Written by Michelle Kretzer
Presidential debate moderator Candy Crowley likes getting into meaty issues—but not into meat. Maybe it was her vegetarian diet that gave her enough energy to keep the candidates in line?
Newly vegan Kristen Bell doesn't miss an opportunity to advocate for animals—and she doesn't miss dairy products, either. "[H]onestly, there are so many good substitutes available now that I really don't miss anything," she told Shape magazine. Kristen also mentioned that as much as she loves sloths, she would never keep one because, she says, "I don't support the exotic animal trade."
Salma Hayek agrees. She told Jimmy Fallon, "I am completely against people having exotic animals as pets. This is completely, completely wrong." Gushing about her passion for rescue, she rattled off all the animals who inhabit her estate, adding, "See, I had no husband, no children. I only had my animals, and I'm not going to get rid of them just because I fell in love, and, you know, motherhood. "
Ben Stiller realizes that exotic animals don't belong behind bars, either. The funnyman got serious when asked how he feels about zoos, saying, "I used to be for it. Now I'm against it. I don't love zoos; I've taken my kids to them but I saw that documentary a couple of years ago, The Cove, and that affected me in terms of knowing how these dolphins get into these dolphin parks. So I stopped supporting them." What else have Stiller and his family stopped supporting? The meat and dairy industries—Stiller and his wife, Christine Taylor, are vegan and are helping their kids embrace veganism, too.
The winner of RuPaul's Drag Race, Sharon Needles, embraced flesh of the human variety for her Halloween-themed pro-vegetarian ad for PETA. Drag royalty Lady Bunny was one of the multitude of folks speaking up for animals on Twitter this week, posting her excitement about the new ad:
Leonardo DiCaprio knows that sometimes you need a little more than 140 characters, so he is devoting his Facebook page to the protection of whales, orcas, seals, and penguins. The actor asked for support for the Antarctic Ocean Alliance, which aims to create "the world's largest network of marine protected areas."
Pamela Anderson is ready to take her advocacy for horses face to face: She invited New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn on a date! Pam is set to host a gala that will benefit the campaign to replace horse-drawn carriages with eco-friendly replicas of classic cars, and she thinks that if Quinn attends, the speaker will reconsider her support of the horse-drawn carriage industry.
To keep up with what your favorite stars are doing for animals, follow @PETA on Twitter.
Written by PETA
It's so hot in the city, you'd think I'd be making another batch of lemonade—but I've got a hankering for some Internet Soup. It's been a while since the last batch, so dig in!
Oof! I don't know about you, but I'm full after all that soup—and guac. This Special K needs a siesta. Until next time …
Written by Karin Bennett
After 30 years, Legends!—the infamous Broadway-play-that-wasn't—will finally be making its debut on the New York stage.
While the original, ill-fated touring productions featured such starlets as Carol Channing, Joan Collins, Linda Evans, and Mary Martin as aging rivals parading around in furs, the PETA-friendly revival will feature Whoopi Goldberg and drag legends Charles Busch and Lypsinka in some pretty spectacular faux furs. Hmm—the productions that used real fur never made it to New York, but the fur-free production has … weren't we just talking about curses?
How, you may ask, did this production get to be so animal-friendly? As PETA Senior Vice President Dan Mathews explains, "When Lypsinka heard about all the mink that was going to be used in the show, she asked PETA to help make sure that the fur was as fake as the leading ladies." Dan introduced the producers of Legends! to Donna Salyers' Fabulous-Furs, and the rest is fabulous costuming history.
This one-night-only revival of Legends! opens and closes tonight in New York's Town Hall, and the proceeds will benefit Friends in Deed, a crisis center for people with life-threatening illnesses. If you happen to be in the New York area and want to help out a good cause—and see some truly ravishing leading "ladies"—tickets may still be available through the organization's Web site.
Written by Amanda Schinke
Colonel Sanders got a taste of his own medicine when PETA marked the Association of Kentucky Fried Chicken Franchisees Convention in Maryland last month by "slaughtering" the Colonel outside a nearby KFC restaurant.
Luckily for the brave actor portraying Colonel Sanders, our slaughter methods are a bit more humane than those employed by KFC's suppliers. The Colonel was not slammed into shackles (which often breaks birds' legs), he wasn't jolted by an electrified "stun bath," and he wasn't dunked into a scalding-hot defeathering tank. Nope—we just strung him up, poked him with a plastic knife, and let the red paint fly. But it made a darned nice visual, didn't it?
Written by Alisa Mullins
After finding out that Renninger's Farmers and Flea Market in Mount Dora, Florida, was offering rides on a female African elephant named Nosey, we immediately contacted the manager and alerted him to the dangers that elephant rides pose to both elephants and the public. After listening to our concerns and hearing from local citizens, Renninger's canceled the rides. Yay!
Most people don't realize that captive elephants are beaten, chained, and denied almost everything that is natural and important to them. This understandably causes aggression and poses a risk to humans—since 1990, rampaging elephants have killed 13 people and injured 120. Just a couple weeks ago, 12 children were injured by an elephant at the Shrine Circus, and in 2004, Nosey herself hit a Liebel Family Circus employee on the back of the head with her trunk, sending him to the hospital. I'm guessing that the parents who let their children take a ride on Nosey had no knowledge of this attack.
To be fair to Nosey—and all captive elephants—it's pretty clear what they're so mad about. After Nosey's outburst in 2004, the injured man described an incident in which a trainer "used the bullhook handle, turned off the lights in the performance ring, and beat the elephant." The trainer also encouraged others to take part in the abuse by striking her with objects such as a sledgehammer and shovel handles. When the USDA investigated the facility, they found that the Liebel Family Circus was not providing the animals in its care with adequate food, shelter, or veterinary care.
Don't you agree that it's time to put a permanent end to the abuse of elephants in circuses?
Written by Liz Graffeo
Norfolk’s annual Doo Dah Parade invites local organizations and business owners to march the streets in ludicrous outfits so that the citizens of this fine city can laugh at them. I’ve never quite figured out why this goes on, but it’s certainly a whole lot of fun. Tragically, I didn’t make it this year, but a lot of my colleagues did — all dolled up in dresses and wigs to show that “Fur Is a Drag” — so let’s take this opportunity to laugh at them now:
A gaggle of grim reapers made an appearance at Milan Fashion Week Thursday. The dramatic demonstration reminded attendees of the reality of real fur—it’s dead.
Great job PETA Europe!
Not all of Oscar De La Hoya's fans were as happy about the pics of the world-famous boxer prancing around in fishnets and a mini skirt as we were here at PETA. But as soon as we saw the photos—which have been dutifully circulating the celebrity blog circuit this week after the good folks at x17 broke the story—we thought he'd be just perfect for our Fur Is a Drag campaign. You can read PETA's letter to Oscar below. We just can’t figure out why his management is so upset about the whole thing—men as diverse as Rudy Giuliani, Tom Hanks, Robin Williams, and Jamie Foxx have donned a dress without any adverse effect to their careers. Don't you think Oscar would be a knockout on the catwalk?
Dear Oscar,The controversy surrounding the cross-dressing photos of you could be turned around to do some good. One of PETA’s most amusing ongoing campaigns is called Fur Is a Drag, which has involved parodies of fur fashion shows, featuring cross-dressing models sporting donated furs which are spattered with paint and accessorized with cruel leghold traps. We’re planning our next Fur is Drag runway parody for this December in New York, to be hosted by drag sensation Lady Bunny, founder of the Wigstock festival. Might you consider walking the catwalk? You’d be a real knockout. Maybe we can help turn this scandal from a sow’s ear into a silk purse—with matching pumps. Sincerely,Dan MathewsVice PresidentPETA
I love me some Nellie McKay. She just released her new album, Obligatory Villagers, yesterday, so I wanted to give it a quick shout out. Nellie never misses an opportunity to talk about her love of animals and what people can do to make the world a better place for them, and here’s what she had to say when she sat down with the uber-hip peta2 posse recently:
Tell us about the new album, Obligatory Villagers.
It's a rumbus opus, a ragtime sonata. It's about the times we live in.
What animal rights issues are you most passionate about?
Every outrage deserves attention. In terms of scope, ending factory farming & our relationship to animals as food is key, because from there, victory in other areas is inevitable.
Do you think schools should be required to offer students alternatives to dissection? Why?
Schools should not only offer students alternatives, they should completely remove dissection & vivisection from their curriculum. Knowledge without compassion is useless.
Do you have any dissection horror stories from your school days that you'd like to share?
In fourth grade we campaigned to remove formaldehyde jars entombing small animals from the science room. We circulated petitions & met w/the principal & made the teachers really nervous. The jars were removed.
Why did you choose to become a vegetarian?
I was fortunate enough to go vegetarian w/my parents. The sight of caged & suffering animals in animal rights literature elicited an instant response of sadness & anger. Kids have a natural empathy w/ animals.
What's your favorite vegetarian dish?
My Mother's vegan fish & chips w/ brown beans is always on the top of the list.
Any advice for people who want to get involved in animal rights but don't know how to get started?
The biggest thing you can do for the animals, the earth, & humankind (including yourself) is to switch to an animal-free diet. It may not be easy, it may not be instant, but start & watch the world change for the better.
What's up next for you?
I'm working with the Coalition to Preserve Community to prevent Columbia University from demolishing eighteen acres of Harlem to construct a new campus. Among their development plans is a level-3 biotech lab, which would almost certainly include animal research. And of course, I mention ColumbiaCruelty.com wherever I go.
KP was my boss for the first year that I was at PETA, back when I was an editor for the organization myself and spent my days obsessing over em-dashes, misplaced modifiers, and dangling participles (OK, I still obsess over those things, but in those days it was actually useful to someone), so I'm very excited to announce that she's writing a new blog for PETA, which will be focusing on how to keep your canine companion happy and healthy, with an emphasis on weird hippie stuff like holistic medicine and chiropractics. In all seriousness, the blog is a ton of fun, and it's a great resource for anybody who loves dogs—and if you're into alternative medicine, there's probably gonna be a good deal of that for you too.
So head on over to KP's Dog Blog when you get a chance, and let her know what you think. Also, if you have time, I’d be very grateful if you could scour every word of the blog—and if you can find any grammatical errors (even just, like, a comma out of place), report them back to me.
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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