Life can be treacherous for everyone living in a war zone. Homeless dogs have been gunned down in Baghdad, and there are even rumors that the Taliban are training monkeys to use guns. (Hey, I said that it’s a rumor.) But thanks to a few big-hearted Marines, two lucky cats, now named Kiki and Keykey, … Read more »
The following posting originally appeared in The Sacramento Bee. If anyone out there is still wondering about the superiority of alternatives to animal tests, look no further than what is happening right now in the Gulf of Mexico. In its efforts to assist the devastated region, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is saving time, … Read more »
Thomas Lersch / CC by 3.0 Update: New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson has written to National Institutes of Health Director Francis S. Collins urging him to scrap plans to transfer more than 200 “retired” chimpanzees from the Alamogordo Primate Facility in New Mexico to the Southwest Foundation for Biomedical Research laboratory in Texas. He has … Read more »
Animals in laboratories are often kept in barren cages. This monkey was observed during PETA’s investigation into Covance. Business as usual at the University of Kansas Medical Center (KUMC) has just cost the university a whopping $62,500. That’s what KUMC has agreed to pay in fines after the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) found 160 … Read more »
It’s that time again! Every summer, our Lettuce Ladies station themselves at the U.S. Capitol to serve a free lunch in honor of National Veggie Dog Day. This year, our leafy lovelies were joined by model and smokin’-hot vegetarian Vida Guerra, who spiced up the event by wearing a red chili-pepper bikini as she handed … Read more »
jere-me / CC by 2.0 Show me a bag of pork rinds and two things will happen. First, images like this and that will race through my mind. Then I’ll get choked up. The revolting* “snack” made a truck driver named Edward Sutherland get choked up too—only his reaction was apparently not prompted by thoughts … Read more »
We send our condolences today to Joyce Brabner, the widow of underground comic book genius Harvey Pekar, who recently died. We remember the days when Joyce visited our office in sparkly Wizard of Oz Dorothy slippers and colored ankle socks. She is a socially astute fighter for animal rights who created the classic Animal Rights … Read more »
BrokenSphere / CC by 1.0 Here’s a toxic tidbit from the “Gross Meat Facts” files: Chickens who are raised for their flesh are routinely given feed laced with Roxarsone, an additive that contains—are you ready for this—arsenic. May we suggest a new slogan for the nugget bucket? “Potent poison in every piece!” The fact is, … Read more »
“The first rule of Fight Club is: You do not talk about Fight Club.” If, however, the fight club involves forcing mice to battle one another in a stupid and barbaric experiment, you know we’re going to talk about it. Recently, vivisectors at the University of Wisconsin–Madison (sheep abuse ring a bell?) studied the effect … Read more »
We’ve never understood why any child needs to poke around inside an amphibian, but holy “Jumping Frogs of Calaveras County“: iTunes now offers a virtual frog dissection iPad app! In honor of this sophisticated and humane alternative to dissection, PETA is presenting its creator, Emantras Interactive Technologies, with a Mark Twain Ethical Science Award. … Read more »
Healthy, humane alternatives to cruelly produced dairy products continued to make headlines this week. An executive order signed earlier this year by San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom has gone into effect requiring city vending machines to be stocked with soy and rice milks in an effort to curb obesity rates and improve consumers’ overall health. … Read more »
According to a new study by researchers at The University of Auckland in New Zealand, that whole business about the ocean being a “silent world” is a bunch of bunk. Fish talk to each other all the time through growls, grunts, chirps, and pops—we just can’t hear them without special equipment. Gurnards turn out to … Read more »
Sure, I realize that no matter how “low-fat” they are, cupcakes are not exactly health food—but they are still my favorite food group. Chocolate stout cupcakes, s’mores cupcakes, jelly donut cupcakes—they’re all good. I love to bake cupcakes, decorate cupcakes, read about cupcakes, eat cupcakes (duh)—heck, I would even wear cupcakes if I could. So, … Read more »
Elle Macpherson has had to eat her words, which is better than popping a pill that tastes like “fungus,” according to her earlier statement. After kind people from Australia to India—including myself—called the model out on her confession in the U.K.’s The Sunday Times that she tosses back powdered rhino horn in a vain (yes, … Read more »
Award-winning chef Amanda Cohen can add another notch to her (cruelty-free) lipstick case: Her not-so-sinfully delicious Mushroom Mousse has won the top prize of $10,000 in PETA’s Fine Faux Foie Gras Challenge. Cohen, who is a veteran of New York City vegan hot spots TeaNY, Angelica Kitchen, Pure Food and Wine, and Blossom Café, wowed … Read more »