PetLoversTips / CC

A lot of people have been writing in about a story related to a Costa Rican artist named Guillermo Vargas who has reportedly starved a dog as part of an art installation. The reason we’ve stayed quiet about this incident (in public, at least) is that if there is any truth at all to the allegations, the less publicity this man receives, the better. The best way to prevent desperate, ethically deficient “artists” from getting what they want is to ignore the perpetrators in public and prosecute them in private.

However, just so everyone is clear on this, there’s reason to believe that this may have been a stunt, and that some parts of this story (such as the starving of the dog) were actually fabricated for the sake of publicity. As this article in The Guardian notes,

“Juanita Bermúdez, director of the Códice Gallery, insisted [the dog] escaped after just one day. She said: ‘It was untied all the time except for the three hours the exhibition lasted and it was fed regularly with dog food [Vargas] himself brought in.’”

Whatever the cruel or weird game that Vargas is playing, if it turns out that he took this animal in and allowed her to go back out on the streets to fend for herself, he still needs to be held accountable for extreme cruelty to animals—but for the time being, the information is pretty patchy.

We’re currently investigating the incident, and I’ll update this blog if we get more information. In the meantime, whether Vargas intended it or not, this whole thing does provide an insight into human nature that will be worth considering once we’re able to look at the big picture: If we can muster up this degree of outrage about one incident of animal suffering, why are we any less horrified by the billions upon billions of similar or worse cases of abuse that we can personally help to prevent?

Update: You can read PETA’s letter to the Commanding Officer of the Marine Corps Base Hawaii (MCBH) about this video here, and if you want to show your support for investigating and punishing those involved, you can do so here.

A lot of people have been writing in and commenting about a shocking video that has recently surfaced which shows a smiling marine throwing a live puppy off a cliff while his friend laughs. Witnessing this kind of sadism under any circumstances is incredibly disturbing, but there’s something particularly horrifying about seeing it perpetrated by members of the military, and our caseworkers are currently analyzing the video footage to determine its legitimacy, as well as pushing military authorities to follow through on their own thorough investigation of this reprehensible act.

From what I understand, the culprit is believed to be based in Hawaii, and we intend to ensure that he—and anyone else involved in this atrocity—is prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law if this video is determined to be authentic. I’ll keep you posted.

I love this:

“Police arrested a 28-year-old man Sunday on a cruelty to animals charge after he yelled an obscenity at a police dog in a patrol vehicle, according to an arrest affidavit. … Police say Rogers yelled an obscene statement in the window as he walked past a patrol vehicle that contained a patrol dog “causing (the dog’s) behavior to become overloaded, tormenting the dog,” the affidavit states.”

Full story here.

Because it's cold. And the situation for dogs who are kept chained outside as if they were some kind of furry lawn ornament is drastic. If you want to do something to help so-called "back yard" dogs in your area, we've got some great resources here. And we also have a nice little "unchain a dog" pack so you can remind people that if they're unable to take a dog into their home, they shouldn't be getting a dog in the first place.

And now, Loretta Lynn:

My pal Mylie has been at me to blog about crating dogs for a while now, and this is a perfect time to do it, since she just finished making a leaflet about it. Check out the leaflet below, and if you’d like to order some to pass out, click here.

A little light relief for you all this morning: A man in Tama, Iowa, was out pheasant hunting with his dog this week, when the mischievous little canine stepped on the hunter’s gun, shooting the man in the left leg. True story. The hunter, James Harris, is apparently recovering in an Iowa hospital, and, hopefully, having a long hard think about things like poetic justice, irony, and why it sucks to get shot at by another animal. There’s no word yet on whether the dog is being charged with the shooting.

4peaks/Creative Commons

TimeInc/Creative Commons

For anyone who may have missed this story, Ellen Degeneres adopted a puppy from a shelter a little while back, but gave him away to her hairdresser when she found that he wasn’t getting along very well with her cats. When the folks from the shelter called to check up and found out what had happened, they took the dog back from the hairdresser, who didn’t meet the standards of a background check that the shelter requires of anyone adopting an animal.

An awful lot of people have been contacting us to find out where PETA stands on the issue, so I figured I’d share our official statement on the subject, since there really is a bunch going on with this story. Here it is:

At a time when so many people in Hollywood—like Britney Spears and Paris Hilton—are making impetuous "pet" purchases, PETA commends Ellen DeGeneres for adopting a homeless animal from a shelter rather than buying a dog. Every purchase of an animal from a pet store sentences to death an animal who is desperately waiting in an animal shelter for a home. We know that Ellen was trying to do the right thing in finding the dog a new home. She just missed a step in neglecting to contact the agency first.

PETA does think that the agency's policies of doing home checks and not allowing people to transfer animals to others are good rules that protect animals. Ellen was just trying to do the right thing—she is a huge animal lover—and she surely has learned from this experience.

So there you have it. It really sucks that Ellen had a bad experience after doing the compassionate thing and adopting from a shelter, but you can’t really fault a shelter for going the extra mile to make sure everyone who ends up with one of their animals is likely to be a responsible guardian. I guess we just see both sides of the story on this one.

Update: Click here to read PETA President Ingrid Newkirk’s Op-Ed in The Virginian Pilot about why PETA brought Vick into the office.

Contrary to recent news reports, there is absolutely no agreement with Michael Vick to appear in a PETA public service announcement. However, we are in discussion with his representatives to do a PSA that would take the issue of dogfighting head on, dogfighter to dogfighter. But it would be under the strictest of guidelines. The script we discussed was:

“Look at me. I have lost everything—my career, my income, respect, friends. I’ve hurt my family, and I am an object of scorn. My life is ruined. I have gone from being a star to the gutter, and now I’m going to jail. Don’t be a loser like me. If you fight dogs, stop. And if you don’t, don’t start.”

If Vick were to do this, we would be very pleased. Short of that, it’s not happening. But what do you think? Should Michael Vick do a PSA directed at potential dogfighters to send the message that if you fight dogs, you will lose everything?

Now we can say what we couldn’t mention before. PETA has been talking to Michael Vick’s personal representatives, legal team, and more insiders for weeks. We asked for two things over all others: We wanted Michael Vick to tell impressionable young people not to follow in his footsteps, and we wanted him to openly condemn dog fighting. Today, in his statement, he answered both those requests, calling dogfighting “terrible” and telling kids to pay attention and not go down the same road he did. Mr. Vick also said he has found Jesus. Christian or not, we can agree that if Mr. Vick now asks himself “WWJD?” he will not be led back to dogfighting.

To urge the NFL to speak out against dogfighting as well, please click here.

And you can read the comments that PETA President Ingrid Newkirk made last week on the importance of Vick speaking out against dogfighting here.

Yesterday in Los Angeles, Paris and Britney look-a-likes took to the streets to lead a hilarious protest against pet stores and breeders at the site of our new ABC (Animal Birth Control) billboard. Obviously, this protest was meant to be lighthearted and fun, but the issue is deadly serious for the animals involved. For every dog or cat purchased from a breeder or a pet store, another dog or cat on death row at an animal shelter must be killed. Here’s what PETA’s Director of Domestic Animal Issues had to say about it all, “Forget jail or rehab; these selfish stars should do a stint in an animal shelter, where they would witness the plight of dogs who end up there after being bought on an impulse."

Dailystab/Creative Commons

Sometimes, there's more going on in the gossip columns of People and other celebrity-focused magazines than you might think. Most recently, there's been plenty of chatter about Britney Spears and Paris Hilton's new puppies, which completely glosses over what, to me, is the main angle for the story: That by buying animals from a pet store (and, as they have in the past, discarding them as soon as they get distracted by some pretty shiny thing), they may just as well be killing animals in a pound. It's a simple equation—though I can't say I have all that much faith in either of those girls' ability to perform basic math: Getting a dog from a pet store means the breeders breed more, while the shelter animals keep dying to make room for all the cast-offs. Here's what PETA President Ingrid Newkirk wrote to the girls, and you can read TMZ's take on the story here.

Dear Paris and Britney,

So, you have popped into a pet store to pick up some more doggie arm candy. Your impulse purchases of dogs encourage others to follow suit, no matter how ill-equipped they are to provide a decade or more of care for a little dog who has feelings and needs and who requires patience, veterinary care, and stimulation other than nightclub music and bar laughter. Also, for every pet store puppy purchased, a pound puppy dies (and a breeder -- probably somewhere in Arkansas or Missouri -- is rewarded for adding yet another litter to the pet overpopulation crisis). A California bill that would have required most dogs and cats to be spayed or neutered-and therefore would have helped reduce the taxpayer burden for disposing of (killing) homeless animals-was recently defeated by greedy breeders. Perhaps you and other vacuous stars need to tattoo "Don't buy while pound pups die" on your foreheads to remind each other of that home truth.

Very truly yours,

Ingrid E. Newkirk, President
PETA

As regular readers of this blog will know, PETA President Ingrid Newkirk is a huge fan of Formula 1 racing. Which means that she is incredibly knowledgeable about things like who has the best pit crew or which motor oil is better. Well, with the nation focused on dogfighting right now following the Michael Vick indictment, a Castrol Motor Oil ad that has been running on SPEED TV which appears to glorify the blood sport has been rightly upsetting a lot of animal lovers. Here's what Ingrid wrote to the company:

"As you know, Michael Vick, NIKE, and the NFL are in the deserved hot seat now for not immediately resigning, pulling ads, and pulling Mr. Vick, respectively. Your ad is "a fight to the death" in a back alley. Everyone realizes that cars don't fight to the death, dogs are made to. It has a sign saying "FIGHT" on the makeshift fence and on your site it refers to it as the "sickest" contest. … I have used your product for decades, even loved smelling it in the old days at the racetrack before synthetics came along, and hate to see a furor over Castrol. Thank you.
Ingrid Newkirk, President, PETA"

After Ingrid contacted Castrol about the ad, the company immediately responded by assuring us that that while their ad agency was thinking "boxing match," they recognized that the imagery associated with the text implied a dogfight, and they're already working to revise their commercial so that no one will get the impression that dogfighting is something to be anything other than horrified by. With the massive attention to this issue that Vick's case has created, I'm hoping that this will be just one in a long chain of events that will see the blood sport condemned, prosecuted, and ultimately wiped out for good. Thanks, Castrol, for doing the right thing—and thanks to everyone who contacted us about this.

We've been getting a lot of calls from people asking what we're going to do about some new websites that are being passed around, called KittyBeef.com and PuppyBeef.com, which are purporting to sell prime cuts from kittens and puppies at discount prices. Well, the simple answer is … we're not really going to do all that much about it at all. In fact, I kind of wish we'd thought of the idea ourselves. For anyone who's horrified by the concept of having puppy chops or kitten nuggets for dinner, I hope they'll go just one tiny step further in their outrage and ask themselves how that's any different from chowing down on pork chops or chicken.

At the risk of getting a little rhetorical here, animals killed for our kitchens are just as capable of suffering as the animals we keep in our homes. They're just as smart, just as loving, and the prospect of the horrors that are inflicted on them by the meat industry keeps me up at night and fills me with the same anguish as reports of people who chain their dogs or torture their cats.

If these websites weren't clearly hoaxes, PETA would do something about it—but we wouldn’t make any ethical distinction between addressing that issue and getting KFC to stop abusing chickens—or asking people to go vegetarian. Just for a week, or a day, if you find it hard to get out of the old routine at first. And especially if the idea of having your kitten or puppy bled out and turned into prime cuts gives you the cold sweats. 'Cause it's happening right now to billions of other animals who are just as entitled to kindness, but never experience anything even remotely like it.

Welcome to Day 7 of the Michael Vick dogfighting indictment. PETA is still being inundated with calls and emails about the case, and we’re still working round the clock to make sure that the NFL and Vick’s sponsors send a real message to fans about the cruelty of dogfighting, rather than just sitting around to see what will happen next. I’ll have some more updates for you in a little while, but in the meantime, here are some great photos from today’s PETA demonstration outside Falcons HQ. You can be certain that there’s more where that came from.

Ohio State Buckeyes fans out there will recognize the man on the left of this first photo—Bill Long, the QB for the Buckeyes in the 60s who led them to a national championship in 1968, is a longtime animal activist who’s been working this whole week in Atlanta on this campaign. Bill, you’re amazing.

In Other Vick News

Read PETA’s letter to the NFL Player’s Association

MSNBC covers the story

Falcons owner expected to take action (finally)

Tell the NFL to “Sack Vick”

About an hour ago, PETA campaigners and activists converged on NFL HQ in New York to urge Commissioner Roger Goodell and the NFL to suspend Michael Vick in light of his recent indictment for alleged involvement in the horrific cruelty associated with dogfighting—including allegations that he was killing dogs by hanging, slamming them to the ground, drowning, and electrocuting them. Surrounded by reporters and TV news crews, more than 75 activists lined the streets in front of the NFL building, holding signs reading “NFL: Sack Vick,” handing out stickers and leaflets to passersby, and making it abundantly clear—just in case Goodell hasn’t figured it out yet—that the NFL’s weak response to Vick’s case is unacceptable.

The massive turnout at this demonstration should be indication enough to Goodell that his decision to allow Vick to play in spite of these disturbing charges is going to be a major PR headache for the NFL, to say the least. Here’s what PETA President Ingrid Newkirk had to say about the NFL’s “wait and see” attitude in a statement to the media yesterday:

“Forget that unless space aliens were on Vick's property putting up an invisibility shield, it is impossible that Vick didn't know (let alone sponsor a fighting dog), that the house he built included designs for dog training facilities and that his relatives were fighting, kenneling, training, housing training equipment, and killing dogs there. There was a time when people under fire for corruption let alone criminal cruelty, resigned. That honorable moment has passed because of the Almighty Dollar. If he won't do the right thing by stepping down until this is resolved (and I'll put a sporting bet on his conviction), the NFL should suspend him. Is the new America only about money or do we still cling to some values? In the courts he may be innocent until proven guilty, and that's fair and fine, but in professional or political life, we have to have a higher standard than "hey, keep raking it in until we see if he gets off.”

The protest was covered on ESPN, and you can watch an interview with PETA’s own Dan Shannon that took place during the demonstration here.

I’ll let you know as soon as there’s more news, but in the meantime, you may want to get your very own “Sack Vick” T-shirt. Love it.

While the rest of us were working our fingers to the bone responding to the Michael Vick indictment yesterday, PETA Campaigner Mike Brazell got to traipse off to DC to live out my greatest fantasy—eating veggie dogs with a pair of Playboy Playmates (hey, I'm a man of simple desires.) I will keep you up to date throughout the week as the Vick case develops, but I think something a bit more lighthearted is in order for this morning's entry. Besides, these pictures, from yesterday's "Congressional Veggie Dog Lunch" are just too good to pass up.

Positively dreamy.

And now, with those pictures to bolster you up against the trials of the day, back to Michael Vick …

Vick News

Sign Russell Simmons and Al Sharpton's pledge to stamp out dogfighting

Sun Times Columnist says Vick must go

Court date is set for next week

ESPN talks animal rights

And finally, despite leading The Girls of Norfolk High to the Fantasy Super Bowl last year (we lost), Michael Vick will definitely not be making my fantasy roster when the draft begins in August. I can only hope the Falcons management makes the same smart decision to suspend him from their team.

workingpitbull/Creative Commons

The PETA offices have been in overdrive since last night responding to Michael Vick's recent indictment for dogfighting. The vague statement released by the Atlanta Falcons about this disturbing news is simply not sufficient. This morning, hip-hop mogul Russell Simmons, civil rights leader The Rev. Al Sharpton, and PETA President Ingrid E. Newkirk sent a letter to all of Vick's corporate sponsors, Falcons CEO Arthur Blank, and NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell roundly condemning dogfighting and other forms of violence. You can read that letter here. We are also calling on NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell to immediately suspend Michael Vick in light of this indictment. According to Deadspin the indictment includes the following allegations, which highlight exactly how reprehensible this vicious blood sport is:

• "In March 2003, PEACE, after consulting with Vick about the female pit bull's condition, executed the losing dog by wetting the dog down with water and electrocuting the animal."
• "In April 2007, PEACE, PHILLIPS and VICK executed approximately eight dogs that did not perform well in 'testing' sessions by various methods, including hanging, drowning and slamming at least one dog's body to the ground."

Please click here to contact Roger Goodell about this news and ask him to immediately take action. We're doing everything we can to ensure that the news of Vick's alleged involvement in this horrific cruelty is not swept under the rug. I can only hope that the high profile nature of Michael Vick's case helps to shed light on an epidemic that, too often, is not treated with enough gravity by law-enforcement officials, and that needs to be stamped out immediately.

Britney snapped with her latest "accessory"

A couple of weeks ago, I made a solemn vow not to waste people's time with more news about Britney Spears' trainwreck of a life. So much for solemn vows, I guess. Seems like everyone's favorite walking disaster has added a new fur to her collection, though unlike her previous forays into buying animal accessories, her latest acquisition is still alive, for the time being. According to People magazine, our Brit wandered into a Bel Air pet store last week and bought herself a Yorkshire terrier on a whim for $3,000. Apart from the lousy example her choice to buy instead of adopt sets for all five of her remaining fans, her track record of abandoning puppies whenever she gets tired of them—not to mention her propensity for dropping babies and, I don't know, shaving her head and checking herself into the psych ward—don't exactly make her the ideal candidate for responsible pet ownership. Or, as PETA VP Dan Mathews puts it,

"Britney needs a new puppy about as much as Lindsay Lohan needs a drink. She can barely look after herself and her kids, and she's tossed away so many dogs before. The only dog Britney is responsible enough to care for is a stuffed toy."

Spears, who was awarded the title of World's Worst Celebrity Dog Owner in 2006 by The Hollywood Dog Magazine, has already been photographed carrying her new Yorkie like a handbag, and spotted bringing the unfortunate animal to an L.A. night club, which is about as suitable a place for a puppy as it is for a recovering alcoholic mother of two.

MSNBC covered the story, and you can read that here.

Slate/Creative Commons

Did you happen to see this Boston Globe story about Mitt Romney? The reporter opened the piece with a Romney family story about Mitt strapping the family’s Irish Setter, Seamus, to the roof of his station wagon for a twelve hour drive from Boston to Ontario. When the terrified dog lost control of his bowels and his waste covered the roof and back window of the car, Romney apparently calmly pulled over and simply sprayed the car—and the dog—down with a hose and hopped back on the highway.

Unfortunately, there is no punch line; I am not kidding. The reporter thought this was a fine example of Romney’s “emotion-free crisis management” style, but who knows. Here's what PETA’s president, Ingrid Newkirk said to an enquiring press:

“First, as a charity we can’t and don’t endorse or oppose any candidate for public office, but I can say (and not just as a person who grew up with an Irish Setter!) that any individual who does something like that may have what scientists term the absence of the mirror neuron, i.e., a pin-pointable absence in the brain of the characteristic which allows the individual to feel basic compassion. The implications are frightening. Anyone who suspects that they are not able to feel empathy for others needs to be aware of the existence of this condition. What is also worrying is that Mr. Romney seems to hold the very old fashioned idea that he needs to actively show he is heartless, hence the hunting claims he has made. Not subsistence hunting, but pride in killing defenseless animals for sport, for fun, for show. In the case of the dog on the roof of the car, if this is true, quite remarkably it obviously wasn't for show as only his own children were watching, a lesson in cruelty that was also wrong for them to witness. There was also the obviousness of the situation. Thinking of the wind, the weather, the speed, the vulnerability, the isolation on the roof, it is commonsense that any dog who’s under extreme stress might show that stress by losing control of his bowels: that alone should have been sufficient indication that the dog was, basically, being tortured. If you wouldn’t strap your child to the roof of your car, you have no business doing that to the family dog! I don't know who would find that acceptable. Mr. Romney needs to tell the world he realizes this was not humane. People do stupid things and one day realize it, so better late than never."

Thanks to Ana Marie Cox, founder of Wonkette, now Time.com’s Washington Editor, for noticing the story on Boston.com and jumping on it.

We’ve been getting a lot of questions on this since the European Parliament voted on it this week, so I thought I’d clear the air a bit.

I realize that it’s going to come as a huge shock to some but PETA is completely opposed to the ban. Obviously, the cruelty involved in the slaughter of dogs and cats is beyond hideous and has to be stopped, but we feel like this “ban” is really nothing more than a feel-good measure that is likely to harm more animals than it would help.

First off, the entire point of the proposed legislation, as it states very clearly, is to protect the fur industry. The language in the proposed legislation couldn’t be more clear on this fact: The bill is intended to and would in fact “facilitate the placing on the market of fur and fur products from species other than cats and dogs and prevent disturbance on the international market for fur and fur products in general.”

Even more insane to me is the fact that the proposed legislation would do absolutely nothing to actually stop the trade in dog and cat fur in Europe, since it would exempt fur from dogs and cats who have been killed for any other purpose, including meat. Millions of dogs and cats are killed for their meat and fur in China, where we did an investigation and found horrendous cruelty.

Our concerns really boil down to the fact that the ban will help the fur trade by giving consumers a false sense of security that it is safe to buy fur because they’ll believe it isn’t from dogs and cats. In the United States and other countries, similar bans on dog and cat fur simply haven’t worked; dog and cat fur is still sold, but it is relabelled as fur from other species. A ban like this won’t work any better than self-regulation, which, in the fur trade, means no regulation. The ban’s only practical effect will be to promote the acceptance of fur from other species of animals, including canine and feline species such as coyotes and lynx, who are just as abused as dogs and cats in the fur trade.

Essentially, this legislation will just grease the wheels of the fur industry so it can kill millions of animals for their skins while assuring consumers that none of them is like their family pets. And of course, it’s just as messed up to skin minks or foxes alive and wear their fur as it is to skin dogs or cats alive for their fur.

I hope this helps make our position a bit more clear. Where do you stand? Comments much appreciated.

This Michael Vick dogfighting scandal is just not going away, and now that Clinton Portis has decided to shove his oar in, things are starting to get really heated. In an effort to help the well-intentioned folks in the NFL's upper echelons deal with the PR fallout from the whole nasty business, we've sent them a letter offering free animal-sensitivity training to any football players who need it. You can read that letter here, and I'll leave you with a little picture that an ex-colleague of mine sent in of the jeep she drives around in near Vick's old hometown in Virginia. You're a brave girl, Misty.

What the Iditarod is really all about: advertising and sponsorship dollars. And drinking lots of beer, I guess.

Well, the first dog has died in this year’s Iditarod. Frankly, I’m surprised it took this long, and I’m sad to say it's extremely likely there’ll be more. Turns out that forcing dogs to run 125 miles a day through subzero temperatures may not be all that good for them. Shocker. Obviously, this is common sense to those of us who act like we’re living in the year 2007, but apparently the Iditarod folks like to pretend they’re paying homage to the original race, which was along a mail route to deliver an emergency supply of diphtheria serum (whatever that is) to Nome.

Anyway, Iditaroders, next time you guys need some diphtheria serum delivered, I’m sure FedEx will be glad to help you out with that. And let’s be real here, this race is about money, plain and simple—you’re not preserving heritage or paying homage to anyone by running a few hundred dogs into the frozen ground every year.

The Ikidarod

The upshot here is that there are countless alternatives to this cruel tradition. How about a ski race along the same route—the Iskidarod maybe? Or an eBay sponsored marathon auction—the Ibidarod? The world’s largest game of hide and seek—Ihidarod. A marathon film festival—Ividarod? There actually is an event in California called the Ikidarod, where kids pull sleds on a beach, and the reality is that there really are 1001 ways for the Iditarod folks to line their pockets without hurting dogs.

Anyway, here’s to hoping that no more dogs die this year . . . Oh, and if you’re so inclined you can let the Iditarod sponsors know you feel about this absurd race here.

Unless you live under a rock and watch Antique Road Show on PBS every night, I’m sure you’ve been hearing an awful lot about Simon Cowell lately. American Idol's ratings are higher than ever, and we couldn’t be happier for Simon. So what if he is honest with the out-of-tune wannabe trying to sing "Beat It"? Stick to singing in the shower and open mic nights at your local strip mall coffeehouse, dude . . . I guess you can see where I fall on the whole “Is Simon too mean?” debate.

Anyway, all the hype about Idol and Simon reminded me of the great work he’s done with PETA, so I dug out a couple of the ads he’s shot for us in the past.