PETA India activists just held a protest outside Hotel Tunga Paradise, in a suburb of Mumbai, where a crab eating festival was taking place. My pal Nikunj told me that people were actually quite receptive, most never having thought of crabs as individuals who are capable of feeling pain when their legs are torn from their bodies in nets or when they’re thrown into scalding hot water while they are fully conscious.

One of my favorite things about PETA and its affiliates is that we don’t shy away from speaking up for even the most unpopular and least cute and cuddly animals, so a big “Woo Woo” to the peeps in India for stepping it up with this great demonstration.

As the Michael Moore juggernaut continues unabated, I thought it might be nice to take a quick breather and check out some of the amazing work that PETA India has been doing this week, which, because it's not quite so sensational, probably won't be getting the attention it deserves. Animal Rahat is a program that works closely with PETA India to bring relief to working bullocks, donkeys, ponies, and horses in India by giving them the rest, drinking water, and veterinary care that they so desperately need.

The sad situation for most working animals in India is that the people who use them simply can't afford to ever give them a day off, let alone veterinary care, and the reports and pictures that we get from India about these animals' lives and deaths are heartbreaking.

Which is why it's always so great to get photos like these, from the team at Animal Rahat, who spent last weekend fixing water troughs in a local square near their facilities.

If you'd like to sponsor a working donkey, buffalo, bullock, or pony in India through Animal Rahat, you can learn more here.

PETA India's Campaign Coordinator, Rohini Kamath, just sent me some photos from a couple of protests that she and her colleagues held this week to draw attention to, respectively, the cruelty of the dairy industry, and the hypocrisy inherent in eating meat and trying to save the environment at the same time. Check 'em out:

Bound to a wheelchair and carrying a sign reading, “The dark side of dairy,” PETA India’s cow mascot, Ganga, protested the hideous cruelty of the dairy industry on World Milk Day. The activists also held signs emblazoned with the slogan “Doodh: not so cool, Dude,” and, though it's not entirely clear to me what that means, I'm told that if you say that to someone in Ahmedabad, they'll cut the dairy right out of their diet in a hot second.

And …

Eating out of a giant earth and holding signs reading “You Can't Be a Meat Eating Environmentalist” the PETA India folks held a demonstration on World Environment Day to protest the massive environmental devastation caused by the meat industry.

PETA India — you guys are, hands down, my favorite PETA affiliate. OK, fine, I say that to all the affiliates, but I'm totally smitten with that globe-eating demonstration. Keep up the great work.

Total winner, this one. With Easter coming up, a lot of people have eggs on the brain, especially in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, where, according to RXPG News, "Christians across the state consume eggs lavishly after the Sunday Easter mass." Before I go on, I do want to take the opportunity to write that one more time, just in case it never comes up again. Thiruvananthapuram! OK, now that we've got that out of our systems, here's a picture from PETA India's amazing demonstration to draw attention to the fact that chickens used for their eggs are among the most abused animals on the planet. The picture is from a protest that took place this morning. In Thiruvananthapuram.

We just had our monthly staff meeting last week, where everyone gives a presentation about what their departments have been up to and shows pictures and video of the highlights of last month's work. We also get some reports on what PETA's affiliates around the world are up to, and there's usually something really, profoundly weird and compelling that they came up with (I'm looking at you in particular PETA Germany). Anyway, these are all old stories that made big headlines in their respective countries, but I got a real kick out of them, so I figured I'd share:

PETA Asia Pacific's Jason Baker, dressed in a chicken costume, was attacked by angry KFC employees at a demonstration in Egypt. This story is funnier if you actually know Jason, though of course there's a whole big WTF KFC? element to it as well:

PETA India made a headdress out of vegetables for supermodel and actor Aditi Govritikar to wear in their newest ad campaign: Use Your Head, Go Veg. Fundamentally odd as that sounds, the picture is actually really striking, and Aditi looks stunning:

And finally, PETA Germany, which never, ever disappoints, held a hilarious demo outside the offices of Agriculture Minister Horst Seehofer, who has been trying to reverse the ban on battery cages for egg-laying hens in Germany. Seehofer has also been in the German press lately for upsetting his wife by getting his mistress pregnant, so PETA Germany stood outside his office on Valentine's Day with a big sign asking him to "Have a heart for animals, not just for women." Priceless.