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Category: Demos and Events

  • ‘Hell on Wheels’ Is Coming: Chicken Truck to Blast Dying Birds’ Cries at Brick City Southern Kitchen Diners

    Diners on their way into Brick City Southern Kitchen & Whiskey Bar are in for an earful tomorrow, when “Hell on Wheels”—PETA’s life-size, hyper-realistic chicken transport truck covered with images of real chickens crammed into crates on their way to slaughter—will bombard them with actual recorded sounds of the birds’ cries along with a subliminal message every 10 seconds suggesting that people go vegan. The vexatious vehicle will deliver the horrors of the slaughterhouse straight to any patron thinking of chowing down on fried chicken over their lunch hour.

    Where:    Outside Brick City Southern Kitchen & Whiskey Bar, 10 S. Magnolia Ave., Ocala

    When:    Tuesday, March 12, 12 noon

    “Behind every hot wing or bucket of fried chicken is a once-living, sensitive individual who was crammed onto a truck for a terrifying, miserable journey to their death,” says PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman. “PETA’s ‘Hell on Wheels’ truck is an appeal to anyone who eats chicken to remember that the meat industry is cruel to birds and the only kind meal is a vegan one.”

    PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to eat”—points out that Every Animal Is Someone
    and offers free Empathy Kits for people who need a lesson in kindness.

    For more information, please visit PETA.org or follow the group on X, Facebook, or Instagram.

    The post ‘Hell on Wheels’ Is Coming: Chicken Truck to Blast Dying Birds’ Cries at Brick City Southern Kitchen Diners appeared first on PETA.

    This post was originally published on Animal Rights and Campaign News | PETA.

  • Newest Virtual Reality Experience From peta2 Promises Close Encounters on UCA Campus

    To encourage empathy for animals suffering in university laboratories, peta2—part of PETA’s youth division—is visiting the University of Central Arkansas (UCA) today and tomorrow with Abduction, a unique virtual reality experience landing on college campuses across the country. In this eerie experience, visitors will enter a mysterious truck containing a mobile virtual reality studio. The students will find themselves seemingly stranded in the desert with a couple of fellow humans, abducted by aliens, taken aboard a spaceship, and subjected to a shocking experience, similar to what animals endure in laboratories. They’ll watch as their friends are subjected to painful tests—knowing that they’ll be next.

    When:    Tuesday, March 12, and Wednesday, March 13, 11 a.m.–5 p.m.

    Where:    Old Main lawn, UCA (Please see the Google Maps link here.)

    Text reads: Imagine having your body left to science-while you're still in it. Abduction arriving at a campus near you this spring
    Watch the trailer here. Broadcast-quality footage of the Abduction virtual reality experience is available upon request.

    “Many students don’t know that on their own college campuses, frightened and confused animals are being psychologically tormented, mutilated, and killed in laboratories, with no way to escape or even understand what’s happening to them,” says peta2 Senior Director Rachelle Owen. “peta2 is on a mission to open young people’s eyes to this cruelty, help students understand what it feels like, and motivate them to join our call for a switch to superior, non-animal research.”

    Studies show that 90% of all basic research—most of which involves animals—fails to lead to treatments for humans, which is why peta2 is pushing universities to pivot to sophisticated, human-relevant research methods.

    Abduction—which was filmed in VR180 with assistance from the immersive content creation studio Prosper XR—has stopped at more than 50 other college campuses over the past year, including Harvard University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the University of California–Los Angeles, and the University of Texas at Austin. Abduction won Gold and Audience honors at the 2023 Shorty Impact Awards.

    peta2—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to experiment on”—helps young people make meaningful changes for animals in their everyday lives. For more information, please visit peta2.com or follow the group on TikTok or Instagram.

    The post Newest Virtual Reality Experience From peta2 Promises Close Encounters on UCA Campus appeared first on PETA.

    This post was originally published on Animal Rights and Campaign News | PETA.

  • Video: 13-Year-Old Boy Roughed Up by Police, Wrongfully Arrested at PETA Protest of Starbucks

    Earlier today, a 13-year-old PETA supporter named Evan was arrested for peacefully protesting Starbucks for charging extra for the vegan milks that it agrees are better for the planet. Evan and his family were joining other PETA members in a sit-in at the Starbucks at New Independence and Hamlin when police asked them to leave—and dramatic video shows that Evan was complying by gathering up “Starbucks: Stop Vegan Upcharge” signs when officers grabbed him, shoved him face-down onto a table, and handcuffed him while his pregnant mother, Shannon Blair, pleaded, “Don’t touch my child! What are you doing to my child?”

    Credit: PETA

    Evan is still in police custody. His stepfather was also arrested and is being held at an adult facility. Blair is trying to secure her son’s release.

    “Watching as my son was torn away from me, restrained, and hauled away gave me a glimpse into the horrors of the dairy industry, which takes calves from their crying mothers so that it can sell off their milk,” says Blair. “My family was simply asking Starbucks to stop penalizing customers for choosing a kinder option. There was no reason for violence.”

    Cows used for dairy are repeatedly artificially inseminated—workers insert an arm into the animals’ rectum and a metal rod to deliver semen into their vagina—and then sent to slaughter when their bodies give out. Despite publicly admitting that dairy is the biggest contributor to its carbon footprint and acknowledging the positive impact that dairy-free milk options have in furthering its environmental goals, Starbucks continues to charge as much as 90 cents more for them, lagging far behind its many competitors that offer vegan milk at no additional charge. Charging extra for vegan options also perpetuates dietary racism, given that 80% of Black and Indigenous Americans and more than 90% of Asian Americans are lactose intolerant.

    PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to eat”—points out that Every Animal Is Someone and offers free Empathy Kits for people who need a lesson in kindness. For more information, please visit PETA.org or follow the group on X, Facebook, or Instagram.

    The post Video: 13-Year-Old Boy Roughed Up by Police, Wrongfully Arrested at PETA Protest of Starbucks appeared first on PETA.

    This post was originally published on Animal Rights and Campaign News | PETA.

  • PETA to Call For Federal Protection for Monkeys at Smuggling Trial of Cambodian Government Official

    PETA supporters will gather outside the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida for the trial of Masphal Kry, a deputy director in the Cambodian Ministry of Agriculture, who is facing federal monkey-laundering charges beginning Monday. Supporters will demand that the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (FWS) add vulnerable monkey populations, which are being decimated by insatiable laboratory demand, to the endangered species list and put an end to the primate-importation pipeline.

    Where:    In front of the C. Clyde Atkins U.S. Courthouse, 301 N. Miami Ave., Miami

    When:     Monday, March 11, 9 a.m.

    PETA supporters rally at a pretrial hearing. Credit: PETA

    Kry is the first to face trial following a five-year investigation by the FWS into a monkey-smuggling ring that allegedly abducted long-tailed macaques from their forest homes and falsely identified them as captive-born, a violation of both the Lacey and Endangered Species acts. The monkeys were allegedly purchased by U.S. companies that supply laboratories across the country with monkeys for deadly experiments. A one-age trial fact sheet with hyperlinks is here.

    “The monkey-importation pipeline is rotten from the inside out,” says PETA Senior Vice President Kathy Guillermo. “PETA looks forward to seeing monkey smugglers held accountable but also for U.S. experimenters, whose thirst for primates is driving this trade, to implement superior animal-free research methods.”

    Since 2017, tens of thousands of long-tailed macaques have been funneled from Cambodia to U.S. buyers, including the National Institutes of Health, U.S. military research facilities, and several public and private universities. The animals are confined to cramped crates and loaded into airplane cargo holds, where they’re forced to languish in darkness amid their own waste as they’re transported around the globe.

    PETA will provide daily updates of the trial at PETA.org.

    PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to experiment on”—points out that Every Animal Is Someone
    and offers free Empathy Kits for people who need a lesson in kindness.

    For more information, please visit PETA.org or follow the group on X, Facebook, or Instagram.

    The post PETA to Call For Federal Protection for Monkeys at Smuggling Trial of Cambodian Government Official appeared first on PETA.

    This post was originally published on Animal Rights and Campaign News | PETA.

  • Newest Virtual Reality Experience From peta2 Promises Close Encounters at UT-Austin

    To encourage empathy for animals suffering in university laboratories, peta2—part of PETA’s youth division—is visiting the University of Texas at Austin today and tomorrow with Abduction, an award-winning virtual reality experience landing on college campuses across the country. In this eerie experience, visitors will enter a mysterious truck containing a mobile virtual reality studio. The students will seemingly find themselves stranded in the desert with a couple of fellow humans, abducted by aliens, taken aboard a spaceship, and subjected to a shocking experience, similar to what animals endure in laboratories. They’ll watch as their friends are subjected to painful tests—knowing that they’ll be next.

    When:    Thursday, March 7, and Friday, March 8, 11 a.m.–5 p.m.

    Where:    Winship Circle Amplified Sound Area, UT-Austin, Austin

    Text reads: Imagine having your body left to science-while you're still in it. Abduction arriving at a campus near you this springWatch the trailer here. Broadcast-quality footage of the Abduction virtual reality experience is available upon request.

    Experiments at UT-Austin have included subjecting rats to alcohol binges in order to cause brain damage and trapping starved rats in chambers that delivered shocks to their feet. Experimenters also forced mice to consume alcohol for 20 days, locked them in chambers filled with ethanol vapors, repeatedly took blood from their tails, then killed them and cut off their heads. Other experimenters cut open frogs’ skulls to expose their brains, immobilized them, mounted them on a foam tray while still alive, and subjected them to loud noises. Experimenters also surgically implanted recording devices in marmosets’ brains, then forced them to run on a wheel while viewing different images on a screen and “rewarded” them with drops of juice.

    Federal inspectors found that due to laboratory staff negligence, a monkey was given inadequate pain relief, a marmoset sustained injuries because a cage hadn’t been properly secured, and a vole was improperly euthanized and found alive, likely in a pile of dead bodies.

    “Many students don’t know that on their own college campuses, frightened and confused animals are being psychologically tormented, mutilated, and killed in laboratories, with no way to escape or even understand what’s happening to them,” says peta2 Senior Director Rachelle Owen. “peta2 is on a mission to open young people’s eyes to this cruelty, help students understand what it feels like, and motivate them to join our call for a switch to superior, non-animal research.”

    Studies show that 90% of all basic research—most of which involves animals—fails to lead to treatments for humans, which is why peta2 is pushing universities to pivot to sophisticated, human-relevant research methods.

    Abduction—which was filmed in VR180 with assistance from the immersive content creation studio Prosper XR—has stopped at nearly 50 other college campuses over the past year, including Harvard University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and the University of California–Los Angeles. Abduction won Gold and Audience honors at the 2023 Shorty Impact Awards.

    peta2—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to experiment on”—helps young people make meaningful changes for animals in their everyday lives. For more information, please visit peta2.org or follow the group on TikTok or Instagram.

    The post Newest Virtual Reality Experience From peta2 Promises Close Encounters at UT-Austin appeared first on PETA.

    This post was originally published on Animal Rights and Campaign News | PETA.

  • Invasive, Deadly Tests at WashU Prompt PETA Exhibit on Dark History of Animal Experiments

    Starting on Wednesday, PETA will bring its eye-opening exhibit “Without Consent,” which explores the troubled history of experiments on animals, to Kiener Plaza Park near Washington University in St. Louis (WashU), where animals have suffered acutely in painful, pointless tests. These animals include mice who were deliberately infected with sepsis, pigs who were killed after experimenters induced shock and drained about 40% of their blood, and mice who were prevented from sleeping for more than a few consecutive minutes.

    When:    Wednesday, March 6, 12 noon (Swaminathan’s presentation will take place at 12 noon. “Without Consent” will be open to the public from 12 noon to 4 p.m., March 6 to 10.)

    Where:    Kiener Plaza Park (near the Kiener Memorial Fountain and “The Olympic Runner” statue), 500 Chestnut St., St. Louis

    Visitors view PETA’s “Without Consent” exhibit.

    Visitors view PETA’s “Without Consent” exhibit. Credit: PETA

    To mark the opening of the exhibit, PETA Science Policy Advisor Shriya Swaminathan—who holds a master’s degree in biology and biomedical sciences from Washington University School of Medicine—will hold a news conference open to students at the “Without Consent” exhibit, where she’ll share additional information about the exhibit and her work at PETA to move her alma mater and other universities in the U.S. away from archaic animal studies and toward superior, human-relevant research methods, such as human-based 3-D tissue and organoid models.

    Modeled after the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, “Without Consent,” which is on the final run of its tour, will be on display locally for five days. It features 28 panels with descriptions and photographs of nearly 200 animal experiments conducted at U.S. institutions from the 1920s through the present. Watch the trailer here. An interactive virtual exhibit is also available here.

    “‘Without Consent’ tells the true stories of animals harmed and killed in experiments that they did not and could not consent to,” says PETA Vice President Shalin Gala, another WashU alum. “PETA is calling on WashU and all other institutions to embrace modern, animal-free research, because having the power to exploit other species does not give us the right to do so.”

    Following an intensive PETA campaign, WashU stopped using cats in infant intubation training courses at its medical school, where students rammed hard plastic tubes down cats’ windpipes as many as 15 times in a row in a procedure that can cause swelling, bleeding, collapsed lungs, and death. But many other equally cruel and scientifically dubious experiments continue in the school’s laboratories.

    “Without Consent” also points out that vulnerable humans—including orphans in tuberculosis and psychological experiments, immigrant women in gynecological surgeries, soldiers in LSD and poison gas tests, and impoverished Black men in syphilis experiments—were exploited in experiments. Just as society now understands that these experiments were wrong, “Without Consent” shows that we need to let a similar moral awakening guide our conduct today by extending consideration to the 110 million animals killed every year in U.S. laboratories. These animals are individuals who feel pain and fear, yet they’re robbed of their babies, force-fed chemicals, and sickened with diseases, among other atrocities.

    Following its debut in 2021, “Without Consent” has traveled to 29 cities and has shared information about the horrors of experimentation with nearly 15,000 visitors. As neuroscientist and Jeopardy! host Mayim Bialik describes it, “‘Without Consent,’ PETA’s new traveling exhibit, is a must-see. … Check it out in a city near you and do your part to help create a better future for all!”

    After viewing “Without Consent,” more than 2,500 visitors have been moved to contact their legislators, urging them to oppose animal testing and endorse the Research Modernization Deal, which offers a strategy for replacing scientifically useless tests on animals with effective human-relevant research methods.

    PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to experiment on”—points out that Every Animal Is Someone and offers free Empathy Kits for people who need a lesson in kindness. For more information, please visit PETA.org or follow the group on X, Facebook, or Instagram.

    The post Invasive, Deadly Tests at WashU Prompt PETA Exhibit on Dark History of Animal Experiments appeared first on PETA.

    This post was originally published on Animal Rights and Campaign News | PETA.

  • VIDEO: This Piñata’s Got a Rotten Center, Sending Partygoers Into a Frenzy

    Beware pounding this cow piñata …

    PETA U.K. wrote to Victoria Beckham, applauding her label’s policies against fur and exotic skins but also sharing a powerful new video asking viewers to open their eyes to the leather trade’s cruelty. The group hopes the gesture—following the designer’s Paris Fashion Week show, disrupted by PETA U.K.—will inspire her to extend compassion to fellow moms by ending her support of the leather industry, which separates desperate mothers from their babies.

    Why Victoria Beckham’s Fashion Brand Must Ditch Leather

    “Exposés by PETA entities have shown that animal leather is always the product of extreme violence—no matter where it comes from. Much of the skin used for ‘luxury’ fashion comes from calves torn away from their mothers just hours after they were born. As you know, a mother’s instinct to protect her babies is intense. Just like us, cows share a strong, loving bond with their young, and no handbag or jacket can justify the trauma of separation they endure or the horror of the slaughterhouse.”

    —Yvonne Taylor, PETA U.K. Vice President of Corporate Projects

    A person hitting a cow Piñata surrounded by cheering people, as a still from a video that PETA U.K. sent to the fashion brand of Victoria Beckham

    More than 1 billion animals exploited annually around the world for leather endure egregious abuse. In India, cows’ tails are routinely broken and irritants like tobacco and chili are rubbed into their eyes to force them to trek up to 60 miles to slaughterhouses.

    Inside these horrific facilities all over the world, cows are thrown on bloodied floors with their feet bound. Sometimes their legs are hacked off while they’re still conscious, and some endure the agony of being skinned alive while others are shot in the head before their throats are slit.

    Female cows are repeatedly impregnated, and their terrified babies are torn away from them shortly after birth—any item branded as “calf leather” came from the violent separation and slaughter of these babies.

    Mother licks baby cow in green field

    In addition to being extremely cruel, leather production is terrible for the planet. Each year, the global leather industry produces nearly 150,000 acres of effluent—liquid waste often dumped into rivers and seas. Industry studies show that cow leather is fashion’s most environmentally damaging material—over 90% of the damage occurs before the skins even reach the tannery, where over 170 unique chemicals are then used.

    PETA's poster about how "Leather Sucks the Planet Dry"

    How Victoria Beckham Fashion Can Be Compassionate

    With its letter, PETA U.K. sent samples of innovative plant-based leathers—made from olives, grapes, and cacti as well as a plastic-free plant leather called Mirum—urging the fashion icon to use such animal- and planet-friendly materials in future collections.

    Side-by-side image of a black mushroom leather purse on a mushroom background and a black cactus leather purse on a green cactus background©Instagram/angelaroi/

    Fashion shows dazzle with their glamour and excitement, but behind the scenes, a heartbreaking truth lurks: the exploitation of animals for the sake of fashion. Recently, Victoria Beckham’s highly anticipated show became the stage for a poignant protest by PETA activists, shedding light on the cruelty of the fashion industry.

    This is the fifth fashion show disrupted by PETA entities this season. Advocates also stormed the catwalks of Burberry in London, Coach in New York, Fendi in Milan, and Hermès in Paris. Last season, PETA entities disrupted fashion week shows in those same cities to call out the use of animal skins.

    These actions haven’t been taken lightly. PETA relentlessly engages designers, including Beckham herself, in dialog, urging them to adopt cruelty-free practices. When pleas fall on deaf ears and ethical alternatives are ignored, disruptions become a last resort.

    PETA’s demonstrations aren’t just about runway disturbances. They’re pleas for change. Ethical alternatives like vegan leather offer cruelty-free options without compromising style. Designers need to embrace compassion and sustainability, ending the exploitation of animals for fashion.

    What You Can Do

    Pledge to never buy or wear leather. Choose kindness and plant-based options instead.

    Pledge to Reject Leather

    The post VIDEO: This Piñata’s Got a Rotten Center, Sending Partygoers Into a Frenzy appeared first on PETA.

    This post was originally published on Animal Rights and Campaign News | PETA.

  • Seaquarium Vet’s Departure Draws More PETA Protesters to Mayor’s Office

    The Miami Seaquarium’s sole attending veterinarian has gone, and PETA’s aquatic animal allies are upping the pressure on Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava. On Wednesday, they’ll be outside her office armed with signs reading, “Vet Gone, Why Is This Hellhole Still Open?” demanding to know why the wretched facility has not yet closed and when the surviving animals will be moved to reputable facilities where they could receive medical care and proper nutrition.

    Where:    Outside the Miami-Dade County Mayor’s Office, Stephen P. Clark Center, 111 N.W. First St., Miami

     When:     Wednesday, March 6, 12 noon

    Nails Dumped Outside Mayor’s Office in Push for Seaquarium’s Closure

    A PETA protester dumps nails outside the Miami Seaquarium last month. Credit: PETA

    “Officials are moving as slow as molasses while animals suffer every minute inside this disgusting animal prison,” says PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman. “The conditions at the Miami Seaquarium are so abysmal that replacing the fleeing veterinarian would be like slapping a Band-Aid on a gushing wound, and PETA is calling on Mayor Levine Cava to give the park its walking papers.”

    PETA notes that the Seaquarium’s recent federal inspection report describes a dolphin with a 2-inch nail embedded in his throat, a sea lion who was in so much pain from an untreated eye condition that she refused food, and a customer kicking a dolphin in the mouth, among numerous other violations.

    PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to use for entertainment or abuse in any other way”—points out that Every Animal Is Someone
    and offers free Empathy Kits for people who need a lesson in kindness.

    For more information, please visit PETA.org or follow the group on X, Facebook, or Instagram.

    The post Seaquarium Vet’s Departure Draws More PETA Protesters to Mayor’s Office appeared first on PETA.

    This post was originally published on Animal Rights and Campaign News | PETA.

  • Newest Virtual Reality Experience From peta2 Promises Close Encounters at Lamar University

    To encourage empathy for animals suffering in university laboratories, peta2—part of PETA’s youth division—is visiting Lamar University today and tomorrow with Abduction, a unique virtual reality experience landing on college campuses across the country. In this eerie experience, visitors will enter a mysterious truck containing a mobile virtual reality studio. The students will find themselves seemingly stranded in the desert with a couple of fellow humans, abducted by aliens, taken aboard a spaceship, and subjected to a shocking experience, similar to what animals endure in laboratories. They’ll watch as their friends are subjected to painful tests—knowing that they’ll be next.

    When:   Thursday, February 29, and Friday, March 1, 11 a.m.–5 p.m.

    Where:    F-3 parking lot near Brooks-Shivers Dining Hall, Lamar University, Beaumont

    Text reads: Imagine having your body left to science-while you're still in it. Abduction arriving at a campus near you this springWatch the trailer here. Broadcast-quality footage of the Abduction virtual reality experience is available upon request.

    “Many students don’t know that on their own college campuses, frightened and confused animals are being psychologically tormented, mutilated, and killed in laboratories, with no way to escape or even understand what’s happening to them,” says peta2 Senior Director Rachelle Owen. “peta2 is on a mission to open young people’s eyes to this cruelty, help students understand what it feels like, and motivate them to join our call for a switch to superior, non-animal research.”

    Studies show that 90% of all basic research—most of which involves animals—fails to lead to treatments for humans, which is why peta2 is pushing universities to pivot to sophisticated, human-relevant research methods.

    Abduction—which was filmed in VR180 with assistance from the immersive content creation studio Prosper XR—has stopped at nearly 50 other college campuses over the past year, including Harvard University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the University of California–Los Angeles, and the University of Texas at Austin. Abduction won Gold and Audience honors at the 2023 Shorty Impact Awards.

    peta2—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to experiment on”—helps young people make meaningful changes for animals in their everyday lives. For more information, please visit peta2.com or follow the group on TikTok or Instagram.

    The post Newest Virtual Reality Experience From peta2 Promises Close Encounters at Lamar University appeared first on PETA.

    This post was originally published on Animal Rights and Campaign News | PETA.

  • ‘Dead Dogs’ to Haunt Iditarod in New 3-Pronged Push to End Deadly Race

    A PETA supporter dressed as an Iditarod musher pulling a sled piled with “dead dogs” will create a scene outside the Mushers Banquet Gala on Thursday, calling for an end to the lethal race and the cruel treatment of dogs who, during the off-season, are chained to dilapidated boxes or plastic barrels in bitterly cold weather, as revealed in PETA’s exposé of well-known Iditarod mushers’ facilities. This colorful action is just the first of three by activists determined to save dogs’ lives after more than 150 deaths.

    Where:    Outside the Mushers Banquet Gala, Dena’ina Civic and Convention Center, 600 W. Seventh Ave., Anchorage

    When:    Thursday, February 29, 5:30 p.m.

    starting line protest 2023 Iditarod

    Mitch Seavey, Iditarod 2022 musher, chained dog in snow© CCI Entertainment
    CCI Entertainment

    “Dogs used in the Iditarod are suffering badly, chained outside in fierce weather when not being forced to race until their paws bleed and their bodies break down,” says PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman. “PETA is demanding an end to this shameful spectacle before more dogs die in agony.”

    More than 150 dogs have died in the Iditarod since it began, with aspiration pneumonia (caused by inhaling their own vomit) the top cause. Up to half the dogs who start the race don’t finish it. During last year’s Iditarod, approximately 175 dogs were pulled off the trail due to exhaustion, illness, injury, or other causes, leaving the remaining ones to work even harder. The race ended in controversy after the winner was caught on video dragging exhausted dogs toward a checkpoint.

    PETA supporters will also protest the Iditarod’s Ceremonial Start in downtown Anchorage on Saturday, displaying a giant banner high above the crowd reading, “Iditarod: Dogs Chained for Life, Run to Death,” with gashed and bloodied “dogs” chained to poles holding up the message.

    Where:    Near the Iditarod Ceremonial Start, at the intersection of W. Fourth Avenue and D Street, Anchorage

    When:    Saturday, March 2, 9:30 a.m.

    Attendees of the Iditarod Restart can expect to see concerned locals and PETA supporters on Sunday brandishing signs that read, “Iditarod: Stop Racing Dogs to Death.”

    Where:    Iditarod Restart, southeast corner of the Willow Community Center, Willow

    When:    Sunday, March 3, 1:30 p.m.

    A TV spot featuring footage of dogs forced to run in the race and chained in the bitter cold at Iditarod mushers’ kennels will run more than 30 times each on KTUU and KYES through March 13.

    PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to use for entertainment or abuse in any other way”—points out that Every Animal Is Someone and offers free Empathy Kits for people who need a lesson in kindness.  For more information, please visit PETA.org or follow the group on X, Facebook, or Instagram.

    The post ‘Dead Dogs’ to Haunt Iditarod in New 3-Pronged Push to End Deadly Race appeared first on PETA.

    This post was originally published on Animal Rights and Campaign News | PETA.

  • Giant ‘Monkey’ to Hijack St. Pete Whole Foods Grand Opening Over Abuse in Thai Coconut Industry

    Shoppers attending Wednesday’s grand opening of the new Whole Foods store in St. Petersburg will be confronted by an 8-foot crying “monkey” chained to a massive coconut as PETA pushes the grocery giant to stop selling coconut milk from Thailand, where the coconut industry is involved in a scandal over the forced labor of endangered pig-tailed macaque monkeys.

    Where:    In front of Whole Foods Market, 201 38th Ave. N. (at the intersection with 39th Avenue N.), St. Petersburg

    When:    Wednesday, February 28, 9 a.m.

    giant inflatable monkey chained to a equally giant inflatable coconut at a whole foods store protest

    Credit: PETA

    Many monkeys used in Thailand’s coconut-picking industry are illegally snatched from their natural habitat as babies, fitted with rigid metal collars, whipped, and forced to climb trees to pick heavy coconuts. Their canine teeth are often pulled out in order to leave them defenseless. Because the industry and the Thai government lie about their systemic reliance on forced monkey labor, it’s impossible to guarantee that any coconut milk from Thailand is free of it. Multiple companies that produce coconut milk sold at Whole Foods were named by industry workers in a PETA Asia investigation as having used coconuts obtained by monkey labor. HelloFresh, Purple Carrot, and Performance Food Group have stopped sourcing coconut milk from Thailand following PETA’s exposé, as have international companies such as Aldi, ASDA, and Lidl.

    “Whole Foods’ continued sale of products implicated in the abuse of an endangered species is particularly appalling for a company that claims to care about animal welfare,” says PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman. “PETA is calling on Whole Foods to live up to its stated values and sell coconut milk only from countries where monkey labor isn’t used, such as India and the Philippines.”

    PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to abuse in any way”—points out that Every Animal Is Someone
    and offers free Empathy Kits for people who need a lesson in kindness.

    For more information, please visit PETA.org or follow the group on X (formerly Twitter), Facebook, or Instagram.

    The post Giant ‘Monkey’ to Hijack St. Pete Whole Foods Grand Opening Over Abuse in Thai Coconut Industry appeared first on PETA.

    This post was originally published on Animal Rights and Campaign News | PETA.

  • Protesters to Descend on BluePearl’s HQ Over Ties to Blood Bank Caught Warehousing, Bleeding Sick Dogs and Cats

    Because veterinary clinics owned by locally based BluePearl Pet Hospital reportedly obtain blood from The Veterinarians’ Blood Bank (TVBB)—where a PETA undercover investigation recently exposed that more than 900 dogs and cats are confined to barren cages and severely crowded pens for life, including animals who suffered from infections and cancer—a pack of PETA supporters will protest outside BluePearl’s headquarters on Wednesday to demand that the company implement a policy against obtaining blood from captive animals.

    Where:    BluePearl Pet Hospital, 2950 Busch Lake Blvd., Tampa

     When:    Wednesday, February 28, 12 noon

    dog in kennel

    Credit: PETA

    “Nearly 1,000 dogs and cats are being held captive by this massive prison-like warehouse, which treats them as living blood bags and exploits them until they take their last breath,” says PETA Senior Vice President of Cruelty Investigations Daphna Nachminovitch. “PETA is calling on BluePearl Pet Hospital to commit to obtaining blood only from healthy dogs and cats who live in homes as members of the family and are responsibly volunteered for periodic blood donations by their guardians.”

    Recent inspections of TVBB by the Indiana State Board of Animal Health confirmed many of PETA’s findings, with state veterinarian Dr. Jodi Lovejoy noting that animals held there were being bled more frequently and at ages far older than industry standards dictate—including senior animals as old as 11. She found dogs kept in rusty, barren kennels without bedding or solid surfaces as well as ones with hair loss, skin tags, and apparent pressure sores, likely from being forced to lie on hard kennel floors without any bedding for years. Every dog whose teeth she examined had “moderate to severe” dental disease. PETA notes that dental disease can cause bacteria to enter the bloodstream and travel to other parts of the body, causing damage or infections—meaning that animals at risk for such infections were still being bled, further imperiling animals who would receive that blood.

    PetVet Care Centers—a nationwide network of veterinary hospitals—dropped TVBB as a supplier following PETA’s investigation.

    PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to abuse in any way”—points out that Every Animal Is Someone
    and offers free Empathy Kits for people who need a lesson in kindness.

    For more information, please visit PETA.org or follow the group on X (formerly Twitter), Facebook, or Instagram.

    The post Protesters to Descend on BluePearl’s HQ Over Ties to Blood Bank Caught Warehousing, Bleeding Sick Dogs and Cats appeared first on PETA.

    This post was originally published on Animal Rights and Campaign News | PETA.

  • Newest Virtual Reality Experience From peta2 Promises Close Encounters at University of South Alabama

    To encourage empathy for animals suffering in university laboratories, peta2—part of PETA’s youth division—is visiting the University of South Alabama (USA) today and tomorrow with Abduction, an award-winning virtual reality experience landing on college campuses across the country. In this eerie experience, visitors will enter a mysterious truck containing a mobile virtual reality studio. The students will find themselves seemingly stranded in the desert with a couple of fellow humans, abducted by aliens, taken aboard a spaceship, and subjected to a shocking experience similar to what animals endure in laboratories. They’ll watch as their friends are subjected to painful tests—knowing that they’ll be next.

    When:    Monday, February 26, and Tuesday, February 27, 11 a.m.–5 p.m.

    Where:   100 Alumni Drive, University of South Alabama, Mobile

    Text reads: Imagine having your body left to science-while you're still in it. Abduction arriving at a campus near you this spring

    Watch the trailer here. Broadcast-quality footage of the Abduction virtual reality experience is available upon request.

    At USA, experimenters injected mice with lethal doses of the flu virus and denied them treatment for two weeks. Some lost more than 20% of their bodyweight before experimenters killed them. In another experiment, staffers put mice into a brightly lit cage—knowing mice usually avoid bright lights—with a dark box at one end. When the mice attempted to hide in the box, experimenters shocked their feet. In another, staffers injected mice with drugs and probed their rectums seven times over two and a half hours, purportedly to study nausea—even though experimenters knew that nausea is difficult to assess in mice because they’re unable to vomit.

    “Many students don’t know that on their own college campuses, frightened and confused animals are being psychologically tormented, mutilated, and killed in laboratories, with no way to escape or even understand what’s happening to them,” says peta2 Senior Director Rachelle Owen. “peta2 is on a mission to open young people’s eyes to this cruelty, help students understand what it feels like, and motivate them to join our call for a switch to superior, non-animal research.”

    Studies show that 90% of all basic research—most of which involves animals—fails to lead to treatments for humans, which is why peta2 is pushing universities to pivot to sophisticated, human-relevant research methods.

    Abduction—which was filmed in VR180 with assistance from the immersive content creation studio Prosper XR—has stopped at nearly 50 other college campuses over the past year, including Harvard University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the University of California–Los Angeles, and the University of Texas at Austin. Abduction won Gold and Audience honors at the 2023 Shorty Impact Awards.

    peta2—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to abuse in any way”—helps young people make meaningful changes for animals in their everyday lives. For more information, please visit peta2.com or follow the group on TikTok or Instagram.

    The post Newest Virtual Reality Experience From peta2 Promises Close Encounters at University of South Alabama appeared first on PETA.

    This post was originally published on Animal Rights and Campaign News | PETA.

  • Photos: PETA Germany Asks Parliament to Grant Personhood to Animals as Understanding Evolves

    Earlier today, in an action to mark PETA Germany’s 30th anniversary, dozens of PETA members and supporters descended on the New Palace in Stuttgart—dressed in formal attire, carrying briefcases, and wearing animal masks—as they called on the country’s parliament to change the constitution to legally recognize animals as individual persons and grant them basic rights. This includes the right to life, liberty, physical integrity, and the free development of personality. Photos are available here, and video is available here (please drag the video into your web browser for quick playback).

    peta germany supporters in animal masks and businesswear in a triangle formation

    Credit: PETA Germany

    Society’s fundamental understanding of identity is rapidly evolving, with gender-neutral driver’s licenses offered in several U.S. states, an orangutan legally recognized as a “person” in Argentina, and legal personhood granted to rivers around the world. PETA entities worldwide are pushing forward this evolution and asking courts to recognize the personhood and legal rights of other animals. In the U.S., PETA’s 13th Amendment lawsuit sought to free orcas from bondage at SeaWorld and its groundbreaking “monkey selfie” copyright lawsuit sought to establish the right of Naruto the macaque to own and profit from his own creation.

    “Animals aren’t things like pieces of furniture—they’re individuals like us who feel pain, fear, and love and value their lives. Simply because humans can dominate them doesn’t mean that we should,” says PETA President and founder of PETA Germany Ingrid Newkirk. “PETA Germany is urging the legal system to recognize that all animals are living, feeling beings who deserve appropriate legal rights and protections for their own sake and not in relation to how they can be exploited by humans.”

    PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to abuse in any way”—points out that Every Animal Is Someone and offers free Empathy Kits for people who need a lesson in kindness. For more information, please visit PETA.org or follow the group on X (formerly Twitter), Facebook, or Instagram.

    The post Photos: PETA Germany Asks Parliament to Grant Personhood to Animals as Understanding Evolves appeared first on PETA.

    This post was originally published on Animal Rights and Campaign News | PETA.

  • ‘Blood on Your Cans!’: PETA to Rattle Whole Foods Over Ties to Thai Monkey Abuse

    A troop of PETA “monkeys” dressed in prisoner garb will make a splash outside a local Whole Foods store on Sunday as they dump fake blood from spoof Thai coconut milk cans emblazoned with “Cruel Foods” labels to call out the grocery giant for its sale of coconut milk from Thailand—which it continues to stock even though it knows the country’s coconut industry is driven by the forced labor of endangered pig-tailed macaques.

    Where:    Whole Foods Market, 4315 Arden Way, Sacramento

    When:    Sunday, February 25, 11 a.m.

    spoof of a can of coconut milk with text that read Whole Foods Stop Selling Thai Coconut Milk - End Forced Monkey Labor

    Credit: PETA

     “By continuing to sell Thai coconut milk, Whole Foods is signing off on the abuse of an endangered species, willfully propping up an industry that kidnaps monkeys, chains them, and treats them as nothing more than coconut-picking machines,” says PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman. “PETA is calling on Whole Foods to prove it’s not morally bankrupt by selling coconut milk only from countries where monkey labor isn’t used, such as India and the Philippines.”

    Many monkeys exploited in Thailand’s coconut industry are illegally snatched from their natural habitat as babies, fitted with metal collars, whipped, and forced to climb trees to pick heavy coconuts. Their canine teeth are often pulled out in order to leave them defenseless. Because the industry and the Thai government lie about their systemic reliance on forced monkey labor, it’s impossible to guarantee that any coconut milk from Thailand is free of it. Multiple companies that produce coconut milk sold at Whole Foods were named by industry workers in a PETA Asia investigation as having used coconuts obtained via monkey labor. HelloFresh, Purple Carrot, and Performance Food Group have stopped sourcing coconut milk from Thailand following PETA’s exposé, as have international companies such as Aldi, ASDA, and Lidl.

    PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to abuse in any way”—points out that Every Animal Is Someone and offers free Empathy Kits for people who need a lesson in kindness.

    For more information, please visit PETA.org or follow the group on X (formerly Twitter), Facebook, or Instagram.

    The post ‘Blood on Your Cans!’: PETA to Rattle Whole Foods Over Ties to Thai Monkey Abuse appeared first on PETA.

    This post was originally published on Animal Rights and Campaign News | PETA.

  • Newest Virtual Reality Experience From peta2 Promises Close Encounters at UCF

    To encourage empathy for animals suffering in university laboratories, peta2—part of PETA’s youth division—is visiting the University of Central Florida (UCF) today and tomorrow with Abduction, an award-winning virtual reality experience landing on college campuses across the country. In this eerie experience, visitors will enter a mysterious truck containing a mobile virtual reality studio. The students will seemingly find themselves stranded in the desert with a couple of fellow humans, abducted by aliens, taken aboard a spaceship, and subjected to a shocking experience, similar to what animals endure in laboratories. They’ll watch as their friends are subjected to painful tests—knowing that they’ll be next.

    When:    Wednesday, February 21, and Thursday, February 22, 11 a.m.–5 p.m.

    Where:    Memory Mall (near the Student Union), University of Central Florida

    Text reads: Imagine having your body left to science-while you're still in it. Abduction arriving at a campus near you this spring

    Watch the trailer here. Broadcast-quality footage of the Abduction virtual reality experience is available upon request.

    At UCF, experimenters have purposely bred rats to have neurodegenerative disease, leaving them to suffer with limb paralysis and atrophy of their skeletal muscles for more than nine months before killing them and cutting up their spinal cords. Experimenters have also killed mice after infecting them with Lyme disease and irradiated mice to death before taking bone marrow from them. Other mice have been infected with a virus that caused them to experience weight loss, a hunched posture, ruffled fur, and a lack of movement before experimenters killed them by breaking their necks.

    “Many students don’t know that on their own college campuses, frightened and confused animals are being psychologically tormented, mutilated, and killed in laboratories, with no way to escape or even understand what’s happening to them,” says peta2 Senior Director Rachelle Owen. “peta2 is on a mission to open young people’s eyes to this cruelty, help students understand what it feels like, and motivate them to join our call for a switch to superior, non-animal research.”

    Studies show that 90% of all basic research—most of which involves animals—fails to lead to treatments for humans, which is why peta2 is pushing universities to pivot to sophisticated, human-relevant research methods.

    Abduction—which was filmed in VR180 with assistance from the immersive content creation studio Prosper XR—has stopped at nearly 50 other college campuses over the past year, including Harvard University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the University of California–Los Angeles, and the University of Texas at Austin. Abduction has won Gold and Audience honors from the 2023 Shorty Impact Awards.

    peta2—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to abuse in any way”—helps young people make meaningful changes for animals in their everyday lives. For more information, please visit peta2.org or follow the group on TikTok or Instagram.

    The post Newest Virtual Reality Experience From peta2 Promises Close Encounters at UCF appeared first on PETA.

    This post was originally published on Animal Rights and Campaign News | PETA.

  • ‘Eat Me!’ Chris P. Carrot Says Presidential Candidates Must Go Vegan to Combat Climate Catastrophe and More

    PETA’s bipartisan mascot Chris P. Carrot is on the campaign trail in South Carolina, where he’ll give attendees and presidential hopefuls some food for thought as he holds an “EAT ME!” sign and urges them to go vegan for three good reasons: to stop harming animals, to bolster human health, and to protect the environment. Chris P. Carrot’s first stop will be at Nikki Haley’s bus tour stop in Beaufort this evening, followed by other events throughout the week.

    Left: Chris P. Carrot at the Asa Hutchinson rally in Des Moines, Iowa, on Saturday. Right: Chris P. Carrot at the Nikki Haley rally in Adel, Iowa, on Sunday. Credit: PETA

    Left: Chris P. Carrot at the Asa Hutchinson rally in Des Moines, Iowa, on Saturday. Right: Chris P. Carrot at the Nikki Haley rally in Adel, Iowa, on Sunday. Credit: PETA

    “Animal agriculture is a killer, spewing methane that’s destroying the planet, hardening humans’ arteries with cholesterol, and sending billions of animals to their deaths,” says PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman. “PETA’s Chris P. Carrot is urging candidates and voters to go vegan before it’s too late—and we have free downloadable vegan starter kits for all.”

    According to the United Nations, about a third of human-caused greenhouse gas emissions are linked to food production and the largest percentage of these emissions come from the meat and dairy industries. PETA notes that growing water-intensive crops just to feed animals raised for food consumes more than half the water used in the U.S. and that up to 80% of deforestation in the Amazon is linked to meat production, either for grazing or for growing food for cows. Vegan foods—such as fruits and vegetables, whole grains, beans, peas, nuts, and lentils—require less energy, land, and water.

    Chris P. Carrot will make appearances at Haley’s bus tour stops in Georgetown and Myrtle Beach tomorrow and in Rock Hill on Friday.

    PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to eat”—points out that Every Animal Is Someone and offers free Empathy Kits for people who need a lesson in kindness. For more information, please visit PETA.org or follow the group on X (formerly Twitter), Facebook, or Instagram.

    The post ‘Eat Me!’ Chris P. Carrot Says Presidential Candidates Must Go Vegan to Combat Climate Catastrophe and More appeared first on PETA.

    This post was originally published on Animal Rights and Campaign News | PETA.

  • Giant ‘Monkey’ to Hijack Albuquerque Whole Foods Grand Opening Over Thai Coconut Industry Abuse

    Shoppers attending Thursday’s grand opening of the new Whole Foods store in Albuquerque will be confronted by an 8-foot crying “monkey” chained to a massive coconut as PETA pushes the grocery giant to stop selling coconut milk from Thailand, where the coconut industry is involved in a scandal over the forced labor of endangered pig-tailed macaque monkeys.

    Where:     In front of Whole Foods, 2100 Carlisle Blvd. N.E., Albuquerque

    When:     Thursday, February 22, 9 a.m.

    giant inflatable monkey chained to a equally giant inflatable coconut at a whole foods store protest

    Credit: PETA

    Many monkeys used in Thailand’s coconut-picking industry are illegally snatched from their natural habitat as babies, fitted with rigid metal collars, chained, whipped, and forced to climb trees to pick heavy coconuts. Their canine teeth are sometimes pulled out in order to leave them defenseless. Because the industry and the Thai government lie about their systemic reliance on forced monkey labor, it’s impossible to guarantee that any coconut milk from Thailand is free of it. Multiple companies that produce coconut milk sold at Whole Foods were named by industry workers in a PETA Asia investigation as having used coconuts obtained by monkey labor. HelloFresh, Purple Carrot, and Performance Food Group stopped sourcing coconut milk from Thailand following the exposé.

    “Whole Foods’ continued sale of products implicated in the abuse of an endangered species is particularly appalling coming from a company that claims to care about animal welfare,” says PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman. “PETA is calling on Whole Foods to live up to its values and sell coconut milk only from countries where monkey labor isn’t used, including India, Indonesia, and the Philippines.”

    PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to abuse in any way”—points out that Every Animal Is Someone and offers free Empathy Kits for people who need a lesson in kindness.

    For more information, please visit PETA.org or follow the group on X (formerly Twitter), Facebook, or Instagram.

    The post Giant ‘Monkey’ to Hijack Albuquerque Whole Foods Grand Opening Over Thai Coconut Industry Abuse appeared first on PETA.

    This post was originally published on Animal Rights and Campaign News | PETA.

  • Protesters to Descend on VCA’s HQ Over Ties to Blood Bank Caught Warehousing, Bleeding Sick Dogs and Cats

    Because veterinary clinics owned by locally based VCA Animal Hospitals reportedly obtain blood from The Veterinarians’ Blood Bank (TVBB)—where a PETA undercover investigation recently exposed that more than 900 dogs and cats are confined to barren cages and severely crowded pens for life, including animals who suffered from infections and cancer—a pack of PETA supporters will protest outside VCA’s headquarters on Thursday to demand that the company implement a policy against obtaining blood from captive animals.

    Where:    VCA Animal Hospitals, 12401 W. Olympic Blvd., Los Angeles

    When:    Thursday, February 22, 12 noon

    dog in kennel

    Credit: PETA

     “Nearly 1,000 dogs and cats are being held captive by this massive prison-like warehouse, which treats them as living blood bags and exploits them until they take their last breath,” says PETA Senior Vice President of Cruelty Investigations Daphna Nachminovitch. “PETA is calling on VCA Animal Hospitals to commit to obtaining blood only from healthy dogs and cats who live in homes as members of the family and are responsibly volunteered for periodic blood donations by their guardians.”

    Recent inspections of TVBB by the Indiana State Board of Animal Health confirmed many of PETA’s findings, with state veterinarian Dr. Jodi Lovejoy noting that animals held there were being bled more frequently and at ages far older than industry standards dictate—including senior animals as old as 11. She found dogs kept in rusty, barren kennels without bedding or solid surfaces as well as ones with hair loss, skin tags, and apparent pressure sores, likely from being forced to lie on hard kennel floors without any bedding for years. Every dog whose teeth she examined had “moderate to severe” dental disease. As VCA Animal Hospitals explains on its own website, dental disease can cause bacteria to enter the bloodstream and travel to “other areas within the body, causing distant or systemic effects”—meaning that animals at risk for infections in their bloodstream were still being bled, further imperiling the animals who would use that blood.

    PetVet Care Centers—a nationwide network of veterinary hospitals—dropped TVBB as a supplier following PETA’s investigation.

    PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to abuse in any way”—points out that Every Animal Is Someone and offers free Empathy Kits for people who need a lesson in kindness.

    For more information, please visit PETA.org or follow the group on X (formerly Twitter), Facebook, or Instagram.

    The post Protesters to Descend on VCA’s HQ Over Ties to Blood Bank Caught Warehousing, Bleeding Sick Dogs and Cats appeared first on PETA.

    This post was originally published on Animal Rights and Campaign News | PETA.

  • Giant ‘Monkey’ to Hijack Albuquerque Whole Foods Grand Opening Over Thai Coconut Industry Abuse

    Shoppers attending Thursday’s grand opening of the new Whole Foods store in Albuquerque will be confronted by an 8-foot crying “monkey” chained to a massive coconut as PETA pushes the grocery giant to stop selling coconut milk from Thailand, where the coconut industry is involved in a scandal over the forced labor of endangered pig-tailed macaque monkeys.

    Where:    In front of Whole Foods, 2100 Carlisle Blvd. N.E., Albuquerque

    When:    Thursday, February 22, 9 a.m

    giant inflatable monkey chained to a equally giant inflatable coconut at a whole foods store protest

    Credit: PETA

    Many monkeys used in Thailand’s coconut-picking industry are illegally snatched from their natural habitat as babies, fitted with rigid metal collars, chained, whipped, and forced to climb trees to pick heavy coconuts. Their canine teeth are sometimes pulled out in order to leave them defenseless. Because the industry and the Thai government lie about their systemic reliance on forced monkey labor, it’s impossible to guarantee that any coconut milk from Thailand is free of it. Multiple companies that produce coconut milk sold at Whole Foods were named by industry workers in a PETA Asia investigation as having used coconuts obtained by monkey labor. HelloFresh, Purple Carrot, and Performance Food Group stopped sourcing coconut milk from Thailand following the exposé.

    “Whole Foods’ continued sale of products implicated in the abuse of an endangered species is particularly appalling coming from a company that claims to care about animal welfare,” says PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman. “PETA is calling on Whole Foods to live up to its values and sell coconut milk only from countries where monkey labor isn’t used, including India, Indonesia, and the Philippines.”

    PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to abuse in any way”—points out that Every Animal Is Someone and offers free Empathy Kits for people who need a lesson in kindness.

    For more information, please visit PETA.org or follow the group on X (formerly Twitter), Facebook, or Instagram.

    The post Giant ‘Monkey’ to Hijack Albuquerque Whole Foods Grand Opening Over Thai Coconut Industry Abuse appeared first on PETA.

    This post was originally published on Animal Rights and Campaign News | PETA.

  • Fear of Frostbite, Fatalities Prompt PETA’s Free Straw Giveaway for Dogs Left Outside

    Bitterly cold weather brings the risk of frostbite, hypothermia, and even death for dogs kept outside, especially if they’re chained or penned, and with temperatures expected to drop into the low 30s this week, PETA and Dogs Deserve Better Piedmont (DDB) will host a straw giveaway in Creedmoor on Wednesday, at which residents can pick up one free bag of insulating straw bedding per dog.

    Where:    In the parking lot of Southern States, 301 N. Main St., Creedmoor

    When:     Wednesday, February 21, 2–5 p.m.

    A PETA fieldworker provides insulating straw to a dog kept chained outdoors. Credit: PETA

    “It shouldn’t be the situation in 2024, but countless dogs in North Carolina are still kept chained or penned outdoors all day, every day, and left to fend for themselves in the freezing cold,” says PETA Senior Vice President Daphna Nachminovitch. “Although the best way to keep dogs warm and safe is by keeping them indoors with the rest of the family, providing straw provides a small measure of protection to make the bitterly cold weather less painful.”

    PETA’s rescue team is in the field every day delivering doghouses, straw bedding, and other necessities to dogs who are forced to spend their lives penned or chained outdoors. DDB builds pens for dogs kept chained outside 24/7 and provides other services at no cost to families in Granville and Franklin counties.

    PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to abuse in any way”—points out that Every Animal Is Someone and offers free Empathy Kits for people who need a lesson in kindness.

    For more information, please visit PETA.org or follow the group on X (formerly Twitter), Facebook, or Instagram.

    The post Fear of Frostbite, Fatalities Prompt PETA’s Free Straw Giveaway for Dogs Left Outside appeared first on PETA.

    This post was originally published on Animal Rights and Campaign News | PETA.

  • PETA Statement: What a Twist! PETA Supporter Wrongfully Detained While Demonstrating Against Miami Seaquarium

    Today, in an ironic move mirroring that of the wrongful detention of marine mammals inside the Miami Seaquarium, PETA supporter Juan Endara was wrongfully detained by Miami-Dade County police during a demonstration urging Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava to shut down the Miami Seaquarium and let the animals go. Endara was using a megaphone, which is permitted for political protests, but police informed him that he couldn’t use one and handcuffed him after he disagreed. Endara was later released without being booked.

    Below, please find a statement from PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman:

    Someone calling today on the mayor to shut down the Miami Seaquarium because of rampant cruelty was held against his will, much like the dolphins confined to the abusement park’s crumbling, decrepit tanks. Police acknowledged their mistake and set him free, and PETA is calling on the Miami Seaquarium to acknowledge its “mistake” in wrongfully detaining these marine mammals and release them to reputable facilities to live out their lives.

     PETA—whose motto reads in part, that “animals are not ours to use for entertainment”—points out that Every Animal Is Someone and offers free Empathy Kits for people who need a lesson in kindness. For more information, please visit PETA.org or follow the group on X (formerly Twitter), Facebook, or Instagram.

    The post PETA Statement: What a Twist! PETA Supporter Wrongfully Detained While Demonstrating Against Miami Seaquarium appeared first on PETA.

    This post was originally published on Animal Rights and Campaign News | PETA.

  • Bainbridge Residents File Lawsuit Against Agencies to Block Monkey-Breeding Facility

    Bainbridge residents filed a lawsuit yesterday against the City of Bainbridge, Decatur County, the Decatur County Board of Education, and the Decatur County Board of Assessors, which voted to approve a plan to build the largest monkey-breeding facility in the U.S. in violation of Georgia’s Open Meetings Act.

    image shows a trio of people standing behind a row of signs attached to a table - text reads: The people have spoken: no monkey facility in Bainbridge

    Credit: PETA

    The agencies voted at a meeting on December 11 to approve a 20-year tax abatement scheme worth at least $58 million to lure the proposed facility. According to the lawsuit, the agencies failed to publish notices or agendas, record the presence or absence of their members, and identify individual members who voted to approve the project, along with violating the act in other ways. The plaintiffs argue that the violations make the agreements void and not binding.

    “Public agencies are supposed to represent their constituents, not greedy businessmen from out of state,” says PETA Senior Vice President of Laboratory Investigations Kathy Guillermo. “These officials apparently followed the dictates of Safer Human Medicine and held secretive meetings to attract a monkey-importation company that nobody wants to their community.”

    The planned facility would import, breed, and warehouse monkeys destined to be poisoned, mutilated, and killed in pointless laboratory experiments, risking the spread of infectious diseases and degrading the environment.

    PETA Manager of Primate Experimentation Campaigns Amy Meyer will join the plaintiffs and other concerned residents of Decatur County holding signs reading, “Stop the Monkey Farm!” to directly confront the Bainbridge City Council at its meeting on Tuesday evening.

    The leaders of Safer Human Medicine, the company behind the plan, are former executives from Envigo, Charles River Laboratories, and Covance—animal experimentation companies that have faced federal investigations and citations for repeated violations of animal welfare regulations. PETA recently revealed that Safer Human Medicine CEO Jim Harkness, a former Envigo executive, lied to Georgia residents about issues at the company’s facility in Virginia that bred beagles to be sold to laboratories—after a PETA investigation and the violations it exposed led to a U.S. Department of Justice investigation, the closure of the facility, and the release of nearly 4,000 beagles for adoption.

    PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to experiment on”—points out that Every Animal Is Someone and offers free Empathy Kits for people who need a lesson in kindness. For more information, please visit PETA.org or follow the group on X (formerly Twitter), Facebook, or Instagram.

    The post Bainbridge Residents File Lawsuit Against Agencies to Block Monkey-Breeding Facility appeared first on PETA.

    This post was originally published on Animal Rights and Campaign News | PETA.

  • Newest Virtual Reality Experience From peta2 Promises Close Encounters at UGA

    To encourage empathy for animals suffering in university laboratories, peta2—part of PETA’s youth division—is visiting the University of Georgia (UGA) tomorrow with Abduction, a unique virtual reality experience landing on college campuses across the country. In this eerie experience, visitors will enter a mysterious truck containing a mobile virtual reality studio. The students will seemingly find themselves stranded in the desert with a couple of fellow humans, abducted by aliens, taken aboard a spaceship, and subjected to a shocking experience, similar to what animals endure in laboratories. They’ll watch as their friends are subjected to painful tests—knowing that they’ll be next.

    When:    Thursday, February 15, and Friday, February 16, 11 a.m.–5 p.m.

    Where:    Reed Plaza, University of Georgia

    Text reads: Imagine having your body left to science-while you're still in it. Abduction arriving at a campus near you this spring

    Watch the trailer here. Broadcast-quality footage of the Abduction virtual reality experience is available upon request.

    At UGA, experimenters have subjected healthy dogs to bleach bathspurportedly to study the effects of atopic dermatitis, a skin disease that the dogs didn’t have. Experimenters also gave pigs copious amounts of alcohol to assess whether their increased blood alcohol levels resulted in motor deficits—which they acknowledged was already common in intoxicated humans.

    The school has been cited for numerous violations of the federal Animal Welfare Act. Staffers botched the insertion of a tube into the veins of seven rabbits, killing two of them. Staffers have also allowed a monkey to sustain a cheek puncture from a metal clip and a dog to sustain third-degree burns because an experimenter—apparently ignorant about how an electric current machine works—assumed that the continuous stream of electricity pumping into the canine had somehow shut itself off.

    “Many students don’t know that on their own college campuses, frightened and confused animals are being psychologically tormented, mutilated, and killed in laboratories, with no way to escape or even understand what’s happening to them,” says peta2 Senior Director Rachelle Owen. “peta2 is on a mission to open young people’s eyes to this cruelty, help students understand what it feels like, and motivate them to join our call for a switch to superior, non-animal research.”

    Studies show that 90% of all basic research—most of which involves animals—fails to lead to treatments for humans, which is why peta2 is pushing universities to pivot to sophisticated, human-relevant research methods.

    Abduction—which was filmed in VR180 with assistance from the immersive content creation studio Prosper XR—has stopped at nearly 50 other college campuses over the past year, including Harvard University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the University of California–Los Angeles, and the University of Texas at Austin. Abduction has won Gold and Audience honors from the 2023 Shorty Impact Awards.

    peta2—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to abuse in any way”—helps young people make meaningful changes for animals in their everyday lives. For more information, please visit peta2.org or follow the group on TikTok or Instagram.

    The post Newest Virtual Reality Experience From peta2 Promises Close Encounters at UGA appeared first on PETA.

    This post was originally published on Animal Rights and Campaign News | PETA.

  • PETA Exhibit Exposing History of Cruel Animal Experimentation Coming to Nashville’s West End Neighborhood

    Starting next Wednesday, PETA will show its eye-opening exhibit “Without Consent,” which explores the troubled history of experiments on animals and challenges institutions to rethink this cruel and archaic concept of science, at Centennial Park—a stone’s throw from Vanderbilt University, an institution with a troubled history of animal experimentation.

    When:    Wednesday, February 21, to Sunday, February 25, 12 noon–4 p.m.

    Where:    Centennial Park, 2500 West End Ave. (near Athena at The Parthenon and Lake Watauga), Nashville

    Visitors view PETA’s “Without Consent” exhibit. Credit: PETA

    Modeled after the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, “Without Consent” will be on display locally for five days. It features 28 panels with descriptions and photographs of nearly 200 animal experiments conducted at U.S. institutions from the 1920s to the present. Watch the trailer here. An interactive virtual exhibit is available here.

    “‘Without Consent’ tells the true stories of animals harmed and killed in experiments that they did not and could not consent to,” says PETA Senior Vice President Kathy Guillermo. “PETA is calling on Vanderbilt and all other institutions to embrace modern, animal-free research, because having the power to exploit other species does not give us the right to do so.”

    Vanderbilt was fined more than $15,000 by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) for animal welfare violations, including an incident in which a monkey was scalded to death when her cage was run through a high-temperature cage washer while she was trapped inside.

    “Without Consent” also points out that vulnerable humans—including orphans in tuberculosis and psychological experiments, immigrant women in gynecological surgeries, soldiers in LSD and poison gas tests, and impoverished Black men in syphilis experiments—were exploited in experiments. Just as society now understands that these experiments were wrong, “Without Consent” shows that we need to let a similar moral awakening guide our conduct today by extending consideration to the 110 million animals killed every year in U.S. laboratories. These animals are individuals who feel pain and fear, yet they’re robbed of their babies, force-fed chemicals, and sickened with diseases, among other atrocities.

    Since its debut in 2021, “Without Consent” has traveled to 29 cities and has shared information about the horrors of experimentation with nearly 15,000 visitors. As neuroscientist and Jeopardy! host Mayim Bialik describes it, “‘Without Consent,’ PETA’s new traveling exhibit, is a must-see. … Check it out in a city near you and do your part to help create a better future for all!”

    After viewing “Without Consent,” more than 2,500 visitors were moved to contact their legislators, urging them to oppose animal testing and endorse the Research Modernization Deal, which offers a strategy for replacing scientifically useless tests on animals with effective human-relevant research methods.

    “Without Consent” will be open to the public at Centennial Park from 12 noon to 4 p.m., February 21 to 25.

    PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to experiment on”—points out that Every Animal Is Someone and offers free Empathy Kits for people who need a lesson in kindness. For more information, please visit PETA.org or follow the group on X (formerly Twitter), Facebook, or Instagram.

    The post PETA Exhibit Exposing History of Cruel Animal Experimentation Coming to Nashville’s West End Neighborhood appeared first on PETA.

    This post was originally published on Animal Rights and Campaign News | PETA.

  • Cuddles and Chocolates in Charm City! PETA Pair to Give Away Vegan Truffles From Bed

    Vegans make better lovers! That’s the message from a PETA couple who will cuddle in a bed on a busy downtown street corner in Baltimore this Valentine’s Day. The lovebirds will pass out delicious vegan oat milk Lindt chocolates to passersby, offering a sweet reminder that eating vegan can mean the difference between sizzling and fizzling in the bedroom. Animal-derived products can clog the arteries to every organ—not just the heart.

    Where:    257 Charles Plaza, Baltimore

    When:    Wednesday, February 14, 12 noon

    Vegan Couple Beds Down on Busy Street for Valentine’s Day

    Credit: PETA

    “What goes on in the kitchen has a lot to do with what happens—or doesn’t—in the bedroom,” says PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman. “By joining PETA and going vegan for Valentine’s Day, your body will thank you—and your partner will, too.”

    Each person who goes vegan spares nearly 200 animals daily suffering and a terrifying death every year. In addition to reducing the risk of impotence, plant-powered eating slashes the risk of heart disease by a whopping 52%, according to studies published in the Journal of the American Heart Association.

    PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to eat”—points out that Every Animal Is Someone and offers free Empathy Kits for people who need a lesson in kindness.

    For more information, please visit PETA.org or follow the group on X (formerly Twitter), Facebook, or Instagram.

    The post Cuddles and Chocolates in Charm City! PETA Pair to Give Away Vegan Truffles From Bed appeared first on PETA.

    This post was originally published on Animal Rights and Campaign News | PETA.

  • ‘Don’t Go Bacon My Heart!’ Pig’s V-Day Plea Hits Burlington With Vegan BLT Giveaway

    On Valentine’s Day, a group of PETA pig pals will hand out free vegan BLT sandwiches from Animal Liberation Kitchen beneath a sky-high message that puts a twist on Elton John and Kiki Dee’s classic hit, urging viewers to show pigs some love, keep bacon off their plates, and go vegan.

    When:    Wednesday, February 14, 12 noon

    Where:    501 Brant St., Burlington

    Pig looking at camera next to text that says "Don't Go Bacon Valentine" with "go vegan" in pink heart"© Jo-Anne McArthur / We Animals Media
    “Every bit of bacon represents the suffering of an individual who felt pain and fear and didn’t want to die,” says PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman. “PETA urges everyone to open their hearts and keep pigs and other animals off their plates this Valentine’s Day and beyond.”

    At slaughterhouses, workers shoot pigs in the head with a captive-bolt gun, hang them up by one leg, and cut their throat—often while they’re still conscious. Each person who goes vegan spares nearly 200 animals every year; reduces their own risk of suffering from cancer, heart disease, strokes, diabetes, and obesity; and dramatically shrinks their carbon footprint. PETA’s free vegan starter kit can help those looking to make the switch.

    PETA’s message appears at four additional locations around Burlington: on both sides of the street near 3187 Harvester Rd., at 2027 Lakeshore Rd., and at 4100 Upper Middle Rd. All five of PETA’s billboards were placed in honor of animal ally Regan Russell, who was hit and killed by a transport truck carrying pigs into Burlington-based slaughterhouse Fearmans Pork during a peaceful demonstration in 2020. Each message is located less than five miles from the slaughterhouse, which kills about 10,000 pigs every day.

    PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to eat”—points out that Every Animal Is Someone and offers free Empathy Kits for people who need a lesson in kindness. For more information, please visit PETA.org or follow the group on X (formerly Twitter), Facebook, or Instagram.

    The post ‘Don’t Go Bacon My Heart!’ Pig’s V-Day Plea Hits Burlington With Vegan BLT Giveaway appeared first on PETA.

    This post was originally published on Animal Rights and Campaign News | PETA.

  • PETA Expert to Join Locals Fighting Monkey Warehouse; New Video Exposes Exec’s Lies

    Primate scientist and PETA Senior Science Advisor Dr. Lisa Jones-Engel will give a PowerPoint presentation at the Decatur County Board of Commissioners meeting on Tuesday, joining throngs of alarmed residents to urge officials to vote against a plan to build the largest monkey warehouse in the country, capable of holding 30,000 monkeys.

    Where:       Decatur County Administrative Office, 203 W. Broughton St., Bainbridge

    When:       Tuesday, February 13, 9 a.m.

    Bainbridge monkeys land cleared

    Land cleared for the proposed facility. Credit: PETA

    Dr. Jones-Engel will point out that the leaders of Safer Human Medicine, the company behind the plan, are former executives from Envigo, Charles River Laboratories, and Covance—all animal experimentation companies that profit from suffering and operate facilities that have faced federal investigations and citations for repeated violations of animal welfare regulations.

    PETA also released a new video revealing that Jim Harkness, Safer Human Medicine’s CEO and a former Envigo executive, lied to Georgia residents about issues at the company’s beagle-breeding facility in Virginia after a PETA investigation and the violations it exposed led to a U.S. Department of Justice investigation, the closure of the facility, and the release of nearly 4,000 beagles for adoption.

    The planned facility would import, breed, and warehouse monkeys destined to be poisoned, mutilated, and killed in pointless laboratory experiments, which are already driving the extinction of the species the company would be importing. The facility would also pose a serious risk of infectious disease and degrade the surrounding environment.

    “Everything about this facility is seedy, down to the bullies behind it,” says Jones-Engel. “Officials are running out of time to do the right thing by squashing this scheme before the community that locals know and love is ruined.”

    PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to experiment on”—points out that Every Animal Is Someone and offers free Empathy Kits for people who need a lesson in kindness.

    For more information, please visit PETA.org or follow the group on X (formerly Twitter), Facebook, or Instagram.

    The post PETA Expert to Join Locals Fighting Monkey Warehouse; New Video Exposes Exec’s Lies appeared first on PETA.

    This post was originally published on Animal Rights and Campaign News | PETA.

  • Are You Ready to Cross the Line? Sign Up for Ingrid Newkirk’s New Tour

    Ingrid Newkirk’s New Event Is Coming to You, Atlanta—Find Out How to Sign Up

    What’s Your Role in the Animal Rights Movement? Learn About It at This Event

    EVENT: Ingrid Newkirk Flips Everything You Knew About Animal Rights on Its Head

    Are You Ready to Cross the Line? Sign Up for Ingrid Newkirk’s New Tour

    Want to Put the All in ‘All Together Now’? Ingrid Newkirk Will Show You How

    How Far Can You Go for Animal Rights? Find Out With Ingrid Newkirk

    Where Do We Draw the Line for Animal Rights? You’re Invited to Find Out

    This Event Will Teach You Everything You Need to Know About Our Fellow Animals

    Attend the Event of the Season to Turn Your Animal Rights Work on Its Head

    EVENT: Learn How to Erase the Line Between Humans and Our Fellow Animals

    ‘All Together Now!’ Catch Ingrid Newkirk’s New Speaking Tour—Coming to Atlanta First

    Calling All Atlantans: Don’t Miss Ingrid Newkirk’s New Speaking Tour

     

    If you’ve ever been asked, “Where do you animal rights people draw the line?” this talk with Ingrid Newkirk is for you. See how to get your tickets for the Atlanta event here.

     

    After this event with PETA’s president, you’ll have a new spring in your step, knowing you’re an integral part of the “all” in “All Together Now!” Get your tickets for the first tour stop—in Atlanta!

     

    This event will captivate you with Ingrid Newkirk’s storytelling, inspiring ideas, clever humor, and unwavering commitment to dismantling speciesism. Get your tickets to the first event—in Atlanta.

     

    The post Are You Ready to Cross the Line? Sign Up for Ingrid Newkirk’s New Tour appeared first on PETA.

    This post was originally published on Animal Rights and Campaign News | PETA.

  • ‘You’re Too Old for Breast Milk’: Giant ‘Baby’ to Give Away Free Vegan Cheese for Super Bowl

    Ahead of the big game on Sunday—one of the biggest days of the year for cheese consumption—a team of PETA supporters, accompanied by a giant inflatable baby armed with a sign that reads, “If You Can Read This, You’re Too Old for Breast Milk,” will touch down at the Official Chiefs Watch Party at J. Rieger & Co. to give out free Babybel Plant-Based cheese snacks to fans, reminding people that cow’s milk is for calves and that vegan nosh is a winning play for everyone.

    Where:    Outside J. Rieger & Co., 2700 Guinotte Ave., Kansas City

    When:    Sunday, February 11, 4 p.m.

    Giant ‘Babies’ Lead PETA’s Vegan Cheese Giveaway

    Credit: PETA

    “Stubborn dairy-dependent men need a new game plan that doesn’t involve loading up their Super Bowl pizzas and snacks with bovine breast secretions,” says PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman. “There’s never been a wider array of vegan options available, and PETA urges everyone to kick off kinder eating habits with delicious vegan cheese this Sunday and beyond.”

    In the dairy industry, calves are torn away from their mothers within a day of birth so that the milk meant for them can be stolen and sold to humans as cheese, yogurt, and other “products.” PETA’s investigations into dairy facilities have found workers electroshocking cows in the face, hitting them with poles and a cane, and abusing them in other ways. Once their bodies wear out from repeated pregnancies, they’re sent to slaughter. PETA’s downloadable vegan starter kits can help anyone make the switch to vegan eating.

    PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to eat or abuse in any other way”—points out that Every Animal Is Someone
    and offers free Empathy Kits for people who need a lesson in kindness.

    For more information, please visit PETA.org or follow the group on X (formerly Twitter), Facebook, or Instagram.

    The post ‘You’re Too Old for Breast Milk’: Giant ‘Baby’ to Give Away Free Vegan Cheese for Super Bowl appeared first on PETA.

    This post was originally published on Animal Rights and Campaign News | PETA.