Visiting Washington, D.C., to give a motivational speech, the dynamic Jillian Michaels—one of the nation's top fitness gurus and star of NBC's The Biggest Loser—gave another motivational speech, this one in behalf of horses. Jillian visited Capitol Hill while on her tour Maximize Your Life and secured pledges from Sens. Barbara Boxer (seen below, with Jillian) and Dianne Feinstein of California to cosponsor a bill to ban the slaughter of tens of thousands of U.S. horses (including prize-winning former thoroughbreds) by the shameless horse-meat industry. Jillian's meeting with Sen. Boxer was in a hallway near where the legislator had to rush to the floor for a vote, but so many Hill visitors (including teen tourists, interns, and lobbyists) mobbed Jillian that she and PETA Vice President Dan Mathews had to retreat to Sen. Boxer's office to discuss the issues.

Besides saving horses, the Safeguard American Food Exports (SAFE) Act, would also prevent toxic horse meat—it's routinely treated with a carcinogenic drug that can cause liver failure in humans—from entering the food supply. The bill, which would ban horse slaughter in the U.S. as well as the grotesquely cruel live export of horses for meat, has gained momentum following the proposed White House budget that would pull federal funding from inspections for U.S. horse-slaughter plants at a time when some states, including New Mexico, are trying to start up horse slaughterhouses again.

How You Can Help

Please join Jillian Michaels in urging your legislators to cosponsor and support the SAFE Act.

As the Discovery Channel wraps up its annual Shark Week, TOMS Shoes is making it Shark Year. The philanthropic footwear company created a pair of shark-silhouette–lined shoes, with proceeds going to protect these often misunderstood, abused animals.

If the vegan shoe fits, wear it. Former Miss World Rosanna Davison is trading her stilettos for running shoes, training for Ireland's Ironman Triathlon. She's also trading her vegetarian diet for a vegan one, and she tweeted, "I absolutely LOVE it & have never felt better! I recommend it to so many people."

Mischa Barton is raving about her vegan diet, too, noting that healthy food and regular exercise have given her the body she wants without having to count calories.

Another great way to get in shape while helping animals? Running with the PETA Pack. Jillian Michaels and Renee Olstead were among the animal-friendly celebs running to Twitter this week, with both gals encouraging everyone to start "packing":

To keep up with what the stars are doing for animals, follow @PETA on Twitter. 

Through her work on The Biggest Loser, Jillian Michaels is accustomed to saving lives. But for one horse, her help arrived just hours before he would have been sent on a journey to become hamburger.

From the Winner's Circle to the Kill Pen

During a PETA investigation of horse slaughter, in which horses are taken from a meat buyer to a Canadian slaughterhouse, our investigators discovered ex-racehorse Royale With Speed packed into a "kill pen." A grandson of renowned Triple Crown winner Secretariat, Royale With Speed's racing days were over, and our investigators stood witness as he was sold for slaughter for $350. He was dehydrated and running a fever of 103.7 degrees Fahrenheit, and his lymph nodes were so swollen that they later burst and oozed pus through the skin.

Speedy Save for Royale With Speed

We called the wonderful PETA supporter who cares for another of our rescued thoroughbreds, Coming Home, and she agreed immediately to give Royale With Speed a home on her ranch. Jillian stepped up to buy the horse and cover his transportation costs, and together, we were able to save him from enduring a 36-hour journey in subfreezing temperatures aboard a cramped transport truck—with no food or water—that would have ended at a slaughterhouse.

After weeks of intensive care, Royale With Speed, now renamed Gray Man, has fully recovered. He spends his days lolling on the grass and romping with his new friend Coming Home—who also has a new name, Little Winner.

What You Can Do

Tens of thousands of horses are shipped to slaughter every year. Jillian has voiced her support for ending horse slaughter to Congress. Please join her.

After leading the charge for hundreds of protestors demonstrating outside the Ringling Bros. circus, Biggest Loser trainer Jillian Michaels found time to give an interview about why she is fighting for elephants and how people can get involved. Getting the word out about circus cruelty "is the easiest thing to get behind," says Jillian.

Many elephants used by Ringling suffer from crippling arthritis and other debilitating ailments because they spend most of their lives in boxcars and chains.

Follow Jillian's lead: Post notes on Facebook and Twitter urging parents and grandparents never to buy tickets to Ringling. Write a letter to the editor. And contact PETA's Action Team to help plan your own demonstration when the circus arrives in your city.

Written by Jennifer O'Connor

In a protest called "massive" by a local television station, author and fitness guru Jillian Michaels led the charge alongside producer Sam Simon, Twilight's Christian Serratos, The Secret Life of the American Teenager's Renee Olstead, and hundreds of demonstrators outside the Los Angeles Staples Center to call attention to the abuse of elephants by the Ringling Bros. circus. 
  

 
Numerous elephants used by Ringling Bros. suffer crippling arthritis—a leading cause of euthanasia of captive elephants—because they don't get the freedom of movement and exercise that they need.

"Their enslavement by the circus means [elephants] spend their lives in chains and stuffy train cars with no freedom to roam, and they suffer painful, fatal ailments that come from such a stressful existence," says Michaels.

Other compassionate celebrities who supported PETA's protest via Twitter include Sophia Bush, Kellan Lutz, Alicia Witt, and Sasha Grey, among others.

Please never attend any animal circus performance, and contact PETA's Action Team to help plan your own demonstration when the circus comes to your city.
 

Written by Jennifer O'Connor

As an obsessed fan of The Biggest Loser, I just about jumped out off the couch last night when America's toughest trainer Jillian Michaels walked onscreen wearing PETA's ever popular "Fight Breedism" T-shirt.

For the whole first half of the show, while the contestants were filming in Washington D.C., Jillian rocked the compassionate message across her perfect abs—even during the workout! Jillian is one of the most inspirational women on television and knowing that she is fighting against obesity and animal homelessness rocks my world!

My Jillian-mania escalated to even greater higher heights when she took the winners of the challenge to Subway for lunch and told the crowd that she recommends the vegetarian sub because it's her favorite. Fellow trainer Bob Harper is already vegetarian, so I'm beginning to see a pattern here … no wonder they look so good.

Written by Christine Doré