Little known fact about Stockholm: Thousands of rabbits are shot and killed in the city's Kungsholmen neighborhood every year. To up the gross quotient, the city has taken to freezing the bunnies' bodies and shipping them off to a power plant, where they are burned to generate electricity. Eww … it gives a new, vomit-worthy meaning to the term "green," that's for sure.

And if that's not nauseating enough, Stockholm assassins authorities say that many of the rabbits are tame bunnies who were turned loose by people who no longer wanted them. Folks, let this serve as a reminder to never, ever set a domesticated animal loose. Don't even think about it.

I used to have trouble imagining that people could be so irresponsible until my mom discovered two domesticated bunnies, Eddie and Lewie, hopping around in a neighbor's yard. They narrowly escaped becoming a hawk's dinner after chewing their way out of their dilapidated hutches on the next street over. Their owner had no interest in retrieving them, so they rule the roost at Mom's house now. (Shameless plug: Lewie is Mr. April in PETA's 2010 calendar.)

Photo © Chris Garcia

If you're not the kind of scum who would turn a helpless animal loose to fend for him or herself, then step up and be a hero to the animals who have had the misfortune to fall out of someone's hands. Whenever you encounter strays, for heaven's sake, take them to a reputable animal shelter or bring them into your home where they will be safe until you are able to locate their guardian or find them a new home. Wouldn't you want someone to do the same if, heaven forbid, your angel were to accidentally slip out the door?

Posted by Alisa Mullins

Last week, Elizabeth Carlisle appeared in court to face cruelty-to-animals charges for allegedly drowning two rabbits while she was working at a Petland store in Akron, Ohio. On the day of Carlisle's arraignment, local PETA members and other outraged members of the community stood outside the courthouse calling on Akron's chief city prosecutor, Douglas J. Powley, to prosecute Carlisle to the fullest extent of the law.

The maximum penalty for each cruelty-to-animals charge is six months in jail—totaling a year in prison if Carlisle is found guilty.

Two peaceful protesters were pushed by members of Carlisle's entourage as they left the building.

Want to get involved? Use this form to urge Petland to end rabbit sales immediately.

This incident is just one example of the abuses animals suffer in pet stores nationwide. For nearly 30 years, PETA has fielded complaints regarding sick or unwanted animals who were cruelly disposed of by pet store employees, all because the cost of caring for or treating the animal exceeded the animal's "price tag." This trial offers an opportunity to send a strong and desperately needed message to the pet-store industry: Pet stores have no business selling animals.

Posted by Liz Graffeo

Update: The Petland store has closed, and the employee has been charged with cruelty to animals. Click here for details.

Warning: disturbing image.

This photo was taken in the back room of a Petland store in Akron, Ohio, and posted on Facebook by Elizabeth Carlisle, who can be seen grinning as she holds two dead, soaking-wet rabbits by the scruff of the neck—rabbits she just drowned while on Petland's time clock. On Carlisle's Facebook page, she confirmed a friend's guess that she had drowned these two rabbits and wrote, "[T]he manager took the pic for me. [S]he reminded me that there were people outside as [I] was swearing at them to just hurry up and die but then she was so kind as to take this picture."

These horrific deaths followed what was apparently an equally horrifying life for these rabbits. Other comments Carlisle posted made it clear that the rabbits were drowned after sustaining agonizing injuries when they were allowed to "attack and eat each other." The rabbits suffered from "deep wounds all over," "an eye missing," what Petland staff "suspected was a broken jaw," and paralysis from the waist down—injuries that would not have occurred had these animals been provided with proper care and supervision.

Undercover investigations have revealed time and time again that companies that breed and sell animals are concerned about profits, not animals' well-being. We are urging Petland to think long and hard about what this incident makes clear: The company has no business selling any animals.

To prevent future incidents like this one, please, never buy from pet stores and urge Petland at the very least to stop selling rabbits.

Click here to take action against Petland.

Posted by Liz Graffeo

As all you fashionistas out there are probably aware (and everybody else probably isn't), Giorgio Armani opened a boutique in New York City this week. Paris Hilton and Kanye West (the man who has an employee whose sole—pun intended—job is wrangling the rapper's 400-and-some-odd shoes) were thrilled. Bunnies on fur farms? Not so much.

Of course, we couldn't let Armani's little shindig go off without a hitch, so we sent a veritable brigade of bunnies to fight for their liberté and egalité. As you'll note in the photos below, they were an oddly cheerful bunch, even though they had to stand outside in the cold for upwards of four hours—until the last scrap of red carpet was rolled up. At that point, they lined up in formation and marched down the street waving their signs, followed by a contingent of photographers who must have thought they'd died and gone to Easter Bunny heaven.

I wonder—if 16 giant white bunnies show up on a Manhattan sidewalk, does that mean that spring is only a couple of weeks away …?

Posted by Alisa Mullins

Donna Karan, the target of one of our campaigns, has announced that her fall 2009 lines will be fur-free and that she has "no plans" to use fur in the future!

PETA is now calling on activists and supporters to put the brakes on our "Donna Karan: Bunny Butcher" antics, which have included protesting outside her boutiques, crashing her runway show, and exposing her cruel use of fur online. This is a win for the real fashion victims—animals, who are routinely skinned alive for their pelts—and will allow us all to focus on Armani and other targets while keeping an eye on Donna Karan's 2010 collection.

Karan's announcement came days after PETA launched our (now offline) DonnaKaranBunnyButcher.com Web site and after mega–fashion guru Tim Gunn sent Karan and designer Giorgio Armani a video that he narrated for PETA showing animals skinned alive for their fur and urged them to open their eyes to the violent and bloody fur industry.

While Donna Karan has followed in the footsteps of top designers—including Ralph Lauren, Tommy Hilfiger, and Calvin Klein—Armani still refuses to stop using fur. Armani claims that he "only" uses fur from rabbits who are butchered for meat. We hope that you will take this opportunity to contact Armani to tell him that while the meat of gentle rabbits killed for their fur in China is sold to be eaten, the suffering that they endure is exactly the same. Point out that the cruelty depicted in this video on fur farms in both China and France show animals who are killed for both fur and meat.

If you're under the age of 21, please send a message to Armani through our youth campaign site, peta2.com.

Posted by Joel Bartlett

Any other Project Runway fans out there? Yep, that's what I thought! I am just dying for them to announce the date for the new season. I mean, yeah, the clothes are awesome and the drama is entertaining, but I'll admit that the real reason I tune in is to see the true genius behind the show: Tim Gunn. Know what his next project is? Convincing Donna Karan and Giorgio Armani to forgo fur! Yes, that's right. America's best-known arbiter of good taste and style has just narrated PETA's new exposé of fur farms—including just-obtained footage of rabbit fur farms in China, where Karan and Armani both source their pelts. Check out the video here:

Because the designers have refused to meet with PETA to view the footage, Gunn has just sent it to them with a personal plea. Why is the fur flying over Chinese pelts in particular? The world's largest exporter of fur is now China—where foxes, rabbits, and cats and dogs are often skinned alive.

"Any designer in the fashion industry who does not want to watch the PETA video and see exactly what happens to animals and how they're treated and how the product that they use comes to the marketplace I believe is egregiously irresponsible," says Tim. "It is critically important that we all be educated about these matters and then make choices."

And it gets better: Tim also sat down with us for an exclusive Q&A!

There. I told you he's a genius! If anyone can make Donna Karan and Giorgio Armani "make it work" without using the skins of dead animals in their collections, he can. Carry on! (I just wanted to say that …)

Posted by Lianne Turner

Update 12/22/2008: Donna Karan has announced that her fall 2009 lines will be fur-free and that she has "no plans" to use fur in the future! Read more.

We're so proud to launch our new Web site: DonnaKaranBunnyButcher.com. By going back on her promise to shed fur from her collection (twice!), Donna Karan has made it clear that she's OK with the electrocutions, neglect, confinement, suffocation, and death that go on in factory farms. In response, we've shown up at her apartment, her fashion shows, and her runways to remind her that animals are skinned alive for her designs. Now, we've stepped it up and launched a full interactive Web site to educate her customers about this cruel abuse.

If you like the campaign site as much as we do, then you're probably wondering what you can do to help us reach more people. Well, guess what? The site is loaded with online elements such as Web banners that you can post and videos that you can stream. So go ahead and show your love of bunnies by posting one of these Web banners to your Web page or online profile:

<a href="http://www.donnakaranbunnybutcher.com/?c=dkbbb208"><img src="http://www.donnakaranbunnybutcher.com/images/donna-karan-banner2.gif" alt="Donna Karan: Bunny Butcher" width="480" height="60" border="0" /></a>

The site also has three heartbreaking videos that I strongly encourage you to watch and share. They will change your life, and they're guaranteed to make fur wearers change their ways. Use the code below to begin changing people's minds now.

And to all our MySpace friends: Keep an eye out for our new "Donna Karan Bunny Butcher" layouts coming soon!

So, check out DonnaKaranBunnyButcher.com and be sure to share the site with everyone you know. Oh, and here is the link with Donna Karan's contact information—please be sure to send her a polite letter and let her know what you think of her use of fur. For inspiration before you sit down to write, check out our "Ever Heard a Bunny Scream?" video.

Posted by Liz Graffeo