Mais oui! The rain didn't keep members of PETA France—or nearly five hundred other demonstrators—away from a massive anti-fur march in Paris on Saturday.

Think these "grim reapers" are scary? Try watching PETA's fur exposés without covering your eyes. Betcha can't.

Onlookers learned the stomach-turning truth about fur—that regardless of whether it involves the bloody head-bashing of baby seals in Canada or the skinning of live animals on Chinese fur farms, fur always represents horrible suffering for animals.

As a result of the march, the French television news service M6 even ran a feature against the fur trade. It also polled visitors to its Web site: So far, out of 16,000 respondents, 81 percent favor an end to the fur trade.

So tell us, what's your opinion on fur?

Posted by Karin Bennett

mca-agency / CC

Not too long ago, Trish Deseine was pushing for people to embrace the taste of foie gras served with dried fruit. (Did anyone else just throw up a little?)

But after taking the time to visit a foie gras farm, this chef changed her tune.

"You see ducks who have lived outside then put in small crates … and force fed," she told The Guardian. "They can't stand up or move. You can see their livers bursting out of their skin. Nobody can tell me that's not cruel."

And for anyone who tries to tell you it's not, *cough* Olivier Berté *cough*, I have a suggestion. How about volunteering yourself to have a metal piped forced down your throat and then have 20 to 30 percent of your body weight in food shoveled into your body two to three times a day?

Yeah, I didn't think so.

Posted by Shawna Flavell

Did you hear that? It was the collective sigh of relief from raccoons, foxes, and minks—as well as human fur foes everywhere. It turns out that France's first lady and international style icon Carla Bruni-Sarkozy refuses to wear fur.

marieclaire / CC

PETA Vice President Dan Mathews contacted Bruni-Sarkozy after seeing photos that showed her wearing what appeared to be real fur. She wrote back, "I do not wear, buy, or own fur …. Every designer who kindly lends me clothes for public appearances can tell you that I do not accept … fur pieces, even when they're only a small part of the outfit."

The first lady—who admitted to wearing fur during her modeling heyday—also made it clear that if the photos are recent, the fur is fake.

"By officially rejecting fur in the fashion capital of the world, this political and style idol will make people everywhere think about how old-fashioned and cruel it is," said Dan in a statement issued to the media.

With some free shoes from Stella McCartney, courtesy of PETA, on the way to Carla's doorstep, we're hoping she will swear off leather for good too.

Posted by Karin Bennett

Yesterday, PETA held a press conference in Vancouver to announce our ramped-up campaign against the Canadian seal slaughter. We'll be running the campaign up to and through the 2010 Olympic Winter Games, which will be held in the city. Our goal is to switch some of the focus from Canada's Games to Canada's shame—the annual massacre of hundreds of thousands of baby seals. To illustrate the worldwide outrage over Canada's despicable seal slaughter, our international affiliates also held protests in Australia and France yesterday.

PETA's official press conference in Canada

PETA Asia-Pacific's demo in Australia

PETA France's demo in Paris

PETA Germany's demo in Berlin

Posted by Alisa Mullins

PETA France got extra lucky when they snagged hot singer Eve Angeli to pose for their newest anti-fur ad. However, this beauty really took it to the next level when she posed alongside a skinned fox and the tagline "This Is the Rest of Your Fur Coat." She really wants the world to see just how gruesome the fur trade can be, and for that we adore her.

Another reason we love Eve is that she's so dedicated. This is not the first time she has signed up to help animals on fur farms. She once stripped down to tell the world she'd "rather go naked than wear fur." She's even done a nude calendar to help animals on fur farms!

Eve became an avid supporter of this cause years ago after she saw pictures of animals on fur farms. In an interview with PETA France, she said, "I saw pictures that traumatized me—at least they shocked me for real. We become aware of the agony of those animals abused on fur farms in confined cages."

If you haven't yet, you should definitely pledge to be fur-free, or as Eve might say in French: Je m'engage à NE PAS PORTER DE FOURRURE.

Posted by Christine Doré

montanakids/Creative Commons

When the Tour de France begins tomorrow, America's top hope, and the Team Discovery leader, will be a Montana native at the peak of his career named Levi Leipheimer. In addition to being just a really exceptionally good cyclist, Levi is passionate about helping animals, and he recently took some time to talk to PETA about the role that animal protection plays in his life. He also shot an ad for us, which we'll be releasing in a few weeks' time, so I will definitely let you know as soon as that bad boy finds its way onto our site and into the magazines. In the meantime, you should check out Levi's interview below. Dude is a winner, and you can be certain that I'll be pulling for him tomorrow when he hits the streets in London. (Yes, the Tour de France begins in London this year. I'm sure they had their reasons.)

When did you decide to pursue cycling professionally?

I started riding when I was 13, and I basically knew then that it was what I wanted to do. I race for seven months of the year and train for 10. During the off-season, I usually ride my mountain bike for fun. In an average training week, I ride between two and seven hours a day.

We heard that you enjoy eating vegetarian food. Is there one vegetarian dish that you would recommend for athletes in training?

Every day when I head out on my bike, I'm fueled by an energy-packed vegetarian breakfast of oatmeal, apples, blueberries, strawberries, and nuts. I've done this for years. My favorite post-ride meal is pasta with lots of garlic and sunflower seeds or pine nuts.

You are a top professional athlete, but you still find time to do animal rescue work. Can you tell us about some of the things that you do to help animals in your free time?

[My wife and I have] had a revolving door of foster animals in California and in Spain. I help out by playing with the animals who need to be socialized and by transporting them when needed. We've had about 100 fosters over the years.

There have also been many occasions when I've gotten a call from my wife, Odessa, after she has found an animal on the side of the road while riding her bike. I've done a lot of these emergency pickups for squirrels, frogs, birds, cats, dogs, turtles—you name it.

How did you become involved with helping animals? Did you have any animal companions growing up?

Growing up, we had dogs and cats and a lot of squirrels and chipmunks in the yard, but it wasn't until I met Odessa that I learned true compassion for animals. She will drop everything in her life if she suddenly encounters an animal in need, no matter what. She's risked her own safety to help animals on many occasions. Once you see that in person and witness the difference you can make in the life of another creature, you'll never turn and look away from an animal in need.

We heard that when you travel to Europe for the cycling season, you take your dogs with you. What is that like, and is it difficult to fly them from California to Spain?

Traveling with animals has been a learning experience. Because our dogs are so small, we're able to take all three of them in the cabin with us. We wouldn't do it otherwise. The airlines have very strict rules concerning pets in the cabin, so you have to be very careful.

You have been kind enough to agree to work with PETA on a new spay-neuter campaign. What message would you like to get out to folks about how they can help reduce companion animal overpopulation?

In the Unites States, there really isn't any excuse for not spaying and neutering your pets. There are low-cost spay-neuter options in almost every city and town. All you have to do is look.

You have a lot of fans out there, which gives you a powerful platform to reach people and make a difference.� What is your message to them about having compassion and getting active to help animals?

The world belongs to animals, too—it's not just ours for the taking. Be kind to animals. And spay and neuter your pets.