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"I am deeply touched and thrilled to be awarded the PETA U.K. person of the year. When I first saw their video footage on foie gras production three years ago, I felt compelled to do something to help put a stop to this cruel delicacy. I have since become a passionate campaigner against foie gras, and am most humbled that my passion has helped make a positive difference in the lives of these animals."
—Sir Roger Moore

On the heels of its recent Selfridges victory, PETA U.K. has named Sir Roger Moore 2009's Person of the Year.

The celebrated actor's tireless and successful efforts against foie gras began three years ago when Moore narrated a video about its production that has attracted more than 300,000 viewers. Since then, Moore has written to every member of the House of Commons asking them to help end foie gras sales in the U.K. and penned many pieces for national publications in his unending attempt to spread the word against the deadly force-feeding of ducks and geese.

For his inspiring accomplishments, Moore will be honored with a plaque and a copy of PETA President Ingrid E. Newkirk's One Can Make a Difference.

Posted by Logan Scherer

If you can, pick up a copy of this week's New Yorker. There's a review of Jonathan Safran Foer's new book, Eating Animals, along with a photograph of a very powerful painting by artist Sue Coe—the same painting that Coe gave to PETA President Ingrid E. Newkirk. Ingrid is not ashamed to say that she burst into tears the first time she saw the painting, and she often talks about how powerfully it reminds people of the truth and horror of the slaughter business so casually supported by the majority of people.

The painting is very Coe-esque—dark, haunting, and surreal. It looks like a nightmare put on canvas, and in fact, it is—a real-life nightmare. When Sue Coe was growing up, she lived next door to a hog factory farm and a block away from a slaughterhouse. In an essay she wrote for Ingrid's book, One Can Make a Difference, Coe describes the events that inspired the painting:

One day, a small pig escaped the slaughterhouse, and she ran in and out of the traffic, desperate to get away. Men in white aprons, covered in blood, ran after her. Small groups of people congregated to watch, and they started to laugh and point. I asked my mother why this was so funny, and she said it was not funny, the pig was going to be caught and killed. . . .

When it came time to slaughter the pigs, which happened every six months or so, there would be a terrible noise at night. They'd whip the pigs to get them into the truck, and they would go down the road to the slaughterhouse. . . .

When I was about ten years old, I went with my friend to the door of the slaughterhouse and demanded to be showed around, as I wanted to know what was happening. The workers in the slaughterhouse … showed us everything that happens in the process of slaughter. The vision of the escaped pig couldn't be ignored; she became louder and louder in my mind ….

This experience as a child sent me on my lifetime's mission that was to be an artist, and to reveal what was being concealed. To get into places that have closed doors, and to give art the potential of changing the world, not just reflecting it.

Sometimes a picture is worth a thousand words. This one is. Even though we aren't all gifted artists like Sue Coe or talented writers like Jonathan Safran Foer, there is still plenty that we can do to give animals a voice.

Posted by Alisa Mullins

For those of you who receive PETA's quarterly magazine, Animal Times, you're in for a treat (as always) when the latest issue hits mailboxes this month. If you haven't gotten around to subscribing (it's free with your PETA membership), here's one of the many great articles you'd find—an exclusive sneak peek at PETA President Ingrid E. Newkirk's newest book, The PETA Practical Guide to Animal Rights. Don't say we never gave you anything:

Man's best friend isn't, in many parts of the world. In Korea, the Philippines, Vietnam, and China, among other places, dogs are kept in the burning sun in small cages behind restaurants, often with tin cans shoved over their muzzles and their broken forelegs tied behind their backs. They are "tenderized" by being beaten while alive and then strangled to death and skinned for their flesh. In Thailand, dog-hide factory trucks prowl the streets, offering to trade plastic buckets for live dogs, who will be slaughtered and made into bags, drum skins, and golf-club covers.

I grew up in India, where—although dogs are not eaten—mange-covered and starving stray animals are so common and so pathetic that they can't help but capture your attention. In the pounds, death was courtesy of a crude electrocution machine that seared the animals' skin and often set their fur on fire or via blows from men wielding billy clubs.

In Taiwan—which has a robust economy as well as a large Buddhist population—one would think that animals would fare much better. The reality is quite the opposite. In Taiwan's pounds, death for dogs can come from live burial (digging a pit and throwing the dogs into it), electrocution, poison-laced food, starvation, or drowning. In April 1998, I rescued 11 dogs from the Keelung city pound's drowning tank and extracted a promise from the minister of the environment to immediately stop drowning animals. The city administrators have been good to their word, but all these years later, animals in Sanchung, Tu Chung, and other cities continue to suffer, confined to cramped, filthy cages at severely crowded pounds. Pressure is still desperately needed to bring about reforms.

I used to harbor the illusion that all animals in Europe and North America were well-treated. But we have plenty of room for improvement too—to say the least.

A Baltimore, Maryland, rescue group called Alley Animals has seen it all, right here in America: animals with festering wounds from slingshots and bottles, cats with elastic bands embedded in their necks, kittens blinded and used as bait in pitbull fights, abandoned Easter rabbits, a rooster wearing a broken ankle leash, and even a green iguana—now the most common exotic throwaway pet, according to news reports.

Alley Animals operates simply and on a shoestring. When dusk falls on Baltimore, the group's volunteers drive into the sprawling old city's most rundown areas. Their job is to find the animal waifs and strays who creep out from their hiding places when the city grows quiet, knowing that they are less visible to juveniles armed with free time and a rock or a firecracker.

One evening, volunteer Alice Arnold and her partner for that night's trip, Eric, were just leaving an alley after putting out food when Eric said, "Did you see that puppy?"

He pointed to an overturned reclining chair amid the trash, where a tiny head was sticking out ever so slightly, the puppy's reddish-brown fur almost blending in with the color of the old chair in the alley's black shadows. The stuffing had come out of the chair, allowing the dog to claim its interior as her shelter from a world that had rejected her.

Within a week of her rescue, it was obvious that the puppy—now known as "Stuffing"— was very intelligent and lovable. After a few weeks, Stuffing had gained weight, was paper-trained, and spent every night snuggled up in bed with her new human friend. Alice says that to look at her now, no one would ever guess that this happy little girl spent the first months of her life eating from trash cans and sleeping inside an overturned chair in a dark alley.

Most people don't think that the problems of strays and chained "backyard" dogs have anything to do with them. But they do. The biggest nightmare plaguing domesticated animals in our society does not involve the wanton acts of violence directed toward them by cruel humans. Rather, it involves thoughtlessness by otherwise intelligent and caring people who simply do not understand what or who dogs and cats really are, and what they need to thrive.

Want to read the rest of Ingrid's new book? You can order your very own copy at PETACatalog.com. In the meantime, you can find out what you can do to help strays and other neglected and abused animals here.

Posted by Alisa Mullins

Starting with Tricky Dick, every president in office has issued proclamations supporting America's "sportsmen and women," i.e. wildlife killers. President Obama recently followed suit by naming September 26 "National Hunting and Fishing Day."

In response, PETA president Ingrid E. Newkirk has asked President Obama to declare a "National Wildlife Amnesty Day" in honor of the 95 percent of us who prefer to shoot wildlife with cameras, not guns. That's right: Only a puny 5 percent of Americans stalk, maim, and slaughter deer, bears, and other animals—and many former fishers have cast their rods aside after learning that fish sea kittens feel pain.

Folks, "wildlife management" and "conservation" are euphemisms used to describe programs that ensure inflated numbers of animals for hunters to harass, maim, and kill. If left alone, animal populations would regulate their own numbers. Those who truly care about wildlife donate money to save habitats—without expecting a dead body as a trophy in return.

I can think of a handful of descriptors for these men, but "conservationists" isn't one of them.

Posted by Karin Bennett

There are two things I love about the new paperback version of PETA founder and president Ingrid Newkirk's book, One Can Make a Difference: How Simple Actions Can Change the World. First—and most importantly—it includes a brand-new essay written by none other than actor Mickey Rourke. In his contribution, which is exclusive to the new paperback version, the Golden Globe winner writes about his struggle to overcome his personal demons and about the six rescued dogs who helped him succeed.

"There isn't much worse than being a 'has been,' being used to sitting at the best table in the fanciest restaurant just by showing up, and then reaching a point where the restaurant won't even take my call," he writes. "It was a humbling experience for me, and the dogs were the biggest help in getting me through because I could see that the dogs from the pound are like me. Bad things have happened to them, too, and they bear the scars."

Second, the lighter version is easier to stick in my purse, so I can have it handy to read while commuting.

One Can Make a Difference now fits conveniently into vegan handbags across the country.

Other celebrity contributors to One Can Make a Difference include Sir Paul McCartney, Willie Nelson, Rep. Dennis Kucinich, Brigitte Bardot, and so many more. The new paperback version is available here, so check it out!

Posted by Amanda Schinke

Today is Gandhi's birthday, and it's also the second day of Vegetarian Awareness Month. I can't think of a better way to celebrate both than by giving a vegetarian diet a try.

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Gandhi ardently advocated nonviolence and campaigned to end poverty, expand women's rights, encourage self-reliance, and promote peace and respect for all living beings. He believed that "the greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated."

If you think about the billions of animals who suffer in America's filthy, crowded factory farms and who are cruelly killed in slaughterhouses every year, it's clear that this nation has a long way to go to become "great" and "moral."

So if PETA's sexy babes haven't yet inspired you to go vegetarian, check your pulse. Then read Gandhi's book The Moral Basis of Vegetarianism and PETA President Ingrid E. Newkirk's The PETA Practical Guide to Animals Rights.

Posted by Karin Bennett

babychums / CC

While some chefs have a change of heart after they witness the cruelty of meat production, the "Naked Chef," Jamie Oliver isn’t one of them.

According to his spokesperson, Oliver is supposedly "well-known for his championing of better welfare for animals and has had awards from many animal welfare groups."

No wonder animal protectionists everywhere are seeing red after learning that he pinned down and helped castrate a bull for a segment for his upcoming series, Jamie's American Road Trip.
Castrating a bull without anesthetics is illegal in the U.K., but apparently Oliver signed on to the old "when in Rome …" theory.

If Jamie Oliver truly cares about animals, he should take a cue from PETA's Ingrid E. Newkirk, who talks the talk and walks the walk. Whether she's convincing officials in Taiwan to stop drowning stray dogs or being carted off to jail for protesting pigeon shoots in Pennsylvania, this true champion of animals never lowers her standards on how animals should be treated, no matter where she is.

Posted by Karin Bennett

What does PETA President Ingrid E. Newkirk think about Michael Vick’s return to the NFL? We’ll let her tell you:

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Posted by Shawna Flavell

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As the high cost of health care was debated this week in the nation that was once the most powerful on Earth and is now just the fattest, two announcements were made. Time showed a slab of meat on its cover and declared, "The real cost of cheap food" (meat, in particular) costs Americans big-time when it comes to our health. And KFC--whose suppliers have been caught on camera breaking chickens' legs and wings and scalding the birds to death in order to produce "cheap" chicken--came out with a new "sandwich" that substitutes fried chicken parts for bread and is stuffed with artery-clogging and waistline-expanding bacon and cheese. Why would KFC executives decide to do that? For the same reason that there is a Whopper and a Fifth Third Burger: Because they know that people want unhealthy foods almost as much as they want health care.

Also this week, the fat hit the pan over PETA's pro-vegetarian billboard in Jacksonville, Florida, which read, "Save the Whales. Cut the Blubber. Go Vegetarian," and led to the PETA website where people could download our free "Vegetarian Starter Kit" as well as take the "30-Day Veg Pledge." There wasn't a peep about the advertisements for meals that spell death to one million animals per hour and that contribute to our nation's ever-expanding waistlines. There were no angry phone calls and blog messages about the audacity of the purveyors of the chicken and cheese that is turning humans into blubbery masses, or..."whales."

America's obesity epidemic calls for tough love à la Dr. Phil and America's Biggest Loser, not more coddling and mock shock over a billboard pointing out that the majority of fat people need to have some discipline and remember that being fat means being a bad role model to our children, many of whom are now so fat themselves that "teeter-totter" has come to describe their wobbly gait. Only three percent of the population has a medical condition that genuinely prevents them from losing weight. The rest of the obese people hiding behind them are obese because they shovel in food and haven't a clue (or don't want to have a clue) about a healthy diet. They haven't listened to or perhaps haven't heard the polite admonitions from health experts (real ones) urging them to eat their fresh fruits and veggies, whole grains, nuts and beans. So America is getting fatter, largely because we don't realize that killing animals and squeezing the cheese out of them, perhaps especially the cheese, is slowly killing us too.

A study published last year in the journal Obesity found that if current trends continue, nearly 90 percent of adults will be overweight or obese by the year 2030 and the number of overweight children will double. This is a serious health crisis: Research has shown that higher body mass index is associated with a greater risk of premature death from all causes. For example, according to the American Heart Association, obesity contributes to heart disease, America's number one killer. What's more, one out of every six health-care dollars will be spent on costs related to our growing girth.

Going meat-free can make a huge difference. Studies show that vegetarians are, on average, 10 to 20 pounds lighter than meat-eaters and that a vegetarian diet reduces our risk of heart disease by 40 percent and adds seven or more years to our lifespan. A study published in The American Journal of Medicine found that people who eat a low-fat vegan diet (no meat, no eggs and no dairy foods) lose about a pound per week--even without exercising or counting calories.

PETA's billboard was fueled by a healthy respect for all the animals who are raised cruelly and killed in painful ways as well as for our own species's potential to be kind and healthy. I read the communiqués from fat people who said "thank you" and from those who told us where we can go. To all the people considering gastric bypass or tummy-tuck surgery or who tried a low-carb diet and only got constipation and bad breath in return, I say, just try it: Choose the oatmeal with Silk soy milk instead of bacon and milk; the bean instead of the beef burrito; and the mushrooms, tomatoes and peppers instead of the meat balls. All animals would thank you for it if they could, and I'm betting that you will feel better, both inside and out.

Posted by Ingrid E. Newkirk

It's hard for me to think of anyone who can think bigger than PETA Prez Ingrid E. Newkirk. It's not surprising then, that you can find a number of her videos on BigThink.com. Go ahead and check out her insights on a wide range of animal rights topics, including getting our message out in the media, PETA's tactics, the use of graphic images, and more.

A quick taste: If you ever have those days when you just feel like taking the day (or week) off from working for animal rights, you'll appreciate what she has to say about the importance of gittin' 'er done:

If watching Ingrid's Big Think videos only whets your appetite, you can also order her latest book, The PETA Practical Guide to Animal Rights.

Posted by Karin Bennett

No, no, not that kind of jacket. We're talking about the jacket of PETA President Ingrid E. Newkirk's new book, The PETA Practical Guide to Animal Rights:

A few select copies of the book were outfitted with covers made from real fur—pieces of the more than 20,000 fur coats that have been donated to PETA by fur-wearers who have had a change of heart. It seemed like a fitting way to illustrate how far the animal rights movement has come in the past 25 years—and the kind of change that people can bring about by putting the advice in Ingrid's book into action.

And boy, did that fur jacket ever get the attention of TV and radio producers who received complimentary copies! Many of them were so intrigued that they decided to have Ingrid come on their shows to explain why a person would put a $7,500 fur coat in a box and mail it to PETA. (Hint: This video probably plays a part.)

Of course, most of the fur coats that are donated to PETA are used in "bloody" protests outside (and sometimes inside) designers' boutiques, spooky protests at fashion shows, and slightly silly "fur is a drag" parade entries. They are also torched in fur funeral pyres, donated to wildlife rehabilitators to use as bedding for orphaned and injured wildlife, and even given away to the only humans who have any reason to wear fur—homeless people and refugees of wars and natural disasters.

Have a musty old fur cluttering up your closet? Click here to find out more about PETA's fur donation program.

Posted by Alisa Mullins

Sometimes it seems like PETA President Ingrid E. Newkirk doesn't sleep a wink. While on tour promoting her new book, she took time out to appear on CNN and denounce Puerto Rico's plans to erect a breeding facility for monkeys. Sometime during all that, she managed to pen an article about how easy it is to be kind to animals. It was posted yesterday on The Huffington Post.

Check out this snippet of Ingrid's article, and then head over to The Huffington Post, read the rest, and leave Ingrid a comment:

This week, Sir Paul McCartney and his daughter Stella introduced the concept of "Meat-Free Mondays," coincidentally the same name as that of a program that PETA Europe is also working on in British schools. As a vegan who was once busily eating her way through the animal kingdom, from mussels to calf's brains on toast, it's a message that I wish I'd heard far earlier, just as I wish that when I wore my first fur coat, there had been an animal rights activist there to hand me a card saying, "Your coat was stolen from its original owners." Thirty years ago, a good animal rights "nag" was hard to find.

Read the rest of the article here.

Posted by Shawna Flavell

Did you catch PETA President Ingrid E. Newkirk on CNN Headline News last night? She was on Issues With Jane Velez-Mitchell to speak out against plans to build a monkey-breeding facility in Puerto Rico.

Reports that this breeding farm would be stocked with monkeys snatched from their native homes in Mauritius are nightmarish enough, but the babies would then be sold for laboratory experiments. You know, like at Columbia University and Covance? Yikes!

Props to Jane Velez-Mitchell for recognizing that this story is newsworthy and for treating it—and folks concerned about animal rights—with respect. If you missed it, you should definitely check it out. Then head over here and tell Puerto Rico to cut out the monkey biz.

Posted by Jeff Mackey

Yesterday, PETA President Ingrid E. Newkirk turned 60! (Can you believe it? She says, "Yes, count the crow's feet!") Our staff asked supporters who wanted to wish Ingrid a happy birthday to send a donation to one of her favorite programs, Animal Rahat. And boy, did you come through. So far, birthday well-wishers have donated more than $12,000 to Animal Rahat, and that means the world to all those bulls and donkeys!

The folks at Animal Rahat were tickled to be the recipients of such generous gifts, so they made a birthday cake and gave out celebratory fresh grass (a big treat for the animals) and vital nutrition packs along the village roadways. Here are some photos of the big shindig:

Too pretty to eat? Naahh.

Animal Rahat staffers dig into the cake.

For those of you who aren't familiar with Animal Rahat's work, it provides desperately needed relief—such as food, veterinary care, water stations, and portable sunshades—to working animals in India. It also runs relief camps where injured, sick, and debilitated animals can recuperate as well as a retirement center where elderly animals can live out their golden years in comfort. Check out these photos of Animal Rahat in action:

Thank you all for helping to improve the lives of these working animals.

Posted by Alisa Mullins

Tomorrow, PETA President Ingrid E. Newkirk will celebrate her big 6-0, and we've received some queries from people wondering what to get her. Well, wonder no more, friends. We've got just the thing!

One cause that's very close to Ingrid's heart is Animal Rahat, and no wonder: Animal Rahat helps hard-working bullocks, donkeys, ponies, and horses in India, where Ingrid spent much of her childhood. Animal Rahat gives them relief (that's what "rahat" means) from the heat, water to quench their raging thirst, a place to rest when they fall lame, veterinary care for their yoke and harness injuries, and sometimes even fodder during periods of draught when the subsistence farmers who own them can't afford to feed them.

Rahat also offers a program that allows bullocks to retire and live out their lives with their human families instead of being sent to slaughter. You may recall the story we shared with you recently about Shilya's retirement—and he's just one of Rahat's success stories.

Animal Rahat is doing great things for some of the least fortunate animals on Earth. To help them out—and to sign Ingrid's birthday card—just zip over here.

Posted by Jeff Mackey

PETA founder Ingrid E. Newkirk offers hundreds of simple ways to stop cruelty to animals in her new book, The PETA Practical Guide to Animal Rights: Simple Acts of Kindness to Help Animals in Trouble, which was released today.

While Ingrid is out on the road promoting kindness on her book tour, PETA's vice presidents are stepping up to our virtual podium for a Q&A with all of you PETA Files readers. They are poised to answer your hard-hitting animal rights and PETA questions. But first, some introductions are in order.

Meet the VPs

Dan Mathews
Senior Vice President of Campaigns

PETA's dashing senior VP was once a green-haired punk rocker who flipped burgers at McDonald's. But when this pop-culture junkie breezed through PETA's doors in 1985, it was clear that he was born to lead our campaigns. During his two decades at PETA, this author/concert coordinator/protester extraordinaire has been the brains (and brawn) behind some of PETA's most colorful campaigns, including the ever-popular "I'd Rather Go Naked Than Wear Fur" campaign. Dan lives by his personal motto: "Rest When You're Dead."

Just a sampling of the many PETA victories achieved under Dan's watch include convincing Calvin Klein to stop designing with fur after leading a raid in Calvin's office, pressuring GM to stop using animals in crash tests, and lobbying Gillette to halt product tests on animals. He's lined up stars to protest, pose nude, or even go to jail for the cause, including Chrissie Hynde, Sir Paul McCartney, and Pamela Anderson. Dan was named one of the "Most Influential Gays" of the millennium by Genre and one of the "50 Most Beautiful Guys" by teen magazine YM.

He's so funny and charming that it's no wonder that my mom, Carla of "Ask Carla," ignored her gay-dar and once daydreamed about setting him up with me.

Lisa Lange
Senior Vice President of Communications

Lisa coordinated the production of some of PETA's most popular and successful videos and PSAs, including the hugely popular "Veggie Love" ad, a vegetarian ad featuring Alicia Silverstone in the buff, and a series of provocative videos for PETA's Animal Birth Control campaign. She also assisted with the production of I Am an Animal, an award-winning HBO documentary about Ingrid E. Newkirk.

She's influenced millions of viewers to consider animals during her smackdowns of animal exploiters on Today, CNBC, CNN's Crossfire, Larry King Live, and Your World With Neil Cavuto. She's appeared numerous times on The O'Reilly Factor and on countless other television and radio programs.

Lisa epitomizes vegan vitality and never stops thinking of ways to alleviate animal suffering—even when she's doing sit-ups at dawn during her boot-camp workouts.

Tracy Reiman
Executive Vice President

Tracy oversees all of PETA's campaigns as well as PETA's marketing, corporate affairs, youth, and Web outreach efforts.

Let me take a deep breath before I start listing just a few of Tracy's accomplishments. Whew. OK. She led successful efforts to persuade Mobil, Texaco, Shell, and other big oil corporations to cap their oil stacks to prevent thousands of birds and bats from burning to death. She participated in the infamous sit-in at Calvin Klein's office (as mentioned above), which tipped the balance in convincing the clothing designer to abandon fur. She was instrumental in stopping NASA's cruel Bion project, which involved sending primates into space. Her investigative and rescue work resulted in the first-ever cruelty charges filed against a factory farmer for cruelty to chickens.

Tracy is fearless and tireless in her efforts for animals, and no matter what the situation, she always remains cool, calm, and collected. I've always considered her a sort of female James Bond for animals.

So, what is it that you're dying to know about these die-hard animal activists? Don't be shy. Leave a question (or two) below, and we'll have each of the VPs answer the most thought-provoking questions later this month.

Posted by Karin Bennett

igougo / CC

In an attempt to shrink its carbon footprint, the charming town of Ghent, Belgium, just took one gigantic, progressive step by deciding to go vegetarian for one day each week.

Instead of just feeling bad that meat production leads to more greenhouse-gas emissions than all the vehicles with engines in the world combined, these good folks decided to act. They'll get things rollin' with their city employees and then spread the good behavior on to school children come September.

Delighted at this news, PETA President Ingrid E. Newkirk penned some letters of encouragement to a few cities stateside in an effort to nudge them forward in the fight against climate change. This simple step—not eating meat for a day—literally saves hundreds of lives.

Care about the planet? Check out the many reasons why "meat's not green" on our YouTube channel, then go on and give a vegetarian diet the old college try!

Posted by Missy Lane