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Tomorrow is the birthday of PETA's favorite British comedian (Ricky Gervais … obviously), so PETA Europe has teamed up with Animal Rahat to give him a very unusual present … a bullock! Well, they haven't exactly gift-wrapped and mailed him a bullock—that would just be wrong—but they have rescued and retired a hardworking bullock through Animal Rahat and named the lucky guy "Ricky" in Gervais' honor.

Gervais' cute namesake is a 20-year-old bull who has worked the sugar mill district in Sangli, India, his entire life and would have been sent to slaughter if Animal Rahat had not rescued him.

PETA Europe wanted to give Ricky an extra-special birthday present this year for being such a great sport for animals. As you may recall, the star launched into a hilarious "tirade" earlier this year against organizations that send animals to people in developing countries. Recognizing that impoverished people often lack the basic means to feed and care for the animals they receive, Ricky remarked, "There's nothing in it for the goat!"

Add to that the letter he sent to Gordon Brown asking for an end to the use of real bearskins for The Queen's Guards' caps and his teaming up with Pink to voice one of the characters in our Stolen for Fashion CGI video, and you have one compassionate comedian who deserves a great big "Thank you!"

Happy birthday, Ricky.

Posted by Shawna Flavell

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

How many crocodiles does it take to make a leather bag?

It sounds like the start of a really bad joke, but in a recent article, the chief executive for the French "luxury" goods group Hermes said, "It can take three to four crocodiles to make one of our bags so we are now breeding our own crocodiles on our own farms, mainly in Australia." (emphasis added)

He then quipped, "The world is not full of crocodiles, except the stock exchange!"

Oh, ho ho, funny guy. If you weren't ripping their skins off—sometimes while they are still alive and able to call out in distress—and turning them into overpriced purses, there would probably be plenty of crocodiles running around.

They did outlive the dinosaurs, after all, so my guess is that their survival instincts are pretty acute.

Here's what PETA Senior Vice President Dan Mathews had to say:

The thought of purposely breeding and killing crocodiles for an outdated, overpriced handbag should make any fashionista's skin crawl. If Hermes really wants to be a leader in the fashion industry, it should stop killing animals for cold-blooded vanity and use cruelty-free mock croc and fake snake instead. As Pink—who recently provided the voice of a computer-generated crocodile in PETA's "Stolen for Fashion" commercial—says, "Killing animals for their skins is so disgusting that it doesn't make me want to befriend designers who use them."

So how about this: Instead of breeding reptiles for fashion faux pas, watch "Stolen for Fashion," then pull a switcharoo and start using stylish synthetics instead.

Posted by Shawna Flavell

Pink and Stella McCartney took time out of their busy schedules this afternoon to unveil our new TV ad, "Stolen for Fashion," at Paris' fashion week. In the 30-second spot, a loveable alligator, voiced by Pink, and a feisty rabbit, voiced by U.K. funnyman Ricky Gervais, confront the fashion felons who stole their skins. Check out pictures of the unveiling below:

Pink and Stella McCartney

Pink and PETA VP Dan Mathews

Oh, and if you haven't seen the ad yet, check it out here. Don't forget to post a comment below letting us know what you think!

Posted by Liz Graffeo