Katherine Heigl wearing our "Have a PETA Day" T-shirt

OK, if you're like me, you cancel all your plans, shut off your cell phone, lock your door, and glue yourself to your couch every Thursday at 9 p.m. for none other than the greatest hour of television all week: Grey's Anatomy.

Well, last night was probably my favorite television night of all time, because the best show ever also brought in an important message about animal rights. (TV + AR = my life, so you can see why I was thrilled.)

If you missed it, let me catch you up. Dr. Hunt, the new head of trauma surgery, wanted to train the residents and interns on how to deal with trauma patients, and he said that dealing with live tissue was the best way to learn. So he tied down six sedated pigs and stabbed them with knives, and then he asked the doctors to perform surgery to keep the pigs alive. (Though I'm quite sure that in real life the pigs were fake, as the show had several notices that no animals were harmed in filming.)

Enter Dr. Izzy Stevens, played by Katherine Heigl. Izzy refused to do the assignment and explained how completely unnecessary it is to test on live animals when we have such advanced alternatives that don't require us to do that. She said that animals are sensitive, emotional creatures that feel pain and don't deserve to be tortured. We are so right there with you, Izzy!

When Dr. Hunt continued to berate Izzy about this issue, she stood up for herself and for animals everywhere and never backed down. She even explained that testing on animals is pointless and can sometimes even work against medical progress. Even though a test might be successful when the subjects are animals, people and animals are different species and therefore will show completely different results.

Even no-nonsense, steely Dr. Yang took a liking to the pigs and called them by name. When the surgeries finished, Hunt ordered Yang to euthanize the pigs and she refused.

What an excellent episode! I was so thrilled to step away from Meredith's whiny, self-obsessed life for a while to focus on the other characters—and such a positive message for animals.

Now, if only Ross University had seen this episode ….

Posted by Christine Doré

Happy Halloween, animal lovers! I hope you all took our costume advice this year. I'm planning to see tons of Trollsens and Colonels wandering the streets tonight in search of fab vegan candy. Before your teeth begin to ache from too much sugar and your costume gets retired for another year, check out the best holiday e-card that Halloween has to offer. Enjoy!

Posted by Christine Doré

How fun that this year Halloween falls on an Internet Soup Friday! Yes it's cheesy, but I so love the little last-day-of-school rush that I get on I.S. Fridays. It's like you've already turned in all your homework and extra credit, so while you're waiting for the bell to ring, you just go online (or, in my day, rummage through the teacher's desk) and look for weird and fun stuff. So at the end of an action-packed week of filing, here is our offering of oddities.

• Lucky New Yorkers! Catch the 6 Train and scuttle on down to Bleeker Street to catch the latest ingenious exhibit by my favorite street artist Banksy. (OK, I'm not hip enough to know of more than one graffiti artist, but I certainly adore this one!)


• Poultrygeist, the quintessential tacky vegan cult flick, is out on DVD.


• Animal friends are gettin' in on the Halloween action. (Or silly humans are just anthropomorphizing. Still cute, though.)


• Hey, dolphins in Malibu basically have the right to vote, so I'm not sure why this is so crazy.


• Oh! The most precious thing I've seen all week!


• Here are some photos of people who you don't know in Shandong, China, signing a petition against fur. Represent, y'all!


• And since we're all in the Halloween spirit, MSN did the world a favor and ranked Mars candy as some of the worst around. We couldn't agree more, because Mars Inc., ya know, tortures animals!

So that's the lot! We sure hope you've enjoyed these tidbits while avoiding real work. I'm off to put in my vegan wax fangs and witch hat. Tune in next time, and please feel free to let us know if you come across any cute or strange happenings that you'd like us to include.

Happy Halloween!

Posted by Missy Lane

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You probably remember Maureen McCormick as Marcia from The Brady Bunch—as in, "Marcia, Marcia, Marcia!" These days, she's enjoying a renewed sense of celebrity as a result of her appearances on popular reality TV programs, such as Celebrity Fit Club, Gone Country, and its sequel, Outsider's Inn. She's also just released an autobiography, Here's the Story: Surviving Marcia Brady and Finding My True Voice, and it's already successful.

Maureen has long been known for her adorability—it's true, she's super cute!—but even after her (winning!) stint on Celebrity Fit Club, she's still been looking to shed a few more pounds. So, being the helpful people we are, we're sending her a copy of PETA's "Vegetarian Starter Kit" and a word of advice—that one of the best, healthiest ways to lose weight is to go vegan!

As we wrote in our letter to Maureen, vegan diets are a great change from the heart-damaging cholesterol that is found in dead flesh. Cutting out dairy also means cutting out a lot of fat—dairy foods are, after all, about as high-fat as you can get.

You can check out our letter to Maureen here. We hope that Maureen can turn over a new dieting leaf, and maybe she'll find her true voice—as a vegetarian!

Posted by Amanda Schinke

If you live in California—or even if you don't!—you've probably heard all about Prop 2, the Prevention of Farm Animal Cruelty Act. Prop 2 concerns a law that would take effect in 2015 to eliminate veal crates, gestation crates, and battery cages in California. In other words, calves, sows, and hens would finally be given enough space to simply turn around, lie down, and stretch their limbs.

Although we at PETA would, of course, prefer that no animals be killed for food whatsoever, lessening the hell that these animals are put through is something that can be accomplished right now—on November 4, in fact, when Californians go to the polls.

Among the many voices clamoring in support of Prop 2 are Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles stars Lena Headey and Thomas Dekker, who have come together with us to help explain why Prop 2 is so important. Enjoy it, spread it around—and vote "Yes!" on Prop 2!

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Posted by Amanda Schinke

My friends, this is breaking news. There looks to be a serious correlation between the Phillies' year-end season ranking and the ranking of Citizens Bank Park (home field of the Phillies) on PETA's annual list of the Top 10 Vegetarian-Friendly Ballparks.

If you'll take a gander at the nifty graph above, you'll see that 2005 was the first year in which Citizens Bank Park cracked PETA's Top 10, landing firmly in fifth place. The Phillies also improved their record that year. In 2006, despite adding veggie dogs to their munchies lineup—which already included flame-grilled Gardenburgers—Citizens Bank Park slipped a bit in our ratings, landing in seventh position. Subsequently, the Phillies record slipped three games. Coincidence? I think not.

In 2007, Kevin Tedesco, the head of Citizens Bank Park, took it up a notch and added a groundbreaking, delicious faux-steak sandwich piled high with grilled onions, mushrooms, peppers, and hot sauce. And Citizens Bank Park finally won the coveted title of the most vegetarian-friendly ballpark—and the players did pretty well for themselves, too, finishing with their best record in years and earning a spot in the playoffs.

During that offseason, Tedesco signed some huge free agents, including mock-chicken sandwiches and "crab-free crab cakes." (Of course, we don't want to forget the role-players, including hoagies with roasted veggies, soups, salads, "The Poppy" sandwiches—featuring roasted eggplant, roasted red peppers, sun-dried tomatoes—and PB&J for the kids.) The results? Citizens Bank Park took home a resounding victory in Veg Ballparks, and, well—you heard it hear first, folks—the Phillies won the World Series.

What will Tedesco do next year for an encore? Perhaps add pizza with soy cheese? A Gardenburger riblet sandwich on a toasted bun? We don't want to put any pressure on our favorite Philadelphian, but if he continues to stack up the protein-packed, cruelty- and cholesterol-free offerings, we're thinking that Cole Hamels and company might sweep every round of the playoffs in 2009. If you want your home team to offer more humane veggie options (and maybe win the World Series!) be sure to shoot them a note with some tasty ideas.

Posted by Jennifer Cierlitsky

Back in January, we told you about one of our cheekier stunts in our ongoing quest to help chickens who are raised and killed for KFC. Long story short: It involved the cemetery where KFC founder "Colonel" Sanders is buried and a headstone for PETA's own Matt Prescott (who, don't worry, is still among the living). The headstone is inscribed with a poem, the first letters of which spell out, "KFC TORTURES BIRDS."

Now, granted, we might have a slightly, um, off-center sense of humor, but what we saw as cheeky, others thought of as, well, morbid. One commenter even accused us of having "desacrated [sic] an entire graveyard." (Seriously? And people call us drama queens!)

Fortunately, a lot of other people "got it." Unfortunately, among those who didn't see the humor were the operators of the cemetery (and, just possibly, those chicken-pluckers at KFC). Suffice to say that we now find ourselves in possession of a homeless gravestone.

Cave Hill Cemetery forced us to remove Matt's headstone after cemetery officials caught on to the hidden message it sent. As such a unique piece of activism history, we'd hate to see it collecting dust when it can be out there getting the message out about KFC's real secret recipe. So now this piece of animal rights history can be yours just in time for Halloween, the creepiest holiday of the year—give or take Yom Kippur and Dia de Los Muertos. We're offering you the chance to own something that will scare the bejeepers out of your local trick-or-treaters. So head on over to eBay and make a bid—not only can you own a piece of animal rights history, you can help PETA put an end to the cruelty of KFC and other animal abusers as well.

Posted by Jeff Mackey

If you're looking for a truly scary haunt this Halloween, look no further than Postville, Iowa–based Agriprocessors. Seriously folks, it's a real house of horrors for all living creatures. The kosher slaughterhouse is severely lacking when it comes to humane treatment of animals and humans. Here's a perfect example from one of our undercover investigations:

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You may remember that a few months back the slaughterhouse was busted because "76% of the 968 employees of Agriprocessors were using false or fraudulent Social Security numbers." This was the nation's largest single-site immigration raid. That's right, the slaughterhouse was almost entirely staffed by illegal immigrants who were exploited to do the dirty work—such as hacking into the throats of cows who were still conscious.

Now, Agriprocessors has something of its own to scream and writhe in pain about. According to the Des Moines Register, the slaughterhouse "faces nearly $10 million in civil penalties for repeated violations of Iowa's wage laws between Jan. 1, 2006 and June 30." And it appears that cattle slaughter at the plant has stalled—which translates into millions of dollars lost for the meat industry. You can check out the specific fines here.

According to the article, Iowa Labor Commissioner Dave Neil said, "Once again, Agriprocessors has demonstrated a complete disregard for Iowa law."

In addition to the $10 million in state fines, Agriprocessors is in even more trouble with the feds. A human resources employee pled guilty to conspiracy and identity theft charges, and the former CEO (and owner's son) Sholom Rubashkin was just arrested on similar charges. Heads are rolling at Agriprocessors, but for once they're not bovine heads.

Posted by Jennifer Cierlitsky

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Remember how people were disgusted when we suggested putting human breast milk in ice cream? Compare that to the latest news story out of Australia—the one about the family of vacationers who discovered that, no, that wasn't chocolate ice cream; it was more of a dookie congelée. Now whose ice cream is gross, hmm?

That's right—a pair of guests at the Coogee Bay Hotel in Sydney were served a nice dish of gelato, complete with its own poop garnish. They believe that they were served the chocolate poo chunk as an act of "kitchen revenge"—the couple had complained about some loud music earlier that evening.

You know what my favorite part of this story is? That "DNA analysis is now being carried out to determine whether the poo was of human or (sic) animal origin." ("I went and threw up, obviously," the woman said. No kidding!)

On the other hand, as Alexia over at PETA Europe points out, is this so very much worse than the frozen secretions in milk? I mean, yeah, it is disgusting, but at least it's not full of pus, right? And hey, both get squeezed out of an animal. … I'm just sayin'.

And wait a minute—it's not like a lot of people aren't regularly eating poop anyway. Think about it: Animals on factory farms are stuck in their own waste all day long—is it any surprise that meat is so often contaminated with feces? And people wonder where salmonella comes from ….

Posted by Amanda Schinke

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While on the mend for a knee injury, University of Memphis basketball player Pierre Henderson-Niles put on a few pounds—about 70, to be precise. Temporarily stuck with a more sedentary lifestyle and still programmed to eat like the awesome athlete he was, Henderson-Niles jumped from 280 pounds to 350.

With guidance from his coach, John Calipari, he's now working hard to shed the pounds and get back his game, and we at PETA have a novel suggestion to help him manage his weight: go vegetarian.

By going vegetarian, Henderson-Niles would be aligning himself with a host of other successful athletes, including ultimate fighter Mac Danzig, NBA legend John Salley, Salim Stoudamire of the Atlanta Hawks, Kansas City Chiefs star Tony Gonzalez, and Carl Lewis, who was named "Olympian of the Century" by Sports Illustrated.

"[O]verwhelming scientific evidence shows that vegetarians are far less likely to be overweight than meat-eaters and much more likely to be in better overall health," wrote PETA Director Dan Shannon. "While lots of grease might be required to tame Coach Calipari's hair, choking down greasy chicken and ribs just makes people fat and causes heart disease." You can read Dan's full letter here.

Posted by Sean Conner

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Is there anything more surreal than surviving countless bouts of painfully truthful admissions from the number one most-feared judge on American reality television? Yeah, of course! Just ask Kellie Pickler. The country singer went head-to-head with Simon Cowell in season five of American Idol, but it turns out that she couldn't look her own food in the face and still finish her meal.

People Magazine reports that this country gal, who has been blazin' her own trail of stardom since her elimination from the show, has recently adopted a vegetarian diet. It looks like all that palling around with fellow vegetarian and friend Carrie Underwood has paid off—for Kellie's health and for animals. Oh, and did I mention that Kellie's decision was partly influenced by a Pamela Anderson television PSA that was put out by a somewhat well-known animal rights group that you might have heard of—ah, shucks, it was a PETA ad!

Kellie says: "One night I couldn't sleep, and I was up and just Googling random stuff, and I'm like, 'Hmmm, PETA.' I saw all the videos, and I just thought it was horrible. It's animal cruelty. A lot of it has to do with knowing what happens to the animals, and it really bothered me, and so I will not eat meat."

Props to Kellie for ditching her beefy ways. It's not always easy, especially when many of the songs in her music genre aren't so—shall we say—vegetarian-friendly. The former rare meat junkie says she already feels healthier, and that is a mighty good thing considering that she just released her self-titled second album.

Maybe on her next album she can sing about pigs in gestation crates or veal calves confined to tiny stalls. No?

Posted by Jennifer Cierlitsky

A milk processing plant in California exploded on Monday. Seriously—it seems that a spark landed in some powdered milk, and the whole shebang went up like a powder keg—or perhaps we should say carton. Tee hee.

Injuries were kept to a minimum, thank goodness. Only one brave employee was wounded—he was helping firefighters navigate the plant, and he had to be treated for heat exhaustion. He's fine now, though!

The milk fire did, however, get pretty big—seven fire engines had to be called in, and the explosion blew a hole in the side of the building. Goodness gracious, we already knew about some of milk's explosive effects, but this is just ridiculous!

Because it pains me to go out on a fart joke, perhaps I'll call your attention to the other dangers that are associated with milk—like breast cancer, heart disease, and prostate cancer—not to mention all the baby calves for whom the dairy industry is, quite literally, deadly.

Also, milk will blow a hole in the side of your factory. I'm just sayin'.

Posted by Amanda Schinke

Those zany kids at PETA Asia-Pacific are never content to rest on their … um, laurels—and thank goodness for that! Not satisfied to raise awareness about animals in China, Australia, Japan, Korea, New Zealand, Taiwan, and the Philippines (among other countries), they're now moving into new territory: Mongolia.

In a new pro-vegetarian ad proclaiming, "Turn Over a New Leaf, Try Vegetarianism," Mongolian singer-songwriter Nominjin wears a spectacular full-length gown made of fresh lettuce leaves. This will be the first PETA Asia-Pacific ad to appear in Mongolia.

"Kicking the meat habit is one of the most rewarding actions I've ever taken in my life," Nominjin said. "The best thing that anyone can do for animals, the Earth, and their own health is to go vegetarian."

You can't just grab a lettuce-leaf dress at the nearest department store, of course. It involves a trip to the market—and then a whole lot of work to assemble, as you can see in these pictures from the shoot:

BTW, that's PETA Asia-Pacific Director Jason Baker stringing together the peppers—proving that there's nothing he won't do to help animals!

Posted by: Jeff Mackey

A new CNN article warning hunters against overexertion has renewed our most genuine concern over the sadly impaired genitalia of hunters. It seems the lack of sportsmanship involved in hunting (i.e., lounging around like couch potatoes with sophisticated weaponry for the short-lived murderous thrill of killing a defenseless creature) can be very exerting. Apparently, there's a huge adrenaline spike when Bambi is caught in the crosshairs. This has doctors worried that such bloodlust—coupled with clogged arteries—could "trigger a heart attack or even potentially worse a lethal heart rhythm disturbance." The poor dears! (Read: fortunate "deer"?)

But let's get this straight: Clogged arteries restrict blood flow to organs, and this can lead to organ malfunction. Oh my—so I guess that means that blood flow would be hindered to all organs—which means that any major/male organ could begin to malfunction. Yep, I think you smell what I'm steppin' in … the bizarre and common connection between animal abuse and impotence.

You heard it here first folks. So please, protect yourselves, protect your children: Quit huntin' and go vegan!

Posted by Missy Lane

Ever wanted to get answers directly from PETA Prez Ingrid E. Newkirk to some of your questions about PETA, animal activism, or our campaigns (or perhaps why the sky is blue)? Well, to celebrate the release of Ingrid's new book One Can Make a Difference, Time Magazine arranged for her to address questions directly from readers during a one-on-one recorded interview, which the magazine also published in transcript form on its Web site.

Read Time's "10 Questions for Ingrid Newkirk" now.

But why should it just be readers of Time that get to address Ingrid? We love our blog readers and know that just from keeping up with our many campaigns you must be among the most educated and inquisitive folks out there. So we figured we'd give you a chance to ask Ingrid a few questions about any and all things related to animals and PETA. To submit a question for Ingrid, please leave us a message letting us know what's on your mind. We'll post responses to 10 of your questions in a few days.

Posted by Sean Conner

P.S. For the sake of keeping things orderly, please leave only one question or subject per comment and try not to submit a question that's already been posted.

Because we love the fur-addicted Trollsen Twins sooooooo much, we were super excited when we heard that they'd be in New York today, just blocks from the PETA office here, doing a signing of their new book, Influence. (As far as I can tell, the book has to be a series of photographs of either Cruella De Vil or Anna Wintour—not that you can tell the difference). Well, we certainly couldn't miss such a great opportunity to visit them. So, figuring that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, we all put on our scary Trollsens masks, and off we went.

Would you believe that Hairy-Kate and Trashley wouldn't stop to talk with us? You'd think they didn't like our masks—and after we waited for them in the rain too! And what with me having gone to the same college as they did and everything (although I, ahem, graduated). Shameful, really—but what do you expect from girls who continue to promote the cruel and toxic fur industry, even after peta2 gave them the facts? Shameful, indeed.

That's right—the Trollsens never came out to say "Hi." That's OK, though—we got to talk to a lot of their fans (who knew they had fans?) and showed a lot of people the truth about the fur-loving Trollsens' "Full House of Horrors." (Can I point out that I'd never seen that video before? How had I never seen that video before?)

There's also a chance that I, in my Hairy-Kate mask, might have inadvertently terrified a small child. It's true, young man; the Trollsens are frightening. Beware.

Posted by Amanda Schinke

Firefighters in Hammonton, New Jersey, have been fighting fires in the Wharton State Forest since last Tuesday, saving not only the trees but also the animals who make the forest their home. We at PETA wanted to thank the brave men and women who are keeping the forest fire under control, so we sent them a refreshing treat—boxes of Tofutti Cuties (soy "ice cream" sandwiches), brought by friendly PETA beauties (ladies who … deliver "ice cream" sandwiches)!

The smoke was too much of a hazard for our beauties to get too close, so the Tofutti Cuties were handed off to park officers to deliver to the firefighters (which I guess makes the park officers deputy PETA beauties!). The men who were directing traffic away from the fires also got to sample some delicious, cholesterol-free Tofutti Cuties. Judging by the pictures, it looks like the ladies brought the mint and chocolate varieties! (The chocolate just happens to be my favorite, so I'm trying to quell the feelings of jealousy here.)

Check out photos of the ladies saying, "Thank you 'soy' much!" to the firefighters below. To learn how choosing dairy-free "ice cream" over the gross-out alternative saves your health and animals, visit MilkSucks.com.

Posted by Amanda Schinke

There's a great editorial titled "PETA's Undercover Agents Deserve a Pat on the Back" in the Post-Bulletin that's well worth reading. We don't generally just push people over to another site, but when something is good it's good—so we'll let someone else do the writing this time.

Check out the editorial here.

Posted by Joel Bartlett

Well hot diggity, she's done it again! The world's original female rock star has kindly chosen to use her powers for good by taking the time to shoot a new PSA for us. Just in case you hadn't heard, in addition to being a trailblazing icon, Joan is also an outspoken animal rights activist (not to mention that I've had my hair blown back by her bangin' music).

The Songwriting Hall of Famer doesn't just toss us a bone now and again by lending us her celebrity; this vegan actually talks about animal rights to every interviewer and audience that will listen. Her refreshing outlook and activism include a passion for the environment as well. Her latest CD, Sinner (which is rockin' in my earphones right now), actually comes to you loud and direct in 100 percent recycled packaging.

Because she gets the big picture, she's obviously the perfect candidate to give a spiel about why going vegetarian is most important favor we can do for the only planet we have. Check out the snappy, fact-filled veggie testimonial she did for us here:

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You can also view our awesome behind-the-scenes interview with Joan here:

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Posted by Missy Lane

With Halloween fast approaching and folks covering their homes and yards with the dusty plastic décor of yesteryear, the sight of gravestones might not make many folks bat an eye …. But when it's activists—including the Grim Reaper himself—urging Petland shoppers to stop letting dogs die, it just might get your attention.

Some great folks in Olathe, Kansas, did just that. They gathered outside a local Petland to remind folks that when people buy dogs from money-grubbing breeders, they are denying homes to needy dogs in animal shelters and subsidizing the animal overpopulation crisis. Petland, animal-peddling "pet shops," and breeders all continue to flood the market with more and more new animals, even as those in animal shelters are dying because of the lack of good homes.

Check out these awesome pics from the demo!

It's as easy as ABC, folks.

Posted by Sean Conner

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You can imagine how delighted we were when Russell Simmons received the "I Am Hip Hop" Icon award on last night's BET Hip-Hop Awards. The Icon award is presented to an individual who has made "notable contributions of outstanding significance to the hip-hop community," according to CNN, and Russell definitely fits that description! He was specifically recognized as a "philanthropic inspiration to other artists." Oh, yeah—we can testify to that!

Russell has lent his tremendous star power to many worthy PETA causes. He's stood up for dogs and against dogfighting, he's a vegetarian who wants to kick KFC's bucket, and he spoke out against foie gras last year.

So, not only is Russell generous to the five charities he personally heads—that's right, five—he's always got time to help animals.

So congratulations, Russell! You are one icon well deserving of an award.

Posted by Amanda Schinke

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We were kind of bummed when we saw a picture of The Killers in which Dave Keuning, the guitarist, was wearing a big ol' furry jacket. "Oh no!" we thought, "and with us so looking forward to their new album." As you can imagine, there were sad faces all around—but not for long!

When we emailed Dave, his rep told us that not only was the jacket totally faux, but also that the entire band is against fur and completely fur-free! This is awesome. It looks like The Killers agree with the long list of stars who refuse to promote, ya know, genital electrocution and other such lovely aspects of the fur industry.

So The Killers are against fur? Hmm … "Rather Go Naked" ad, anyone?

What? Don't look at me like that. You were thinking the same thing … right?

Posted by Amanda Schinke