celebrityviplounge / CC

Well, Jessica's thinking about opening her heart and home to a new pooch and word on the street is that she "wants a rescue dog."

We're thrilled to hear that she's thinking about rescuing a dog instead of buying one from a breeder. Today, we wrote to the star to urge her adopt her new friend from an animal shelter, pointing out that millions of dogs are euthanized at shelters every year simply because there aren’t enough homes for all of them. Even if she has her heart set on a particular breed, there are many purebreds at open-admission animal shelters and certainly many who are in the care of breed-specific rescue groups.

We hope, hope, hope that Jessica Simpson will join the long list of caring celebrities, including Charlize Theron, Katherine Heigl, Kyra Sedgwick, Audrina Patridge, and Alicia Silverstone, who have saved a life (or two or three) by adopting homeless animals.

Posted by Karin Bennett

Katherine Heigl wearing our "Have a PETA Day" T-shirt

OK, if you're like me, you cancel all your plans, shut off your cell phone, lock your door, and glue yourself to your couch every Thursday at 9 p.m. for none other than the greatest hour of television all week: Grey's Anatomy.

Well, last night was probably my favorite television night of all time, because the best show ever also brought in an important message about animal rights. (TV + AR = my life, so you can see why I was thrilled.)

If you missed it, let me catch you up. Dr. Hunt, the new head of trauma surgery, wanted to train the residents and interns on how to deal with trauma patients, and he said that dealing with live tissue was the best way to learn. So he tied down six sedated pigs and stabbed them with knives, and then he asked the doctors to perform surgery to keep the pigs alive. (Though I'm quite sure that in real life the pigs were fake, as the show had several notices that no animals were harmed in filming.)

Enter Dr. Izzy Stevens, played by Katherine Heigl. Izzy refused to do the assignment and explained how completely unnecessary it is to test on live animals when we have such advanced alternatives that don't require us to do that. She said that animals are sensitive, emotional creatures that feel pain and don't deserve to be tortured. We are so right there with you, Izzy!

When Dr. Hunt continued to berate Izzy about this issue, she stood up for herself and for animals everywhere and never backed down. She even explained that testing on animals is pointless and can sometimes even work against medical progress. Even though a test might be successful when the subjects are animals, people and animals are different species and therefore will show completely different results.

Even no-nonsense, steely Dr. Yang took a liking to the pigs and called them by name. When the surgeries finished, Hunt ordered Yang to euthanize the pigs and she refused.

What an excellent episode! I was so thrilled to step away from Meredith's whiny, self-obsessed life for a while to focus on the other characters—and such a positive message for animals.

Now, if only Ross University had seen this episode ….

Posted by Christine Doré

askmen / CC

We here at PETA adore Katherine Heigl for her huge heart for animals. When she's not campaigning for spay-and-neuter legislation or sporting our fabulous PETA T-shirts, she's finding other ways to speak up for animals.

Now the National Enquirer is reporting that on a recent trip to Mexico, the Grey's Anatomy star found herself in a fishy situation—a situation involving a fish, that is. Upon spotting a local fisher with a recently caught yellow-finned tuna on his hook, Heigl offered the man $100 to release the fish back into the water. At first, the fisher refused. Not to be messed with, Heigl quickly upped the ante to $200, and the fish was promptly returned to the Mexican waters.

Fish have very few advocates like Katherine, but they suffer just as much as any animal with whom we sympathize—like, say, a furry little dog. Did you know that when fish are hooked through their mouths with sharp metal points, the open wounds are often fatal to the injured fish and also make them vulnerable to other predators?

After the fish was thrown back, the compassionate Heigl said, "Thanks, I hate to see anything die." We certainly hear you on that, Katherine!

Posted by Jennifer Cierlitsky

The Knocked Up star, who was all over the celeb blogs a couple of weeks ago in our new “Have a PETA Day” T-shirt, was spotted today rocking the “Crow and Roach” tee made for PETA by Spiders & Caviar. Thank you, Katherine—you look stunning. TMZ has the story here.