Written by PETA
After pressure from PETA and our supporters, Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center (TTUHSC) has announced that it will no longer use homeless cats obtained from Odessa Animal Control in deadly medical training exercises. E-mails from concerned individuals, celebrity support, and rejected newspaper ads have had an effect. Thanks to each and every one of you who took action to help homeless cats escape cruelty at Texas Tech.
Has Texas Tech abandoned the practice of shoving hard, plastic tubes down the throats of cats altogether? We're not completely sure, but documents we've obtained indicate that TTUHSC has not purchased or used cats from any source within the past year. Could it be that officials have finally wised up to recommendations from both the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Heart Association, which endorse the exclusive use of manikins, not live animals, for the kind of training taught at Texas Tech?
While we nail down a definitive answer from Texas Tech officials, please take a moment to speak out against cruel experiments conducted on dogs, cats, rats, rabbits, mice, and other animals obtained from animal shelters by the University of Utah. PETA's successes depend on your support and willingness to take action. Let's keep the momentum going!
Written by Karin Bennett
Oscar-nominated, Emmy-winning actor—and animal defender extraordinaire—Woody Harrelson might have played the laid-back Carson Wells in No Country for Old Men, but he was almost as mad as his controversial character Mickey Knox when he learned about deadly medical training exercises involving cats at Texas Tech.
Homeless cats at the Odessa animal shelter—just a stone's throw away from the star's birthplace in Midland—are purchased by the university's Health Sciences Center and then abused and killed in medical training exercises. Faculty members and trainees force plastic tubes down the cats' throats and stab needles into their chests for procedures that invariably result in pain and death for the animals. Both the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Heart Association exclusively endorse the use of modern, human-like manikins—not live animals—for this kind of training in their courses.
Here's part of Woody's letter to Texas Tech President John Baldwin:
Harming and killing shelter animals for these exercises is unjustifiable, especially as realistic manikins that more accurately represent human anatomy and better prepare medical professionals to treat injured and sick children are readily available. . . . I and countless others around the state are deeply discouraged to learn that Texas Tech is taking advantage of the tragic abundance of abandoned animals.
Cheers to Woody for speaking out against these cruel exercises. Wood you (ouch) join him in protesting these cruel, outdated procedures?
The year was 1989. Grandpa Bush moved into the White House. Actor/dolphin protector Hayden Panettiere was born. And most Americans had never even heard of the Internet.
That same year, experiments were initiated at the University of Wisconsin in which rhesus monkeys were crammed into tiny, barren metal cages, slated to spend their entire lives as experiments in order to study the effects of diet on aging.
Fast-forward to 2009: These highly social animals are still isolated in cages—they've been there for two decades. One half of the population of 76 monkeys has been deliberately underfed for the past 20 years. All of them have been unable to take more than a step or two in any direction since arriving at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and—if researchers have their way—all these monkeys will continue to suffer until they die, which could take another 15 years.
The results of this experiment: After years of starvation, the "calorie-restricted" animals looked "less wrinkled and flabby."
The senior author of this grossly inhumane study, University of Wisconsin-Madison's Richard Weindruch, is blatantly ignoring the positive effects of exercise on the human heart, bone health, and body weight. And dozens of highly social, active animals have been condemned to a lifetime of isolation, without even the simplest yet meaningful benefit of cagemates, because of it. So, we've filed a complaint with the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC) and the U.S. Department of Agriculture stating that the positive health effects of caloric restriction have already been confirmed in short-term human trials and that the suffering endured by these monkeys is not justified by the perceived benefit of the experiment.
Since 1981, Sisi had been incarcerated at the Manila Zoo. Although orangutans are tree-dwelling animals, Sisi was forced to live much of her life in a tiny, litter-filled concrete-and-steel enclosure. She was on display continually in a cage that was surrounded by noisy souvenir stands and food vendors, and she was provided with nothing to hold her interest, help her pass the time, or stimulate her keen senses.
Sisi's death, reportedly from cancer, is just one indication of how animals have been left in deteriorating health without veterinary care at this atrocious zoo. Because PETA Asia-Pacific remains concerned about the well-being of the surviving animals at the Manila Zoo, who all lack the space, exercise, privacy, and mental stimulation that they require, the organization has decided to send a funeral wreath to the zoo in Sisi's honor. The wreath includes a ribbon emblazoned with the message "Sisi: Suffered in Life, Peace in Death" and will be accompanied by a card calling on zoo officials to close the facility's doors.
Written by Shawna Flavell
If you're trying to reduce your carbon footprint, changing your light bulbs is a good start—but PETA's Lettuce Ladies are on a mission to let people know that there's a better (and more delicious) way to go green. Our environmental crusaders' first stop was the Consumers Energy building in Grand Rapids, Michigan, where they gave passersby free veggie burgers and—for some instant gratification to show the environmental impact of adopting a vegetarian diet—coupons for $10 off their energy bills.
According to Environmental Defense, if every American replaced meat with vegetarian foods just once per week, the carbon dioxide savings would be equivalent to taking more than half a million cars off U.S. roads. So, how about cooking up a vegetarian meal for dinner tonight?
Written by Liz Graffeo
For the first time in nearly 15 years, a human has died after being gored by a bull at the Running of the Bulls.
How many bulls have died this time around as a direct result of being gored by humans?
All of them.
Every year, all bulls who are sent charging down the narrow, winding streets of Pamplona end up in the bullring. We're not talking about one bull here. We're talking hundreds and hundreds over the course of 15 years.
Nobody has died at the Running of the Nudes.
You do the math.
Watch video footage of the Running of the Bulls and goring here.
Inspired by the recent release of Carol Leifer's vegetarian testimonials, here are the 10 most knee-slapping, gut-busting, laugh-til-you-cry PSAs that PETA has to offer:
I admit that the order of this list was subjective, so why don't you leave a comment to tell us which PETA PSA you think is the funniest?
Finally, I'll be able to watch Top Chef with a clear conscience! Have you heard the deliciously good news? The Bravo show has announced its list of guest judges for the upcoming season, and on the roster is none other than the stunning vegan actor Ms. Natalie Portman!
I can't not love this show!
While it crushes my little heart each time the show's chefs spotlight animal unfriendly cuisine, you and I both know what must be in store if they're open to featuring Natalie. Given that the gal won't even wear leather for a big-screen role (instead ensuring that producers find her cruelty-free synthetics) and is an ethical vegan, we can be sure that the show's contestants will cook up some dishes that we'll all want to devour.
Written by Missy Lane
If you have a general question for PETA and would like a response, please e-mail Info@peta.org. If you need to report cruelty to an animal, please click here. If you are reporting an animal in imminent danger and know where to find the animal and if the abuse is taking place right now, please call your local police department. If the police are unresponsive, please call PETA immediately at 757-622-7382 and press 2.
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