PETA Founder’s ‘Naked Truth’ Tour to Hit Seattle

For Immediate Release:
April 2, 2014

Contact:
Moira Colley 202-483-7382

PETA President Ingrid E. Newkirk will be in Seattle for the latest stop on her international Naked Truth tour on April 17, and I thought you might be interested in chatting with her while she’s in town. Because her visit comes just days before the start of the World Week for Animals in Laboratories, your readers might be especially interested to learn about how Newkirk has led PETA to so many landmark victories for animals in laboratories over the past three decades, including the famous 1981 “Silver Spring monkeys” case, which started the movement to replace animals in laboratories with non-animal testing methods.

Newkirk could also discuss the other early victories that put PETA on the map—such as the first-ever convictions for cruelty to animals on meat and fur factory farms—as well as major breakthroughs that PETA has made recently, including the following:

• After a PETA campaign, Madigan Army Medical Center in Tacoma, Wash., agreed to replace the use of ferrets in invasive intubation exercises with life-like human simulators.
• Eleven bears who had languished in barren concrete pits at Chief Saunooke Bear Park in North Carolina were finally freed following a PETA undercover investigation that forced the roadside zoo to surrender its exhibitor’s license. The animals were transferred to an animal sanctuary in Dallas, where they roam, dig, swim, and climb trees—in other words, where they can finally be bears.
• A two-month undercover investigation by PETA revealed thousands of neglected, dying animals at Global Captive Breeders—the largest U.S. company that bred and sold reptiles and rats for the “pet” trade—and led to the largest rescue of neglected rats in U.S. history and the largest seizure of animals ever in California. The company’s owner and former manager have each been charged with 106 counts of felony cruelty to animals.
• The top 10 advertising agencies in the U.S. have signed PETA’s pledge never to use great apes—such as baby chimpanzees, who are torn away from their mothers shortly after birth and beaten into obedience—in their advertisements.

Other current topics that Newkirk could discuss include the world’s first in vitro hamburger; Blackfish, the movie that’s keeping kids and their parents away from SeaWorld; “ag-gag” bills designed to stop the videotaping of abuses on factory farms; and designers and actors—including Stella McCartney, Ann Taylor, Ryan Gosling, Penélope Cruz, and Kate Winslet—who are helping PETA change animals’ lives. She could also discuss PETA’s efforts to promote animal rights in Seattle: The group has teamed up with the Legends Football League’s Seattle Mist for a “Tackle Cruelty: Bench Fur” demonstration; designated the city the number-six spot on PETA’s list of the top 10 vegan-friendly U.S. cities; protested against cruel experiments on rats, dogs, and monkeys at the University of Washington; and organized a lively protest at the Pike Place Fish Market, where police officers carried PETA’s “mermaid” off the premises.