Written by Michelle Kretzer
We think animals would agree with Maxim readers' choice for the top spot on the "Hot 100" list of the sexiest women in the world. Besides being a model guardian for her rescued dogs and a staunch adoption advocate, Miley Cyrus has worked to get horses who are forced to pull carriages off New York City's streets, shown her fondness for pigs, helped raise money for animal shelters, spoken out against "ag-gag" bills, and earned PETA's Compassionate Citizen Award for rescuing chickens. She even inspired PETA's mascots to twerk on Hollywood Boulevard! If that isn't beautiful, we don't know what is.
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Actually, animals would probably be pretty pumped about the rest of the Hot 100 list, too—it's loaded with PETA poster gals, including Daniella Alonso, Rocsi Diaz, Ke$ha, Joanna Krupa, Eva Mendes, Yvonne Strahovski, Lea Michele, Charlize Theron, Olivia Munn, and our reigning Sexiest Vegan Female Celebrity, Jessica Chastain.
Lovely ladies who subscribe to healthy vegetarian lifestyles also made the list, including Kellie Pickler, Lake Bell, and Olivia Wilde. And let us not forget the long list of celebrities who always adopt and never buy, including Zooey Deschanel, Kat Dennings, Ashley Greene, Zoe Saldana, Amanda Seyfried, Kaley Cuoco, and Emma Stone.
Hats off to you, gals, and thank you for making compassion for animals so sexy!
Carrie Underwood isn't hiding her disgust about Tennessee's "ag-gag" bill—and and rightfully so. She strongly disagrees with making cruelty investigations on farms illegal and said she may just show up on the governor's doorstep if he signs the bill into law. But state Rep. Andy Holt took it upon himself to insult Carrie for voicing her opinion, saying, "I would say that if Carrie Underwood will stick to singing, I'll stick to lawmaking." That jab didn't sit well with the always-informed Underwood, who tweeted, "I should stick to singing? Wow…sorry, I'm just a tax paying citizen concerned for the safety of my family."
She then tweeted to Ellen DeGeneres, thanking her for discussing "ag-gag" bills on Ellen. And Wynonna Judd, Miley Cyrus, Tish Cyrus, and Tony Kanal all hopped on Twitter, too, to show their support for Carrie and to bash "ag-gag" bills.
Beth Stern, host of the new Nat Geo Wild show Spoiled Rotten Pets and wife of Howard Stern, is piping up, too—about Kim Kardashian's penchant for fur. "It makes me really sad," she said. "I know her sister was a poster child for PETA. I don't watch the Kardashians; I'm very aware of them, but I do know that the sister was involved, so of course that entire family would know what goes on, what happens to animals when they're wearing a fur coat."
To keep up with what all your favorite stars are doing for animals, follow @PETA on Twitter.
It seems like Miley Cyrus' actions for animals are never-ending. This week, she asked her fans to help get horses suffering in the horse-drawn carriage industry off New York's streets, tweeting, "NYC is just 761 signatures shy of 100,000 petition goal to #FreeTheHorsesNYC! Sign @NYCLASS petition at StopHorseAbuse.com." Miley's fans' signatures pushed the New Yorkers for Clean, Safe, and Livable Streets petition well above the 100,000 that the group needed. And Miley and her mother, Tish, gushed about their gratefulness to their Twitter followers.
Jason Mraz was likely grateful for all the help that he got from his Twitter followers, too. When he tweeted asking where to find the best vegan eats in Sydney, Australia, PETA and Jason's fans were quick to respond with some yummy suggestions.
And Miley and Jason aren't the only sexy stars whose tweets we've been eyeing this week:
We also caught a glimpse of yet another sweet quote from one of our Sexiest Vegetarian Celebrity alums, Carrie Underwood. When The Guardian asked her about growing up on a cattle farm in Oklahoma, she answered, "The worst part of the year for me was when we took some off to sell, because they would cry for each other for a couple of days. That's why I don't eat meat."
Ricki Lake has been inspired to embrace plants, too. She is reportedly enjoying more vegan meals after watching Forks Over Knives. PETA sent her some love in the form of a vegetarian/vegan starter kit, Alicia Silverstone's book The Kind Diet, and our meat industry exposé "Glass Walls," narrated by Paul McCartney.
Ricki's timing couldn't have been better, since this week marked Meatout 2013. Nikita's Maggie Q was in full celebration mode, encouraging all her Twitter followers to "[t]ry it!!!"
Sam Simon joined in, challenging his friend, radio personality Bubba the Love Sponge, to watch "Glass Walls" and go vegan for one week. Sam asked PETA for help, so we sent "Lettuce Lady" Lindsay Rajt, associate director of campaigns, to Tampa, Florida, to help Bubba with the transition and to appear on his show all week to talk about it. Bubba says that he's enjoying the challenge and has a newfound love for vegan biscuits with meat-free gravy and rice milk.
While the shock jock is warming up to faux food, Shania Twain's faux fur is keeping her warm. Her new show in Las Vegas features "dazzling costumes," including only faux fur, of course.
And while Shania makes her point to the card sharks, Kyle Chandler is helping those other sharks. Alongside his daughter, Sawyer, he attended Humane Lobby Day in Austin, Texas, in support of a proposed bill that would ban shark-finning.
Los Angeles' STAPLES Center will become the city's vegetarian center when Morrissey plays there March 1. The music legend has asked that no "flesh as food" be served at his shows, but fans will have plenty of festive fare, including vegan sloppy Joes, vegan sushi, and grilled veggie sandwiches, to munch on while they rock out to "Meat Is Murder." And as an extra nod to animals, Moz also required that McCruelty shutter its doors for the day.
Beyoncé took a page out of Morrissey's songbook when she wanted to drop her baby weight. Bey started eating one vegan meal a day, and she's kept it up. Maybe since she's eating fewer animals, she'll consider wearing fewer animals, too?
That's what PETA is asking the Buffalo Sabres to do. When the hockey team started awarding the "player of the game" with a fur coat, we wrote to the Sabres' owner, Terry Pegula, urging him to do away with these vile gifts as the team scrambles to reinvent itself as winners after the highly publicized firing of head coach Lindy Ruff.
Usually it's Canadian sealers that seals have to worry about, but recently two young women were caught on camera hitting and kicking seals who were resting on a California beach. People were outraged, and Ian Somerhalder, along with many others, took to Twitter to defend the seals as well as other animals:
Miley Cyrus is always full of sweet tweets, so of course, she and dad Billy Ray Cyrus were on board to compete in the Twitter for the Critters Celebrity Challenge, a Twitter competition that is raising money for several animal shelters and sanctuaries.
Soon Antonio Banderas and Melanie Griffith's household may rival Miley's in number of rescued dogs. The couple adopted two Labrador-shepherd mixes, a brother and sister. PETA helped welcome the pups to their new home with toys, treats, and a copy of Let's Have a Dog Party!
Fellow screen legend James Cromwell has also had an exciting month. He was arrested while helping PETA disrupt a meeting at the University of Wisconsin–Madison to protest the school's painful and deadly experiments on cats. Then he joined awesome animal advocate Jane Velez-Mitchell on her show to publicize the school's crimes against cats even more.
Lady Gaga, a one-time anti-fur advocate and supposed anti-bullying advocate, seems to flip-flop more than a new pair of Havaianas. Now Sharon Osbourne is calling the singer out on it, saying:
[W]hen I saw you wear a dress made out of raw meat, I was sickened. When I see you wearing fur, and using it as a fashion statement, the fact that defenseless animals have been killed so you can get your picture in the press is abhorrent to me. Shouldn't you be teaching your 'little monster' fans to respect animals and life?
Whether the target is people or animals, no one likes a bully. Maybe that's why staunch animal advocates have been scooping up so many awards lately.
At the People's Choice Awards, Glee stars Lea Michele and Chris Colfer claimed Favorite Comedic TV Actress and Actor awards and Jason Mraz was named Favorite Male Artist. Ellen DeGeneres was named Favorite Daytime TV Host, Jared Padalecki's show Supernatural took Favorite Sci-Fi/Fantasy TV Show honors, and Mayim Bialik's The Big Bang Theory was voted Favorite Network TV Comedy. Presenters Olivia Munn and Ian Somerhalder were a huge hit, and host Kaley Cuoco even took a page out of PETA's book and fought back against dog shaming with a little "people shaming" of her own.
Bones' David Boreanaz and Emily Deschanel were named TV Guide's Best Actor and Best Actress. Onscreen, the TV couple focus on investigating deaths, but off-screen David and Emily are all about saving animals' lives.
Animal advocate extraordinaire Russell Simmons is being honored with the Visionary Award from the Producers Guild of America for his philanthropy and ethical approach to business. And several stars snagged our nominations for best animal-friendly tweets of the week:
With all the love for animals and the folks who defend them that's been going around this week, guess who got named among the least popular people in America? That'd be the Kardashian family, who ranked lower than Congress, root canals, and traffic jams.
Unlike some members of the Kardashian clan, Lena Dunham prefers her fur attached to its rightful owner. She happily shared photos of her fluffy new rescued dog, Lamby, on Instagram.
It's also a boy for Miley Cyrus, who just added new rescued puppy Bean to her family. Meanwhile, her sister Noah Cyrus was celebrating another milestone. For her 13th birthday, Noah asked her friends to donate $13 toward getting horse-drawn carriages off New York City's streets.
Vocal horse advocate Kathy Najimy put her money where her mouth is, competing on Food Network's Rachael vs. Guy Celebrity Cook-Off to benefit PETA. Of course Kathy, along with competitor and fellow PETA supporter Cornelia Guest, cooked all vegetarian meals.
Perhaps Kathy and Cornelia could swap recipes with Gwyneth Paltrow, who is releasing a new vegetarian-friendly cookbook. Their expertise may even come in handy on the final frontier. One of America's most respected space entrepreneurs, PayPal co-founder Elon Musk, is making plans to establish the first colony on Mars—but no meat-eaters are allowed.
That means that even on Mars we could still enjoy the musical stylings of longtime vegetarian Paul McCartney. And it's a good thing that Elon's shuttles will likely be made without animal skins, because Macca won't ride in a vehicle with leather seats.
The Goddess of Pop is also a goddess to pups. When Cher tweeted, asking for information from PETA on how to help dogs left to face the harsh winter weather alone outdoors, many of her fans responded, and PETA sent her information on our "Angels for Animals" doghouse sponsorship program.
Elsewhere on Twitter, Miley Cyrus showed us some puppy love, Sam Simon spoke out for dolphins, and Olivia Munn helped us celebrate our victory for three soon-to-be-released elephants.
Charlotte Bobcats and Kentucky Wildcats fans already knew that the NBA's youngest player, Michael Kidd-Gilchrist (MKG), is also a really kind person, and now MKG is proving it to animal advocates, too. When the gentle giant was ready to share his home with a new dog, he adopted a puppy who had been abandoned in the parking lot of the Humane Society of Charlotte.
Maybe fellow rescued-dog parent Chelsea Handler will invite Michael and his new pup on her show. Her conversations with guests often do turn to animal issues—like when Marion Cotillard stopped by and she and Chelsea both shared their disdain for SeaWorld.
You'll never catch our buddy Christian Serratos at SeaWorld, either—but you will catch her gracing the list of the 50 Brightest Latino Stars Under 25, with fellow PETA pals Daniella Monet and Marlen Esparza.
Awards abound for animal advocates this week: Paul McCartney, Pink, Carrie Underwood, Steve Aoki, Ellen DeGeneres, Trent Reznor, and Tegan and Sara have all been nominated for Grammys!
E!'s Catt Sadler lifted her voice for animals this week, too. She openly joined the ranks of the fur-free and fabulous in her piece "Real Stars Who Love Fake Fur," in which she name-dropped our friends Eva Mendes and Charlize Theron.
Chaka Khan says all she wants to do is keep eating vegan—because she no longer needs medication for type 2 diabetes. And as a bonus, the singer with the big voice is now quite a bit smaller—to the tune of 60 pounds!
Bethenny Frankel's little daughter Bryn probably doesn't even weigh 60 pounds yet, but she's already setting herself up for a lifetime of good health. Bethenny says the 2-year-old chooses not to eat meat but loves her veggies.
Vegan dynamo Ellen DeGeneres never lets an opportunity to speak up for animals pass her by—and she's making sure Adam Levine doesn't either. Adam was chatting with Ellen on her show about his new habit of holding up a piece of paper with a charitable message written on it when the shutterbugs are snapping his picture. So Ellen gave him the perfect ready-made sign: "Please rescue animals."
Steve-O says his dogs rescued him. He credits the love of his two rescued dogs with helping him kick drugs and alcohol. So he's helping dogs by urging other guardians to be kind to their pups and never force them to wear shock collars. "It's horribly painful," he says. "You have to be pretty cruel to put that on a dog."
Miley Cyrus is a gal on a mission to end animal homelessness and is making it a family affair. Miley and her family went straight to a rescue organization to adopt a dog, and she tweeted PETA her excitement over the new pup and the rescued pig PETA sponsored for her birthday.
Add Liam Gallagher to the list of outspoken animal-friendly celebrities. His clothing line, Pretty Green, is an oasis for animals who are typically killed for their fur—Liam proudly uses only faux.
Miley Cyrus' fans have watched her grow into a gorgeous young woman with a kind and compassionate heart, so to celebrate her 20th birthday on November 23, PETA is surprising Miley with something that she really wants.
During a recent appearance on Ellen, Miley talked about how much she loves pigs, so PETA sponsored a very special pig in her honor. Nora, whom PETA helped rescue, is a resident at Kindred Spirits Sanctuary, a picturesque farm in Ocala, Florida, that gives refuge to animals who have been abused, neglected, or abandoned, including pigs, cows, goats, sheep, chickens, turkeys, horses, and donkeys.
Miley proved her affection for pigs when she retweeted a PETA action alert to her 10 million followers asking them to urge Walmart to ban its suppliers from cruelly confining pigs to tiny metal-barred gestation crates for months at a time.
And the singer's compassion for animals doesn't stop there. She lavishes love on her rescued dogs and consistently encourages people always to adopt and never buy. And she's striving to rid her diet of dairy products.
Miley's fans are awesome animal advocates, too. They've set up a special fundraising page where people can donate to PETA's lifesaving work for animals in honor of the compassionate birthday girl.
Happy birthday, Miley! We love you!
Miley Cyrus might be ditching dairy products, and we're nodding our heads like "Yeah!"
It all started when Mileybird tweeted, "Worst tummy ache ever. No more lactose for me." We quickly responded to tell Miley that she wasn't alone and that she should be proud to be dairy-free. We included a link to information on delicious dairy-free milks and a link to one of our undercover investigations of a dairy farm, and Miley responded, "[O]h my god those photos make me feel even more sick. HAS GOT TO STOP!" Then she retweeted our action alert asking Walmart to ban its suppliers from cruelly confining pigs to gestation crates. If Miley wants help planning a vegan wedding, her friends here are happy to help …
It looks like there's a vegan baby shower in Kristen Bell and Dax Shepard's future. The cruelty-free couple is expecting their first child, and PETA sent Kristen what might be her first gift: a copy of Skinny Bitch: Bun in the Oven.
There might be a new baby in Kristen Stewart's future as well. She and boyfriend Robert Pattinson are reportedly thinking about rescuing another dog.
Rescued dogs are always the rage on Twitter, like Krysten Ritter's little guy, Mikey.
And it's a battle of the accents for our favorite gal this week:
French beauty Marion Cotillard and SeaWorld are never, ever, ever getting back together. The actor plays a marine park trainer in the controversial new film Rust and Bone, and she says that seeing marine mammals in captivity made her believe that they deserve better. "I'd rather see whales in their own environment and not in a swimming pool," she said. "I will never go back to a SeaWorld."
Irish-bred Hollywood legend Anjelica Huston told O Magazine that she enjoys working with PETA because "I think we have to pay more attention to how we treat animals: the great apes trained for our entertainment, carriage horses left outside in intense heat and cold, polar bears confined in zoos. Animals can't talk, so it's up to us to speak for them."
Aussie actor and vegetarian Sophie Monk is designing a diamond jewelry collection and plans to donate 10 percent of the proceeds to help PETA save animals.
And everyone's favorite animal-friendly designer, Stella McCartney, is the Brits' favorite designer, too: She was named British Designer of the Year, proving that compassion is always in fashion and never has to include skins stolen from animals.
After Rosie O'Donnell suffered a heart attack and discovered that one of her arteries was 99 percent blocked, she knew it was time to change her lifestyle. She cleaned her diet of animal products, watched the powerful documentary Forks Over Knives, and spoke with one of the film's driving forces (and Bill Clinton mentor), Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn. PETA also sent her a vegetarian/vegan starter kit, Paul McCartney's slaughterhouse exposé "Glass Walls," and cookbooks. Rosie is keeping her fans updated via Twitter and her blog, noting that she is losing weight and feeling healthier.
Houston Texans running back Arian Foster is getting a rush from being vegan. As the favorite to lead the NFL in rushing yards this season, he joined the celebrities who were advocating for animals on Twitter this week by posting some hilarious words for naysayers:
PeoplePets.com named its favorite "pet Tweethearts"—celebrities who fill the Twitterverse with "aww-worthy" pictures and sentiments about their animal companions. Rescue advocates Miley Cyrus and Carrie Underwood graced the list with numerous posts about their beloved dogs.
Bradley Cooper prefers to sing the praises of his rescued dog in more than 140 characters. He took his pup, Charlotte, along for his appearance on Live! With Kelly. His other rescued dog, Samson, passed away earlier this year, but we wouldn't be surprised to see Bradley and Charlotte adopting a new member into the family soon.
Missy Elliott is dropping two new singles over Labor Day weekend, but she isn't dropping her stance on spaying and neutering: Missy knows that a real "misdemeanor" would be contributing to animal homelessness by not having your dogs and cats sterilized.
To keep up with how the stars are helping animals, follow @PETA on Twitter.
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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