I found this in The Oregonian this morning:

Schumacher Furs & Outerwear, after 111 years of business and one solid year of fervent animal-rights protests, is hanging it up in Portland. …

According to the article, Gregg Schumacher, who owned the place, was all whiney and sad about having to close down his store, but I have to admit I had trouble mustering up a whole lot of sympathy. As In Defense of Animals' Matt Rossell put it,

"I'm sure he'll try to present himself as a victim, as he always does. … The reality, though, is the animals are the victims, not Gregg Schumacher."

In related news, there have been some monumental strides against fur recently in the cartoon world. Forbes just released a survey of cartoon villains and found that Cruella de Vil has had a sharp dropoff in popularity "as demand for fur coats plummeted." And in last week's Simpsons episode, animal rights crusader Lisa Simpson became a PETA member and doused Krusty with a can of red paint. It has to be admitted that victories in the cartoon world aren't exactly PETA's primary goal, but they're nice all the same.

Whatever PETA does in the U.S., our counterparts in Germany always feel like they have to do it better. A month or so ago, we were patting ourselves on the backs after a protest where we burned Colonel Sanders in effigy was picked up by national media. Well, in Dusseldorf today, PETA Deutschland—who apparently felt that the demonstration just wasn't exciting enough for the discriminating German audience—decided they needed to spice it up by bringing along a firebreather in a chicken suit. If by some odd chance you get Germany's main television station, RTL TV, you should be glued to your set tonight for the exclusive footage. The whole thing is kind of incredible.

Getty Images

It's that time of year again, when it starts to get a little bit colder and you can spot a select few of Hollywood's trashiest celebrities strutting around with dead animals strapped to their backs. At PETA, we have far too much tact to name any of these people personally, but we would like to send a general message to all celebrities to please just think hard and search your conscience before you consider buying fur. OK, just kidding, we have a list. Here it is:

PETA's Official 2006 'Worst Dressed' List:

1. Nicole Richie: This pelt-wearing party girl is all animal skin and bones. She’s an incredible shrinking woman with the heart to match.
2. Ashley Olsen: Wearing fur does add 20 pounds, but if Ashley wants to fill out her frame, we suggest using a fork instead.
3. Christina Ricci: Disregarding the holiday season’s “Peace on Earth” message, Ricci recently posed for a magazine cover wearing fur from slaughtered reindeer. At least she’s not into fur hats: Imagine how many more pelts it would take to cover that forehead.
4. Eva Longoria: You’d think she’d be more sympathetic to the plight of rabbits considering the way she screws around like one on Wisteria Lane.

You can vote for the number-one worst-dressed celebrity here. Notable absences from the list are Paris Hilton and Lindsay Lohan, both of whom have made some attempts to ditch the fur from their wardrobes this year—so here's hoping they remember their resolution.

In the meantime, here's Nicole and Ashley!

And finally, in case the pictures of Nicole Richie and Ashley Olson looking like they just got finished robbing graves at a pet cemetery aren't enough to convince you not to wear fur, check this out:

Up until a couple of months ago, I had never heard of POM Wonderful, but apparently they're this big company that sells pomegranate juice for like three times what any sane person should pay for a beverage that has no known alcoholic effects. If I'm going to pay five bucks for a drink, I want some kind of assurance that I'll be blathering incoherently or trying to breakdance by the time I'm finished with it, but all POM does is turn your mouth red.

Anyway, the reason POM is on my radar all of a sudden (despite the fact that I'm clearly not part of its target market) is that—in a twisted attempt to hide the fact that their juice is just some kind of glorified Grape Drink in a fancy bottle, the fine folks at POM have been asphyxiating mice and torturing rabbits so they can make claims about the juice's health properties.

Pam vs. Pom

Cue Pamela Anderson, who is really pissed off about the whole thing: Pam just put up a statement on her website, encouraging people to boycott POM until the company "enters the 21st century and stops killing animals in these cruel experiments." If you agree with Pam that the world can probably do without giving rabbits erectile dysfunction and then feeding them pomegranate juice to see what happens, click here to let the company know how you feel. Then, next time you feel the urge to blow a paycheck on a bottle of juice, spring for something like Naked Juice, so you can know that your money will simply be used to make more expensive juice, not to kill rabbits.

I have always believed that if you're going to say something important, you should say it with claymation. Check out this great video that an activist made about the Canadian seal hunt, and if you're anywhere near as good at making videos as this guy is, send them to me.

When American Idol's Ruben Studdard played PETA's hometown of Norfolk a little while back, he stopped to chat with our very own Dan Mathews after the show. Before I go on, I should note that while Dan's job (hanging out with celebrities at shows) may seem more glamorous and exciting than mine (writing about it), appearances can be deceiving: For instance, while Dan is working long nights attending awards ceremonies and movie premieres and so forth, I get to spend my evenings relaxing and watching Prison Break with Princess Cuteyface. So take that, Dan Mathews. Anyway, Ruben lost 100 lbs this year after adopting a vegetarian diet, and he and Dan talked about everything from Ruben's favorite vegetarian foods to the band's reaction to his new diet. There was a great piece about the story in Us Magazine's blog today, and we're hoping we'll be hearing more from Ruben in the near future. Here's some of what Ruben told Dan about why he went veg:

I ain’t never told nobody this—but it was a thing about cleaning up your temple. I think it was like a Seventh-Day Adventist magazine, and they were talking about "try vegetarian." … It was like, "OK, that’s what I need to be doing right now." And it's been really great. I totally see a difference in my skin, everything. Vegetarianism is a better way if you’re really trying to live a healthier lifestyle.

… My favorite dish is from PF Chang's: the Buddha's Feast. It's hands-down my favorite dish. And the tofu lettuce wraps. My favorite brand now is Morningstar. Anything Morningstar, I love it—except for the sausage links. … Every week, it gets more surprising, the amount of options you have as a vegetarian, because you never before would have been looking for those different options to satisfy your hunger, so to speak, so it's really refreshing.

Here's something. Today, George W. Bush "pardoned" a pair of turkeys, for whatever misdeeds they've been capable of packed into a filthy, windowless shed throughout their painful little lives. Two birds (out of the approximately 50 million turkeys who will have been killed for Thanksgiving this year) would at least be a start, if it weren't for the fact that the pardoned animals are usually sent to a place called "Frying Pan Park," which is about as unpleasant a retirement home for birds as it sounds. In case that isn't enough of a downer, the turkeys (who are morbidly obese because of the drugs they've been given to make them grow) aren't likely to live for more than a few months after their reprieve without specialized care. This year's lucky turkeys are being sent to Disneyland, to replace the turkeys who died last year shortly after their pardon. As we normally do around this time of year, PETA sent a letter to the president to point some of this stuff out. He hasn't gotten back to us yet, but we did get some good coverage of the story in the media, which you can check out here.

On a lighter note, I've been reading a bunch of stories recently about the increasing number of people who are going to be having themselves a vegetarian Thanksgiving. Fox news has a great article on the topic this week, and Business Week had a big piece on the success of Turtle Island Foods (which makes Tofurky products). The company "is turning a robust profit and expects $10 million in sales in 2006, despite dramatically lowering the cost of Tofurkys over the years." So, while this isn't exactly going to stop me from freaking out about the way turkeys are treated by companies like Butterball, it's pretty damn encouraging.

Update: Victory! After receiving a barrage of emails and phone calls from customers, Jack Spade has admitted that selling frog dissection kits was not a good idea, and has agreed to pull the kits from its stores. Hooray for common sense! Check out the Reuters story here.

Burberry, still reeling from PETA UK's little visit to their London store last week, got another unpleasant surprise this afternoon when four activists showed up at their 57th Street store in New York. Here's how it went down, according to one of the campaigners who was there:

Two activists went in the store with posters while 2 more waited outside with their bloody fur coats inside out and tucked under their arms. The 2 activists inside were picked up by security (literally) and removed from the store, but not before one activist managed to get inside the Burberry store window and start spreading fake blood all over…

Meanwhile, on the outside, the protesters spread fake blood all over the window display, summed up the finer points of the fur issue for passersby with chants like "Burberry tortures animals!" and (for the visual learners in the crowd) used TVs strapped to their bodies to show footage of animals being skinned alive for their fur. Check it out:

More pics after the jump.

I've been reading a lot of stories in the press lately about these new scientific breakthroughs which could enable meat to be grown from animal cells in labs instead of being removed from real animals in factory farms. Best case scenario is that test tube meat could hit the market in about 10 years, though there needs to be a lot more funding for it than there is at the moment. In addition to being kind of a cool concept, lab meat would obviously be a lot more pleasant for animals, who could be pretty much removed from the whole equation. If it works, I think I could see myself rocking the occasional lab-meat sandwich somewhere down the line, maybe with a little lab barbeque sauce for flavor. I'll cross that bridge when I get to it, but in the meantime I definitely hope they get their funding.

Related Links

New York Times
University of Maryland's Press Release

Lindsay's Faux-Fur Coat and a 'No-Fur' Button

So check this out. We were just in the final stages of drafting this year's "Worst Dressed" list this week, when one of the contenders, Lindsay Lohan, was photographed wearing a faux-fur coat with a "no-fur" button pinned onto it. PETA's VP Dan Mathews—who has this uncanny ability to be everywhere at once—ran into her later that night at the World Music Awards, and she told him she had picked up the button (and a whole new outlook on fur) during a shopping spree at Topshop, which, as I mentioned earlier, has this whole huge anti-fur display in its window. Lindsay told Dan that she's "trying to weed the real fur from [her] wardrobe." Given that it's not exactly rocket science to figure out how to not wear fur, it seems like something she should be able to do pretty easily.

The fine people of Britain weigh in on naked protests for animals.

Yesterday morning, PETA UK showed up at Burberry's flagship store in London, chained themselves to the doors, and hung around until the cops showed up. The BBC picked up the story, which you can check out here, and there are plenty of pictures for everyone. Check it out.

Video of the Protest

More pics after the jump.

Earlier this week, the cast of The Drowsy Chaperone showed up at PETA President Ingrid Newkirk's booksigning to help launch her brand-new book, 50 Awesome Ways Kids Can Help Animals. After Ingrid gave her speech, the Broadway stars entertained the crowd with original songs inspired by the book. The whole thing is kind of amazing. Ingrid's going to be rocking a bunch of other cities with her crazy book-signing skills, so be sure to keep an eye out. And if you are, or are currently in possession of, a kid who’s looking for a manageable number of awesome ways to help animals—you know what to ask for over the holidays.

Richard Linklater's Fast Food Nation opens tomorrow. Just like the book, the film promises to get a lot of people thinking about whether they really want to be eating stuff that shady corporations have made out of processed animal parts. This makes me happy, because it's like someone else is doing my job for me. In fact, I think I might just take the day off tomorrow.

To celebrate the release of the film, we sat down with Richard Linklater and members of the cast, including Paul Dano and Esai Morales, for some exclusive interviews. We also made this extremely addictive Fast Food Nation game, which has slowed productivity around the office to a crawl. Check it out. Then find someone you love, or—failing that—someone you feel you can stand to take in a movie with, and go watch Fast Food Nation tomorrow night. It’s going be pretty damn good.

The beautiful Famke Janssen, who plays that freaky Jean Gray chick in X-Men was just spotted walking her dog Licorice and carrying her PETA bag. Check it out!

Pink, being awesome

Pop singer Pink, who is currently my favorite person on the planet, went public with the information in a recent interview with the UK newspaper News of the World. Pink was understandably pissed off about the fact that Beyonce has animals violently killed so she can wear them around town. Here are some choice tidbits:

"I only hope she gets bit on the arse by whatever animal she wears. … People will think it's ok or cool, but it's not."
"Some of the practices are so cruel and as a celebrity you have a responsibility to think about the message you're sending out by wearing fur."

For those of you who haven’t seen it yet, here’s the video of our own recent attempt to reason with Beyonce on the subject. By an odd coincidence, we won a contest to have dinner with Beyonce and her mom, so we took the opportunity to have a little chat with them.

Casey Affleck and Tom

So we had this big Thanksgiving dinner in L.A. yesterday evening, and, as so often happens with fancy PETA events that involve celebrities, I wasn't invited. The dinner was hosted by CSI star Jorja Fox at a PETA member's house, and among the guests were Alicia Silverstone, Casey Affleck, James Cromwell, Kevin Nealon, Emily Deschanel, Diane Warren, and The Simpsons producer Sam Simon. The guest of honor at the feast was a turkey named Tom, who got along famously with Alicia Silverstone and sat on Jorja Fox's lap (much as I would likely have done if anyone had thought to send me an invite). Check out the video of the event, with plenty of pics after the jump. The best part is Kevin Nealon talking about his "Thanksgiving wad." Pure genius.

Garden Protein's vegan turkey cutlet

Oh yeah, and this is what they ate. It doesn't sound too bad at all:

Plated 4 course dinner:

1. Crispy Chive "Cheese" with Baby Arugula, Fuji Apples and Roasted Beets
2. Creamy Pumpkin Soup with Cinnamon Spiced Croutons and Crispy Sage
3. Stuffed Vegan Turkey Cutlet with Cranberry Dressing, Mashed Potatoes, Gravy and Green Beans
4. Poached Pear and Chestnut Cream Tart

Click here for more pics.

Barnes & Noble got rocked today in NYC, when the stars of the Broadway show The Drowsy Chaperone showed up to help PETA President Ingrid E. Newkirk launch her new book, 50 Awesome Ways Kids Can Help Animals. Tony Award winners Lisa Lambert and Greg Morrison, along with Tony nominee Danny Burstein and five-time Emmy nominee Georgia Engel (who played Amy's mom in Everybody Loves Raymond) sang original songs inspired by Ingrid's book.

I haven't seen The Drowsy Chaperone, because nobody ever takes me to Broadway shows, but people seem to be really into it. And in case you're wondering why I know so much about Everybody Loves Raymond, it's because my mom used to make me watch it. So there. Check out the pics from the event. Everyone had a blast:

Georgia Engel, with Greg Morrison Danny Burstein wows the crowd

Ingrid doing her thing

Tofurky

Thanksgiving is a special time for my family. Every year, just before the holiday, we gather in my parents' living room to swap stories, reminisce about Thanksgivings past, and desperately try to figure out what suckers are going to invite us to their family Thanksgiving this year. Because there's no way in hell my Dad's going to be doing any cooking, and I have a very strict policy against doing dishes when I'm on vacation. This year we have our sights set on the Papageorgiou family. They have a nice house in D.C., and preliminary reports indicate that they make excellent cranberry sauce. The one thing we do provide for our chosen hosts though is a frozen Tofurky for them to cook, so I can do my vegan thing in style. Along with the Thanksgiving football games, the Tofurky is the highlight for me of an already kickass holiday. I really, really like Tofurky.

Manoles Papageorgiou

Turns out I'm not the only one. As of January 1, 2006, Turtle Island foods (the geniuses responsible for Tofurky) have sold 882,310 Tofurkys. They're currently holding a contest on their site to see who can guess what that number will be by January 1, 2007. The person who comes closest will win an Evader electric scooter, and all you have to do to enter is send your guess to info@tofurky.com, or fill out the form here. We're also holding our own contest with Turtle Island to give away a free Tofurky Feast, so you might want to check that out too. I'm apparently not allowed to enter that one because of some stupid "conflict of interest" crap. Maybe if you win, you can invite my family over for Thanksgiving this year.

Related Links

Turkey Terror!
Turtle Island Foods
Take the Thanksgiving Pledge

Mariah Carey

If you have ever had the experience of losing a $7,500 coat that Mariah Carey gave you, you will sympathize with how difficult this past week has been for us. As with so many things these days, the whole chain of events was started off by a wealthy Russian oligarch. A big fan of Mariah's work, he sent her a pair of ludicrously expensive fur coats in a misguided attempt to impress her. Mariah, understandably peeved about receiving dead animals in the mail from some sketchy Russian tycoon, immediately donated the coats to us.

So we did what any sensible person would do and shipped them off to, respectively, Los Angeles and Mongolia. The Los Angeles coat got there OK, and graffiti artist Marcus Suarez is going to be painting anti-fur slogans on the back of that coat so we can use it in protests. But the other coat—which was going to be given to homeless refugees along with hundreds of other cast-off furs—was lost by the brilliant folks over at UPS somewhere between here and Mongolia. Anyway, the happy ending is that UPS is giving us $7,500 for the coat, so Mariah's generosity won't be wasted, and we've got some devious-ass plans for ways to use the money to remind people (both Russian plutocrats and the general public) that fur is dead. So, yeah. Anyway, I thought that was pretty interesting.

Related Links

Russia's take on the incident
The New York Post reports
Amazing video
More synonyms for "Tycoon"
Naked fur demo
PETA fur coat giveaway for the homeless
Me and Mariah ... go back like babies and pacifiers

Arizona resident Alice Cooper

I'm never entirely sure whether one should say "a historic day" or "an historic day," but either way, yesterday was effin' historic, thanks in large part to the good people of Arizona, who in the past have brought us Alice Cooper, the 1 and 7 Arizona Cardinals, and cactuses (that's all that I could come up with that Arizona's famous for on short notice—I'm sure they've got more stuff). But the point is that yesterday, by 61 percent of the vote, gestation crates and veal crates were banned in the state! The measure will protect countless pigs and calves from excruciating confinement in these torture devices. This was despite the morally bereft but well-funded ass-hats in the agribusiness industry spending $2.5 million to defeat the proposition.

In the meantime, the consistently popular and well-liked state of Michigan, which is historically responsible for Lake Michigan and Three Men and a Baby's Tom Selleck (OK, sorry, I suck at this), voted overwhelmingly to support the 100-year tradition of protecting mourning doves from target shooting. This is a huge victory for birds and a nice little slap in the face for people who think it's a good idea to frickin' shoot at doves.

Michigan's state bird, the Mourning Dove

So if you know anyone from Arizona or Michigan, be sure to thank them for making such huge strides on behalf of animals, and if you are from AZ or MI yourself, great work! Now see what you can't do about getting some proper celebrities from your states.

You should check out our brand-new Burberry website. It's called BloodyBurberry.com. There was a dreadful, gut-wrenching moment a few months back when it looked like we were going to call the site Furberry.com, but clearer heads prevailed and we opted for alliteration instead of a rhyming pun—which is always the right decision if you're at all serious about animal rights (though we have to learn that lesson again and again).

Previous dangerous rhyming-pun situations in our history have included "Shameway," when we waged a successful campaign against Safeway to enforce stricter animal welfare standards despite hinging our entire slogan on a rhyme that some might say doesn't even work at all. This little glimpse into PETA's history aside, you should check out the new site—it's fantastic, and it'll make you want to avoid Bloody Burberry like the plague until they get their heads out of their asses and stop selling fur.

Folks, it's Election Day tomorrow, and apparently I'm not allowed to vote just because I'm secretly British and don't have American citizenship. It all seems extremely unfair, being singled out this way. Nonetheless, in the spirit of democracy, here are some important propositions up for the vote that will directly affect the lives of animals, so if you live in any of the following states—regardless of your political proclivities—please think about them when you go to vote. If you don't want to do it for animals, do it for me, since I'm going to be stuck at home desultorily eating pizza and watching the last season of Prison Break while everyone else gets to go out into the brisk November air and wait in line to vote on the country's future.

In Arizona:
Vote YES on Proposition 204—Arizonans for Humane Farms is leading the charge to pass Prop 204, which would ban the intensive confinement of pregnant pigs and veal calves on industrialized factory farms. Prop 204 would prohibit the cruel confinement of baby calves in veal creates and give pregnant pigs enough room to extend their limbs.

In Colorado:
Vote YES on Amendment 38—The Petition Rights Amendment (Amendment 38) seeks to give citizens a more active role in shaping their democracy, which means that animal advocates in Colorado will have more power to use this tool to effect change without having to deal with the petty technicalities and bureaucracy currently used to reject petition signatures.

In Florida:
Vote NO on Amendment 3—Florida is one of 24 states that allows direct democracy by giving citizens access to place legislative measures on the statewide ballot. In the past this has resulted in landmark initiatives on behalf of animals, such as the first-ever ban on intensive confinement in factory farms in this country. Currently, big business interests are hoping to make it more difficult for voters to participate in this kind of direct democracy. If passed, Amendment 3 will significantly inhibit citizens' ability to amend their own state constitution.

In Michigan:
Vote NO on Proposal 3— Up until this year, Michigan had a 100-year tradition of protecting the mourning dove, Michigan's official bird of peace. That tradition is currently in danger, but voters can weigh in on the issue. By voting "no" on Proposal 3, you can ensure that doves are protected by law from being shot at in Michigan.

Yesterday was the greatest day of my life, thanks to a blocked field goal which allowed the heroic Washington Redskins to defeat the Dallas Cowboys in the last second of the game. It is encouraging to see that, against all odds, good does sometimes triumph over evil.

Unfortunately, good quite often takes its sweet time to sink its teeth in and do some really earnest triumphing, while evil just sits on its fat ass and does as it pleases. In case it's not immediately obvious that I'm talking about Jennifer Lopez here, and the fact that she hasn't been jailed yet for her crimes against animals and fashion (not to mention her work in "Monster-in-Law"), check out what she wore at an award ceremony in New York this weekend:

Seriously, that woman never ceases to find new ways to frighten me.

Topshop, a hugely popular fashion retailer in the UK, just put together a beautiful window display in their flagship store in London, with a model wearing a teddy-bear coat, to remind people that wearing clothing made out of animals who have been tortured for their fur is as cruel as it is weird. Honestly, it’s probably not a great idea to wear coats made out of teddy bears either, but for very different reasons. Check it out. It's awesome.

Pamela in the Stella McCartney store window in July

Pamela Anderson is unstoppable. This time, she’s going out on a limb to help the turtles who were slated to be used in her upcoming movie Blonde and Blonder. Animal suppliers and breeders are often super-shady, and Pam told PETA Vice President Dan Mathews that she won’t participate in a film that uses real animals who may have been mistreated. Here’s what she sent him on her Blackberry from the set of the movie:

"These guys keep trying to put animals in the movie.
Anyway. Car hits a hay ride. Instead of using a horse, they used a tractor
I have an animatronic turtle- awesome with a puppeteer.� I said I wouldn't start an animal orphanage because I don't want someone bringing a cruel petting zoo in....

But I just want you to know I have not allowed any animal on this movie. Because I don't want any cheesy handlers etc (who may be cruel) on this set.....

It's a full time job!"

I love this woman.

Pic from the show

At the end of her recent show in Chicago, longtime PETA supporter Joan Jett took the opportunity to read out a statement to the crowd attacking Ringling Bros. Circus for their shocking abuse of elephants. She also urged the crowd to come out in support of a new ordinance in Chicago that will make it impossible for Ringling and other abusive animal circuses to use their standard training techniques of beating elephants with bullhooks and electric shock prods. Here’s what Joan said to the crowd:

Please don’t take your kids to the Ringling Bros. Circus while they are in Chicago; the elephants and other animals suffer from beatings and confinement. And be sure to ask your Chicago Alderman to support kindness to elephants by voting in favor of the pending elephant protection ordinance, which will ban cruel tools of the trade, like sharp metal bullhooks, electric shock prods, and leg shackles.

Joan Jett (for those of you who weren’t aware) is utterly amazing. Word has it that the crowd went absolutely nuts cheering and clapping after she made the statement. It was also, reportedly, a kickass show. Here's a little video to illustrate Joan's point.

Marc Bouwer

This little item was just on the British Vogue website. Celebrity designer Marc Bouwer has done so much for the animals who are used for clothing—and he’s at it again, this time taking a stand against the abusive treatment of sheep in the Australian wool industry:

AMERICAN designer Marc Bouwer has announced that he will refuse to use Australian wool in his collections and had written to Prime Minister John Howard to protest against the ill treatment of sheep there. "I recently learned from my friends at PETA how sheep are treated in Australia and am so appalled that I will be cutting all Australian wool from my future collections," Bouwer wrote. "Your government's failure to take steps toward enforcing an end to these crude practices reflects poorly on Australia's standing as a wool supplier in the global fashion marketplace." Abercrombie & Fitch and Timberland are among the labels who have joined the boycott of Australian wool in protest at barbaric and torturous slaughter methods.

On second thoughts, I’d probably get into a lot of trouble for posting the pics from our actual Halloween party. But here are some from yesterday’s demonstration against KFC. We pulled out all the stops for this one and brought along ...

a skeleton to scare KFC into making some animal welfare improvements …
a pumpkin to tug at their grizzled old heartstrings …



… and some other people. Including a dude in a Darth Vader mask.

More pics after the jump.