PETA News

GLOBAL

Pigeon Racers Lose Royal Patronage, Get Busted

“It’s PETA that’s done it.” That’s what a pigeon racing insider told The Guardian after King Charles, following appeals from PETA UK, refused patronage for the National Flying Club and the Royal Pigeon Racing Association. After placing bets on the birds, pigeon racers transport them far away and then release them. The pigeons, desperate to reunite with their families, exert themselves beyond their limits to fly back in storms and over unfamiliar land and even oceans; many die. Meanwhile, in Taiwan – where a million pigeons die every year in races – a prosecutor using PETA-provided data raided a racing club and busted illegal bettors. Urge the Taiwanese government to ban all pigeon races.

USA

Push From PETA Means Mice Spared Cruel Sepsis Experiments

Following intense pressure from PETA, including a lawsuit calling out the failure of animal-based sepsis experiments, the National Institute of General Medical Sciences – a division of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the world’s largest funder of animal experiments – will stop funding the most common types of sepsis experiments on animals. The institute will instead shift resources toward human-relevant research methods, preventing mice from being injected with feces and enduring fevers, chills, breathing difficulties, and multiple organ failure before eventually dying. Urge NIH to stop funding all sepsis experiments conducted on animals.

AUSTRALIA & UK

No More Hell at Sea: Live Export to End

Live export is an extremely ugly, cruel business. Sheep and other animals spend weeks or longer crammed into a ship’s cargo hold or on open decks, afraid and suffering from dehydration and illness, on their way to be slaughtered abroad. Following nonstop campaigning from PETA entities and other groups and with help from hundreds of thousands of supporters who sent messages to government officials, live export has been banned in England, Scotland, and Wales – and Australia has set a date to end live export of sheep, but it’s not until 2028. Ask Australia’s prime minister not to wait and urge Ireland to follow suit.

USA

Kathy Griffin Plays It Straight in PETA Ad

Forget the red carpet – rescued dogs top Kathy Griffin’s A-list! In a new PETA campaign, the straight-shooting comedian opened the doors of her beautiful Malibu, California, mansion, which she shares with the four loves of her life. “It’s not OK to buy a dog, even if someone says they’re a ‘responsible breeder,’ because there’s actually no such thing,” she says. So whether you’re searching for a specific breed or a marvelous mutt, heed Kathy’s advice: Head straight to your local animal shelter. And watch and share her video.

USA

Danger Force’s Dana Heath: Let’s Make a Kinder World

In a new video for peta2, actor Dana Heath tells us, “I dream of waking up in a world in which we’ve discarded our callousness, our hearts are awake, and compassion determines our actions.” PETA’s youth division asks everyone to encourage young people they know to actively help animals by sharing Dana’s video.

UK

Companies Dump Thailand’s Cruel Coconut Milks

PETA Asia’s undercover investigations into Thailand’s cruel coconut industry continue to bear fruit. Co-op, with 2,400 UK stores, stopped using Thai coconut milk for its house brand and Chef’s Choice Foods no longer obtains coconuts from its home country, where terrified young monkeys are kidnapped from their families, chained, abusively trained, and forced to climb trees to pick coconuts. Tell Whole Foods Market to get Thai coconut milk off its shelves.

SPAIN

Bullfighting’s Not an Art Form – It’s Slaughter

PETA UK was en pointe when it placed fly posters around Madrid during the San Isidro festival, one of the world’s most infamous bullfighting bloodbaths. Designed by the Casanova//McCann ad agency, the posters shoot down the fallacy that there’s anything artistic about slaughtering a confused, maimed, psychologically tormented, physically debilitated animal. Urge the prime minister of Spain to end the bloodshed.

FRANCE

Ethical and Delectable! Nutritious and Delicious!

How easy is it to go vegan? DJ and music producer Petit Biscuit knows. That’s why this super-fit vegan dynamo worked with PETA France on an eye-catching campaign. “I think that empathy is something global. You can’t have it for humans and not for animals,” he says. The icing on the cake: Each person who goes vegan saves almost 200 animals every year. Order a free vegan starter kit for yourself and to give to others.

INDIA

Oh, Baby: Whose Skin Are You In?

There was no missing the message when a PETA India supporter wearing a coat fashioned from baby dolls was highly visible at Agra Fort, a popular tourist destination that’s within shouting distance of a major leather market. Much of the skin used in the fashion industry comes from calves who were torn away from their mothers just hours after they were born. Find vegan leather options here.

MEXICO

PETA Latino Holy Week Protest Makes Waves

Fish are often on the table during Holy Week, so PETA Latino created a tableau to make people in Mexico City ponder what these sentient beings go through. Billions of these unique individuals are killed every year in nets or on hooks. When pulled out of their natural environment, their gills often collapse and their swim bladders rupture because of the sudden change in pressure. Please introduce others to tasty faux-fish foods.

USA

University Wakes Up, Ends Monkeys’ Nightmare

Following pressure from PETA and e-mails from tens of thousands of supporters, a nightmarish University of Wisconsin–Madison sleep-deprivation experiment that would have subjected marmosets to ear-splitting blasts of sound every 15 minutes for up to 24 nights was stopped after only one night. Designed by University of Massachusetts–Amherst animal torturer Agnès Lacreuse, the experiment was so cruel that it earned the federal government’s highest pain classification. Now that it’s been stopped, we’re out to end Lacreuse’s cruel and pointless menopause experiments on monkeys. Speak up for marmosets here.

CANADA

Bryan Adams to Canada’s Brass: Leave Bears Be

Bryan Adams’ message to the Canadian Armed Forces is straight from the heart: Lose the bearskin caps. In a new PETA video, the wildly popular singer and officer of the Order of Canada laments that hunters in Ontario bait bears with greasy food and shoot them with crossbows – and that their fur can be made into ornamental headpieces. Progress: Officials told us they are open to testing ECOPEL faux fur for future caps. Watch the video and take action here.

MEXICO

UFC Star Packs a Punch in PETA Campaign

Irene Aldana isn’t just a champ in the ring: She teamed up with PETA for a new ad urging everyone to go into full guard for their feline companions. “When I step out of the Octagon, my fight ends. But when a cat steps outside, their fight begins,” Aldana says in the accompanying video. “I can choose my own battles, but cats outside can’t. They have to fight to survive.” Check out her video, and tell everyone you know why cats should stay indoors.

USA

Bullhooks Banned in Virginia

Elephants in Virginia won’t have their spirits broken with bullhooks after Gov Glenn Youngkin signed a bill, introduced at PETA’s request by Del Kathy Tran, banning the weapons, which resemble a fireplace poker with a metal hook at one end. The bill was inspired by the plight of Asha, an African elephant imprisoned at the notorious Natural Bridge Zoo who knew the force of a bullhook and was threatened with one if she didn’t obey her handler, pronto. Never buy tickets to any “attraction” where animals spend their lives in servitude.