This is it, people! The circus industry is built on masking animal torture as family fun—and it's time to force that industry to crumble. As you may know, this week PETA broke our latest undercover investigation into Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus. With the powerful footage obtained by our investigator, we are closer than ever to seeing animals freed from the living hell that is life in the circus. Can you imagine being stolen from your mom and chained for an average of more than 26 hours at a time, sometimes for as many as 60–100 hours straight, only to be beaten and forced to perform day after day?

My friends, you're in a position to help end their suffering. How, you ask? For starters, watch the video. Second, sign this petition and forward it to all your friends via every social networking site you're on. (There are even links at the bottom of the petition to help you do it.)

And finally, my personal fave—get your booty on the street and protest like these hipsters!

Just think—this could be you!

Standing up for animals is fulfilling, to say the least. Believe me. So get on out there, y'all!

Posted by Missy Lane

By now, you've probably heard about our latest undercover investigation—and you were probably as horrified as we were. Sadly, though, we weren't shocked—because this kind of abuse has happened before, many times.

Abuses like the ones seen at the Iowa pig factory farm should be the exception—but they're not; they are the rule. Look at our investigation of a North Carolina factory farm; just like at the Iowa farm, the pigs were beaten, were spray-painted, and had their eyes poked with sharp objects. In Oklahoma, the pigs were also beaten and "thumped"—and treaded on, starved, and left to die of illness. At a factory farm in North Carolina, the pigs were, again, beaten daily, kicked, and vaginally and anally penetrated—in addition to being skinned alive. Another group found pigs in Nebraska to be suffering from extreme neglect and mistreatment, drowning in their own excrement and covered in open sores. They found similarly neglected pigs in South Dakota, where the conditions were so inhumane that death rates in barns reached as high as 60 percent—and where some pigs were killed by having a water hose placed in their mouths until the animals burst.

Beatings, castration without any painkillers, drowning in excrement, wasting away with illness, and vaginal and anal penetration—these shouldn't be everyday occurrences, but they are. All over the country, pigs on factory farms are suffering just like pigs in Iowa, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Nebraska, and South Dakota are—and each time someone buys bacon, ham, sausage, or a hot dog, that person is saying that he or she agrees with how these pigs are treated.

Please, if you are appalled by the pain and suffering inflicted on these pigs, there is one very simple way to help them—don't eat them.

Posted by Amanda Schinke

mchenrycountyblog / CC

Ever wondered just how PETA is so magnificently successful in acquiring insider knowledge of animal abuse worldwide? Well, if you haven't figured it out based on this post's cheesy title—or seen the fantastic in-depth documentary about this and other colorful strategies of those on the frontlines of the animal rights movement—I'll spell it out: H.A.R.D.C.O.R.E. B.A.D.@.$.$. S.P.I.E.S.! (I'd give you a backronym, but this is already verbose.)

Seriously, though, not only do we employ James Bond-caliber infiltrators, what they uncover is more sinister—and of far greater value—than any Hollywood glam, pyrotechnic diamond heist too.

So just who are these fearless, selfless souls? Well, allow me to introduce two of PETA's MVPs: spy couple Hannah and Philip Schein. (It's cool. I can out them 'cause they are semi-retired and have already been sued.)

Get a load of this rap sheet:

• They have clandestinely captured video footage of chinchillas killed for their fur.
• Practicing Jews, the Scheins have participated in seven kosher-related investigations, most recently at a slaughterhouse in South America, where they captured footage of horrific "shackle and hoist" cow slaughter.
• They also helped direct an investigation at the world's largest kosher slaughterhouse, where an investigator documented cruelty that was anything but kosher.
• Hannah went to dinner with Beyoncé and took a hidden camera with her to take the singer to task for glamorizing the use of fur for fashion.
• Philip has been on covert missions among monks running an egg factory farm in South Carolina and black-bear hunters in Canada. Bad@$$!

So if watching these videos makes you want to throw things, just imagine being the one that filmed and edited the footage. These courageous folks risk their necks by enduring abysmal circumstances to uncover abuses that are deliberately hidden by powerful industries. And their work saves countless animals' lives. Think about it. How many of you are now veg because of a film with this kind of footage? I see quite a few hands raised. (Of course, there's no shame for those of you lured into the fold by a hot half-nekkid girl preaching the good "pro-veg" news with nothing but a few lettuce leaves covering her naughty bits. By any means necessary, yo.)

"Hannah and I know how important and effective it is to make the abuse of animals behind the scenes public," says Philip. "We are proud of our undercover work for PETA and glad that it is something we've been able to do as a couple." Suffice it to say that these heroes and their team deserve our relentless support for educating the masses while stickin' it to the man.

On behalf of animals everywhere, we the cruelty-free thank you!

—Missy

Posted by Missy Lane, Public Information Specialist