Academy Awards Get an Animal-Friendly Makeover

It looks like no matter who snags the gold statues this year, animals are going to be the big winners. With more and more of Hollywood embracing animal-friendly eating, Wolfgang Puck has been preparing a menu for the official after-party that will make the carnivores jealous. He revealed that there will be risotto with black truffles as well as rice noodles with vegetables and promised that there would loads of options for the cruelty-free set, including nominee Jared Leto, presenter Anne Hathaway, and host Ellen DeGeneres, among many others.

Speaking of the “hostess with the mostess,” Ellen DeGeneres is making sure that the Oscar swag bags help animals, too. Ellen’s companion-animal food company, Halo, Purely for Pets, has partnered with FreeKibble.com to give 20 Oscar nominees who don’t win an award 10,000 companion-animal meals to donate to the animal rescue of their choice.

And we’re sure that many of the stars will walk the red carpet in Stella McCartney’s clothes. Stella’s designs are always cruelty-free, as she proudly proclaimed with this Instagram post of PETA’s mission statement:

In other celebrity news:

• The vegan revolution continues. MusicRadar reported that Rage Against the Machine bassist Tim Commerford is vegan. Stevie Wonder is trying to transition to a plant-based diet, so PETA sent him some useful gifts and encouragement. And Kendra Wilkinson of Playboy and Kendra on Top fame, who is pregnant with her second child, told Star magazine that she is also considering going vegan for her health.

They are all in great company:

• More and more of the “Sochi strays” are finding their forever homes. Former Bachelorette Ali Fedotowsky, who was an Olympic correspondent, rescued two dogs and brought them to the States. PETA supporter Katherine Heigl and her animal rescue organization took the pups in, and one of them has already found his new family.
• Even though Liam Neeson was Jon Stewart’s guest, Jon wasn’t about to let Liam’s animal-unfriendly comments go. When Liam tried to say that he actually supported the horse-drawn carriage industry, Jon countered: “I always feel bad for them on the streets. It seems like they and a lot of the van traffic don’t get along.” Liam tried to defend the carriage industry, but Jon came right back with facts about how the horses are abused. And for good measure, he added, “From my perspective, it does not seem to be … a particularly fulfilling life for an animal.”
• It seems like animal advocate extraordinaire Bob Barker never takes a day off. His latest move? Urging Idaho Gov. Butch Otter to veto the proposed “ag-gag” bill, which would make it a crime to conduct investigations of factory farms—investigations that, in the past, have documented blatant animal abuse.

• AMC’s new reality series about the underground world of competitive arm wrestling, Game of Arms, premiered Tuesday to record-setting ratings. And we’ve already picked our “one to watch”: Tough guy Rob Bigwood is vegan.
• The Simpsons co-creator and our headquarters’ namesake, Sam Simon, visited the cove in Taiji, Japan, where the annual dolphin slaughter takes place. When he appeared on Jane Velez-Mitchell’s show on HLN to talk about the slaughter and how it continues as a result of the demand for seeing marine mammals in captivity, people were moved to action by his words—and by the shirt he was wearing. Sam proudly wore PETA’s “SeaWorld Kills” shirt and then later told viewers where they could get it:

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