Of course I don't mean that these sexy vegetarians contribute to the mind-blowing amount of greenhouse-gas emissions caused by the meat industry. Au contraire! The winners of our Sexiest Vegetarian Alive contest turned up the heat with their sleek physiques and radiant good looks. PETA’s affiliates also recently announced the winners of their international Sexiest Vegetarian contests.

And the winners are:

PETA U.S.

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Kellie Pickler shares more with the world than her stunning voice. When she went vegetarian, she was quick to share her decision with close friend and past PETA champ Carrie Underwood.

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Mamma mia! How handsome is Milo Ventimiglia? There's really no question, judging by all the winning votes that the star of television's Heroes raked in.

PETA Asia-Pacific: Australia

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Voters went gaga for gorgeous Geelong-born Portia De Rossi, who went vegan with her wife, comedian and television host Ellen DeGeneres. Portia says, "It feels like such a compassionate choice. We are such animal lovers, why stop short of cows and chickens? It didn't make any sense."

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Hunky Australian Idol host Andrew G. racked up the most votes for the gentlemen. He says of his decision to go vegan, "The cleaner I kept my diet, the more obvious benefits I felt."

PETA Asia-Pacific: Asia

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Voters crowned beautiful Taiwanese actor and singer Barbie Hsu Asia's Sexiest Vegetarian Woman of 2009. Barbie says, "Lives are equal, eating meat is like eating corpses to me, and it makes me feel sick and sad."

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And Bollywood superstar and heartthrob Shahid Kapoor has won the title of Asia's Sexiest Male Vegetarian. Word is, he convinced leading lady Kareena Kapoor to go vegetarian while they were dating.

PETA Germany

The writing was on the wall early in the competition: The lovely tattooed television host Lina van de Mars won top spot for the women.

Rap star Thomas D. of the hip-hop band Die Fantastischen Vier wrapped up his win for Sexiest Male Vegetarian.

Now put your palms together, not just for these winners but for all the vegetarian hotties who were in the running for this year's title.

Posted by Karin Bennett

It shouldn’t surprise anyone that selectively breeding dogs for certain “aesthetic” traits like a shiny nose, or perky ears—or whatever the hell it is that breeders are looking for in the animals they use for self-gratification and profit—isn’t good for the animals, and in fact can cause extreme health problems. All of the animals who won awards at the AKC-sponsored Westminster Dog Show this week have something in common beyond having been deliberately bred into a world where millions of animals are dying on the streets for lack of a good home: They’re all genetically predisposed to be highly susceptible to a laundry list of debilitating diseases.

In first place, we have Uno, the first beagle ever to take home the “Best in Show” honors at Westminster. As a beagle, Uno has a significantly higher risk of hypothyroidism, demodectic mange (a condition that occurs when a dog’s immune system can’t regulate the number of mites living in the skin), umbilical hernia, epilepsy, eye and eyelid problems, cryptorchidism, hip dysplasia, intervertebral disk disease, and luxating patella. But I’m sure his Westminster crown will console him when one or more of these ailments set in.

The two poodle contestants, Vikki and Remy, who were just edged out by Uno in the competition, probably won’t live as long as he does either: Poodles are prone to cataracts, progressive retinal atrophy, allergies, severe skin disease, hip dysplasia, runny eyes, ear infections, Von Willebrand disease, bloat, and Addison's disease—an adrenal gland deficiency which requires lifelong medication and monitoring.

Uno also defeated a Weimaraner named Marge (elbow dysplasia, bloat) a Sealyham terrier named Charmin (bronchitis, early tooth decay, poor digestion, severe spine problems), and an Australian shepherd named Deuce (hip dysplasia, blood disorders, digestive problems, epilepsy, chronic eczema, gastric disorders, spinal paralysis).

So everyone’s a loser. Thanks, breeders, for contributing to the problem. Can’t wait to see you guys next year.

About a year ago, I was part of a big brainstorming meeting where we came up with all these ideas for ads that we could make to draw attention to the suffering of chickens in factory farms that wouldn't be just, like, pictures of sad chickens. It was a great meeting, and we came up with a bunch of interesting stuff—ranging from funny to poignant to clever to (inevitably) just really weird. But after the meeting it sort of became clear that we'd just never have the time, money, or staff to turn all of the ideas we had into actual ads, market them, and get them out into the world. Which, you know, sad story and all, but the happy ending is that this year, the Young Guns Ad Agency held a competition for design students, advertising professionals, and artists around the world to make a compelling PETA ad about chickens. We've just announced the winners, and you can check out some of the other entries and vote for the "People's Choice" Award here. Here's one of the ads I liked: