Poet Charles Baudelaire called the albatross "one of those big birds / which nonchalantly chaperone a ship / across the bitter fathoms of the sea," and Samuel Coleridge deemed the animal "a bird of good omen." (OK, no more 19th-century poetry references—I promise!) I wonder if those guys would be impressed to know that two female royal albatrosses in New Zealand have bonded as a mating pair and are caring for a chick together after the father disappeared.

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Wildlife experts are definitely intrigued. Though lesbian albatrosses have also appeared in Hawaii, no one has ever seen a pair who successfully raised a baby together. We're loving this same-sex pair, and Tourism Dunedin is brainstorming a name for the chick with two mommies. I'm thinking Ellen or Portia. Do you have any suggestions?

Posted by Logan Scherer

Take it from someone who uses the Super Bowl as a bathroom break to get back to the main-event (commercials!): This year, the ads that were shown during the big game made history with their creative alternatives to live animals. Check out our five animal-friendly favorites:

• "Whale of a Tale," Bridgestone: Three friends. One animatronic whale. Millions of happy viewers. Bridgestone also gets extra kudos from us for recently banning the use of endangered animals in all of its commercials!
• "Timothy Richman," Cars.com: The pros of animatronic tiger cub birth: clean, cute, and pain-free. The cons of animatronic tiger cub birth? We can't think of any.
• "Finding Beaver," Monster.com: Leave it to this (CGI) beaver…to play the fiddle? Hoedown, here we come!
• "Squirrel," Honda: Why can't all hoarders be this sleek, adorable, and (faux) furry?
• "Underdog," Doritos: We yelled "Holla!" when this taunted dog flipped the tables and put the shock collar on the man. Payback is simply delicious.

Animatronics have sure come a long way since the Country Bear Jamboree. We need to get Monster.com on the Punxsutawney Phil case stat!

What was your favorite Super Bowl ad?

Posted by Logan Scherer

An apparently agitated elephant reportedly charged into the arena during Ringling's afternoon pre-show in Columbia, South Carolina, on Saturday, endangering about 100 spectators. Most attendees hurried away from the scene, and luckily, no one was injured, but the potential exists for injury or death when elephants rampage. Since 1990, dangerous incidents involving captive elephants in the U.S. have resulted in 13 human deaths and more than 135 human injuries.

The frightened elephant may have been trying to escape from the bullhook abuse that commonly takes place backstage at Ringling's shows. As documented in a PETA video—which was taken over a period of several months and released last July—of the same Ringling unit that is performing in Columbia, elephants are struck repeatedly with bullhooks (a weapon that resembles a fireplace poker that trainers wield to strike, stab, hook, prod, and intimidate elephants in order to make them obey). We are asking the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to check this elephant for signs of bullhook abuse as well as to ensure that she is treated for any injuries sustained when she ran amok and that she is permanently removed from travel.

This is the second complaint with the USDA that we have filed against Ringling regarding its treatment of elephants—in less than a week. A few hours of "entertainment" at the expense of animals intimidated into performing dangerous and unnatural tricks is never worth the trauma inflicted on those animals or the danger to spectators and their children.

Posted by Logan Scherer

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George and Weezie Jefferson may have moved up, but I'm jonesing to move out. My destination: Switzerland, which just might become the most animal-friendly nation in the world.

Last year, Switzerland passed a law that guarantees rights for all animals. Next month, voters will weigh in on a referendum that, if passed, will require that lawyers be assigned to protect companion and farmed animals from abuse.

I can only imagine the relief if such legislation caught on in the U.S. (and how much Judge Judy I'd wind up watching). Goldfish could be rescued from their scum-caked tanks. Lonely, cold dogs banished to back yards could enjoy warmth and companionship inside. Pigs, chickens, cows, ducks—any and all factory-farmed animals—might never again have their body parts burned or chopped off, and they'd be freed from their filthy cages, crates, and pens. Those examples are just off the top of my head. Jot yours down in the comments section below.

Posted by Karin Bennett

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The Pretenders' Chrissie Hynde isn't just the lead singer of a rock band and a Rock and Roll Hall of Famer—she's an animal rights leader too. With that in mind, we're giving you a chance to win a copy of the band's highly anticipated new CD/DVD box set, Live in London. It includes all the major singles, from "I'll Stand by You" to "Brass in Pocket," and it hits store shelves tomorrow.

To enter, tell us what you've done to lead friends, family members, community members, or anyone else to help animals. Rise above the "Middle of the Road" and tell us about something that no one else has ever done. We'll give a copy of Live in London to the 15 readers who share the stories that inspire us the most.

The contest ends on February 15, 2010, and we'll announce the winners on February 17, 2010. Be sure to read our privacy policy and terms and conditions, as you're agreeing to both by commenting. Good luck!

Posted by Logan Scherer

And I thought my family reunions got hairy! Imagine the fright-fest when this fur-lovin' ma and daughter duo gets together. Know who they are? Find out and then cast your vote for who you think wore it worst in the first match-up of PETA's 2010 Worst-Dressed Competition.

We've got three more face-to-face battles, so check back tomorrow to see who's next on our list of fashion felons.

Posted by Karin Bennett

We were inundated with precious pics of your too-cute-for-140-characters animal companions in our Valentine's Day Twitter contest, and now we're featuring the winners in four V-Day e-cards:

At the top left, meet Meeme and Mochi, who may have been watching too much Twilight before their picture was taken. The cutie in the top right is Fifi and in the bottom left is Cricket, the eye patch–sporting dog who was rescued from a trash bin. Last but not least, meet Lucia and James, who apparently can't get enough of each other.

Choose your favorite card and send it to your valentine with a personalized message. Oh, and not to worry—you're not limited to 140 characters!

Posted by Logan Scherer

After leaving PETA headquarters and barely escaping the once-every-five-years snowfall in Norfolk, it looks as if I've brought the bad weather with me to Long Island. No worries, though, I've got just the thing to keep me warm this frigid season: a steaming bowl of Internet Soup! The latest serving is farm-stand fresh with no preservatives added—just some wholesome, delicious virtual weirdness. Bon appétit …

• A tinkle in time … ruins meat? Oh, yes! Just ask the man who took a leak on steaks at Wal-Mart.
• Here's one for the ice ages: A kind crew rescues a dog who was stranded on an ice floe.
• Underwater fashion show! Check out how these classy crabs accessorize.
• Way to paint the gown red! Creative opponents of the Canadian seal slaughter ingeniously doctored this picture of Miss Teen Newfoundland wearing a seal carcass.
• Watch out, Lil' Wayne—you've got some legit competition from these lil' rhymesters, who won't take nothin' from KFC or McDonald's.
• To see it is to … eat it: A biologist has discovered a sea animal who eats sun.
• This Boston court took "cat-calling" literally when it actually called a cat to jury duty.

Hope that was more than enough to warm you up until our next dose!

Posted by Logan Scherer

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Barack, the baby Asian elephant, wasn't even 1 year old when he made his Ringling "debut" last month. Now Barack has been removed from traveling with the circus, and PETA has confirmed that he has contracted a herpes virus infection that may cost him his life. Death from the herpes virus usually occurs within seven days after an acute onset of symptoms that include lethargy, swelling of the head and limbs, and a blue discoloration of the tongue. This frightening disease typically affects elephants under 10 years of age and has an 85 percent mortality rate.

Stress may be a factor in the development of this virus, which has killed 20 percent of captive-born Asian elephant calves in North American facilities since 2000. Putting Barack on the road to perform in the circus at such a tender age was surely a stressful experience, and we're asking the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to investigate and, if appropriate, to pursue charges if the agency determines that Ringling violated regulations for handling or veterinary care.

Prior to performances, Barack was led around by rope restraints on his trunk and legs, and during performances he was forced to climb a pedestal while surrounded by trainers carrying bullhooks—weapons resembling fireplace pokers that are used for striking, stabbing, hooking, prodding, and intimidating elephants. Before the circus took Barack off the road, he reportedly became spooked and trampled his trainer, who has been seen in recent weeks wearing a brace on his right leg, presumably as a result of injuries he sustained when Barack ran amok.

If Barack survives the herpes virus, he doesn't have much to look forward to. When he's around 18 months of age, he will likely be pulled away from his mother and subjected to violent training sessions, as depicted in our recent exposé. These fear-based and abusive training methods have contributed to the deaths of two baby elephants: One fled his bullhook-wielding trainer and drowned in a pond, and the other broke both hind legs after falling off a training pedestal. Other baby elephants have also died at Ringling.

Speak up for Barack and all the other baby elephants abused by Ringling by contacting the USDA and asking the agency to investigate.

Posted by Logan Scherer

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Take a sound bite out of this recently discovered linguistic marvel: The barking language of prairie dogs may just be the most complicated language of any animal. Con Slobodchikoff—a biology professor at Northern Arizona University—studied their sounds very closely and found that the animals have different "words" to describe each of their many predators and that a single bark can convey information about the size, type, color, and location of an attacker. Slobodchikoff also discovered that, just as we all have distinct voices, every prairie dog has a unique tonal identity.

Um, first we found out that insects are tiny geniuses, then we learned that monkeys are sticklers for grammar, and now we've got these vocal powerhouses (on the prairie)—does Mensa admit animals?

Posted by Logan Scherer

With the Winter Olympics just a week away and all eyes turning to Vancouver, now is the perfect moment to draw attention to Canada's upcoming slaughter of tens of thousands of young harp seals. These sensitive animals are often less than 2 weeks old when sealers beat them, hook them in the eye, mouth, or cheek, and then drag them across the ice in order to steal their skins. The hope to finally end this bloody massacre and save these seals is literally pinned on the support of compassionate people.

So right now, PETA is giving one of our limited-edition pins to everyone who makes an online donation to help save the skins of seals and other animals (while supplies last).

Wearing your pin is an easy way to remind your friends of the massive slaughter that will begin only days after the world's athletes and TV cameras leave Vancouver. Where will you stick yours?

Posted by Logan Scherer

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Here's one thing that the seemingly invincible Jack Bauer supposedly can't beat: cattle scammers. 24 star Kiefer Sutherland reportedly gave more than $869,000 to a man who allegedly agreed to give Sutherland steers that he never had.

Now we're asking Sutherland—who is a former rodeo performer—not to replace the cattle he had intended to purchase. Cattle who are exploited for their flesh are branded with hot irons, castrated, and dehorned without being given any painkillers, and then they are skinned and dismembered at slaughterhouses, often while they are still conscious.

The set of 24 recently went "green" by limiting on-set energy use, and now Sutherland can extend his environmental consciousness off the set by choosing not to support the meat industry, which is one of the leading causes of climate change. If Kiefer Sutherland sends his funds to the beef industry, he'll literally be feeding the mouths of Jack Bauer's carcass-eating terrorist enemies. WWJBD? Go vegan!

Posted by Logan Scherer

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2010 is already shaping up to be a clawsome year for lobsters! First, Kalahari Resorts dropped Lobster Zone machines from all its locations, and now Doc Ryan's—a bar in Illinois—has also made the humane choice to remove the "game." After we urged people to take action, it took a mere 24 hours (take that, Jack Bauer!) for Doc Ryan's owner, Brian Sullivan, to decide to abandon the machines altogether. After speaking with a concerned customer, Sullivan learned about the cruelty behind the Lobster Zone game and, as an animal lover, told us he would never want to promote a machine that torments lobsters. For Sullivan's swift act of compassion, we're sending him flowers.

The Lobster Zone is an arcade-like "game" that allows its users to grab at terrified lobsters using a joystick-controlled crane. Once caught, the lobsters are dropped down a chute before they're boiled or cut up alive. Restaurants owners often aren't aware of the cruelty inherent in these machines. Lobsters are naturally very solitary animals. In the wild, they take long-distance seasonal journeys and can cover 100 miles or more each year. They become miserable and sick when they're confined to tiny, filthy tanks. Helping lobsters at bars and restaurants can be as easy as telling a restaurant's manager or owner these compelling facts and asking everyone you know to do the same. (And when that doesn't work, PETA will take the case!)

Posted by Logan Scherer

P.S. We've also learned that Doc Ryan's serves a delicious veggie burger (and is open to even more vegan suggestions), so the next time you're near Forest Park, Illinois, be sure to thank Brian Sullivan by stopping in for dinner.

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"When I was trying to work her out, I kept saying to myself, 'She is a punk-rock, vegan pacifist.' So I listened to a lot of Blondie, I watched a lot of Greta Garbo movies, and I looked at a lot of the artwork of Dan Flavin."
—Anne Hathaway on what inspired her character in Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland.

The movie hits theaters on March 5, and that very important date is already in my planner—but I'm having a hard time choosing a favorite character. Johnny Depp's Mad Hatter or Anne Hathaway's vegan-inspired White Queen? Oh dear.

Posted by Shawna Flavell

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TV psychic John Edward's got nothing on this clairvoyant cat. Oscar, who lives in a Rhode Island nursing home, has supposedly predicted the deaths of about 50 people over five years by curling up next to patients right before they take their final breath. His purdictions are so reliable that the nursing home's employees know it's time to call family members when Oscar, who will scratch at the doors and walls of rooms holding the soon-to-be-deceased, reclines alongside someone. And Dr. David Dosa—a professor at Brown University—has become so intrigued by and attached to the snuggly soothsayer that he has written a book about him called Making Rounds With Oscar: The Extraordinary Gift of an Ordinary Cat, which will be released this week.

We're totally meowed by Oscar's apparent psychic talent. You?

Posted by Logan Scherer

On my list of life's simple pleasures, right below "Cuddling with my cat during our Project Runway marathon": a cold beer, a pair of perfectly worn blue jeans, and a basketful of fried tofu. I'm not alone here: The Grammy Award–winning Zac Brown Band agrees with me—well, at least about the cold beer and blue jeans.

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But I'm optimistic that the band will also be singing the praises of soy after it ponders PETA's proposal. We've asked the band members, who sing about their love of freedom in "Chicken Fried," to consider what life is like for chickens and other animals who are kept in constant confinement on filthy, crowded factory farms before they're cruelly slaughtered. We've also offered to partner with Zac and the band on a vegan "eat and greet" for fans on their upcoming West Coast tour. And to make our offer even more tempting, we've sent the band members a basket of delicious, protein-rich faux meats.

So now we wait to hear back from Zac and the rest of the band. In the meantime, I've started veganizing lyrics to some of my favorite country classics. Darling Dolly's "Jolene" becomes "Gardein," for example. Ante up by listing your favorite veganized honky-tonk tune in the comments section below.

Posted by Karin Bennett

Dog and cats across West Hollywood have a little more pep in their step this week after hearing the news that WeHo's City Council voted unanimously to ban the sale of dogs and cats in pet stores. This landmark law makes West Hollywood the first city in the country where it is illegal to sell dogs and cats bred at puppy and kitten mills. Way to go, WeHo!

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Posted by Logan Scherer

This morning, hundreds of McDonald's owners and operators who flew to Tucson for a corporate seminar heard an unlikely speaker: PETA V.P. Dan Mathews. Our own "Rabble Rouser" took over the podium at the Westin La Paloma Resort during the opening presentation to urge franchisees to convince McDonald's to switch to more humane slaughter methods.

Dan's, uh, "keynote address" centered on a topic that the company would rather ignore. McDonald's suppliers use an outdated killing method that causes birds to have their throats cut while they are still conscious, many of them to suffer broken wings and legs, and many to be scalded to death in defeathering tanks. PETA—along with members of McDonald's own animal welfare advisory panel—has urged the company to upgrade its slaughter method to controlled-atmosphere killing (CAK), which would eliminate the worst forms of cruelty, but so far McDonald's refuses to listen.

If you could speak at a McDonald's convention, what would you say?

Posted by Shawna Flavell

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In a landmark move, the jockeys at the Penn National Race Course voted last week to refuse to ride in any races in which horses owned by Michael Gill would be running. Jockeys only get paid when they win, place, or show in races, so giving up a job is a serious move. The vote came after a horse owned by Gill, one of the horse-racing industry's most prominent horse owners, collapsed 20 yards past the finish line at Penn National and had to be euthanized. Gill has a long history of animal fatalities, and this was the breaking point for the jockeys, who in the last 13 months alone saw 10 of Gill's horses be euthanized after suffering injuries during races. At long last, Penn National has finally asked the Pennsylvania State Horse Racing Commission to investigate the fatal breakdowns of Gill's horses. And just this week, Michael Gill announced that he is quitting the business because of the boycott and the investigation. Good riddance.

While Gill's case might seem extraordinary, the problems within the industry are systemic. Every year, more than 1,000 thoroughbreds die on tracks in the U.S., and this death toll does not include those injured horses who are euthanized away from the track or the 15,000 thoroughbreds who are sent to slaughter in Canada and Mexico every year.

Part of the problem is that injured and sore horses are pumped up with medications and painkillers to keep them running when they should be resting. Racing these horses just to squeeze out a paycheck leads to breakdowns and death. Because many veterinarians in the horse-racing industry are complicit in these practices, PETA is calling on the Pennsylvania State Board of Veterinary Medicine to investigate the vets at Penn National—especially those used by Gill.

It goes without saying that you should shun all horse races and urge the National Thoroughbred Racing Association to enforce breeding limits. As evidenced by the case of Michael Gill—who is only a single person in a huge industry—this is a matter of life and death.

Posted by Logan Scherer

Miami Dolphins running back Ricky Williams already has enough accolades to span two lifetimes—Heisman Trophy, Maxwell Award, and Pro Bowl MVP, to name a few—and after he reigned over our Faux–Chicken Wing Taste Test today, we'd like to dub him an MVP: Most Valuable Palate.

The vegetarian NFL star hosted our event at his restaurant, Proof, in Miami. The winning wings may have been gardein buffalo wings, but considering all the chickens who got to keep their own wings, all the arteries that didn't get clogged, and all the taste buds that were more-than-tickled, it sounds to me like the party left everyone happy!

Posted by Logan Scherer