Pamela Anderson is truly amazing. Seriously, could the woman do any more for animals? This time, she got wind of KFC’s plans to expand in Russia, and jumped at the chance to write the president of KFC’s partner company there, urging him to use his influence to convince the company to protect the 850,000 chickens it kills from the worst abuses they suffer.

And of course, the Russian press was all over the story.

Here’s a copy of Pam’s letter, and I’ll let you know if we get a response.

This week, the folks at Unilever—the parent company for Axe Body Spray—learned the hard way that you can't perform nasty animal experiments for your product and have Pamela Anderson star in your ad campaigns. It's really one of those “one or the other” situations—both is just greedy. And, of course, it's worth mentioning that maiming and killing animals when you trawl out a new product is a singularly unpleasant way of carrying on in the first place.

Anyway, here's the letter that the wonderful Pamela wrote to Unilever asking them to get their heads out of their … um, out of the sand, and move their testing policy into the 21st century. Pamela, I know I've said this before, but I love you.

P.S. Click here for the full list of PETA—and Pam—approved companies that don’t test on animals.

Inexplicably, Hooters says, 'No Pam' Creative Commons

I’ve always had a soft spot in my heart for Hooters restaurants, because, in addition to being such a wholesome, tasteful place to go to with the family, they make these truly amazing fried pickles. OK, the “wholesome, tasteful” stuff is a bit of a stretch, but those pickles are seriously out of this world. Anyway, my feelings towards the place have cooled a little bit since PETA VP Dan Mathews told me what went down this week when he tried to book a Hooters in New York for a private party to launch his new book, Committed: A Rabble Rouser’s Memoir. The plan was to have Pamela Anderson host the party, where they were going to serve veggie Buffalo wings to the guests. But Hooters execs refused to allow the event, because, evidently, "PETA mobilizes strong feelings on both sides of the fence. It wouldn't make good business sense for us." How hilarious is it that a place called Hooters (for God’s sake) is getting all holier than thou at the prospect of having Pamela Anderson eating veggie burgers in one of their restaurants? I guess they’re afraid they won’t be able to measure up. Anyway, there was a great piece about it in the New York Post today, which you can read here.

I’m not mad at you, Hooters, just disappointed. I don’t want to suggest that I’m an expert on how to run a business, but if you’re the Marketing Department at Hooters, it just seems like such a lousy idea to go out of your way to keep Pamela Anderson out of your restaurants. And, as Dan pointed out, "Hosting the book party would have showed that Hooters is well rounded in more ways than one. We're always looking for ways to keep the 'T' and 'A' in PETA."

Damn, these victories always seem to come in pairs. Right after New Mexico announces that it has banned cockfighting, Tommy Hilfiger permanently drops fur from their collections. Citing ethical reasons for their decision, Tommy released a statement today saying:

“Starting immediately, the company will cease development of any product containing fur, and any fur garment already in production will be phased out of sales channels by the delivery of the spring 2008 collection.”

Just so you don't get the impression that these things happen overnight, here's a little behind-the-scenes for you from PETA VP Dan Mathews. Dan first ran into Tommy Hilfiger at Pamela Anderson's wedding in San Tropez in July, where they began a discussion about the ethical issues surrounding the fur industry (you know, the kind of stuff that always comes up at weddings), and they met again more recently at the World Music Awards in London in October to talk some more. Dan and Tommy had been planning on meeting again in New York this week, but it looks like that's not going to be necessary anymore. Anyway, since Pamela Anderson was responsible for the meeting in the first place, I figured I'd let her have the last word. Here's what she said about the great news when asked for comment:

"Since Tommy mostly used fur on collars and cuffs, his decision to go fur-free really puts the spotlight on fur trim, which is one of my biggest pet peeves. People who think 'it’s just a little fur trim' need to know that animals suffer tremendously for every piece of fur, and it’s unacceptable to wear any of it. Thanks, Tommy, for sticking up for the animals!"