From Abigail Adams' dogs, Juno and Satan, to Bo Obama, the animal companions who live at the White House become such a part of our country's collective culture (there is even a Presidential Pet Museum!) that everyone, regardless of political affiliation, mourns their passing.

When we heard that President George W. Bush's dog Barney, famous for his annual "BarneyCam" Christmas videos, died, PETA sent a letter of condolence to the Bush family, mentioning that a leaf with Barney's name engraved on it would be added to the Tree of Life memorial sculpture at our Norfolk, Virginia, headquarters:

PETA received this gracious response from President Bush:

Whether you're an ordinary Joe (or Jane) or the leader of the free world, when a dog takes hold of your heart, it's the start of something very special. Make sure that your dogs know just how special they are to you before they turn off the lights forever by treating them right—and that includes making a proper fuss over them on a regular basis.

How did you celebrate your last birthday? Did you have dinner at a nice restaurant? Take in a ballgame? Go to your friend's house for a surprise party? PETA Foundation staffer Kendall Bryant—aka "The Straw Boss"—would have none of that. She spent her birthday delivering straw bedding to cold dogs in North Carolina with her accomplice Dan "CircusesHurtAnimals.com" Carron. And because Kendall is a talented photographer and videographer, she documented her trip and turned it into a must-see video: 

Kendall and Dan met pit bulls Tyson, Diamond, Pretty, and Tiger, who were all struggling to stay warm as best they could during the first snowfall of the winter. You can tell by their furiously wagging tails that they were nearly as thrilled to get some attention as they were to get fluffy straw, a hearty meal, and, in the case of Tyson, a lightweight tie-out to replace his heavy logging chain.

The pair also helped Bear, a golden retriever mix whose drinking water had frozen solid, and a pack of beagles, possibly used for hunting, who eagerly gobbled up the food that they were offered. (Many people don't realize that dogs kept outside in the wintertime burn more calories to keep warm and therefore need more food.)

In total, Kendall and Dan helped 18 dogs, three rabbits, a cat, and a rooster that day. I'd call that a birthday well spent.

In just one week, we could require the Obama administration to address the fact that animals are still being killed in gas chambers. It's up to us.

Currently posted to the White House's "We the People" petition site is an appeal asking for federal attention to the suffering that animals endure when they are gassed. It can take as long as 45 minutes for a dog or cat to die in a gas chamber. He or she may convulse, vomit, gasp for breath, attempt to claw through the walls, void his or her bowels, howl in panic, and even be bitten by other frightened animals. And some animals do not die, like Daniel, the Alabama dog who has become the face of the movement to ban gas chambers.

Compare this to an intravenous injection of sodium pentobarbital, administered by trained professionals, that assures that the animal "falls asleep," the same quick, painless loss of consciousness that we feel when we are given anesthetics before surgery.

But despite the cruelty of gas chambers and the affordability of humane injections, it is still legal to gas animals in 31 states. Let's change that. We have until February 18 to collect 100,000 signatures.

I'm going to add my name to the petition right now. Will you please join me?

PETA first learned about Boomer when his owner was seeking a new doghouse for the 4-year-old Rottweiler, who was left outside 24/7 in the Pacific Northwest. A PETA cruelty caseworker urged her to allow Boomer to live indoors or else give him up so that he could have a chance to be adopted by someone who would. When she balked at doing either, the caseworker worked with a local animal advocate to try to persuade her to act in Boomer's best interests.

Happily, Boomer's owner eventually opted to give him up so that he wouldn't have to spend the whole winter shivering outside all alone. Now the personable pup is in a foster home, and his foster mom is so smitten with him that she says if she can't find the "perfect, perfect home" for him, she will just keep him herself.

It's the best possible outcome for a dog or cat—a bright future filled with care and affection instead of cold and loneliness.

What You Can Do

Please help dogs like Boomer by working to pass anti-chaining legislation in your community, and if you know of any animals left outside all the time, don't assume that the owners won't listen to you—speak up and try to make a difference!

When a PETA staffer found this dog named President Obama two years ago, he was stuck on a tangled lead in a trash-strewn yard without proper food, water, shelter, or attention of any kind.

He was fed table scraps by his owner, who would not consider allowing him indoors. Our staff member visited Obama frequently over the next two years, each time offering to find him a new home but always getting turned down. So PETA did what we could to keep the little guy healthy and comfortable, including providing him with a new doghouse and neutering him. 

Recently, when a snowstorm was approaching, PETA's staffer took Obama some straw for warmth and found him wet and shivering in the freezing-cold backyard. But this time, the little tyke's owner finally agreed to let PETA take him, which just goes to show why it's so important never to give up when a chained dog needs help.) Here is Obama in his wonderful new home with his adopted "sister":

As you can see, Obama has made himself right at home with his new family—and, just like someone else we know, is taking full advantage of his second chance! 

The strain of months of neglect showed on the horses' emaciated frames and in their sunken eyes. Confined to muddy pens that had long since been grazed out, they could only stare at the grass out of reach beyond the fence. They continually checked their dry water troughs, hoping that the rainy Washington weather would leave them a sip of water. Two dogs on the property fared no better. They waited listlessly for the once-a-week drop-by from their owner, when they would finally get to eat.

People who lived near the property where the animals were kept had called law enforcement time and again to report that the seven horses and the dogs were being neglected.For months, officials had been trying to get the animals’ owner to improve their living conditions, but the situation was getting worse. Finally, a neighbor called PETA and, at our urging, law enforcement seized all the animals. Several community residents stepped up to foster the horses and help them recover and the local animal shelter took in the dogs. A veterinarian confirmed that one of them was a full 40 pounds underweight.

Now, the horses and dogs are eating well and regaining their strength. And PETA is working with the district attorney to get cruelty charges filed against the animals' neglectful owner and we will push for the court to ban her from owning any more animals.

UPDATE: Santa Paws brought a gift early this year! We're delighted to share some great news to kick off the holidays—and what could be better than a happy ending for puppies?

Following the dynamic campaigns of PETA and its affiliates worldwide, the 70 4-month-old beagles sent for horrible experiments in an Indian laboratory have just been rescued! A huge "thank-you" to the more than 50,000 compassionate people around the world who e-mailed Indian officials through the websites of PETA and its international affiliates urging them to take action. The dogs have been removed from quarantine and handed over to animal protection groups with the permission of the Ministry of Environment & Forests and through efforts made internally in government by MP Maneka Gandhi. 

During its campaign, PETA India discovered that Beijing Marshall Biotechnology Co., Ltd. (a branch of the notorious animal-breeding facility Marshall BioResources), had sent a letter to the airline used for the animals' transport—which has a longstanding policy against shipping animals to laboratories—giving false assurances that the beagles "won't be hurt or killed as Lab Animal [sic]."

While these 70 lucky dogs have been spared lives of misery and pain in a laboratory, there's still work to be done to keep more animals out of the hands of experimenters in India. Air India recently resumed shipping animals to laboratories; please urge airline officials to stop delivering animals to their torturers and executioners.

 

Originally posted November 13:

Thanks to a whistleblower, PETA India found out that 70 beagles exported from China into India and falsely labeled as "pets" are actually to be used in deadly experiments.  PETA India is calling on the Indian government to conduct an urgent investigation. It has also asked officials to confiscate the dogs and allow the organization to give them a chance at living in peace in adoptive homes instead of facing caging, poisoning, and death in a laboratory.

 As I write, the beagles are being held at Animal Quarantine and Certification Services in Chennai. Their falsified  import paperwork should render the shipment illegal, as PETA India has learned that the animals, sent from commercial breeder Beijing Marshall Biotechnology Co. Ltd., are actually meant for a laboratory at Advinus Therapeutics.

Saving 70 Snoopys

People may generally picture mice, rats, and rabbits when they think about animals used in experiments, but a great many dogs—including puppies and homeless animals from shelters—are tormented and killed in laboratories as well. Dogs are often used in toxicology tests in which they are force-fed massive amounts of a drug, industrial chemical, pesticide, or household product, causing a slow, excruciating death from poisoning.

Oddly, experimenters particularly favor beagles because of their size and their eager-to-please nature—a quality that would normally make a person want to protect and care for them, not torture them.

Making the Connection

Even though I have lived with beagles and beagle mixes since childhood—including my current companions, Beau and Oliver—when it came to understanding the inexcusable cruelty of experimenting on animals, I never quite "got it" until I saw this picture during a PETA conference. That's when I realized that there could be never be sufficient justification for inflicting this kind of suffering on a dog so much like Beau.

Then I realized something else: No animal deserves to be burned, poisoned, mutilated, or killed in a laboratory. They're all living beings with thoughts, feelings, and desires—including the desire to live free from harm—just like my dog. Just like me. Even if animal experimentation produced reliable results (which it doesn't), it's no more ethical to torture a mouse, a rabbit, or a monkey in a laboratory in the name of science than it would be to torture us or our animal companions.

 What You Can Do

PETA and its international affiliates are 100 percent committed to ending the torture of animals in cruel tests and experiments, and they've already won many victories. But there's more to be done—and they need your help. Learn how you can help keep animals out of laboratories.

Want to have a New Year's celebration that's "off da chain"? Start by getting dogs off theirs. (Chains, that is.) Since it's time to make resolutions, make one of yours a pledge to see an end to chaining in your community by year's end—all it takes is persuading local officials to make (and then pass) a kind of resolution of their own!

Need more convincing? Meet Ziggy. This was his life before PETA—and a caring animal advocate, Alexis Tsiouris—came into it:

Alexis and PETA worked together over the course of a year to get Ziggy (then named Gizmo) off his chain and into a true home. After PETA alerted Alexis to Ziggy's plight, she delivered straw and treats to him. Both Alexis and PETA contacted his owner, who finally surrendered him to Alexis. Ziggy now lives indoors with his loving family, including three other dogs:

Ziggy's life is as bright now as it once was bleak. But with so many "backyard dogs" on chains and ropes, one-dog-at-a-time rescues—while worthwhile and often necessary—can't effectively help them all.

That's why it's so vital that tethering (chaining) bans become law in every community. While Ziggy was chained up, for example, PETA had sent law-enforcement officials to check on him twice, but they determined that his situation was legal so nothing could be done about it. A chaining ban would give authorities the necessary tools to help dogs like Ziggy.

What You Can Do

This year, put "Get a tethering ban passed" at the top of your list of New Year's resolutions and get it done before 2013 comes to a close. Learn how and then make your resolution: no more chained dogs!

With so many out-of-control hoarders claiming to be animal rescuers, "rescue" has become a buzzword to beware of—especially when combined with irresponsible "no-kill" promises. The strength of their compulsion also makes it vital that, when convicted, hoarders be stopped from possessing any animals in the future in order to break the cycle of abuse.

The latest reminder comes from Alabama, where Sharlotte Marie Adams, the operator of Animal Aid and Rescue Resources Inc., and her husband were arrested after a complaint was filed alleging misuse of funds and other donations to the "organization." When police searched the Adamses' home, site of the purported rescue, they reportedly discovered atrocious conditions. Andalusia Animal Shelter Director Christin Ball, whose staff is rehabilitating and housing some of the seized animals, said this about their condition:

They were all sick. There's one that we're not sure if he's going to make it or not. They've had no care whatsoever. It's sad. She claimed she'd taken them to the vet, but no one had.

Law-enforcement officials suspect that Adams exploited people's "generosity by using cash donations – solicited under the guise of treating sick animals – to pay for personal items such as electric bills and groceries for the family."

The couple was reportedly booked on charges of theft, endangering the welfare of a child, and cruelty to animals. But while police may have been shocked by what they found inside the house, PETA's investigations often reveal nightmarish conditions at many so-called "rescue" facilities, such as Caboodle Ranch and Sacred Vision. And, as in those cases, it will be critical to seek a prohibition on animal ownership as part of the penalty if the Adamses are convicted.

What You Can Do

If you learn of any hoarding case—whether posing as a rescue or not—please contact the prosecuting agency and/or attorney's office to ensure that any sentence or plea bargain include a clause forbidding the hoarder from owning or possessing animals.

While Hurricane Sandy's gale-force winds rattled buildings and its driving rain flooded roads, most people probably weren't thinking about spaying and neutering animals. But that's exactly what the folks who staff PETA's Mobile Clinics Division (MCD) program were thinking. Natural disasters should strengthen our resolve to spay and neuter because fewer unwanted animals born means fewer stray animals left to suffer on the streets.

Despite not being able to provide low-cost spay-and-neuter services in the middle of the hurricane—or over the Thanksgiving holiday, when people had other things on their minds—the MCD team altered almost 700 animals in November—699, to be exact.

Here are just a few of them: 

This dear pit bull's guardian is undergoing cancer treatment and wasn't able to take her dog to the vet. PETA got Sasha spayed, vaccinated, and back home again to comfort her guardian.

Morgan and Beanie might not have been as desperate to be spayed as they were to get cookies—but fortunately, they got both.

Teepee was already in heat, so her guardian knew that there was no time to waste. We quickly got Teepee spayed before she could add to the overpopulation crisis.

In just one year, one unspayed cat can give birth to 16 kittens and an unspayed dog can produce 12 puppies. Please help us stem the animal-homelessness crisis by supporting your local spay-and-neuter initiatives.