to Lucy because I know that elephants in their … Read more »
A photojournalist spent days riding through the Burmese jungle on a motorbike in an attempt to capture on film how elephants are “trained” before being smuggled out of Burma and sold into slavery to perform in circuses and street shows in Thailand. Brent Lewin’s prize-winning photograph is leaving viewers horrified in disbelief. During the training session that … Read more »
From coast to coast, cities are hosting alternatives to the cruel Iditarod—which began yesterday and will cause dogs to suffer and some even to die over the next two weeks. But in these entertaining events, no dogs will be paying with their lives. Check ’em out: pattista/cc by 2.0 Pennsylvania’s Cedar Ridge Wild and Wacky … Read more »
UPDATE: Last week, Doug Terranova resigned from his position as zookeeper at the Dallas Zoo citing “issues in his business and personal life”. Let’s hope he stays far, far away from any animals. An exotic-animal trainer’s days of abusing exotic animals may be coming to an end. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has just … Read more »
Dawn Forsythe was just a young girl in the 1950s when her dad, Arthur, got a job at the Detroit Zoo training chimpanzees to perform in shows. She grew up with the chimpanzees and was allowed behind the scenes of the shows, where the animals were housed and trained. She recalls holding the hand of … Read more »
FaceMePLS/cc by 2.0 Finally—a measure of justice for Tina and Jewel. The U.S. District Court in Beaumont, Texas, has slapped Cole Bros. Circus with a $150,000 fine and four years of probation for illegally selling the two elephants to former employee Wilbur Davenport in violation of the Endangered Species Act. The court also handed Cole Bros. owner … Read more »
… to sunny California. Not content with campaigning to get an ailing elephant named Lucy out of Edmonton’s Valley Zoo, the tireless Bob Barker is now speaking out on behalf of Toka, Iringa, and Thika, the three elephants at the Toronto Zoo. Bob joins Toronto City Councilor Shelley Carroll, who is calling for the elephant … Read more »
mampajama97/cc by 2.0 A federal inspector determined that a tiger named Tatiana was provoked before she leapt out of her enclosure and attacked three young people—killing one—at the San Francisco Zoo in 2007. The inspector noted in her initial report, “With my knowledge of tiger behavior I cannot imagine a tiger trying to jump out of … Read more »
In the space of just one week, three giraffes have died at zoos in the Southwest. Zookeepers found Slim, an 18-month-old baby giraffe dead when they showed up for work at the Ellen Trout Zoo in Lufkin, Texas. After only four months at the Hillcrest Park Zoo in Clovis, New Mexico, a giraffe named Jay … Read more »
2e14/cc by 2.0 Barack, a 2-year-old elephant calf who was at one point traveling with Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus, is being treated (again) for elephant endotheliotropic herpes virus (EEHV). The scientific literature recognizes that stress is strongly associated with EEHV. Ringling has been subjecting baby Barack to the stress of transport, cruel “training,” … Read more »
On Super Bowl Sunday, a wave of 50 protestors crashed onto SeaWorld San Diego’s main entrance shouting, “Shame on you—free Shamu!” Then four “orcas” made their way into the intersection Beatles-style and lay “beached” for half an hour until they were dragged away by police and arrested. Orca Road All we are saying is give whales … Read more »
Did you ever wonder what happens to the chimpanzees CareerBuilder uses in its Super Bowl ads when the company is done exploiting them? The lucky ones end up at the Center for Great Apes sanctuary in Wauchula, Florida, which took in Bella, Ellie, Kodua, and Mowgli, all veterans of CareerBuilder’s 2005 Super Bowl ad campaign. Bella … Read more »
paul kehrer/cc by 2.0 Anyone who’s ever watched a racehorse being flogged down the home stretch can see the obvious: It’s animal abuse. Jockeys routinely strike thoroughbreds 15 to 20 times before they cross the finish line. Now, thanks to a new study from the University of Sydney, we know that whipping doesn’t even make … Read more »
