January 2005 After receiving calls from Gladstone, Oregon, High School students about a greased-pig contest that was to take place during spirit week, we immediately contacted the school to voice our objections. The contest was canceled. Also, a kiss-a-pig contest was scheduled for a pep rally at Stevenson High School in Illinois. After receiving our letter … Read more »
January 2005 A contest was to be held by the biology club at Illinois College in Jacksonville, in which students would bet on crayfish – which crayfish would die first and which one would live the longest. We immediately called the chair of the Biology Department and asked for her immediate intervention to get this cruel … Read more »
January 2005 After hearing from PETA, Lacombe Composite High School in Alberta, Canada, made a planned chicken race fundraiser cruelty-free by choosing to host a race between two student council members dressed in chicken costumes instead of using live chickens. Principal Jayson Lovell stated that “if one person is offended by something we are doing, we … Read more »
January 2005 Following comments from PETA and many concerned citizens, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service denied a request to send a 16-month-old male tiger to the Baghdad Zoo in war-torn Iraq. The tiger was intended to “replace” a tiger who was shot and killed by an American soldier during a drunken party in September 2003.
January 2005 A year-long investigation into a hog-dog rodeo (a horrific blood sport in which pit bulls are turned loose on terrified hogs) in Escambia County, Florida, paid off. Forty-five mangled hogs with missing ears were seized, and three organizers of different hog-dog operations have been charged with cruelty. Mississippi and South Carolina are already considering … Read more »
January 2005 PETA received calls of concern from Brainerd, Minnesota-area residents about an animal display frequently taken to a noisy, crowded, smoke-filled local bar called The Rail. Complainants reported that intoxicated patrons were allowed to hold tiger cubs for photos and that a dove used in the exhibitor’s magic act repeatedly flew into the wall. We … Read more »
January 2005 The Bennigan’s restaurant located in Arvada, Colorado, planned to hold a goldfish-swallowing contest on St. Patrick’s Day. We notified Arvada Animal Management and got word that the event violated city anti-cruelty codes and has been canceled. We also got assurances from corporate headquarters – Metromedia Restaurant Group – that it does not support live … Read more »
October 2004 When PETA learned that a chicken-roping contest is held every year in Albany, Texas, as part of the Watt Matthews Cowboy Day, an activist in the area agreed to videotape the event. We asked chicken experts to review the video, which depicted chickens who were roped, then dangled by their necks, wings, and legs … Read more »
July 2004 PETA helped pass the law to make hog-dog rodeos illegal in East Feliciana Parish, Louisiana. A man who operates a local arena stopped because spectators feared arrest for attending and police prepared to arrest him under the new law. Click here to read more about hog-dog rodeos and view footage.
July 2004 After receiving a letter from PETA voicing our objections to an art display that involved dragging a rooster and chickens across the university lawn, the head of the University of Delaware’s art department called to tell us that the display had been canceled.
July 2004 Thanks to pressure from PETA, a Clarke County, Alabama, hog-dog rodeo operator was found guilty of cruelty to animals and given 30 days in jail after law-enforcement officers attended one of his events and testified that it constituted cruelty because one of the dog’s mouths was full of blood and hair when he or … Read more »
July 2004 In St. Louis, Missouri, PETA alerted authorities to a possible dogfighting ring. Animal control seized eight pit bulls from the property and cited the occupants for operating a kennel without a license, cruel and inhumane treatment of animals, and unsanitary conditions. Click here to read more about dogfighting, which is illegal but sadly still … Read more »
July 2004 After several years of campaigning by PETA and local activists, the superintendent of Kent City Schools in Ohio formally requested that the Parent Teacher Organization (PTO) replace its annual donkey basketball fundraiser with a more appropriate one. The superintendent wrote to the PTO president, “[D]onkey basketball is, in my estimation, a game whose time … Read more »
July 2004 PETA learned that Bridgeport Nature Center, a traveling exotic animal display that has repeatedly violated federal animal care standards, had been set up at Century Plaza mall in Birmingham, Alabama. We contacted the mall manager to alert him to the cruelty and dangers inherent in this display and others like it and asked that … Read more »
April 2004 Thanks to pressure from PETA, the governor of Louisiana signed a bill into law that makes it a crime to stage, promote, or attend a “hog-dog rodeo,” a bloody sport in which a trained dog is turned loose to corner and attack a hog in an arena. The bill also outlaws breeding or training … Read more »
