A gaggle of grim reapers made an appearance at Milan Fashion Week Thursday. The dramatic demonstration reminded attendees of the reality of real fur—it’s dead.

Great job PETA Europe!

Beautifulnewsmakers/Creative Commons

Live Free or Die Hard and Mission Impossible III star Maggie Q just released two sexy new pro-vegetarian ads for PETA Asia Pacific.

A vegetarian for many years, Maggie says that giving meat the boot is one of the most rewarding decisions she has ever made. "I feel better, I have more energy on and off the set, and I have the satisfaction of knowing that I'm doing something to help stop animal suffering."

You can see both of the ads here, and make sure to check out this amazing AP TV story about Maggie and the ads.

Kudos to you, Maggie. The animals are lucky to have you on their side.

Yesterday, one of my colleagues dressed as a chicken and drove a Hummer round the State Department building, where the Meeting of Major Economies on Energy Security and Climate Change was taking place, to make the point that a meat-based diet is responsible for more greenhouse-gas emissions than driving a gas-guzzling SUV. And yes, in case you're wondering, sometimes it does take a giant chicken in a Hum-V to get certain people to pay attention. Here's a pic:

After a landslide victory (14 to 6!) that I can't help thinking got a boost from the genuinely pathetic photo of him trying to look tough with a big gun and tinted glasses, Taser International's Rick Smith takes his spot next to Thomas Langfitt and David Waitzman as our very latest Vivisector of the Week! Rick's commanding victory is quite a testament to the extent of his sleazy practices, as he had a very tough opponent in the form of Vassar's Jeffrey Cynx, who tortures songbirds for a living and writes whimsical poetry about it.

To spice things up a bit, I've decided to give this week's contest a theme: Both of our contestants like to torment rodents; both are professionally cruel to animals under the auspices of UC Davis; and both have recently sold their services, and their souls, to Mars Inc., which has evidently decided that they need to kill animals to make candy bars. So here we go again—feel free to be horrified, but don't forget to vote, 'cuz it's time to crown the next Vivisector of the Week!

Robert Rucker, UC Davis. UC Davis/Creative Commons When the folks at Mars needed someone to cram baby mice into tiny Plexiglas chambers and submerge them in chilled water for hours, they knew that Rob Rucker was their man. But as Rob will no doubt be the first to point out, if you're going to go to all the trouble of torturing mice, there's more than just one way to ensure maximum misery! When Mr. Rucker's finished with the first stage of his experiment, he likes to force food down the animals' throats for 10 days, then starve them, and then kill them. If you find his zeal for this job disturbing, you're going to want to cast your vote for Rob Rucker now!

Carl Keen, UC Davis. UC Davis/Creative Commons Carl Keen, who holds the Mars, Inc., Endowed Chair in Developmental Nutrition, shares his colleague's passion for hurting rodents. Keen's work for the chocolate company involves feeding cocoa to rats, anaesthetizing them with carbon dioxide (a procedure which is known to be extremely distressful for the animals), and collecting their blood with a "cardiac heart puncture," which is exactly as unpleasant as it sounds. Only after he's finally killed these animals does our Carl pat himself on the back and get ready for his next round of experiments. Leave a comment below to vote for Carl "Cardiac Puncture" Keen.

Don't forget to vote, and check back with us next week* to see which of the "UC Davis Rodent Rippers" will be the latest Vivisector of the Week!

*The PETA Files cannot guarantee that they will remember to do this next week.

I’m psyched to let you know that we’ve just partnered with Helium, “the leading consumer destination where people can speak their minds and consider opposing opinions.” We’re excited because the partnership provides PETA members, and the public at large, an open and fair environment to debate any animal rights issue that you want. The site’s format is super user-friendly, so this should be a fun and easy way to talk to new people about the issues you’re most passionate about.

Should the NFL add cruelty to animals to its personal conduct policy? Do PETA’s naked protest tactics work? Should chickens be added to the Humane Slaughter Act? These and other debates are already heating up over at Helium, so check it out and let me know what you think.

Les Moonves, CBS News/Creative Commons

The real villain here is a fellow named Les Moonves, who runs CBS, and under whose leadership the network has become renowned for soliciting and airing acts of cruelty to animals in an effort to boost ratings. Most people are familiar with the Survivor stunts where the contestants are made to kill animals or drink their blood, but apparently Moonves and CBS felt a need to take the shock factor up just another notch by having kids do the killing, as happened in the latest episode of Kid Nation. Honestly, I hate to call any attention to CBS's new show so they can tag it as "controversial" as a way of getting more viewers, but Moonves needs to hear from people about this latest episode, in which a group of children persuade the other kids on the show to chop off chickens' heads as a way of getting protein in their diet. Many of these kids had grown close to the animals during the show, and some were clearly traumatized by the experience.

Please click here to let Les Moonves know that encouraging kids to kill animals is a new low for him (which is saying something), and that he needs drop these lousy stunts right now, no matter how good they may be for his ratings.

And now ... Deflocked!

Click for a larger version

To check out the archives of past strips, click here.

Not all of Oscar De La Hoya's fans were as happy about the pics of the world-famous boxer prancing around in fishnets and a mini skirt as we were here at PETA. But as soon as we saw the photos—which have been dutifully circulating the celebrity blog circuit this week after the good folks at x17 broke the story—we thought he'd be just perfect for our Fur Is a Drag campaign. You can read PETA's letter to Oscar below. We just can’t figure out why his management is so upset about the whole thing—men as diverse as Rudy Giuliani, Tom Hanks, Robin Williams, and Jamie Foxx have donned a dress without any adverse effect to their careers. Don't you think Oscar would be a knockout on the catwalk?

Dear Oscar,

The controversy surrounding the cross-dressing photos of you could be turned around to do some good. One of PETA’s most amusing ongoing campaigns is called Fur Is a Drag, which has involved parodies of fur fashion shows, featuring cross-dressing models sporting donated furs which are spattered with paint and accessorized with cruel leghold traps. We’re planning our next Fur is Drag runway parody for this December in New York, to be hosted by drag sensation Lady Bunny, founder of the Wigstock festival. Might you consider walking the catwalk? You’d be a real knockout. Maybe we can help turn this scandal from a sow’s ear into a silk purse—with matching pumps.

Sincerely,

Dan Mathews
Vice President
PETA

I love me some Nellie McKay. She just released her new album, Obligatory Villagers, yesterday, so I wanted to give it a quick shout out. Nellie never misses an opportunity to talk about her love of animals and what people can do to make the world a better place for them, and here’s what she had to say when she sat down with the uber-hip peta2 posse recently:

Tell us about the new album, Obligatory Villagers.

It's a rumbus opus, a ragtime sonata. It's about the times we live in.

What animal rights issues are you most passionate about?

Every outrage deserves attention. In terms of scope, ending factory farming & our relationship to animals as food is key, because from there, victory in other areas is inevitable.

Do you think schools should be required to offer students alternatives to dissection? Why?

Schools should not only offer students alternatives, they should completely remove dissection & vivisection from their curriculum. Knowledge without compassion is useless.

Do you have any dissection horror stories from your school days that you'd like to share?

In fourth grade we campaigned to remove formaldehyde jars entombing small animals from the science room. We circulated petitions & met w/the principal & made the teachers really nervous. The jars were removed.

Why did you choose to become a vegetarian?

I was fortunate enough to go vegetarian w/my parents. The sight of caged & suffering animals in animal rights literature elicited an instant response of sadness & anger. Kids have a natural empathy w/ animals.

What's your favorite vegetarian dish?

My Mother's vegan fish & chips w/ brown beans is always on the top of the list.

Any advice for people who want to get involved in animal rights but don't know how to get started?

The biggest thing you can do for the animals, the earth, & humankind (including yourself) is to switch to an animal-free diet. It may not be easy, it may not be instant, but start & watch the world change for the better.

What's up next for you?

I'm working with the Coalition to Preserve Community to prevent Columbia University from demolishing eighteen acres of Harlem to construct a new campus. Among their development plans is a level-3 biotech lab, which would almost certainly include animal research. And of course, I mention ColumbiaCruelty.com wherever I go.

KP and Darby

Karen Porreca, or KP, has been with PETA since the very beginning, and she's done an incredible job managing our kickass editing staff and editing hundreds and hundreds of pages a week herself (we generate an awful lot of text here) to ensure that everything we put out is lucid and professional, and that there's never a word out of place. Karen is also always the first person to recommend a holistic remedy when you have a cold, or give you the number of a good reflexologist. Which, well, everyone has their thing, I guess.

KP was my boss for the first year that I was at PETA, back when I was an editor for the organization myself and spent my days obsessing over em-dashes, misplaced modifiers, and dangling participles (OK, I still obsess over those things, but in those days it was actually useful to someone), so I'm very excited to announce that she's writing a new blog for PETA, which will be focusing on how to keep your canine companion happy and healthy, with an emphasis on weird hippie stuff like holistic medicine and chiropractics. In all seriousness, the blog is a ton of fun, and it's a great resource for anybody who loves dogs—and if you're into alternative medicine, there's probably gonna be a good deal of that for you too.

So head on over to KP's Dog Blog when you get a chance, and let her know what you think. Also, if you have time, I’d be very grateful if you could scour every word of the blog—and if you can find any grammatical errors (even just, like, a comma out of place), report them back to me.

After more than a year of discussions with PETA, CKE Restaurants (the parent company of Hardee’s and Carl’s Jr.) has announced a new animal welfare program that will phase in cage-free eggs, and begin sourcing pork from suppliers that don’t use cruel gestation crates for pregnant pigs. The plan also gives consideration to poultry suppliers that are willing to use controlled-atmosphere killing, which is the most humane form of slaughter available.

Here's what Hardee's spokesman Jeff Mochal said about the change:

"We take the animal welfare concerns very seriously. When you meet with PETA they make a pretty good case. We want to stay consistent with where the industry is at now and where it's heading."

This is another victory for farmed animals, and it is a sign that there is a major upheaval in the industry, with many of the biggest players (with the notable exception of KFC, which is still decades behind) making significant improvements in their animal welfare standards in response to pressure from the animal protection community and compassionate consumers. In just the past year, Smithfield Foods, Maple Leaf Foods, and Cargill Meat Solutions took steps to phase out gestation crates for pigs, and Burger King and Wendy's restaurants made similar changes affecting millions of animals.

I make these points whenever we have a victory like this, but I want to really emphasize them this time:

1. Yes, this is a victory for animals. It means that millions upon millions of pigs and chickens will be spared some of the worst tortures that they currently suffer, and it is a sign that with hard work, we can effect change for the better.
2. No, this doesn't mean that our work is anywhere near finished. It just means that our work is effective, and that we have an incentive to work harder and push for more change.
3. Torturing animals less in factory farms is always a good thing, but the best thing that you can do if you want to help animals is to go vegan.

Congratulations to everyone who worked so hard to get these improvements at Hardees and Carls Jr.! And thanks to CKE Restaurants for helping to encourage such significant changes in their suppliers, and the industry at large.

As you may have heard by now, Michael Vick and his three co-defendants were indicted today by a grand jury, and charged with one count of beating or killing a dog in addition to one count of engaging in and promoting dogfighting. The next step is for the prosecuting attorney, Gerald Poindexter, to actually charge these guys. This is PETA’s official statement on the new indictment:

"PETA believes, as most Americans do, that the best way to safeguard animals is for anyone who participates in dogfighting to spend time behind bars and be banned from owning animals for life. Given that dogs who did not perform to the defendants' satisfaction were intentionally killed by electrocution, drowning, hanging, shooting, and being repeatedly slammed to the ground, state felony cruelty-to-animals charges and state felony dogfighting charges are clearly warranted in this case. The federal authorities prosecuted the crimes under their jurisdiction with due diligence, and we look forward to seeing Commonwealth Attorney Gerald Poindexter do the same.”

Please click here to take action on this issue by urging the NFL to add cruelty to animals to its conduct policy.

PETA's Senior Vice President Lisa Lange was on The O'Reilly Factor last night to talk about two of our latest ads, a sexy veggie testimonial starring Alicia Silverstone and a racy new promo for our Animal Birth Control (ABC) Campaign featuring burlesque dancer Dita Von Teese. The question at issue was whether these ads were somehow offensive. O'Reilly himself was very fair and balanced about the whole thing, and even made some positive comments about the animal protection movement, and Lisa did a great job of explaining why she believes that there's nothing wrong with a beautiful woman using sex appeal to make a point.

In fact, the only person who came out of the show looking bad was that Queen of Prudes, Fox News' Kirsten Powers, who was so scandalized by the super-sexy Dita Von Teese ad that she could barely string together a coherent sentence. Powers' blustering aside, I do think O'Reilly's question is an important one, and it's something we take very seriously at PETA. The way I see it, both Alicia's veggie PSA and Dita Von Teese's ABC ad are tasteful, professional, and, honestly, stunning, each in their own way. They do what ads are supposed to do—they grab your attention and they generate discussion about the issue.

Anyway, I'd love to hear what people think about this tactic. It won't mean that we're going to stop running sexy ads for our different campaigns to help animals (I'm busy working away on the script for next year's "State of the Union Undress" right now), but a little bit of healthy debate never hurt nobody. Except Kirsten Powers.

See Also

Politics of Power and PETA
A Photo Gallery of PETA's Naked Campaigns
Animal Rights Uncompromised: PETA's Tactics

I know, I know. I just used an almost identical subject line last week in the “Shoplifting Seagull” entry, but I couldn’t resist. Just like I couldn’t resist sharing this amazing story about a pigeon who befriended an injured baby monkey at an animal sanctuary in China. Check it out here.

Is it possible for the biggest name in burlesque, Dita Von Teese, to get any sexier? She’s already the spokesperson for MAC Cosmetics Viva Glam campaign, is the face of Frederick’s of Hollywood’s upcoming holiday catalog, and has graced the cover of Playboy, Harpers Bazaar, and Elle. In fact, I just looked up the word “sexy” on Wikipedia and there is no definition, just her picture.

For those of you who thought Dita couldn’t get any sexier, think again. She is lending her voice, among other things, to our new ABC campaign. Dita urges fans to "bone up" on their ABCs and, if they are considering adding a dog or a cat to the family, to adopt from a local animal shelter and be sure to get their new family member spayed or neutered.

And here are some exclusive behind-the-scenes images and video from the launch of the ad.

Who's ready for the new season of Dancing With the Stars? Me too. In fact, I believe that there are only two kinds of people in the world: DWTS fans, and those who are too embarrassed to admit that they are DWTS fans. I fall squarely into the first category, as any of my friends—and my downstairs neighbors—will tell you.

So, it’s a bit of an understatement to say I’m excited for tonight’s season premiere. And I’m even more excited because PETA pal Jennie Garth is on the show this season. Make sure to tune in to ABC at 8 EST, and in the meantime, check out this great ad she shot for us a while back.

umusic/Creative Commons

If you've been following Rob Zombie's career, you'll know that he's been successful in a number of different arenas, from his groundbreaking work with White Zombie in the '90s, when this blogger was a young alternative-music junkie ("More human than hu-man! More human than hu-man!") to his successful solo career, and more recently in his mega-hit slasher films House of 1,000 Corpses and Halloween. A lot of people who have watched the gore-fest that is this summer's Halloween get more squeamish when the young Michael Myers mutilates animals than they do when the killer graduates to human victims. Well, it so happens that this touches on one of PETA's major campaigns—to raise awareness about the well-documented link between cruelty to animals and crimes against humans.

With that in mind, PETA VP Dan Mathews wrote the following note to Mr. Zombie:

“We at PETA would like to thank you for making clear in Halloween that people who commit acts of cruelty to animals are likely to move on to humans. Although audiences wince during scenes showing the young Michael Myers mutilating animals, following it up with the school counselor articulating how this is the first step to becoming a maniac was perfectly done. Hopefully, with the attention focused by your movie on this link between animal cruelty and human violence, more people will recognize the warning signs among people they know and deal with it more forcefully.”

Not only was the cat used in this scene fake (of course), but guess what? Rob Zombie is an ethical vegetarian, and has been since 1982, when he saw slaughterhouse footage in high school. Turns out that some zombies don't eat flesh at all. Who knew?

Deloitte/Creative Commons

In addition to the critically-acclaimed film Away From Her, Julie Christie has starred in such classics as Doctor Zhivago and Heaven Can Wait, as well as one of my favorite films of all time, the incredibly frightening psychological thriller Don't Look Now (which, incidentally, also features Donald Sutherland and an evil, knife-wielding troll creature). Throughout her distinguished career, Christie has also been an outspoken advocate for animal and environmental protection, and in 1981, she gained a worldwide reputation as a strong voice for animals after she narrated the groundbreaking documentary The Animals Film, which graphically depicts factory- farming abuses.

And just this morning, she sent a letter to clothing retailer Burberry's creative director Christopher Bailey urging him to end the use of fur in Burberry designs once and for all. Here's what she says:

"For the sake of basic decency and humanity as well as for the sake of your company's reputation, won't you please stop using real fur in your designs?"

You can the full letter here, and for a little horror movie about the practices that Burberry supports, click here.

PETA’s regulatory testing division recently fired off a letter to Samuel H. Wilson, acting director of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS), urging him to cancel planned experiments on mice involving artificial butter flavoring and its ingredients. Yes, I said artificial butter flavoring, the stuff in microwave popcorn.

One ingredient in artificial butter flavoring, diacetyl, is suspected of causing a debilitating—and sometimes deadly—lung disease in dozens of workers and now possibly in consumers as well, and the NIEHS’ knee-jerk reaction is simply to do more animal tests. Keep in mind that producers accounting for 80 percent of the market for this product have already stopped using diacetyl or announced plans to do so, and as our regulatory testing watchdogs pointed out, in experiments that have already been conducted, mice who were forced to inhale diacetyl didn’t develop the same symptoms of obliterative bronchiolitis (OB) that humans did. It sounds like the NIEHS has never heard Benjamin Franklin’s famous quote that goes something like this, “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and hoping for different results.”

In response to PETA's warnings—which were originally submitted to the NIEHS' National Toxicology Program (NTP) in May—one scientist acknowledged that although "it's not clear how one would extrapolate findings from the animal studies to humans. … [T]hat does not lessen my enthusiasm for this study." In our newest letter, we point out that while the NTP conducts cruel experiments on mice, workers—and possibly consumers—will remain at risk for OB. How about we cut to the chase and instead of conducting irrelevant animal experiments and further delaying the protection of workers and consumers who are exposed to diacetyl, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration immediately rescind its "generally recognized as safe" designation for the chemical?

Jessica Sandler, PETA’s director of regulatory testing said it best,

“There's a crisis looming for countless workers and consumers who are exposed to diacetyl, and once again, the government's answer is to try to mimic in animals the effects already seen in people. Not only is this completely illogical approach blatantly cruel, it also directly jeopardizes the health of the citizens that the agency is charged with safeguarding."

I’ll keep you posted as this case develops, and in the meantime, here’s a great page about PETA’s behind-the-scenes battle to stop animal testing.

Kidport/Creative Commons

Yup, that's right. It's finally Fish Amnesty Day again! Fish Amnesty Day was created by PETA 10 years ago as a much less violent alternative to National Hunting and Fishing Day, which (by an amazing coincidence) happens to be on the same date.

For some reason, fish are often the last animal people cut from their diets when they go vegetarian, so if you're someone who's been thinking about giving up eating fish but never got around to it, this is a great time to take the plunge. PETA has a whole site about the lives of these fascinating animals at FishingHurts.com, and once you've checked that out, if you'd like to celebrate Fish Amnesty Day by giving up fish for good, click here to take PETA's pledge to be veg.

I will be marking this momentous occasion with a meal at my favorite vegetarian sushi restaurant, Kotobuki. Happy Fish Amnesty Day, everyone!

Click here to order a free vegetarian starter kit.

Fall is here, and the sounds of songbirds chirping morning greetings can be heard outside your window, while the animal moms and dads of the world rustle through the freshly fallen leaves seeking out a hearty breakfast for their children. Meanwhile, back in the lab, Jeffrey Cynx is busy as a bee burning lesions into the brains of the songbirds he's rounded up, while the folks at Taser International are furtively tasering as many animals as they can get their hands on to see if they have heart attacks.

That's right—it's time to pick out one of the slimiest "scientists" in the animal-experimentation game and crown this week's Vivisector of the Week! Last week's winner (by a slim margin of 5 to 4) was Thomas Langfitt, who takes his seat next to UConn's David Waitzman as this week's Vilest Vivisector. Tom may be dead, but his lifelong dedication to smashing animal's heads will never be forgotten!

So suppress those gag reflexes and cast your vote, 'cuz we've got two guys whose lousy scientific practices are rivaled only by the extreme cruelty of their methods, and this week's gonna be close! Ladies and gentlemen, your contestants …

Jeffrey Cynx, Vassar.

The NIH recently launched an investigation into a laboratory at Vassar College, where Jeffrey Cynx has been cutting into birds' backs, castrating male birds, burning lesions into their brains, and ripping out their tracheal nerves. After a whistleblower reported that these animals were also allegedly being denied veterinary care and dying—even prior to the experiments—PETA wrote to Vassar College to ask (very politely), WTF? We're working on getting these experiments stopped, but in the meantime, if you like songbirds, you may want to cast your vote for today's first contestant, Vassar's very own Jeffrey Cynx!

Rick Smith, Taser International.

Inthesetimes/Creative Commons

Taser International CEO Rick Smith is a young man who gives a whole new meaning to the phrase "Don't tase me, bro!" Rick and his pals have been tasing animals for years now, and he has such a passion for the job that he's even willing to take his work home with him! Taser VP Max Nerheim recently testified that he and Rick repeatedly shocked live pigs during the fall of 2002 in his home garage and at an unnamed "horse facility" in Phoenix. You can write to Rick about his work here, and if his pig-shocking ways make your blood boil, cast your vote for Rick Smith now!

As always, thanks for voting, and check back with us next Friday* to find out who will be next week's Vivisector of the Week!

*The PETA Files cannot guarantee that they will remember to do this every week.

Don’t worry if you don’t get that subject line. It’s just a shout out to my homegirl, Anuradha “Slim Shady” Sawhney, who does a hell of a job running PETA India.

The point of this post is really to give props to the whole gang over at PETA India, who just released the incredibly exciting news that the city of Mumbai will no longer allow elephants within its borders. Mumbai's compassionate decision will spare many elephants a lifetime of abuse and neglect, and it sends a powerful message to other towns and cities across the country. You can check out the full story here.

Now PETA India is expanding the campaign to other cities, and they’ve enlisted India’s A-list to help. They just sent this petition, featuring heavy-hitting Indian celebs like Dilip Kuman, Saira Banu, John Abraham, Raveena Tandon, and others, to Chief Ministers across the country, and hopefully we’ll be hearing more on this issue soon.

Way to go PETA India!

Update: Following the success of Alicia’s PSA, Sky News put together a wonderful retrospective of PETA’s many naked ads and protests over the past year. You can check out the picture gallery here.

The folks in Houston were severely deprived yesterday, when their cable provider decided at the last minute (literally) that it would pull Alicia Silverstone's super sexy new pro-vegetarianism ad, which had already been approved and paid for. Comcast Cable told us that they had banned the spot "because she is naked," despite the fact that the ad has already aired on numerous news programs worldwide. Besides, as PETA Vice President Dan Mathews pointed out in a staff meeting today, they showed Holly Hunter's naked ass on Saving Grace the other night, so, um, what's the problem here, Comcast?

We had picked Houston because it consistently ranks in the top ten least healthy cities in the country, so we figured they could use some good diet advice (honestly, who in their right mind would turn down friendly diet advice from the beautiful Alicia Silverstone?), but Houstonians need not despair. As PETA President Ingrid Newkirk puts it,

"Houston viewers can still go to PETA.org and get an eyeful, not only of the stunning Ms. Silverstone, but also of our free Vegetarian Starter Kit—chock full of delicious recipes—that will