As you know, the situation in Haiti is dire, and aid is still desperately needed for all victims of the earthquake. Last week, PETA joined the Animal Relief Coalition for Haiti (ARCH) to assist animals in the area—this week, PETA staff members are baking their buns off for this weekend's national vegan fundraiser, and all proceeds will go toward helping the victims of this disaster. Our vegan desserts and treats are sure to be delicious and—since we'll be following baking tips from the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine—healthy.

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Want to get involved? Check the long list of bake-sale participants at Post Punk Kitchen—if there isn't an event organized in your area, sign up to organize one. Then tell us which one (or three!) of PCRM's recipes you'll be making.

Written by Karin Bennett

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Behold: a visit from Captain Obvious. As if the world needed another example of the proven link between violence against animals and violence against humans, Ghulam Rasool Khan—a suspected al-Qaida member jailed in India—refuses to eat the vegetarian food served to him, instead demanding "two kg of mutton and one kg of chicken daily."

Khan has threatened to go on a hunger strike if he doesn't get his carcasses. But if PETA India's recent request that all jails serve only vegetarian meals is honored, then the bloodthirsty terrorist will be starving himself indefinitely.

Written by Logan Scherer

Gail Shea, Canada's minister of fisheries and oceans, was greeted with a face full of pie as she arrived at the Canada Centre for Inland Waters today. It seems that one activist had had enough of Ms. Shea's yammering in support of the seal slaughter and decided to fill the minister's pie hole with something a tad more palatable.

Since her election to the House of Commons in 2008, Ms. Shea's name has been synonymous with support for the seal slaughter. After the European Union made the humane decision to ban the sale of seal products, she responded by supporting the absurd proposal that the Canadian Olympic team wear seal skins as part of their official uniforms, saying, "I think it would be a good statement for the Canadian sealing industry and Canada's support of it."

The thing is, no matter how adamantly Shea claims that "[t]he Canadian seal hunt is guided by rigorous animal welfare principles," the majority of Canadians don't buy it—and they don't support the bashing in of baby seals' skulls.

So come on, Gail, wipe that soy whipped cream from your face and show the world that you're actually willing to taste listen to what your fellow citizens are dishing out saying.

Written by Shawna Flavell

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Hospital employees should be ambassadors of good health—and Chattanooga-based Memorial Health Care System is embracing this theory. Well, sort of. The company has announced that in an effort to "further our mission of building healthier communities," it will no longer hire smokers and tobacco chewers. Smooth move? It seems so—after all, as FierceHealthCare.com points out, "On average, smokers cost employers between $2,500 and $4,000 annually for healthcare costs in comparison to nonsmokers."

But why stop there? Let's not tiptoe around the tofu anymore. We've written to officials at Memorial Health Care System urging them to take it a step further and implement a "vegetarians-only" hiring policy for area hospitals.

Here's just one example of why a vegetarians-only policy makes sense: Maybe more than anyone else, hospital employees should have an understanding of and appreciation for the effects of an animal-free diet on human health. Sadly, during a recent hospital stay, my mom was stuck eating PBJs day in and day out because the attendants who took her meal requests didn't know what "vegan" meant and seemed not to want to bother to figure it out.

People, I ask you: How's that possible?! Our nation's heath is at stake: While politicians argue about health care legislation, emergency rooms all over the country are bursting at their sliding glass doors with victims of America's three biggest killers—heart disease, strokes, and cancer, the origins of which are often traced back to meaty, cheese-laden diets. Forget pill-popping—prevention of these diseases is our (and animals') best bet.

If schools knowingly hired alcoholics to drive school buses, then we as a society would be outraged. I can hear parents crying out, "Irresponsible! Dangerous! Bad example!" Shouldn't we be equally appalled that hospitals continue to hire meat-addicted, unhealthy health care workers to spoon-feed Salisbury steaks to our sick and injured friends and family members? Becoming stronger and healthier starts with the food that goes into our mouths—and can be as simple as saying "Sayonara, salami. Hello, gardein!"

Written by Karin Bennett

I have a Twitter account so that I can follow the wisdom of elders, see what the guru of good taste has to say, and, of course, try to keep up with PETA.

I'm just one of 52,710 (and counting) who rely on PETA's tweets for news, events, and updates. That's no small feat, considering that PETA has its paws in anything and everything that's related to animal protection. Now, PETA followers, including some well-known tweeters, are nominating PETA to receive the "Shorty Award" for best nonprofit organization. Some examples:

PamelaDAnderson: I nominate @peta 4 a Shorty Award in #nonprofit because PETA has inspired (more than any organization) so many people to help animals

stephaniepratt (from MTV's The Hills): I nominate @peta 4 a Shorty Award in #nonprofit because they save countless animals http://ow.ly/Ufwx -vote for them!!! Xo

Joel Bartlett: I nominate @peta for a Shorty Award in #nonprofit because they will do whatever it takes.

Maria Burgos: I nominate @peta for a Shorty Award in #nonprofit because I love all the animals in the world,specially my lil bunny :)

Web Hosting: I nominate @peta for a Shorty Award in #nonprofit because...I am vegan and PETA is the best AR group in the world!

Sarah Wright: I nominate @peta for a Shorty Award in #nonprofit because eating meat just for pure enjoyment is inhumane & ridiculous

Izzy Rios: I nominate @peta for a Shorty Award in #nonprofit because....they show the world what they dont want to see.

Yasmina: I nominate @peta for a Shorty Award in #nonprofit because... they have to be #1. I love PETA

I'm going to nominate PETA for a Shorty Award as soon as I finish this post. If you don't already have a Twitter account, now might be the time to sign up. All it takes is 140 characters of your time.

Written by Karin Bennett

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West apparently lives by his lyrics. The ethical dropout—who horrified voters in PETA's Worst-Dressed Celebrity competition last year—and his sleazy sidekick, Amber Rose, were snapped by paparazzi strutting around Paris in "the ugliest things," indeed. Both were wearing head-to-toe fur, and Amber refused to remove her full-length lynx coat during a show at Paris Men's Fashion Week.

As PETA V.P. Dan Mathews so eloquently put it, "Kanye can't help making himself look like an idiot, whether at an awards show or a fashion show. He and his girlfriend look like pathetic creatures from a shabby roadside zoo."

Written by Karin Bennett

We love Top 40 radio as much as anyone, but there are times when hearing the same songs every hour on the hour wears us out (sorry, Gaga, you know we love you). So what's currently rockin' our turntable? 100th Monkey Records' Compassionism CD, which mingles music of all kinds—from folk and bluegrass to indie rock and pop. Among the 15 tracks are songs from the silky-voiced songbird Sia, folk-fusionists The Waifs, and jam band trailblazers The John Butler Trio. And as a bonus, listening to these songs—instead of FM 100-point-whatever on your radio—helps save animals. One hundred percent of the album's proceeds go to PETA.

Looking for some more humane tunes? Check out the debut EP The Uprising from punk rockers Nations Afire.

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PETA recently learned that two of the giraffes the late Michael Jackson used to house at Neverland Ranch have died while living under the apparently neglectful eye of Tom and Freddie Hancock—owners of Banjoko Wildlife Preserve, a pseudo-sanctuary in Page, Arizona—and that at least one of the giraffes may have died as a result of improper feeding and/or exposure to cold temperatures.

Back in 2008, we wrote a letter to Michael Jackson urging him to take responsibility for four giraffes who once lived at Neverland Ranch after we received many complaints from citizens concerned about the giraffes' well-being at their new home at the preserve. At the time, a former volunteer caretaker for the animals contacted us claiming that the giraffes had been kept in 15-foot-by-15-foot "temporary" enclosures since the day they were purchased in 2007.

Shortly before his death, the King of Pop started to clean up his act by planning to leave animals out of his London tour. Now, we're asking the city of Page to confiscate the two remaining giraffes and relocate them to a facility that can provide them with appropriate care before it's too late. Oh yes, we wanna be startin' something.

Written by Logan Scherer

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If you had asked me last week to name my favorite Richard Gere moment, I would have taken a long pause before finally deciding on that scene in the 1980s movie American Gigolo when he shimmied in his boxers as he paired his ties to shirts. What can I say? I've always appreciated a man who cares about his appearance.

Much more so, I appreciate a man who speaks out in favor of compassionate actions for animals—so it makes perfect sense that my new favorite Richard Gere moments happened very recently and in real life. According to the New Zealand Herald, the actor, who is a Buddhist, marched with hundreds of monks and activists to support efforts by Tibetans for a Vegetarian Society to transform Bodhgaya, in the Indian state of Bihar, into a vegetarian zone. "Bodhgaya is a pious place and I want to come here again," Mr. Gere said, adding, "I am with the people who have launched this campaign."

It makes perfect sense that Bodhgaya, believed by Buddhists to be where Gautama Buddha attained enlightenment around 500 B.C., be "vegetized" in keeping with Buddhism's message of peace. After all, opposition to the taking of life is a core principle of Buddhism.

The founder of Tibetans for a Vegetarian Society, Tenzin Kunga Luding, notes that Gere's participation in and support of the march "has helped the cause a lot," and he adds, "This most sacred land will act as a model for other places to emulate and will impart more positive influence for the well-being of all humans, animals, and the environment."

Written by Karin Bennett

Mali, an Asian elephant imprisoned at the Manila Zoo, was only 3 years old when she was torn away from her mother and shipped away to live in captivity.

For more than 30 years, Mali has spent her days alone in a barren enclosure with only a small pool for entertainment and relief from the heat. Mali paces her small area incessantly or stands in one spot with her trunk to the ground. Mali has reportedly walked to the edge of her enclosure, reached out her foot in the hope of going farther, and even after feeling empty space, stepped back and repeated this movement, evidence of her boredom, loneliness, and frustration. In their natural habitats, Asian elephants have homes ranges that are between 25,000 and 60,000 hectares, but the entire Manila Zoo measures only 5.5 hectares. Even if Mali's enclosure were doubled or tripled in size, it would still be completely inadequate.

PETA Asia-Pacific has just released a report that documents Mali's bleak existence. The report includes a letter from Carol Buckley, who has more than 35 years of professional experience in the care and management of Asian elephants and who operates The Elephant Sanctuary—the largest rehabilitation and living center for former captive elephants—where she has offered Mali a permanent home.

If swift action isn't taken to save Mali and the many other animals locked up at the Manila Zoo, they may meet the same fate as Sisi—the orangutan who died of cancer last year at the facility. Please sign PETA Asia Pacific's petition requesting relief for the animals at the Manila Zoo and urge everyone you know to do the same.

Written by Logan Scherer