openentrance / CC

In her letter, Ingrid said, "No one needs to tell you that this country is proud to be a melting pot and that there is something deeply wrong and elitist about wanting only a purebred dog. Millions of Great American Mutts—the dog that should be our national dog—are set to die in our nation's extremely overcrowded pounds and shelters for lack of good homes. Compassionate people nationwide are choosing to adopt a homeless pound puppy—a grateful refugee from a society that has not always treated the true 'underdog' kindly—rather than cater to special interests who do not have dogs' interests at heart."

So you can see why we're quite proud of this whole thing and thank everyone who weighed in. We hope that the Obama family really listened to our message, and we hope that Barack, Michelle, and their daughters find a loving mutt who needs a good home.

Hey, America … we are SO over the Paris Hilton "purse puppy" era … let's give homes to dogs who really need them!

Posted by Christine Doré

As a 501(c)(3) organization, PETA does not endorse or oppose any candidate for public office or any political party.

drew / CC

PETA Senior Vice President Dan Mathews fired off one of his killer letters again to Ms. Close after returning from a tense (to say the least) meeting in Milan, at which the Armani brass basically told him that they were quite reluctant to let go of their butchered-bunny designs. "Maybe Armani was inspired by Glenn Close's bunny-butchering character in 'Fatal Attraction,'" says Mathews. "Now that our talks are broken off, we're bringing the message to the stars who wear Armani that his clothes come with some unwanted baggage."

Here's the letter:

Glenn Close c/o Catherine Olim

Dear Glenn,

Greetings from PETA, where you have many fans. Congratulations on your Emmy win! Since you wore Giorgio Armani to the Emmy Awards, we are obliged to alert you to a distressing situation that has arisen with the company. We've been in talks with Armani for the past few years, asking the designer to drop fur. We showed his senior design team PETA's four-minute video—which documents how animals on fur farms are strangled, electrocuted, and skinned alive—and a few months later, Armani told Time Magazine that his meetings with PETA, "convinced me not to use fur." Unfortunately, he's gone back on his word; his new collections are full of fur and even include fur-trimmed coats for babies and kids.

We ask that you please use your considerable influence with Mr. Armani to urge him to keep his word and leave fur out of future collections. We also ask that you consider wearing fashions from some of the wonderful fur-free designers such as Calvin Klein, Ralph Lauren, and Stella McCartney.

Thank you very much for your consideration.

Sincerely,

Dan Mathews
Vice President
PETA

Posted by Christine Doré

You know that we at PETA love to help out whenever we can, so when we heard about the extreme gas shortage plaguing the Southern states, we deployed our elite gasoline response team: the fabulous Lettuce Ladies. We've had these eye-catching demos before with great response (and even a hugely successful gas giveaway contest), but now, with so many gas stations running out of gas, the ladies are needed more than ever!

The Ladies have been touring the country wearing their signature lettuce-leaf bikinis. They've been giving away Tofurkey brand vegan sandwiches and free gasoline to anyone who would give it a try—all to call attention to the fact that factory farming causes more greenhouse-gas emissions than all the cars, trucks, trains, and planes combined. In fact, eating a single pound of meat is the environmental equivalent of driving 40 miles in an SUV!

So while drivers in Atlanta waited in those long lines to fill up their tanks, our Lettuce Ladies gave them vegan sandwiches to fill up on, too—and hey, who can argue with free sandwiches, right?

Posted by Amanda Schinke

As you can imagine, PETA hears about lots of cases of cruelty to animals. For folks who love animals as much as we do, that's never fun, but we can't make things better if we bury our heads in the sand. Still, it takes a lot to really strike a nerve with us, but one recent case stands out.

Carrie Cagata, James Cullen, and Shannon Kraham of Fort Myers, Florida, have been charged with multiple counts of cruelty to animals and animal abandonment. Lee County deputies reportedly found more than 80 dogs, cats, and other animals who had been entrusted to the trio malnourished or dead. While that's awful, it's not entirely unusual (unfortunately), but this is: Cagata is the owner of My Best Friend Inc., a supposed animal rescue organization. Detectives are alleging that she adopted abandoned animals from animal shelters and then tried to sell them for a profit—if the animals didn't sell, the detectives claim, they were apparently shipped off to "the farm," where they were left to starve.

While starving and abandoning animals is horrible enough, to do so while allegedly pretending to be rescuing them is over-the-top hideous—and an insult to the wonderful people who operate legitimate rescue groups. We fired off a letter to the head of the felony division of the Florida attorney's office, demanding that this case be prosecuted vigorously.

The letter also stated, "On behalf of our thousands of members and supporters in Florida, we respectfully ask that, if convicted and in addition to serving a period of incarceration, the three defendants (and any codefendants later named) be required to undergo psychological evaluations followed by mandatory counseling at their own expense." You can read the full letter here.

Posted by Jeff Mackey

Last week, we released our jaw-dropping investigation into a Hormel supplier. It didn't take long for more abuse of pigs to come to light. We recently learned of a situation that happened early this month when a truck carrying nearly 200 live pigs to a slaughterhouse overturned on the highway, trapping some pigs in the wreckage for hours. Approximately 65 pigs were killed by the impact, died from their injuries, or were killed at the site of the accident by responding workers, including employees of Murphy-Brown, a subsidiary of Smithfield Foods Inc.

As if the trauma of the accident weren't enough, while workers were removing the surviving pigs from the scene in order to send them on to the horrors of the slaughterhouse, they pulled the terrified pigs by their ears and hit them in the face with tools that even the pork industry says should never be used to hit animals.

As Smithfield's neighbors, we're all too familiar with the grisly aftermath of truck crashes. These latest documented abuses clearly demonstrate that Smithfield's self-touted "industry-leading accident response program" is ignored by a number of Murphy-Brown's employees and ineffectively enforced by supervisors. Watch the video and decide for yourself whether Smithfield is full of hot air.

If you eat hot dogs, ham, sausage, or bacon, then you are supporting this suffering. These and other abuses are done in your name and on your dollar. Please make a conscious decision to turn up your nose at pork, because the best way to help these intelligent animals is to stop eating them.

Posted by Christine Doré

Some PETA activists stopped by the World Beef Expo in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, to show them a thing or two about beef—namely, that all meat is murder.

Calling attention to the similarities between killing humans and killing animals for food, one of our activists lay on a "grill" on a busy sidewalk, her skin painted to mimic the charred flesh that some people still happily consume at barbecues. Meanwhile, local activists passed out free copies of PETA's "Vegetarian Starter Kit" to passers-by who asked for them—and you can bet a lot of people did!

Check our pics of the great demo below—and check out GoVeg.com for more info!

Posted by Amanda Schinke

Parents, heads up. Recent studies have suggested a link between dairy consumption and autism. Since many people don't know this, PETA is planning to run a billboard in Newark, New Jersey. Even though it won't please the billion-dollar dairy industry, parents have a right to know the truth about milk.

In a study at the University of Rome, researchers noticed a "marked improvement" in the behavior of autistic children who were taken off dairy products, but how dairy might worsen or cause autism is still unclear. Some suspect that casein (a component of cow's milk) harms the brain, while others suggest that stomach problems that are often caused by dairy products cause distress and thus worsen behavior in autistic children.

Not so surprising, considering that milk has already been strongly linked to Crohn's disease, certain types of cancer, and other serious health problems. But I digress.

Thankfully, there is hope. Testimonials suggest that some people with this devastating disease may be able to find relief by simply removing milk from their diet.

*The Newark area had the highest rates of autism occurrence among 14 states studied in one report.

Smokin'-hot Filipina model Alicia Mayer is teaming up with PETA Asia-Pacific once again. This time, the FHM cover girl stars in not one but two super-sexy new ads.

Posing in plastic wrap, Alicia says, "No one wants to be treated like a piece of meat." The stunning actor knows that the easiest way to end cruelty to animals is to go vegetarian.

Alicia pulls off Saran Wrap better than Kathy Bates in Fried Green Tomatoes.

In her second ad, Alicia holds a limp banana next to a tagline that not-so-subtly points out the connection between meat-eating and impotence. Alicia will likely make many men think twice about their meat addictions!

No one wants a limp banana!

Alicia Mayer has got what it takes: a killer body and compassion for animals. Want to follow Alicia's lead? Pledge to go veg for 30 days!

iNPLACENEWS / CC

With the passing of Paul Newman, animals and the people who care about them have lost a dedicated friend and advocate.

Beyond his work as an actor, Newman's companies—Newman's Own and Newman's Own Organics—placed a particular emphasis on minimizing the suffering of animals. PETA's shopping guide at VegCooking.com features a dozen Newman's Own products that don't include animal-derived ingredients. Newman's Own Organics also introduced a line of foods for dogs and cats that benefit animals in more ways than one: The products are not tested on animals, and the profits from the sales are donated to animal protection organizations.

To pay tribute to this extraordinary man, let us carry on his tradition of showing kindness and compassion to all beings every day.

It's a gloomy day here in Norfolk. My coffee mug is empty, my pumpkin–chocolate-chip muffins are all gone, and the "News of the Weird" folder in my in-box is overflowing. You're probably wondering what kind of news could be classified as "weird" by an organization that has proposed that Ben and Jerry's should use human breast milk for its ice cream. Read on to find out about the weird stuff—and more!

• Happy "Hug a Vegetarian" Day!
• Sometimes it's just easier to express yourself through song and dance. See Exhibit A: this rap video, which was recorded by a PETAKids member. I wonder how long it took to find a rhyme for "gestation crates" ….
• Bizarre ice-breaker …. It turns out that two-thirds of Americans would rather be stranded on a desert island with their animal companion than their human partner. (Recalling a few of my exes, I wholeheartedly agree.)
• Boy attacked by raptor. No, not Jurassic Park 4. Thankfully.
• Tzipi Livni, potentially the next prime minister of Israel, is a vegetarian. Rock on.
• Bottom-sniffing, anyone?
• Long Island Business News came out to see an activist-led KFC demo last week and created an awesome video blog about it.
• A new human study shows that the flavonoids in a small square of dark (not milk!) chocolate each day can protect you from heart disease. Vegans and chocoholics, rejoice!

That chocolate study definitely made me feel better about eating a whopping four of those pumpkin–chocolate-chip muffins—whew! I guess I'll go refill my coffee mug, plow through my in-box, and hurry home to forward that rap video and animal birth control ad to all my MySpace peeps.

Posted by Sean Conner

Some of you might remember our (funny!) spay and neuter ad, starring everyone's favorite puppet, Triumph the Insult Comic Dog. In case you need a refresher, here it is:

Now for the reason you might not remember it—when we first released the PSA in 2003, some people thought that we were implying that Clay Aiken was "neutered" because he was gay. As a gay myself, I can say with certainty that nothing could have been further from the truth—just ask my friend Lady Bunny!

© Tina Paul/fifibear 2008

In any case, we took the ad down. We at PETA might be many things, but goodness knows, anti-gay certainly isn't one of them!

We'd decided to go along with Triumph's suggestion of "Get Neutered—It Didn't Hurt Clay Aiken" for the ad because of some scary things Clay had said in a Rolling Stone interview. "I think cats are Satan," he'd said. "There's nothing worse to me than a house cat. When I was about sixteen, I had a kitten and ran over it." Ouch! He clarified that the cat's death was an accident and that he was "haunted" by the cat's spirit—but come on.

Well, as far as we know, Clay still hasn't apologized for his kitty hatred. But you know what? Five years later, with the Idol starting a new chapter in his life, we're going to let bygones be bygones—and we're removing the ad from our library of available PSAs.

So congratulations on the birth of your son and on your newfound freedom, Clay. And hey, maybe someday you'll meet an angelic kitty who changes your mind about our fine feline friends, hmm?

Posted by Michael McGraw

Last week, we announced our intention to help out financially struggling schools across the country by running our "Got Spew?" ad in school bathroom stalls.

Well, we're now retracting our intention to run the ad. Not everywhere—oh, not by a long shot!—but in Tempe, Arizona, where a spew-y disaster has just taken place.

Earlier this week, some brave fraternity brothers at Arizona State University—and I'm trying to type this without laughing—decided that the coolest, awesomest activity for a Tuesday night would be to go up on a footbridge … and vomit milk onto the traffic below.

My favorite quote from the article? "It is unknown why the men were drinking and vomiting the milk." Maybe it's because they had a revelation mid-chug—that drinking milk promotes the cruelty of the dairy industry and has been linked to impotence. Or maybe it's because it's rush week. One thing is clear, though: Milk and spewing are certainly linked! We hate to say "we told you so," but ….

Whatever the reason, the frat boys' antics have hurt more than the mother cows who produced the milk (and the male calves who are shipped off to veal slaughterhouses). The "joke" has also caused a woman and her daughter to be injured. Another car had stopped short to avoid the vomit (wouldn't you?), and the ladies' car wasn't able to avoid hitting the stopped vehicle. And since we'd never want to make light of their injuries, we're not going to run our ad in Tempe, Arizona.

We think folks in Tempe got the message anyhow.

Posted by Amanda Schinke

It's a start!

The Kentucky Horse Racing Commission (KHRC) has recently enacted two new regulations to lessen the suffering of racehorses. This comes after months of pressure from PETA and its supporters following the death of Eight Belles at the Kentucky Derby. This is a groundbreaking development—it shows that the horseracing industry is beginning to recognize that change is necessary.

© Jason Allen Photography
A big hearty "neiighhh" (that's horse for "thank you!") to the supporters and demonstrators who worked so tirelessly in behalf of racehorses everywhere.

The commission voted to ban "snapper" whips for harness racing—whips with flails on the end, which cause welts—as well as a technique called side whipping, in which the driver holds the reins in one hand, leans to the side, and whips the horse with the other hand.

Two weeks ago, the KHRC also banned the use of anabolic steroids—the drugs given to Kentucky Derby winner Big Brown—for all racehorses. The use of steroids was banned in Maryland just a few days ago, and now steroids are banned in two of the three states where Triple Crown races are held.

Although these changes are better than no changes at all, horseracing is still a cruel industry, and it should be completely obliterated. But until it is, there should still be a prohibition on competitive racing for horses younger than 3 years old and a ban on dirt tracks in favor of turf tracks (which would greatly decrease the chances of catastrophic injury). But most important of all, a zero-tolerance drug policy—a ban on all drugs, not just steroids—needs to be enacted.

So, thanks for the new regulations, KHRC. But you still have a lot of work to do!

Posted by Carrie Ann Harris

linklane / CC

Gillian Anderson may be just weeks away from delivering her third baby, but the gorgeous X-Files star is squeezing in one last film project before the big arrival.

Our favorite redhead is all set to narrate a brand-new video of undercover footage taken inside European and Chinese rabbit fur farms, as part of PETA Europe's campaign to pressure Giorgio Armani to stick to his fur-free pledge—which, as we reported yesterday, he's clearly having trouble with, if the freaky fur coats for toddlers in his new collection are anything to go by.

Gillian, who is well aware that most children have a natural affinity for and love of animals, wants to strike while the iron is hot, so she has agreed to spearhead PETA Europe's campaign against the designer. The dedicated animal rights advocate says, "I am stunned that Armani has gone back on his word. I can't understand why anyone would want to use real fur, and especially rabbit because it is so easy to replicate as the pile is so short."

Gillian has helped the animals repeatedly over the years, and she won PETA Europe's Humanitarian Award back in 2006. She invited PETA Vice President Dan Mathews to give a talk at her daughter's school in London, and she helped map out PETA Europe's Armani campaign strategy at the classy Groucho Club on Monday night. Though, of course, there wasn't a champagne in sight—Gillian and Dan worked hard over glasses of lemonade and apple crumble. Cute ….

Posted by Carrie Ann Harris

mediabistro / CC
It looks like the Hamburglar might have moved on to a more serious crime.

Not only is eating meat unhealthy, it also might make you homicidal. Just ask Terrence J. Jones of Washington, D.C., who has been imprisoned for allegedly killing a woman after she refused to cook him a hamburger.

That's right—he allegedly killed a stranger for not making him a burger! Unbelievable!

PETA has written a letter to Jones' prison warden and asked him to provide Jones with only vegetarian meals (and even offered to help create meatless meal plans). We believe that it's the only way to stop more senseless killings for the sake of Terrence J. Jones' taste buds.

Not only will this stop the needless and cruel murder of animals, evidence from prisons that have switched inmates to vegetarian diets indicates that doing so might reduce violence among inmates too. Feeding inmates bean burritos instead of beef burgers could go a long way toward ending the cycle of violence. Plus vegetarian meals are cost-efficient and easy to prepare (for everyone, regardless of whether they're in prison).

So let's recap: A vegetarian diet saves humans, animals, time, and money. Sounds like a no-brainer to me!

Posted by Carrie Ann Harris

Best one so far!

Click for a larger version

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

This is a must-see video.

If you're moved, click here for ideas on how to spread the word. We'd really like to see this video reach 1 million viewers—help us make that a reality!

Posted by Carrie Ann Harris

If an animal's skin has already been stolen from its rightful owner, how can you make the best of an awful situation? By giving the skin to charity!

Recently, PETA Europe donated around 100 fur coats and leather and wool items to the charity Let's Help Africa in Port Elizabeth, South Africa. The charity then took the coats into the freezing mountains of Lesotho and gave them to needy farmers and poor herd boys. Even when the temperature plummets to below freezing, these folks have no choice but to spend their days working outside.

As you can see from the photos below, the people of Lesotho definitely needed these coats—and they loved having them!

After PETA Europe donated the fur coats, the president of Let's Help Africa wrote a very lovely note. In his letter, he wrote, "I am sure you sowed in good soil; those boys are beyond grateful and some of their lives will be saved because of your donation. So thank you very, very much; we honor you for your generosity."

Stories like this are only possible with your support. Every year PETA receives hundreds of fur, leather, and wool donations from compassionate people who appreciate that animals are not ours to wear. (Really, why would someone want to wear a dead animal for fun?!) So they mail us their old coats or new gifts, and we in turn donate them to charities or wildlife rehabilitation centers. This way, only people and animals who are truly in need can benefit from them.

Do you have something to donate today?

Posted by Carrie Ann Harris

timeinc / CC

WRONG!

Armani's fall collection includes (gag!) fur coats for babies (so, so wrong), floral-printed fur coats (don't try and dress up what it really is), fur-hemmed skirts (no thank you!), and fur-trimmed jackets (hell to the no). As you can imagine, we're going postal up in here. But instead of disrupting his shows during Fashion Week in Milan last week, PETA is aiming higher—at the stars, in fact.

PETA Senior Vice President Dan Mathews, in all his fabulousity, hit 'em where it hurts …. TomKat anyone?!

Check out the full text of Dan's letter to Tom and Katie below, and make sure to leave a comment to tell us what you think.

PETA is sending similar appeals this week to Kristin Chenoweth, Glenn Close, and Heidi Klum, all of whom wore Armani to the Emmys on Sunday. Ew, right?

September 23, 2008

Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes
c/o Jeff Raymond

Dear Tom and Katie,

Greetings from PETA, where we've always admired your fur-free personal style. Because you are among the most highly visible wearers of Giorgio Armani, we are obliged to alert you to a distressing situation that has arisen with the company. We've been in talks with Armani for the past few years, asking the designer to drop fur. We showed his senior design team PETA's four-minute video—which documents how animals on fur farms are strangled, electrocuted, and skinned alive—and a few months later, Armani told Time magazine that his meetings with PETA, "convinced me not to use fur." Unfortunately, he's gone back on his word; his new collections are full of fur.

Most shockingly, his collections include fur coats for babies and kids. Please be vigilant about any packages that Armani sends for Suri, as they could include bunny fur from his toddler lines. We imagine that Suri, like other children, has a natural affinity for animals, which is why we find it shocking that Armani is not only breaking his fur-free promise but also trying to lure children into fashion derived from skinned rabbits. We also ask that you please use your considerable influence with Mr. Armani to urge him to keep his word and leave fur out of future collections and that you consider wearing fashions from some of the fur-free designers such as Calvin Klein, Ralph Lauren, and Stella McCartney.

Thank you very much for your consideration.

Sincerely,

Dan Mathews
Vice President
PETA

Posted by Christine Doré

Update: In response to our letter, Ben and Jerry's issued the following statement: "We applaud PETA's novel approach to bringing attention to an issue, but we believe a mother's milk is best used for her child." Hey, guys, that's our point: Cow's milk is for baby cows.

Storchen, a (very innovative) restaurant in Switzerland, has just announced that they will be unveiling a new menu that includes soups, stews, and sauces made with at least 75 percent human breast milk. Some folks might think that drinking human breast milk is strange … but really, what's even stranger is that humans are the only species on the planet that drinks the milk of another species.

Storchen's new menu got us thinking … which product would be fabulously awesome if it were made with breast milk instead of cow's milk? (Light bulb!) Ben and Jerry's!

So we wrote a letter to the good people at Ben and Jerry's, asking them to switch from cow's milk to breast milk. We explained that using cow's milk for their ice cream is a hazard to consumers' health. Even Dr. Spock spoke out against feeding cow's milk to children, saying it may play a role in the onset of anemia, allergies, and juvenile diabetes and, in the long term, can set kids up for a lifetime of obesity and heart disease (America's number one cause of death).

But it's not all about us humans. Animals will also benefit from the switch to breast milk. Because, like all mammals, cows only give milk during or after pregnancy, in order for humans to constantly milk them, they are forcefully impregnated every nine months. Many live in filthy conditions and are forced to give 10 times more milk than they would naturally. It's truly an awful life.

So think about it, Ben and Jerry's. We here at PETA would be super-stoked if your ice cream went vegan … we'd buy it by the truckload!

Posted by Carrie Ann Harris

the clones / CC

Short of dogfighting, there isn't any lower activity than abusing animals for the sake of art. Anyone who has a tattoo knows that you voluntarily tough it out and do it in stages, but Belgian artist Wim Delvoye has apparently put countless pigs—who have extremely sensitive skin—through hours of tattooing, covering their whole backs and down their sides in designs that range from religious emblems and Disney princesses to Louis Vuitton's logo.

Pig skin closely resembles human skin in sensitivity, so just imagine what the pigs endured by being jabbed with a needle over and over and over and over and over again—by a giant person who has restrained them and seems to have no end point in mind. The sheer intensity of the anxiety, fear, and confusion that these animals go through as they fail to understand what is happening to them is an atrocity in and of itself.

If life imitates art, what's this artist's life like, do you think? One presumes that these pigs will eventually be slaughtered for their skin—in the name of meat, art, or fashion. So please give a thought to the pigs and other animals: Check your closet for leather bags and other items, then ask yourself: Should you really hang that piece of "art" on your arm or over your shoulder?

Posted by Jennifer Cierlitsky

novaciencia / CC

A new scientific study has revealed that fish fingers—not the fatty, fried fishy flesh but real fingers and toes—long predate the Gorton's fisherman.

*Warning: Scientific Content Below*

See, scientists have thought for a while that tetrapods, who crawled up out of the ocean about 360 million years ago, were the first creatures to develop fingers. Well, as it turns out, proto-fingers were actually sprouted some 20 million years earlier by a more-fish-than-not transition animal called the Panderichthys.

The Panderichthys had little finger bones, called distal radials, inside their flippers. Interestingly, the same gene that shapes feet in mice is found in the lungfish—a direct cousin of the transitionary tetrapods. So, basically, the Panderichthys started feet, the tetrapods developed feet, and we all have feet today! That's right, you—my faithful reader—have evolved from a fish!

Makes you want to give the Panderichthys a hand, doesn't it? Or at least not eat the fingers that, after all, they've been working on for 380 million years ….

Posted by Amanda Schinke in celebration of Fish Amnesty Week