Written by PETA
When award-winning New Yorker cartoonist and longtime PETA pal Harry Bliss sits down to write a children's book about a day at school with a lovable mutt named Bailey, you know it'll be a big hit with kids. But with Bliss' talent for satire, even adults will enjoy a chuckle or two.
Dedicated to PETA president Ingrid E. Newkirk, Bailey makes it clear that although kids may prefer to read books—while Bailey prefers to chew them—both kids and dogs have specific needs and deserve respect and kindness.
Bliss has often used his genius to create original artwork specifically to help animals, including his remarkable life-size baby elephant sculpture, Ella PhantzPeril, which he designed for PETA's campaign against animal circuses, and his crippled chicken statue for PETA's Kentucky Fried Cruelty campaign. Bliss has also created wonderful thought-provoking covers for PETA's Animal Times magazine.
One of the funniest parts of the book is a play on the age-old excuse for not turning in homework—the dog ate it. But in Bailey's case, he really does eat his homework. And in the time-honored tradition of trading lunches in the cafeteria, Bailey tries to barter his beloved and well-chewed bone for a little girl's sandwich.
Bailey is replete with touching and beautifully drawn anecdotes that will bring smiles to the faces of kids and adults alike.
Written by Joe Taksel
The current issue of The New Yorker explores an idea whose time has come: test-tube meat. An international network of stem-cell biologists and tissue engineers, cheered on by animal-rights advocates and environmentalists, are working on growing muscle tissue in vitro just as it is now grown inside the bodies of animals, but without all the filth, environmental devastation, and cruelty associated with factory farms and slaughterhouses.
The author notes that one drawback to test-tube meat is its cost, but it's important to bear in mind that meat production is currently heavily subsidized. It is estimated that, without subsidies, the average cost of hamburger would be around $35 a pound. And that doesn't even take into account the huge medical costs associated with heart disease, strokes, diabetes, and other diseases linked with meat consumption.
Quick to see the tremendous lifesaving potential of lab-grown meat, PETA has sponsored biological engineer Nicholas Genovese's research into it. Says PETA President Ingrid E. Newkirk, "If people are unwilling to stop eating animals by the billions, then what a joy to be able to give them animal flesh that comes without the horror of the slaughterhouse, the transport truck, and the mutilations, pain, and suffering of factory farming."
While you wait for test-tube T-bones to show up in your local Winn-Dixie, you can get started saving lives (your own and animals') today by ordering a free vegetarian/vegan starter kit.
Written by Michelle Sherrow
Anger continues to rise over the ongoing oil leak from a ruptured BP well in the Gulf of Mexico. Politicians, eager to show that they feel our pain, are taking a hard stance. Yet nowhere near enough attention has been paid to the most seriously harmed and still-threatened victims of the leak: The animals who live in and on the increasingly polluted waters.
But one notable exception is Barry Blitt's wonderful cover illustration for the June 7 issue of The New Yorker, which depicts an oil executive facing an inquiry conducted by coastal and aquatic animals. Now that's the kind of hearing that BP's bigwigs should be subjected to, because the stories and images coming out of the Gulf are devastating—and no amount of monetary compensation will save these animals: They cannot buy new wings or flippers. A dead sperm whale was found this week, though he or she may have died up to a week before being sighted. Other animals who are able to see and sense what is happening are fleeing to the shallow waters near the shore to try to escape the spreading oil, raising the risk of more deaths from lack of oxygen as a result of severe crowding.
This situation can seem overwhelming, but we can each help prevent these kinds of disasters by adopting a vegan diet as a way to reduce our dependence on oil. And we can insist that those in power address the dangers faced by the Gulf's most vulnerable residents.
Written by Jeff Mackey
Animals who are bred and killed for their fur in China live in misery from birth to death. Chinchillas, foxes, minks, raccoons—and, yes, even dogs and cats—are jammed into crowded wire cages, and the close confinement and filthy conditions quickly lead to mental illness. As documented in our undercover video, fur farmers kill animals by bashing their heads in or breaking their necks while they are still conscious.
Animal protection laws are nonexistent in China, but PETA Asia is working overtime to change that. Whether by submitting recommendations for China's first-ever animal protection legislation, going undercover at fur farms, or exposing the hideous conditions for animals in Chinese zoos, PETA Asia is tirelessly on the front line for animals.
Please take a moment to write to the Chinese ambassador to the U.S., Zhang Yesui, and ask him to do everything in his power to put animal welfare on the agenda in his country. Share the video with family and friends, and remember: If we don't watch it, we can't stop it.
For more information on animal welfare in China, please check out PETA Asia's Web site.
Written by Jennifer O'Connor
It's a hazy day here on the Right Coast. As I watch leaves fall and steam rise from my soy mocha, the mood is set for a lazy (yet highly skilled) meander through gossip rags for fun stuff. Here are my faves:
Thanks for stopping by! Catch you next time, and don't forget to hug all your vegetarian friends.
Written by Missy Lane
When I lived in the Louisville area, there were several things I thought the city could've used—like more vegan restaurants or a more extensive public transportation system. But you know what Louisville—home to the headquarters of KFC—really needs? The city is sorely in need of our chicken statue, designed by award-winning children's book author and cartoonist for The New Yorker Harry Bliss.
We're asking Louisville's Department of Public Works to allow us to install the statue in downtown Louisville for three months, starting July 15. We hope that it will draw attention to the millions of chickens who are killed each year for KFC—chickens who live out their short lives in ammonia-ridden sheds locked in cages in which there's not even room to take a single step in any direction. At the slaughterhouse, their throats are cut while they are still conscious, and they are often scalded alive.
We submitted our permit request this morning—hopefully Louisville's downtown area will have an artsy new addition in just a couple of weeks!
Written by Amanda Schinke
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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