Who doesn’t love a delicious baked good? But before you visit a bakery, there are some things you knead to know. Many baked goods use eggs stolen from caring mother hens who’d rather dust-bathe than be exploited for a cookie. Other items are made with butter, milk, or other “ingredients” taken from miserable animals on farms. Thankfully, such products are easily avoided because of the ever-growing availability of animal-friendly ones. When you visit a vegan bakery, you get all the deliciousness without supporting cruelty. PETA traveled from coast to coast to find spots to satisfy your sweet tooth.
Whether you’re craving something savory or sweet, this 100% vegan café and bakery has, like its name suggests, just what you need. It also has a small market section for you to browse.
This woman-owned bakery offers an extensive menu of delectable vegan treats ranging from brownies to whoopie pies. No matter what you choose, it’s sure to impress.
Virginia’s first 100% vegan bakery has delicious desserts ranging from cookie sandwiches to gluten-free doughnuts. If you don’t live nearby, you can have a number of My Vegan Sweet Tooth’s baked goods shipped right to your door.
You’ll find pies, cupcakes, and cookies galore at this Florida bakery. Not planning a trip to the Sunshine State anytime soon? Get some goodies shipped to your door!
In addition to its full menu, this award-winning spot offers a large selection of French-inspired baked goods. With multiple types of croissants, cookies, macarons, doughnuts, and other delicious choices, you’ll want to visit again and again.
You’ve never seen cinnamon rolls like these before. Order one of the chain’s specialty rolls, such as the Campfire S’mores, or get creative and customize your roll by choosing from the vegan frosting and topping options available.
With so many choices, it’s impossible to include every vegan bakery there is—but hopefully this list will get you started. If there isn’t a spot near you, there are plenty of places that’ll ship delicious desserts right to your door—or you can make your own delectable vegan baked goods at home using common store-bought ingredients, including some you may already have in your cupboard.
An ear to King Felipe VI of Spain … my lungs to the governor of Alaska … a piece of my heart to Elon Musk: Talk about putting your whole self into some final wishes!
Not many people—even passionate presidents of driven nonprofits—write wills with instructions on how to dole out their body parts to benefit an organization’s mission. And only one has done precisely that and lived another 20 years—long enough to update her will with increasingly clever requests. Who’s doing all this to advocate for animal rights? Ingrid Newkirk, founder and president of PETA.
Why Ingrid Newkirk’s Unique Will Got a Rewrite
On the 20th anniversary of the writing of Ingrid Newkirk’s original will, she’s revised it to help even more animals in even more highly creative ways. PETA has also won so many victories for animals since the original will’s release that she was dead set on exhuming and reviving it. Now, for example, instead of receiving an accusing finger for forcing elephants and other animals to perform, Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus will get a thumb—as a thumbs-up for leaving animal acts in the past.
The will ensures that even after her demise, Newkirk will continue to help animals and honors her commitment that “my body be used in a manner that draws attention to needless animal suffering and exploitation.”
The Shocking and Compassionate Ways Ingrid Newkirk Instructs That Her Body Be Divided Up After Her Death
Although grisly at first glance, Newkirk’s bodily bequests will inspire animal advocates while also encouraging everyone still slumbering in speciesism to wake up:
Carve out and sear some of her flesh to fry up with onions for a human barbecue.
As cows, pigs, chickens, and other animals continue to be treated badly, and killed for meat, eggs, and bovine mammary secretions, the thought of carving up human flesh for steaks might be just the thing to jolt diners into kindness. “Flesh is flesh, and mine is given, not taken,” says Newkirk.
Peel off a portion of her skin, cure it, and fashion it into a leather belt and purse.
This powerful postmortem act will remind the world that the skin of humans is the same as that of other animals, who don’t give it up willingly. Leather is a key part of animal agriculture, which alone is responsible for approximately one-fifth of all human-induced greenhouse gas emissions. Raising and killing cows for their flesh and skins requires huge amounts of feed, land, water, and fossil fuels. The only truly eco-friendly leather is vegan leather, which is made from an array of innovative, durable, and sustainable materials, including pineapple leaves, cork, and apple peels.
One of these items is to be delivered to Hermès, which supports massive suffering and killing animals in the name of fashion. PETA entities have repeatedly exposed the violent ways workers kill animals in Hermès’ supply chain. Alligators are packed on top of each other in dank pools and crocodiles are crowded in barren concrete pits for months or even years before they’re finally slaughtered for their skin. PETA’s investigator documented that workers crudely hacked into the necks of alligators and that one worker tried to scramble their brains with a metal rod. It’s crucial for consumers to buy only animal-friendlyvegan clothing and to avoid Hermès until it stops selling exotic skins. Many brands and companies, including Macy’s, have ditched exotic-animal skins, but others, like Hermès, continue to obtain them by funding horrific cruelty to snakes, ostriches, lizards, crocodiles, and alligators. The lizard tattoo on Newkirk’s arm will become a real—but 100% cruelty-free—“lizard skin” purse.
The other item goes to the prime minister of India to remind that nation’s government to spare Indian bullocks, who—after a life of extreme and involuntary servitude, as Newkirk has seen firsthand—are slaughtered and their skin exported all over the world to be made into accessories, furniture coverings, and automobile seats. Leather production causes massive animal suffering. Cows killed for their skin are routinely subjected to mutilations, including castration, their horns being burned off or gouged out, and hot-iron branding—all without painkillers. In many cases, cows are dismembered and skinned while they’re still conscious.
One of her legs should be removed and violently broken, the foot detached, and the broken leg should be sent either to Churchill Downs to display outside the Kentucky Derbyor to Aintree to display outside the Grand National so as to draw attention to the thousands of horses who have sustained fatal, catastrophic injuries during these and other races.
Newkirk hopes her broken leg will help end this abusive cycle. It’s common practice to administer drugs to horses who are forced to race in order to mask an injury or strain, rather than allowing the animals to rest and recover, which can lead to broken bones and death.
The Kentucky Derby, first held in 1875 at Churchill Downs racetrack in Louisville, is the longest continuously running sports event in the U.S. Twelve horses have died at the track since the week before this year’s Kentucky Derby on May 6. An average of three horses die every day on tracks in the U.S. When horses forced to race stop winning, they’re sometimes sold at auction and sent to slaughter.
As a result of the Randox Grand National Festival this year, Envoye Special, Dark Raven, Hill Sixteen, and Hullnback are dead. The death toll continues to rise each year, claiming more lives. Since 2010, 36 horses have died at the festival, which is held annually at Aintree Racecourse, near Liverpool, England, and is one of the most-watched races in the world. The three-day festival concludes with the Grand National race, which is—by design—an accident waiting to happen, as 40 horses compete for space on the 4.5-mile course fraught with obstacles, jumps, and dangerous terrain.
A watchful eye will be sent to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) because it needs to know that PETA will be constantly watching. Newkirk’s other eye is to be sent to the U.K. Home Office so that it, too, knows PETA’s always watching.
One of Newkirk’s eyes will be watching until the federally funded NIH stops financing and conducting billions of dollars’ worth of painful experiments on animals every year and channels that taxpayer money into state-of-the-art, superior, non-animal methods. NIH imprisons hundreds of thousands of animals in its own government laboratories and funds animal laboratories all over the world.
Nearly half of NIH’s budget—about $19 billion annually—is used to fund experiments in which animals are burned; electroshocked; deprived of food, water, or sleep; intentionally infected with diseases; addicted to drugs like cocaine and heroin; poisoned with industrial chemicals; and driven insane from their isolation in small, barren cages. More than 90% of these tests provide no useful data for developing new treatments for human patients, but they inflict an enormous amount of terror, agonizing pain, and suffering on millions of animals locked in laboratory cages and awaiting the next cruel procedure before they’re ultimately killed.
Her other eye will remain on the U.K. Home Office until it stops greenlighting crude experiments on animals. The Home Office is responsible for licensing experiments on animals, including forced swim tests, in which experimenters induce panic in vulnerable animals who are dropped into inescapable cylinders of water, where they panic and swim frantically to exhaustion in order to keep from drowning. They attempt to climb the sides of the container and even dive underwater to look for an escape, but there is none. Afterward, experimenters kill the animals, either by gassing, blunt force trauma to the head, an overdose of an anesthetic, or breaking their necks. None of this leads to advances of any kind in treating human conditions or diseases.
Use her intestines for sausage casings, and send them to chef Nusret Gökçe (aka “Salt Bae”), who is known for preparing meaty dishes.
Gökçe is a Turkish butcher, chef, food entertainer, and restaurateur. He opened his first restaurant outside of Turkey in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, in 2014. Soon afterward, branches in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates; Beverly Hills, California; Boston; Dallas; Doha, Qatar; London; Miami; Mykonos, Greece; New York; and Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, followed. In 2017, he posted a 36-second video titled “Ottoman Steak” on Instagram, featuring a specific way of cutting steak and sprinkling salt on it.
Although Gökçe charges exorbitant prices for the excessively elaborate, sickeningly meaty dishes at his restaurants, the world’s best restaurants and most inspired Michelin-starred chefs know that when it comes to animals’ well-being, human health, and the future of the planet, decadent vegan foods should be the only items on the menu.
One foot will be made into an umbrella stand like those made from elephant feet.
As a child, Newkirk saw many elephant-foot umbrella stands—as well as tiger rugs and other atrocities created from the remains of animals—in Delhi. May this be a reminder of the needless depravity of killing innocent animals, such as elephants, so that their body parts can be used by speciesist humans for unnecessary household items and decorations.
Her other foot will be sent to The North Face to give it a kick in the behind.
The swift kick will indeed occur if the company still hasn’t stopped selling down and wool, despite its claim of being committed to making environmentally friendly clothing. The North Face says, “[W]e are committed to making the best products on earth—and keeping Mother Nature, our communities and the future in focus.”
In January 2014, The North Face actually won a PETA award for creating a new state-of-the-art insulation called ThermoBall that’s superior to down. In August 2016, it won another award for using vegan spider silk made by Spiber.
Unfortunately, the company still uses real down and wool. PETA has released nine exposés of the down industry from nearly 50 farms in six countries and 14 exposés of 117 wool operations on four continents, all revealing that suffering and horrific violence—including at operations with ties to certified and purportedly “responsible” companies—are what the down and wool industries are all about. Yet The North Face has refused to do right by animals by banning these cruelly obtained materials and still hides behind sham “responsible” certifications.
Make her hair into brushes to send to Truefitt & Hill, the world’s oldest barbershop, since it still uses hair from badgers.
In 2018, PETA Asia eyewitnesses visited multiple badger farms across China—which exports badger-hair brushes to countries worldwide—and documented the hellish living conditions on the farms. Workers confine the animals to cramped wire cages, often forcing them to suffer from severe, untreated injuries. Some workers beat crying badgers over the head with anything they could find, including a chair leg, before slitting their throats. PETA has persuaded nearly 100 brands—including Edgewell Personal Care, The New York Shaving Company, and L’Oréal Group—to ditch badger hair.
Present one of her ears to King Felipe VI of Spain, or his successor, to protest against bullfighting, in which a cowardly matador often cuts off an exhausted and mortally wounded bull’s ears.
The bulls who are tormented and killed for entertainment in bullfights with no chance of escape die in excruciating pain after fighting desperately to stay alive. When they eventually collapse on the ground due to exhaustion and massive blood loss, they can only watch and wait in terror until the fatal knife is plunged into their heart. If the crowd is pleased with the matador, the bull’s ears—and sometimes his tail—are often cut off and presented as trophies. Bullfighting is a remnant of an unenlightened era that has no place in our society today, yet it is still responsible for killing 250,000 bulls every year.
Donate her other ear to PetSmart as a dog treat, just as pigs’ ears are currently used.
Pigs and other animals’ body parts are nottreats for dogs and cats. They belonged to a feeling individual—just like a dog or cat—who was once alive and likely endured an agonizing death before a worker chopped them into pieces to be processed and eventually chewed by another animal.
The Crufts and Westminster Kennel Club dog shows glamorize the inbreeding of flat-faced dogs like pugs, boxers, and English and French bulldogs, who are called breathing-impaired breeds and face lifelong disabilities, ailments, and premature death because of their distorted physical features, such as their flattened faces. The gasping, labored, open-mouth breathing, and shortness of breath so common among these breeds are not normal for dogs.
Breathing-impaired breeds suffer from an uncomfortable, debilitating, and often fatal condition called brachycephalic syndrome that makes it a struggle just to breathe. It’s the leading cause of death for bulldogs. Going for a walk, chasing a ball, running, and playing—some of the things that make dogs’ lives joyful and fulfilling—are impossible, even life-threatening, for many breathing-impaired breeds.
Her lips should go to the U.S. president, if the turkey pardon is still being held.
Newkirk would be happy for her lips to be placed dead center in the Oval Office in order to push its occupant to stop kissing up to the turkey industry.
Each Thanksgiving, the president “pardons” a hand-selected turkey, sparing the bird a horrific death before ending up on someone’s dinner table. It’s believed that the first president to unofficially pardon a turkey was Abraham Lincoln, after his son requested that the bird be allowed to live. The annual ceremony is typically attended by representatives from associations like the National Turkey Federation, and the birds are at such high risk of becoming ill or even dying before the ceremony takes place that a backup is needed.
On today’s farms, turkeys are bred to grow so large so quickly that their organs can barely keep up, if they keep up at all. Up to 10% of turkeys on typical farms die before they even reach the slaughterhouse. The birds on these farms are so unnaturally large that many can’t even stand up without experiencing pain. Most of the turkeys used in these pardoning ceremonies die or are euthanized shortly afterward.
Send part of her neck to King Charles III, or his successor, if he has failed to cut ties with pigeon racing.
Pigeons are doting parents, loyal mates, and highly intelligent. Pigeon racers exploit all these wonderful qualities. They use cruel techniques to make pigeons fly faster, including separating lifelong mates and even placing rivals in their home cages so that the mate who’s taken away will desperately fly home as fast as they can. They also forcibly remove parents from their eggs and chicks so that they will return frantically home at top speed to protect their young. A large percentage of these birds die due to harsh weather, predators, hunters, electrical lines, or exhaustion.
In this violent abuse that some deem a “sport,” the “losing” birds’ necks are often wrung after they’ve endured grueling races—such as those that involve crossing the English Channel—during which many perish. (Trophy hunters have long threatened to wring Newkirk’s neck, and she admits she’ll gladly have part of it wrung and sent to the king if the royal pigeon lofts have not been turned into bird refuges!)
PETA has gone undercover into the world of pigeon racing in the U.K. and discovered widespread alleged illegal activity and deadly outcomes for hundreds of thousands of birds. In one “smash” race across the English Channel, over 90% of the pigeons didn’t return and were believed to have died after becoming disoriented or exhausted or crashing into the sea.
Bury a piece of her heart for Michael Schumacher at the racetrack in Hockenheim, Germany; bury another piece at Silverstone Circuit in England to honor vegan Formula One (F1) champ Lewis Hamilton; and send a third piece tothe real-life Tin Man, Elon Musk, to clone for himself, as heseems ruled by greed and sex and lacks empathy and a heart, given that his company Neuralink has killed monkeys, pigs, rats, and sheep in invasive brain experiments.
F1 World Drivers’ Champion Michael Schumacher was, before a skiing accident left him severely disabled, a wonderful supporter of PETA’s work, helping horses in Turkey, dogs in Louisiana after Hurricane Katrina, and monkeys used in experiments in Germany.
Formula 1 star Lewis Hamilton went vegan in 2017, following the influence of a friend from New York. A while back, Lewis said, “Three years ago, I decided to follow a plant-based diet. The only thing I regret is not having done it before.”
Elon Musk is CEO of Neuralink, which is attempting to develop ultra-high-bandwidth brain-machine interfaces to connect the human brain to computers—a technology that has already existed for years—and the company has conducted deadly tests on multiple species. Since 2018, it has experimented on and killed at least 1,500 animals, including sheep, pigs, monkeys, mice, and rats. Non-animal research methods not only are vastly more humane but also would be less expensive and faster, in addition to producing far more human-relevant data.
Send her lungs to the governor of Alaska if the Iditarod is still being held, since more than 150 dogs have died in it, many due to respiratory issues.
The overall death toll of the race is surely much higher, and this number doesn’t even include all the dogs who died during the off-season while chained up outside in all weather extremes. Some dogs were also killed because they weren’t fast or fit enough to make the grade for racing. The deadly Iditarod must end so that mushers will no longer force abused and freezing dogs to pull sleds for 1,000 miles.
Many of the dogs forced to race in the Iditarod have died due to causes that include asphyxiation, heart attacks, trauma from being struck by a vehicle, freezing to death, excess fluid in the lungs, and acute aspiration pneumonia—a result of inhaling their own vomit. No dog voluntarily runs 1,000 miles in less than two weeks. But for the Iditarod, dogs are forced to run about 100 miles a day, causing many to pull muscles and sustain stress fractures and other injuries as they’re subjected to biting winds, blinding snowstorms, and subzero temperatures. Dogs forced to run the Iditarod are just like any other dogs, and they only want to live and enjoy loving companionship.
In late 2018 and early 2019, a PETA investigator worked at kennels owned by former Iditarod champions and found that dogs there were denied veterinary care and kept chained up in the bitter cold. In 2017, a veteran musher alleged that trainers in the industry have killed “hundreds on top of hundreds” of dogs who didn’t make the grade.
Vacuum-pack her liver and ship it to French President Emmanuel Macron or his successor.
With tasty faux gras now available, there’s no valid excuse to allow the force-feeding of ducks and geese so that their swollen and diseased livers can be served on toast. France is by far the largest producer and consumer of foie gras. French for “fatty liver,” foie gras is a product of extreme violence and cruelty. Workers force-feed geese and ducks by ramming tubes down the birds’ throats, which causes their livers to swell to up to eight or more times their normal size. The animals are kept in small, crowded cages or sheds and often tear out their own feathers and attack one another due to chronic stress.
Investigations at every foie gras farm in the U.S. and Europe have all documented the severe crowding of sick, dead, and dying animals in warehouse-like sheds. Most people would never dream of ramming a pipe down a puppy’s throat to force-feed them and then killing them. However, it is just as cruel to do this to a duck or goose.
Send some of her bare skin to the head of the U.K.’s Ministry of Defence.
The Ministry of Defence continues to use real bearskin for the King’s Guard’s caps even though suitable faux fur is readily available. The bears whose fur is used to make the caps suffer horrifically: Mother bears with nursing cubs may be shot by hunters, which leads to the eradication of entire families, as the orphaned cubs are left to die. And bears are often shot but not killed immediately, so they die slowly from blood loss or starvation.
The U.K. government needlessly creates a demand for the bears’ fur by continuing to use it on the guards’ ornamental caps. British citizens, nearly 95% of whom object to killing animals for fur, are unwittingly paying for it through taxes. Over 1 million dollars’ worth of U.K. taxpayers’ money has been spent on these fur caps over the past seven years alone, even though they serve no military purpose and come at the cost of hundreds of bears’ lives.
PETA U.K. and luxury faux-furrier ECOPEL have created the world’s first faux bear fur that is virtually indistinguishable from the real thing. ECOPEL has even offered to supply the Ministry of Defence with unlimited, free faux bear fur until 2030.
Deliver part of her spine to Donald Trump Jr., who indulges in craven violence in an attempt to prove his manhood by gunning down magnificent, unthreatening, and unsuspecting wild animals who are simply standing still when that pathetic man takes his cowardly shots at them.
Donald Trump Jr. is an avid trophy hunter, and his contemptible targeting of at-risk animals, including leopards and elephants, is well documented. His 2019 trophy-hunting trip to Mongolia, where he hunted an argali sheep—an animal listed as threatened under the U.S. Endangered Species Act—cost American taxpayers $77,000. Trophy hunting is a barbaric pastime in which the goal is to kill majestic wild animals, then squat by their dead bodies and grin stupidly for a photo. Many target animals have been rounded up and confined to enclosures, making it even simpler for cowards to get their kicks by shooting a caged animal who has no chance of escape.
Send part of her back to the Egyptian minister of tourism and antiquities.
This impassioned gesture would symbolize the backbreaking work that humans force beaten, debilitated donkeys, horses, and camels to endure at the pyramids of Giza, where starving horses and camels have collapsed while being forced to haul people around in the blistering heat.
This abuse is being perpetrated at some of Egypt’s most popular tourist sites, including the Great Pyramid and the vast ancient burial ground of Saqqara. Once the animals are no longer useful to the tourist trade, they may be sold off to slaughter. In October 2020, the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities announced a ban on the use of donkeys, horses, and camels at all tourist sites in Egypt, but it has not been implemented, and this cruelty persists, despite an abundance of animal-free activities.
A slice of her buttocks should be sent to Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese or his successor.
This slice will be a reminder that sheep in the Australian wool industry still endure painful mutilations like mulesing, during which workers cut chunks of flesh off lambs’ hindquarters with shears in a crude attempt to prevent flies from laying eggs in the sheep’s wet, wrinkly skinfolds, which are caused by breeding them to produce excessive amounts of wool.
Mulesing is often performed without pain relief, even though the sheep may suffer for days. Some time ago, Australian wool-industry officials promised to phase out mulesing—already banned in New Zealand—by 2010, but most lambs in Australia are still subjected to this torment.
PETA’s latest video exposé of the wool industry reveals that shearers violently kicked gentle sheep, punched them in the face, and sheared them so haphazardly they were left with deep cuts and gaping wounds, including one sheep who was heavily pregnant and most likely in labor while being shorn. Another writhed in pain and terror as a shearer crudely stitched up a gaping wound with a blunt needle and without any pain relief. Wool production is bloody, violent, and lethal. It’s easy for shoppers to drop wool in favor of superior vegan materials that animals don’t suffer and die for.
The long-running Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus, which closed in 2017 after 146 years, is set to bring back its show after a six-year hiatus in September 2023 with only human performers and no animals. The circus started in 1871 and became known for featuring lions, tigers, and elephants. Archele Hundley, a former employee of the outfit, said, “[T]he abuse was not just once in a while—it occurred every day. The elephants, horses, and camels were hit, punched, beaten, and whipped by everyone from the head of animal care down to inexperienced animal handlers hired out of homeless shelters.”
A new and improved animal-free Ringling Bros. circus will send a clear message to circuses everywhere: Audiences will happily pay to be dazzled by willing human performers in cruelty-free events that don’t force animals to perform under the constant threat of physical violence. At Ringling, the show will go on with aerialists, clowns, and daredevils, who—unlike elephants, tigers, and other animals—won’t be whipped and are free to go home at the end of the day.
Send Bruno and Rupert, the teddy bears Newkirk’s had since she was a baby, to an orphanage in India, where she grew up.
Keep Your Own Watchful Eye to See Future Updates to Newkirk’s Will
Considering our ever-changing, fast-paced world—and PETA’s many victories!—it shouldn’t surprise us if Newkirk revises her unorthodox will again in 20 years’ time, when she will be 94. More companies will ditch their sponsorship of the cruel Iditarod; more fashion brands and chains will ban exotic skins, down, and wool; and more seedy roadside zoos will fold and send animals to reputable sanctuaries; but undoubtedly, some forms of speciesist exploitation will persist, which will require protest.
You can be dead sure that Newkirk will keep leaping ahead of the Grim Reaper with gusto and that her legacy of defiance will always shine fresh light on new ways to end speciesism.
What YOU Can Do for Animals While You’re Still Alive
Although you could draw up a will similar to Newkirk’s in order to help animals after you’ve died, there are actions inspired by her document that you can take right now to help everyone get the most out of life. Here are three to get you started:
Have you watched or heard of that shocking show Hoarders? Did you know that there are animal hoarders who confine and stockpile living, feeling individuals? This form of speciesism occurs more frequently than you might think, and its cruelty is comparable to that of seedy roadside zoos and greedy puppy mills.
Neglect inevitably occurs during the hoarding of cats, dogs, and other animals. Since this type of hoarding usually focuses on capturing, collecting, breeding, selling, and sometimes exploiting animals—almost always to make a profit—it has striking parallels with roadside zoos and puppy mills.
Animal hoarding usually involves conditions similar to those typically found at roadside zoos and puppy mills:
Crammed confinement
Irregular supply of food and water
Failure to provide necessary, species-specific enrichment and veterinary care
A strong likelihood of fire hazards
Very few humans—sometimes only one—to look after many animals
A Crowd of Similarities: Animal Hoarders, Roadside Zoos, and Exotic-Animal Breeders
The accumulation and confinement of animals by hoarders mirror the pervasive cruelty of animal caging, crowding, and neglect at roadside zoos and exotic animal–breeding hellholes. Because of the sheer number of animals imprisoned at these corrupt operations, workers quickly become unable or unwilling to care for all of them.
One prime example is animal exhibitor Henry Hampton, owner of The Farm at Walnut Creek (in Sugarcreek, Ohio) and Lazy 5 Ranch (in Mooresville, North Carolina)—two notorious roadside zoos. Hampton has a long and troubled track record of amassing and neglecting animals used for entertainment. Each of his drive-through, “safari”-type facilities has over 600 animals—there are nearly 1,000 at Walnut Creek—and not enough staff to monitor them properly.
Animals at Hampton’s facilities have suffered from inadequate veterinary care and a lack of potable water on multiple occasions. He has allowed dangerous, unsupervised public contact with animals and authorized the use of a terrifying immobilizing drug that has no pain-relieving properties and can cause distress, paralyze respiratory muscles, and impede animals’ breathing, sometimes causing them to die of suffocation while fully conscious and in a state of extreme panic, unable to move.
Following a comprehensive complaint, Hampton agreed to pay the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) a penalty of $20,000 to settle more than 70 alleged violations of the federal Animal Welfare Act (AWA). Compared with animal hoarders, whose egregious offenses are often harder to track, Hampton’s roadside zoo exemplifies the abuse common at operations like his.
Parallels to animal hoarders are also found in the seedy habits of exotic-animal breeder and dealer Craig Kokas, owner of Kokas Exotics in Green Camp, Ohio. He imprisons more than 500 animals in small cages without sufficient staff to ensure their well-being. In late 2022, Kokas racked up an alleged 113 AWA violations in just over a year, finally resulting in a complaint from the USDA in early 2023. The violations include his repeated failure to assess animals’ health and provide them with appropriate veterinary care. On multiple occasions, he has failed to provide animals with clean drinking water, appropriate food, and clean food receptacles.
Kokas has locked animals in enclosures that were filthy, permeable to moisture, not structurally sound enough to prevent injuries, or not large enough to allow adequate freedom of movement. He frequently failed to provide hundreds of animals with adequate shelter to protect them from the elements. He has also repeatedly neglected to drain excess water from enclosures—forcing animals to stand in muddy bogs—and has even confined some animals near their natural predators, causing “extreme stress.”
Stockpiling and neglecting sensitive individuals to exploit or sell as “pets” is beyond cruel. Whether the culprit is Kokas, U.S. Global Exotics, Global Captive Breeders, or an under-the-radar hoarder, animal advocates must help end the suffering they inflict on their victims.
Three other roadside zoos that reflect the repulsive abuse that animal hoarders get away with are Arbuckle Wilderness Park in Davis, Oklahoma; Tennessee Safari Park in Alamo, Tennessee; and Animal Haven Zoo in Weyauwega, Wisconsin. Similar to Hampton’s operations, the first two are unaccredited drive-through “safari parks” with problematic records:
Arbuckle Wilderness Park has around 200 animals, which is fewer than some other roadside zoos but more than its staff can monitor. At one point, the operation had to pay $30,000 in penalties to settle AWA violations that included insufficient public barriers. One woman left the park in an ambulance after a bison apparently gored her. According to reports, the facility’s manager alleged that the bison had stuck their head into the woman’s car, wounding her hand with a horn as she pushed the animal back.
Tennessee Safari Park holds more than 1,300 animals. Its employees can’t possibly supervise all interactions between visitors and that many animals, so it’s not surprising that the facility was busted after allowing unattended guests to feed animals—dangerous neglect that could result in physical harm to both the visitors and the animals. A USDA inspector also observed that the roadside zoo didn’t have an attending veterinarian and that several animals were in need of veterinary attention.
Animal Haven Zoo’s grossly misleading name is meant to fool you, but the USDA has cited this shoddy facility more than 25 times in just over two years for AWA violations that could inflict suffering on animals and jeopardize their welfare. These violations include failing to provide numerous animals with adequate veterinary care and failing to maintain enclosures in a way that protects animals from injury and safely contains them.
The now-defunct Summer Wind Farms in Brown City, Michigan—cited repeatedly for not having enough staff and apparent indifference to animals’ suffering—is a final example of why roadside zoos must eventually shut down.
Linking Animal Hoarders to Profit-Hungry Puppy Mills and ‘No-Kill’ Animal Shelters
Just as those who hoard animals attempt to hide what they do, the pet trade tries to keep puppy mills a secret. Relying on these cruel operations for regular income, the industry ignores that breeders force dogs to live in cramped, crude, and filthy conditions without proper veterinary care or socialization. The mills sell puppies to pet stores and “purebred” enthusiasts without any concern for the millions who will die as a result of the homeless-animal overpopulation crisis.
Breeders and pet stores also sell puppies, kittens, and other animals without any concern for where they end up—anyone with cash or a credit card can buy these animals and do whatever they want with them. When shelters deny adoption applications, the applicants often turn around and buy animals from breeders and pet shops, which can leave living, feeling beings in the hands of those who shouldn’t have them.
Learning about companion animal issues is key to understanding how puppy mills mirror and link to hoarders. These and other deceptive operations that breed cats and other species feed the hoarding problem that’s often enabled by “no-kill” shelters.
“No-kill” policies fail animals repeatedly. A cascade of disasters inevitably results when shelters (which are often taxpayer-funded) implement dangerous “life at any cost” policies. PETA maintains a long, chilling, and ever-growing list of news reports that detail how animals suffer when shelters prioritize “live-release rates”—the number of animals they can move out of their doors, regardless of what happens to them—over the well-being of individuals.
Hoarders posing as rescuers often acquire animals from “no-kill” shelters, which are often pressured to turn animals over to anyone rather than euthanizing them, and hoarders usually deprive animals of sanitation, exercise, and veterinary care—leaving them to languish in squalid, cramped enclosures, where they suffer from dehydration and starvation.
‘Rescue’ groups constitute one quarter of the estimated 6,000 new hoarding cases reported in the U.S. each year.
Over time, graphic crime-scene photos have emerged of animals sent by “no-kill” shelters to “rescues,” where they were locked in cages and left to suffer. Many of the images reveal horrific hoarding situations in which animals in agony have no hope of euthanasia when it’s needed most. They remain imprisoned even when they are gravely ill or have gone “kennel crazy” from the intolerable stress of long-term confinement. Donations from well-meaning people—who think they’re helping but are often funding long-term animal suffering—keep these operations in business.
In addition to all the neglect, fires at “rescue”-group facilities are frequent. A review by the Hoarding of Animals Research Consortium (HARC) found that 70% of animal-hoarding cases included fire hazards. Some fires at hoarding operations posing as rescues are suspicious and/or followed by fundraisers that request—and often obtain—large sums of money, in addition to what they might receive from insurance claims. But no amount of money can compensate for the terrible suffering of the animals who die in these fires.
Puppy mills, “no-kill” shelters, and the companion animal overpopulation crisis enable animal hoarders everywhere. HARC once estimated that at least 3,000 to 5,000 new hoarding cases occur annually across the country. Compassionate individuals and communities must take a stand against this exploitative cycle.
How YOU Can Help Neglected, Hoarded, and Exploited Animals
Contact humane officials and the police if you suspect animal neglect or abuse by caretakers—even those who seem well intentioned. Whether you know any animal hoarders or not, keep reading about roadside zoos and puppy mills through PETA to uncover more layers of cruelty that they all have in common.
If you have concerns about a roadside zoo, fill out this simple form:
Barnes & Noble is more than just a bookstore. You can sit for hours in its cozy in-store cafés while reading a good book, sipping coffee, or even chatting with a friend. And now, you can also enjoy a wholesome and satisfying vegan breakfast! In honor of Earth Month, the chain added a vegan breakfast sandwich to the menu at more than 500 café locations nationwide.
The breakfast sandwich features an animal-free egg patty, Violife smoked provolone cheese, and a creamy vegan aioli on a ciabatta roll. This animal-friendly option is vegan as is, without modification. It’s a huge step that helps intelligent chickens and playful cows who are exploited by the egg and dairy industries.
Adding this option for Earth Month serves as an important reminder that the best way to protect the planet is to stop supporting animal agriculture, which is one of the leading causes of greenhouse gas emissions, land erosion, and water pollution.
Don’t Stop With Earth Month—Let Barnes & Noble Know You Want More
Since the climate catastrophe is a very real threat to all animals, companies have a responsibility to take greener steps. By launching its first vegan breakfast sandwich for Earth Month, Barnes & Noble is showing that it clearly knows vegan options are better for the planet. Let the company know you want to see it do even more—ask it to make this sandwich a permanent menu item, and kindly urge the chain to add more vegan items, stop charging extra for vegan milks, and make oat milk its default option.
Barnes & Noble Cafés serve Starbucks coffee, so please also urge Starbucks to honor its commitment to the planet by ending its unfair vegan milk surcharge:
If you’re looking for a delicious vegan sandwich, you’re in luck! These places offer some tasty, high-quality options that don’t involve exploiting animals for their flesh, eggs, or milk. Skip cruelty as an ingredient and satisfy your craving for a great sandwich without any guilt when you visit the places on this list.
Here are a few spots where you can get a top-notch vegan sandwich:
This plant-based butcher shop in the City of Angels has a number of excellent options. It features some classics, such as a Reuben and a grilled cheese. More adventurous customers may want to try The Flores, made with jackfruit ribs instead of ribs stolen from intelligent pigs. From 9 a.m. to 12 noon, you can enjoy The Breakfast Sandwich.
If you’re looking for a classic sub sandwich, this is the place for you. Located just a few miles from Disneyland in a strip mall with a couple of other vegan shops, it offers a number of choices, including an Italian sub, a steak sub, and a corned beef sub, all made without cruelly obtained animal-derived products.
Locations in California, Massachusetts, New York, Oregon, and Washington
The plant-based dining chain Veggie Grill has an extensive menu to choose from, but its vegan chicken sandwich and burger options are a great place to start. Be sure to save room for dessert!
Unlike New York’s famous delicatessens from which it draws its inspiration, this compassionate deli uses plants instead of sentient beings to make its sandwiches. Try one of the breakfast sandwiches or grab the Cubano to start.
Locations in Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, Texas, and Utah
This popular sandwich shop isn’t fully vegan, but it has several sandwiches that can be made cruelty-free on request. Options range from a meatball sub to a fall-inspired vegan turkey sandwich. Just ask for the vegan version when you order.
This popular coffee chain offers a great vegan breakfast sandwich as well as a plant-based Mediterranean flatbread. Check out our guide to how to order vegan at Peet’s for more tips.
It might be tough to decide which sandwich to get at this fully vegan chain, but the monthly specials seem like a good place to start. There are also all-day breakfast sandwiches that don’t use eggs stolen from chickens, so you can’t go wrong.
While The Herbivorous Butcher focuses mostly on food you take home and prepare, it does offer a couple of ready-to-eat sandwiches, including a Turkey Dill Havarti Sandwich. If you want to share with some friends, place your order a week in advance for the 6-foot-long version. Travel just a few miles south for a vegan chicken sandwich from Herbie Butcher’s Fried Chicken. Stop by between 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. to try the breakfast sandwiches.
This plant-based deli company brings vegan sandwich options to bodegas across New York. Offerings include a fried chicken sandwich, a fish-free fillet, a beefy BBQ sandwich, and so many others. We hope to see more kind options like these in bodegas, convenience stores, and grocery stores in the future.
Stop by this vegan cheese shop next time you’re in Austin and try the Greater Grinder, The Kind Caprese, or any of the other delicious sandwiches it offers. This place is more proof that there’s no excuse to steal milk from caring mother cows and their babies.
Whether you want a vegan chicken sandwich or you’re more of a breakfast sandwich type, you’ll be sure to find something. Animals are individuals who deserve respect—they’re not ingredients. Remember, always choose vegan cheese instead of one made from milk that’s stolen from a mom and her baby. Use plant-based protein instead of meat, which was the body of an individual with a personality. Opt for vegan eggs or tofu on your breakfast sandwich instead of eggs taken from exploited chickens. Never let cruelty be an ingredient in your sandwich or any other food. Make the compassionate choice and go vegan.
While you fill up your Easter Sunday basket with vegan chocolate bunnies, don’t forget about the bunnies who really matter. Gentle, curious rabbits suffer when humans exploit them for their fur, torment them in experiments, or abuse them in other horrific ways.
Learn more about how rabbits are suffering right now—and what you can do about it.
Used and Killed for Angora Wool and Meat
In the angora wool industry, farms typically house rabbits alone in tiny wire-mesh cages, in which they barely have room to move and are forced to live amid their own waste. These social animals often go insane from the overwhelming distress of isolation and severe confinement.
Workers often restrain gentle rabbits—who may desperately struggle to escape—and violently rip the fur from their sensitive skin. Rabbits typically endure this painful and terrifying ordeal every three months. After two to five years, those who have survived the constant abuse and miserable captivity are sent to be slaughtered.
At slaughterhouses, workers hang rabbits upside down and slit their throats so that their blood drains from their bodies. Then, their flesh is sold for meat.
More than 161,000 rabbits are abused in U.S. laboratories every year.
At the University of Pittsburgh, rabbits underwent a surgery designed to cause intentional trauma to their knee joints. After more than two weeks with their legs contorted in an unnatural, excruciating position, two of the animals had lost significant weight—indicating chronic pain and distress—but they were still forced to endure six more weeks of this agony.
Rabbits are also used in experiments to study cardiovascular disease, skin conditions, and spinal cord injuries. Experimenters at the University of Utah cut deep incisions into rabbits’ backs and surgically inserted implants into their spines. The surgically mutilated animals were observed for 24 weeks and then killed.
Humans purchase rabbits as Easter gifts, use them as props in photo shoots, force them to perform in magic shows, and exploit them in other ways for entertainment.
Many families bring home bunnies as Easter gifts, without realizing the vast amount of care that these animals require. When the “bunny fever” wears off, they often discard the animals just weeks later—sometimes by “setting them free” outside and leaving them to starve or be killed by predators. Some unwanted rabbits may end up at scummy petting zoos, which subject them to a barrage of poking and prodding guests.
Sold as ‘Pets’
Rabbits are the third most common animal surrendered to animal shelters, because most people buy them on a whim, not realizing that they are high-maintenance, expensive, and long-term commitments. Caring for a rabbit involves litterbox training, bunny proofing a home, frequent grooming, trips to special veterinarians, and much more.
Every rabbit purchased from a pet store means one fewer home for another rabbit waiting for adoption at a shelter. If you’re ready for the commitment of caring for a bunny, adopt—don’t shop.
Caring for a rabbit takes time, effort, and compassion!
Empanadas are satisfying pockets of dough filled with a variety of tasty ingredients, both savory and sweet. Many Latin American countries have their own versions of this treat, and they’re easy to find in many cities across the U.S., especially those with a large Latine population. While some empanada doughs are made using eggs stolen from chickens and bovine mammary secretions (i.e., cow’s milk), vegan options only use animal-free ingredients. To celebrate this iconic appetizer, we’ve found some of the best vegan empanadas you can try in the U.S.:
You can find both sweet and savory empanadas at this all-vegan bakery based in the Toluca Lake neighborhood of Los Angeles. Flavors include spinach and mushroom as well as potato and jalapeño (all with vegan cheese to help spare friendly, playful cows) on the savory side and guava, apple, pineapple, and others on the sweet side.
This pop-up won the popular vote for the best vegan empanada in Los Angeles in PETA Latino’s “Food Fight: Empanadas Edition,” so you know its pockets of goodness are the real deal. Now, you can find them at farmer’s markets around the Tampa Bay area in Florida. KOMEME has four savory empanadas (samosa, black beans and mole, potato and leek, and spinach, almond, and kale) as well as a rotating menu of sweet flavors.
With locations in Chicago and New York City, Fons offers 12 flavors of fun, naturally colored empanadas representing cultures from around the world, including the Italian-inspired Margherita (San Marzano tomatoes, basil, and vegan “fonsheeze” mozzarella), the Cuban-inspired Ropa Vieja (Cuban-style shredded jackfruit beef in a chia dough), and the Mexican-inspired Tinga (simmered onions and jackfruit in a chipotle garlic sauce). It also offers nationwide shipping.
At Mis Tacones in Portland, Oregon, you can find gluten-free and vegan empanadas, with rotating flavors like Soyrizo con Papa, Elote, Three Hermanas (corn, beans, and squash), and “Huevos” con Papa (a tofu scramble–stuffed delight). Mis Tacones owners Carlos Reynoso and Polo Abram Bañuelos were inspired by Los Angeles’ street-food scene and opened the restaurant partly in an effort to offer a space where queer people of color could come together and enjoy delicious vegan food.
VSPOT offers several flavors of crispy wheat empanadas stuffed with various vegan fillings, from Philly Mushroom & Cheese to Jamaican Jerk. It even has an Italian Empanada that’s stuffed with a vegan meat and cheese pasta and served with a side of marinara sauce. But Latine flavors are at the core of VSPOT’s menu, so you can also find Colombian-seasoned potato, rice, and beans empanadas alongside the less traditional options. The restaurant has two locations, in Brooklyn, New York, and Hoboken, New Jersey.
Happy Vegan Bakers in Hialeah, Florida, is using animal-friendly ingredients to reinterpret classic Latine flavors. Its empanada flavors include hearty “Meat” & Potato, Spinach & “Cheeze,” and Chik’n and Potato. It also sells sweet pastelitos and other Latine favorites, like churros, tostadas, and Cuban croquetas.
It’s easy to find your favorite Latin American foods made with animal-friendly ingredients. Find your new favorite restaurant with PETA Latino’s guide to the best Latine-owned vegan spots. You can also find some mouthwatering vegan postres and learn about how Latine-owned brands are making a splash in the vegan meat world. Going vegan is the best way to protect animals, the environment, and your own health. Make the change today by ordering our free vegan starter kit:
If you’ve been looking for a travel guide to Egypt that isn’t full of activities that exploit animals, you’ve come to the right place. Multiple PETA exposés show handlers as they whip and beat sensitive horses and camels and force them to carry visitors on their backs or in carriages at Egypt’s top destinations, including the pyramids of Giza. Luckily, you don’t have to participate in these cruel activities in order to enjoy Egypt to the fullest.
5 Activities to Include in Your Egypt Travel Plans
Egypt has been a popular tourist destination for years, thanks to its extraordinary sites and ancient history—but it’s also known for the animal abuse that routinely occurs at some of its most famous destinations. Here are some terrific options for a compassionate travel experience:
Go to a Museum
Egypt has numerous museums, from The Egyptian Museum and the Museum of Islamic Art in Cairo to the Bibliotheca Alexandrina in Alexandria, which offer enriching opportunities to appreciate collections of countless artifacts from ancient times and insights into the history of local culture.
Visit the many markets, mosques, and other attractions in Egypt’s capital city. Take a sunset or sunrise cruise on the Nile. Try some local cuisine like koshary, a traditional dish that’s often prepared in a vegan manner. (Check with your server.) Much of the popular street food is made of lentils, rice, and noodles, which are topped with fried onions, chickpeas, and tomato sauce. Stop by El Tahrir or Abu Tarek for a bowl to take along on your walk through the city.
Split into an East Bank and a West Bank on either side of the Nile River, this ancient city offers visitors a multitude of temples and tombs to tour. Some spots in Luxor offer donkey, horse, or camel rides. These intelligent, feeling beings are often abused for their entire lives. Once they’re no longer able to perform, they will likely be killed or sold for other purposes, such as to be butchered for meat. If you’re on a tour and it offers camel rides, horse-drawn carriage rides, or any other animal encounters, speak up and say that you don’t want to participate in animal abuse.
Go Scuba Diving in the Red Sea
Whether you want to witness the natural beauty of the area’s reefs or take in undersea ruins, the Red Sea has something for you. Always remember to keep a respectful distance from any underwater animals you may encounter.
As one of the Seven Wonders of the World, the Great Pyramid of Giza is a massively popular site—but it has a dark side. Handlers force camels to carry tourists on their backs until their bodies give out. Horses pull carriages in blistering heat with very little access to food, water, or shade. These animals are individuals with unique personalities and needs, yet they’re treated as taxis. When someone inevitably asks whether you want to take a ride or a photo with an animal, politely but firmly decline. Fortunately, you can explore the impressive complex on foot for a wonderful cruelty-free experience.
No matter where your travel plans lead you in Egypt, please leave animal exploitation off the itinerary. Sometimes tour guides or drivers may surprise you by offering a camel ride, even if you’ve already said you’re not interested. Never feel bad about asserting yourself and reminding them that you won’t participate in any activity that exploits animals. Stay firm and know that you’re doing the right thing. When you raise your voice for animals, others on your tour may choose to skip the cruelty as well.
Help stop the abuse and refuse to participate in any activities that involve animal exploitation.
Ditching meat and going vegan are the best things you can do for animals, the planet, and your own health, so it makes sense that vegan meat has been on the rise in many Latin American countries. As demand for animal-friendly products increases, companies across the region are rising to the occasion, creating delicious and innovative faux meats packed with the flavors that Latin American cuisines are known for.
These brands are creating vegan versions of proteins, from chorizo and carnitas to burgers and chicken nuggets, that challenge the meat industry, which treats cows, chickens, pigs, fish, and other animals as if they were objects, not individuals:
NotCo is a Chilean company that’s using an innovative AI to create vegan options that taste delicious, with unique ingredients like pineapple, coconut, sour cabbage, and seeds. Its products include animal-free chicken, burgers, cutlets, milk, cream, and more. The brand can be found at Burger King and Papa John’s in Chile and on store shelves in other Latin American countries. It’s also expanding its NotBurger, NotChicken, and NotMilk offerings to U.S. markets.
Mexico-based company Delike makes six flavors of vegan burgers, along with three varieties of tasty veggie “bites.” These meatless patties are made with nutritious whole foods, including brown rice, beans, lentils, oats, and veggies for quick and easy meals.
Felices las Vacas (“Happy Cows”) is an Argentinian brand making vegan meat, dairy, and other tasty foods with respect for animals. Its products include crispy breaded “meat” cutlets, vegan chicken nuggets, plant-based grilled burger patties and cheeses, and more. Its savory patties are also available at Latin America’s first vegan fast-food chain, JOY Burgers & Plants.
Mundo Vegetal’s crispy tofu Milanese, veggie sticks, falafel bites, and more make it super-simple to add a healthy dose of protein and flavor to any meal. Based in Buenos Aires, Argentina, the brand can be found at various shops and markets around the city.
Vegan brand Benji is approaching traditional Mexican meats in a nontraditional way, by creating healthy, fat-free carnitas, chorizo, bistec, pollo, chicharron, and more. Its products are made with protein-packed vital wheat gluten, and they’re full of flavorful spices and marinated in sauces for an authentic taste free from cruelty.
The Live Green Co. is a Chilean food tech company that produces vegan meats better for animals and the planet. Its goal is to use ancestral knowledge about native plants to create a healthier and more sustainable alternative to processed foods. Pea protein, chickpeas, flax, lentils, mushrooms, and other whole foods make up its meaty vegan burgers.
Tech-forward Argentinian company Tomorrow Foods is creating vegan meat, egg, and dairy products with the goal of fighting climate change through animal-free food. Since animal agriculture is one of the leading contributors to the climate catastrophe and other environmental disasters, going vegan makes a lot of sense.
What if someone asks you, “Why do people hate PETA?” People hate being confronted with the systemic abuse of our fellow animals every single day in industries that they support.
We know cognitive dissonance when we see it. Humans accustomed to eating meat and wearing leather don’t want to be reminded of the gentle cows who are killed at slaughterhouses, where workers hang them upside down and slit their throats. Those who buy products that were tested on animals don’t want to think about sensitive rabbits, who suffer when experimenters drip painful chemicals into their eyes or implant electrodes in their heads before killing them.
Speciesism—or the idea that humans are superior to other animals and therefore have the “right” to exploit them—is deeply ingrained in our society and is the basis for industries that exploit animals, from various forms of entertainment to the “pet” trade.
PETA routinely exposes the enormous suffering inherent in these industries. We conduct shocking undercover investigations, coordinate provocative campaigns, and organize bold street protests. When we speak up for animal rights, we don’t do it to make people feel comfortable—we do it to urge them to change.
People should feel disturbed by all the cruelty that PETA exposes—that’s the point. But hating on the messenger pointing out what’s uncomfortable to know won’t change the facts: Countless animals are suffering, and we have the power to help them.
Here are a few simple ways you can help our fellow animals instead of hating on PETA:
Help our fieldworkers house and feed neglected companion dogs.
PETA’s fieldworkers diligently help neglected “backyard dogs,” who are often chained outside 24/7 and forced to endure extreme weather conditions. In addition to showing these animals the care and affection that they’re routinely denied, our fieldworkers provide them with food, sturdy doghouses, veterinary care, toys, and more. You can help us continue this work by sponsoring a doghouse or by donating as little as $5 to provide a neglected dog with a week’s worth of food.
Don’t buy products that have been tested on animals.
Experimenters kill countless rabbits, mice, rats, and other animals in pointless product tests each year, which can involve force-feeding them test substances or dripping chemicals into their eyes. Always opt for cruelty-free beauty and household products, which you can find through our Beauty Without Bunnies program.
Speak out against abusive animal displays.
Remind everyone never to patronize crummy roadside zoos, marine parks, traveling animal acts, or any other cruel operation that exploits animals for entertainment.
Cook a vegan meal for your neighbors, donate vegan items to your local food bank, and ask your friends and family to take PETA’s 3-Week Vegan Challenge.
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If you want to take further action for animals, check out our top 10 action alerts this month:
From seafood to snacks and everything in between, new vegan products are more plentiful than ever before. As the demand for conscientious options grows, more and more vegan choices are coming on the scene. Big companies such as Ritter Sport, Krave, Oatly, and Omni are adding new vegan products to their rosters, and new vegan companies are emerging each year. Humans aren’t the only ones who benefit from this growing trend. Animal agriculture is responsible for the death of billions of animals each year. It also plays a huge role in the destruction of our planet. So when companies don’t use animal-derived products, they spare the lives of playful cows, intelligent pigs, social chickens, and countless other animals and help preserve the environment.
Companies Get Creative With New Vegan Proteins and Meals
New vegan meats, seafood, and frozen dinners hit shelves so often these days that it’s hard to keep up. Here are just a few of the many options that will soon be available:
Make-at-home vegan wings and pizza from a PETA Business Friend? Sign us up! Find these delicious favorites in the frozen food aisle at Target and other grocery stores nationwide.
Omni will be introducing two new vegan bao buns: a gochujang version filled with pork-style strips and a teriyaki flavor with pork-style ground “meat.”
Fish-free sushi, poke bowls, and vegan onigiri? This new vegan seafood company has it all and even won an award for its innovation. Fingers crossed that we’ll see its products in U.S. stores soon.
Looking for a quick and easy meal? Look no further than this Sweet & Sour Chick’n Ultimate Plant-Based Bowl from Gardein. If sweet and sour isn’t your style, try another flavor instead.
Vegetarian company Tattooed Chef sells an impressive number of vegan options, including pizzas, burritos, and bowls. Look for them in the frozen food aisle at Target.
It’s never been easier to ditch dairy, from creamers and ice cream to sour cream and yogurt. Spare sensitive cows with these delicious dairy-free options.
Another vegan whipped cream in a can will be hitting the scene, and we can’t wait to buy it, as it will make the perfect topper for an ice cream sundae or a pumpkin pie. Keep an eye out for the vegan cream cheese, too!
PETA Business Friend MozzaRisella offers a line of vegan cheeses created in Italy in stores around the U.K. In addition, its new MascaRice takes tiramisu to the next level.
Meet the stars of your next party: Abe’s new vegan mini cupcakes in chocolate and vanilla flavors. We can’t wait to stock up on these delicious bite-size sweets.
This brand, created by MeliBio, offers a new vegan honey made from plants—instead of stolen from hardworking bees—that looks, spreads, and tastes like the real thing. It’s currently available at select restaurants. You can also find it on Goldbelly, as part of TiNDLE’s Sweet Honey BBQ Chicken Wings pack, and Mellody will likely collaborate with other exciting vegan companies in the future.
Giant gelatin-free marshmallows and marshmallow cream, anyone? The Campers, specifically sized for the perfect s’mores, should be here in time for summer, and the cream is slated to finally hit shelves by the end of 2023.
German chocolate giant Ritter Sport will be adding a new vegan line! Flavors include Roasted Peanut, Salted Caramel, Smooth Chocolate, Crunchy Whole Hazelnuts, and Crunchy Almonds.
These are just some of the many new vegan products coming to stores soon. We’re so glad that companies recognize the growing demand for animal-free options and are ready to embrace the future. If you want to see more vegan options in the future, contact your favorite companies and brands and let them know.
Looking for vegan sushi in Los Angeles? You’ve come to the right place. We’ve compiled a list of spots where you can get delicious sushi that doesn’t involve cruelty to animals. Once you learn a few things about fish, you’ll see that vegan sushi is the only way to go.
Commercial fishing plays a major role in the destruction of the ocean. Fish aren’t the only ones who suffer, as dolphins, turtles, sharks, whales, and other marine animals often become caught in fishers’ large nets. The fishing industry refers to these other victims as “bycatch” in an effort to hide its true body count. Farmed fish are no better off, as they’re forced to live on aquafarms and spend their lives in filthy, cramped enclosures, barely able to move until they’re removed for slaughter. Luckily, plenty of restaurants offer vegan sushi in Los Angeles and the surrounding area, so you can still enjoy sushi without causing harm to fish and other sea life.
Here are 10 spots that serve vegan sushi in and around Los Angeles:
Angelinos can’t stay away from this intimate date spot. Shojin offers an extensive, ever-changing menu of macrobiotic Japanese food, ranging from ramen to sushi. A few staples like the Dynamite Roll are must-haves.
Tucked away in a strip mall on the oustkirts of Los Angeles County, this unassuming spot has a menu that would take weeks to get through. We recommend the Red Lady roll as a good place to start.
This award-winning food truck serves some beautiful sushi at events and spots around Los Angeles. While it isn’t a full restaurant, the presentation still makes for some great Instagram pics.
Head over to Old Town Pasadena to try a sushi sandwich from this Asian fusion shop. If a sushi sandwich sounds like too much, try one of the many cut rolls, hand rolls, bowls, or plates instead.
Although it may technically be a ramen shop, this spot serves some excellent fish-free sushi rolls. These aren’t simple California rolls, either, so come hungry.
With more than 30 rolls to choose from, Narita is sure to have something for everyone. If people in your party don’t like sushi, no worries—it shares a space with a vegan Thai place. Bonus: It’s only a few blocks from the ocean!
One of the latest restaurants to join the wave uses local ingredients and innovative recipes to create “cruelty-free food that is 100% plant-based.” Reserve a table today to experience this delicious sushi for yourself.
Come for the drinks, and stay for the sushi or vice versa at this new bar on Melrose. This chic spot serves only plant-based drinks and sushi. The chef-created sushi rolls are almost too beautiful to eat—almost.
This spot is just south of L.A. Offerings include classics like California rolls and cucumber rolls as well as specialty rolls such as the Ninja roll and the Yoga Fire. Tip: Don’t skip dessert!
Also just south of Los Angeles, in Long Beach, this casual location serves vegan sushi and even a couple of fishless tacos. Be sure to call ahead to check the hours before you go.
So next time you want to grab some sushi in Los Angeles, remember that fish are sea life, not seafood. They are emotional beings who can form relationships and feel pain just like humans do, and they deserve our respect. Now, go grab a friend and ride that vegan sushi wave through Los Angeles.
If you see “gelatina nigra” on a food or medicine label, stay away. This cruelly obtained ingredient is made from donkey skin. And now, a new lawsuit against Amazon alleges that the online retailer’s distribution and sale of products containing gelatina nigra—more commonly known as ejiao or “donkey-hide gelatin”—violates California law.
Donkeys are killed and skinned for ejiao—a gelatin made by boiling donkeys’ skin
The U.S. is the world's third-largest importer, help us shut down this violent trade! https://t.co/SpiXi0hiRh
The lawsuit, filed by the Center for Contemporary Equine Studies, points out that California’s Prohibition of Horse Slaughter and Sale of Horsemeat for Human Consumption Act of 1998 prohibits the sale of “horsemeat”—which the lawsuit asserts includes any part of any equine, including donkeys—for human consumption. The complaint demands that Amazon stop selling ejiao immediately.
The demand for ejiao is decimating global donkey populations.
Every year, millions of donkeys are slaughtered so that their skins can be boiled down to make gelatin for ejiao.
A PETA Asia investigation into China’s ejiao industry blew the lid off the violent abuse of donkeys on farms there, where workers were seen hitting donkeys as young as 5 years old with sledgehammers and beating terrified donkeys with sticks.
Other workers slaughtered donkeys by bludgeoning them in the head before slitting their throats.
Donkeys are imported into China from countries all over the world just to be slaughtered to meet the demand for ejiao products. While Walmart and other retailers have committed to stop selling ejiao after hearing from PETA, Amazon still sells items containing this cruelly obtained ingredient.
Here’s How YOU Can Help Spare Donkeys
Stay posted for more updates on this groundbreaking lawsuit on PETA.org, and click the button below to help stop the slaughter of donkeys for medicine in China:
Aaaaaand liftoff:peta2’s brand-new website has launched! As an animal rights group for young people, peta2 shows Gen Zers how helping animals is something we can all do at least three times a day, every day. With opportunities to help people choose to live compassionately and a one-stop shop for all things animal rights, the site offers new merchandise, including a tee featuring peta2’s adorable mascot, “Not a Nugget.” You can also spot him on the new sticker sheet below:
Why a New peta2 Is Launching Now
Gen Z and Gen Alpha have serious concerns about the current climate. Overwhelmingly, young humans care about our fellow animals and animal rights, but they’re living in a world filled with uncertainty, which can leave them feeling powerless or exhausted. But peta2 is here to help!
Eating vegan meals and making sure our choices align with our beliefs are empowering, positive ways to make a difference. The new peta2 website and social media channels are filled with positive content that helps young people achieve these goals, such as information about cruelty-free skincare routines and cosmetics plus shopping guides for prom that don’t harm animals. You’ll also find contests involving favorite compassionate brands and content from bands and other celebs and influencers who care about animals, along with many meaningful ways to take action for our fellow Earthlings.
A Deeper Dive Into peta2
All animals, including humans, are individuals who want to feel safe, loved, and comforted. peta2 highlights this reality in an upbeat way for young audiences, helping them understand that we’re all the same in the ways that matter most. peta2 believes that it’s speciesist and wrong to hurt animals, who aren’t test tubes, dinner, clothing, entertainment, or anything else for humans to use. The group helps people go vegan and empowers today’s younger generations to live kindly.
The campaign goals of PETA and peta2 are the same, but the latter exists to reach young people by focusing on empowering, positive content about animal rights and following a vegan lifestyle, which affords students a break from the anxiety-inducing news they are often inundated with during daily life.
Helping students learn more about animal rights issues and teaching them how to take action for animals at home and in school, peta2 is honoring today’s students and the culture of self-care.
Staffers and young people, including PETA’s student interns, are writing and curating content in a “big sibling” voice, encouraging young people to be part of the vegan movement. peta2’s social media pages and website feature individuals who help connect with young people on a more personal level.
How peta2 Inspires Students in Troubled Times
Many people in peta2’s demographic are just starting out in animal rights or are curious about making changes to help animals. That’s why peta2 provides compelling, nongraphic, relatable content using emotional images of animals to instill empathy. peta2’s Students Opposing Speciesism (or “SOS”) program remains the primary home for students who are more established in their activism and ready to plan protests and demonstrations, start animal rights clubs at their schools, and take other actions for animals.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, young people are struggling with higher rates of depression from lockdowns. They also live in fear of school shootings and the climate catastrophe. Students can connect with peta2 and take part in simple online actions to see that they are important and can have a positive impact on the world. For young people who want to hit the streets for animal rights, peta2 also offers paid internships, paid campus rep opportunities, and more.
Take the First Step: How to Get Involved With peta2
Making a difference and taking action for animals start with that first step of getting involved.
Order some new FREE stickers below, sign up for e-mails, and follow peta2 on Instagram and TikTok for exclusive content, contests featuring giveaways of products from your favorite brands, news about animal-loving bands and other celebs, and plenty of ways to help animals!
Shamrock shake season is here! While traditional versions of this green, mint-flavored shake contain dairy milk from sensitive mother cows, the 10 spots listed below serve copycats of the sweet treat without exploiting animals.
Skip the disgusting dairy-filled versions and try one of these delicious vegan shamrock shake copycats instead:
This Minneapolis hotspot, known for its vegan fried chicken, offers a Leprechaun Shake, topped with gold flakes, through St. Patrick’s Day. You can also try the Grasshopper Shake, just to shake things up.
This fully vegan ice cream shop, also known for its knishes, offers a minty green soft serve topped with house-made whipped cream and edible glitter through the end of March. The shop is only open Friday to Sunday, so don’t miss it.
Various locations in California and Las Vegas, Nevada
This chain’s limited-edition Mint Cookie Snow Day is sure to satisfy your shamrock shake sweet tooth with its use of a mint soft-serve base. In addition, it’s full of Thin Mint cookie bits, allowing you to satisfy your Girl Scout Cookie craving, too!
Try the Lucky Leprechaun Shake this March at this popular vegan chain with locations across the country. This shake takes it up a notch with chocolate cookies, vegan marshmallows, and edible glitter.
This 100% vegan and gluten-free bakery offers its own version of a Shamrock Shake all month long. When planning a visit, keep in mind that the bakery is closed from Sunday to Tuesday.
Stop by this woman-owned, vegan-for-animals, takeout-only bakery and café on Thursdays for its limited-edition Shamrock Shake. Hurry, though, because these treats sell out quickly.
You’ll be feeling the luck of the Irish when you try Parlor City’s Lucky Shamrock Shake. And what better way to balance this sweet treat than with a limited-edition Reuben?
Looking for a vegan Shamrock Shake copycat after the season is over? This burger joint in Denver has a Green Mint shake year-round that’ll leave you feeling as lucky as a leprechaun.
A Massachusetts staple, this classic diner with a vegetarian twist offers its vegan take on a Shamrock Shake through the end of March, so get one before they disappear!
Of course, we couldn’t resist making one of our own! So here’s PETA’s cruelty-free take on the classic:
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Go green and choose a vegan Shamrock Shake copycat this season. Not only are they better for the environment, they also don’t tear playful baby cows away from their caring mothers. Vegan options are more plentiful than pots of gold and far tastier. Now, go find a plant-based mint shake at the end of that rainbow.
The world is in for a real treat—Hershey’s has launched vegan Reese’s Plant Based Peanut Butter Cups! This dairy-free iconic candy is made with oat milk instead of milk that’s meant for baby cows.
In addition to the new vegan Reese’s, Hershey’s is launching an Almond & Sea Salt flavor plant-based chocolate bar. The new item comes after the company tested vegan bars in Classic and Almond & Sea Salt flavors.
Why Choose Vegan Reese’s and Other Milk-Free Chocolates?
When chocolate isn’t vegan, it’s the product of the suffering of exploited cows on dairy farms, where they’re confined to small spaces and forcibly inseminated and their babies are torn away from them. Cows are social creatures who form complex relationships with one another, and research shows that they can recognize over 50 other individuals within their herd. When you choose vegan options, you help spare the lives of countless cows who are used for their milk.
Just as humans produce milk to nurse their babies, mother cows make milk for their calves. Repeat after PETA: “Not your mom, not your milk.”
Chocolate Brands Respond to Vegan Demands
Hershey’s isn’t the only chocolate company to begin listening to demands for cow-friendly milk chocolates. Lindt offers its Classic Recipe OatMilk Chocolate Bars in U.S. stores, which are available in Original and Caramel flavors. There are also plenty of other vegan semi-sweet and dark chocolate bars to choose from in the aisles of your local store—just check the ingredients for cow’s milk before you buy.
Hershey’s has hinted that the Reese’s and Hershey’s nondairy chocolate bars are just the beginning of its animal-friendly offerings. We’re hoping Kit Kats are next on the list!
Here’s Where You Can Find Vegan Reese’s in Stores
Vegan Reese’s are rolling out this month at various retailers, including the Hershey’s Store, Rite Aid, and Target, and Hershey’s plant-based bars will be available in April. Keep an eye on store shelves near you!
We have guides to help you learn all about vegan candy bars, milk chocolate, and chocolate bars to satisfy your sweet tooth. For more tips on plant-based eating, order a vegan starter kit:
Compassionate coffee lovers across Germany can now enjoy a Starbucks drink that’s better for animals, the environment, and their own health without being charged extra for oat, almond, soy, or coconut milk. In 2022, Starbucks France and Starbucks U.K. also dropped the surcharge, and other stories in China, India, and elsewhere offer dairy-free options at no additional cost.
Even though Starbucks agrees that vegan milks are better for the planet—and has even admitted that dairy is the biggest contributor to its carbon footprint—it still charges up to 80 cents more to use vegan milk instead of cow’s milk at its U.S. stores and other locations around the world.
Customers shouldn’t be punished for making a compassionate choice, and if you’re lactose intolerant (as many folks are, especially people of color), you have to skip dairy to avoid getting sick.
Join PETA in taking action: Remind Starbucks that folks in the U.S. don’t want to pay extra to avoid a morning cup of cruelty.
Tell Starbucks that soy, oat, almond, and coconut milk shouldn’t cost a cent more than their dairy counterpart, which is cruel to cows, exacerbates the climate catastrophe, and is indigestible to many humans:
PETA India recently named Acharya Prashantthe “Most Influential Vegan” of 2022. As a teacher of Vedanta—the pinnacle of Indian “wisdom literature,” rooted in self-awareness and liberation—Prashant cares deeply about ending speciesism. His passion is on display in a new video in which he sits down for an interview with PETA India founder and PETA President Ingrid Newkirk, delving into his outreach efforts; the concept of ahimsa, a core tenet of many Eastern religions that means not causing harm to any sentient being; and his many accomplishments. The two animal rights icons also discuss effective ways to persuade others to go vegan.
Watch the Interview Below: Meet the ‘Most Influential Vegan’ of 2022
As the discussion progresses between these two luminaries, central vegan concepts emerge with further clarity: the gift of consciousness; the human responsibility to make kind choices; the respect and consideration all animals deserve; why every sentient being is an individual person; how being vegan also means being against all forms of supremacy, violence, and prejudice; why killing an animal is like killing a part of oneself; how problematic it is that many Indians want to adopt destructive consumption patterns from the West, often involving speciesism; why feeling compassion should outweigh the pull of popular culture; and why we must actively share what we know.
How Prashant Earned the Title ‘Most Influential Vegan’
Prashant—the founder and CEO of the PrashantAdvait Foundation—campaigns against superstition and strongly advocates for female empowerment, protection of the natural world, compassion for animals, Vedantic wisdom, living “rightly,” and living a life of compassion and honesty. He explains in person and on YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram how being vegan is an essential part of true humanity.
Prashant’s compassion shines through his work to spare the lives of cows, pigs, chickens, turkeys, fish, and other animals exploited by the meat, egg, and dairy industries. His award from PETA India spotlights how he encourages everyone to live a conscious, nonviolent life and respect all sentient beings by going vegan.
He has consistently advocated against the mistreatment of animals used for food and made millions of humans aware of the perils of consuming them and “products” stolen from them, highlighting how vegan living linked to true spirituality is a solution to the global crises of poor health and environmental damage.
Teaching Vedanta pairs perfectly with raising awareness of animal liberation. Ahimsa is at the heart of this spiritual practice, so Prashant speaks often about it.
Ahimsa is deep understanding. Without that understanding, whatever one does is violence. Veganism is nothing but the logical culmination of vegetarianism. Where does vegetarianism come from? The feeling that I will not kill the animal—I don’t want to harm the animal. That same feeling finds its final expression in veganism.
—Acharya Prashant
How to Inhabit Your Inherent Ahimsa and Become an Influential Vegan Yourself
Going vegan shows compassion for animals; reduces your own risk of suffering from cancer, heart disease, diabetes, and obesity; helps fight the climate catastrophe by reducing greenhouse gas emissions; and can even help prevent future pandemics since COVID-19, SARS, swine flu, and bird flu have all been linked to confining and killing animals for food.
Mardi Gras—or “Fat Tuesday”—is the day before Ash Wednesday, which marks the beginning of Lent. This cultural phenomenon, which draws people from around the world to the Big Easy each year, is marked by parades, music, and tons of sweet, fatty foods. The iconic dish of Mardi Gras is the king cake, generally a ring-shaped cake covered with icing and green, purple, and gold sprinkles. Traditionally, there’s also a small porcelain baby baked into the cake representing Jesus, which is supposed to bring luck and prosperity to the person who finds it. While the dessert is sometimes made with eggs stolen from chickens and milk meant for baby cows, we’ve found some that are made without any animal exploitation and suffering.
Erin McKenna’s Bakery (multiple locations and nationwide shipping)
On the online marketplace Goldbelly, you can order Erin McKenna’s Vegan + Gluten Free King Cake Kit, which comes complete with tinted vegan sugar and a “baby” to bake inside.
Multiple pickup locations are available for Van Friendly’s gluten-free and vegan King Cake Box, which includes four King Cake Donuts and a traditional cinnamon-flavored cake.
Filled or unfilled vegan king cakes are available for pickup at this all-vegan bakery in New Orleans. Filling flavors include Chocolate Tiramisu, Bavarian Cream, Cream Cheese, Strawberry Cream Cheese, and Almond Cream.
Head to White House Coffee and Creamery if you want a single slice of cinnamon-spiced vegan and gluten-free king cake topped with a tasty icing and colorful sugar.
While the indulgent king cakes of this confectionary are sold out online, you can still find them at locations around the New Orleans area, including Haydel’s Bakery, Grounded Coffee Cafe, the Lafreniere Park Farmers Arts Market on Wednesdays from 2 to 7 p.m., and other locations announced ahead of time on the confectionery’s social media.
These cakes offer tons of flavor without doing an ounce of harm to chickens or cows. It’s easy to celebrate Mardi Gras while being kind to animals—check out these vegan Mardi Gras recipes for your own inspiration, and order a free vegan starter kit for more tips:
Going vegan is a piece of plant-based cake when you remember that by making the switch, you’ll be sparing the lives of animals, helping to protect the environment, and improving your health. If you’re already vegan, keep up the good work! If not, what are you waiting for? Stop with the excuses and start living compassionately.
We’ve heard every excuse in the book, but none of them holds up. Here are a few tips to motivate you to go vegan or to stay on track if you’ve already made the animal-friendly switch.
No, you don’t have to give up cheese—just go dairy-free!
Can’t give up cheese? Well, you don’t have to! Going vegan doesn’t mean limiting the foods you eat—it just means taking the cruelty out of them. Top your pizza with cashew-based mozzarella, sprinkle some vegan Parmesan on your pasta, and spread dairy-free cream cheese on your bagel.
Brands like Miyoko’s Creamery and Daiya offer a variety of delicious vegan cheeses that have all the cheesy flavor but without causing the suffering of mother cows, whose babies are torn away from them by the cruel dairy industry.
If you think vegan burgers don’t have the flavor you expect, you clearly haven’t tried a Beyond Burger! These protein-packed patties look and taste much like traditional burgers, but no animals were exploited and slaughtered to make them. To sweeten the deal, you can find Beyond Meat foods at most major grocery stores.
Plenty of other brands have perfected the meat-free burger, too. Check your local Whole Foods store for NotBurger and Meatless Farm burgers, and get grilling!
When it comes to supplements, stick to the basics.
Taking dietary supplements isn’t just a vegan thing. Research shows that the vast majority of Americans don’t get enough key nutrients in their diet.
Getting the nutrition you need is nothing to stress about—just eat a balanced mix of vegan foods, like beans, nuts, whole grains, fruits, and vegetables, and add a multivitamin to your routine that contains other essential nutrients like B12, vitamin D, iodine, and selenium.
Save time in the kitchen.
So you don’t have time to cook elaborate meals. Who does? You don’t have to be a gourmet chef to prepare simple, delicious vegan dishes. Check out some of PETA’s simple vegan recipes, like three-ingredient lentil soup, five-ingredient hummus pasta, and more.
Additionally, a quick search for “vegan” on your favorite delivery app should bring up lots of options for vegan meals. If you need help getting started, order PETA’s free vegan starter kit, which is packed full of helpful tips and recipes.
Did you know that plenty of big-shot athletes—including world-famous tennis star Venus Williams—are vegan?
Carbohydrate-rich foods like potatoes, oats, pasta, and fruit are the perfect workout fuel, and there’s no shortage of plant-based protein sources, such as beans, lentils, peas, soy, peanuts, quinoa, cashews, and pumpkin seeds.
Get creative with tofu.
If you haven’t warmed up to tofu, don’t worry—you can opt for plenty of other vegan protein sources, such as seitan, legumes, nuts, and seeds. Even so, we suggest trying new ways to prepare tofu before you write it off completely. Try adding it to a flavorful stir-fry or blending it to make tofu ricotta. And have you tried Sriracha tofu yet?
Become familiar with kid-friendly vegan foods.
By going vegan, you can help encourage your family to eat more vegetables, whole grains, and legumes. You can also boost your skills in the kitchen by finding ways to veganize foods your kids already enjoy!
There’s certainly no shortage of kid-friendly vegan foods, from dairy-free boxed mac ’n’ cheese to meatless chicken nuggets.
More restaurants nowadays are adding to their menus to accommodate vegan diners, so dining out is the perfect opportunity to encourage businesses to offer more vegan meals. Even better, gather your friends together to support local all-vegan restaurants!
Rely on vegan-friendly apps when you travel.
You can be a vegan foodie anywhere in the world. Follow vegan food travelers on Instagram to find awesome vegan spots, and download the HappyCow app, which will show you where to find the nearest vegan grub, no matter where you are.
Save money at the grocery store.
Vegan lunches and dinners cost 40% less on average than those that contain meat or fish. Check out PETA’s guide to cheap vegan grocery shopping for some tips to save money while eating nutritious foods.
Take the 3-Week Vegan Challenge
If you need another vegan boost, take PETA’s 3-Week Vegan Challenge, which includes our three-week meal plan, simple vegan recipes, product recommendations, and tips for dining out:
The clothing brand Naadam is trying to get away with calling the cashmere it sells “responsible” and “without cruelty.” But as long as the company uses cashmere made from goats, it’s just engaging in another “humane washing” marketing scheme.
Don’t believe @NaadamCashmere's humane washing. @PETAAsia's undercover investigation into the cashmere industry in China & Mongolia—the world’s top exporters—revealed goats screaming in pain as workers tore their hair out with sharp metal combs. pic.twitter.com/d7JivcJmHO
There’s No Cruelty-Free Way to Exploit Goats for Cashmere
PETA sent a letter to Naadam, calling on it to stop trying to deceive customers into thinking that cashmere obtained from gentle goats could ever be “cruelty-free.” To produce cashmere, workers typically pin goats to the ground, bind their legs, and tear out their hair with sharp metal combs.
Goats’ fight-or-flight instinct is deeply ingrained. In the cashmere industry, during these highly stressful and often painful combing procedures, goats often cry out and desperately try to free themselves. Finally, when they’re no longer profitable, they’re sent to slaughterhouses, where it’s common practice for workers to hit them over the head with a hammer and slit their throats.
This terrifying and violent ordeal isn’t considered ‘cruelty-free’ or ‘without cruelty’ by any reasonable consumer, PETA’s letter states.
Naadam’s Misleading Claims
Naadam is trying to pull the cashmere over shoppers’ eyes with several misleading claims, including the following:
“Responsible and cruelty-free. From hand combing to providing veterinary care, we promote ethical conditions for the animals behind our raw materials.”
“We treat our goats the way we want to be treated: responsibly, with love, and without cruelty.”
The Federal Trade Commission Act prohibits unfair methods of competition, which include false and misleading advertising. By specifically including these representations in its marketing, Naadam clearly recognizes that consumers value animal welfare and that, at a minimum, goats shouldn’t be subjected to cruelty.
Yet cruelty is inherent in cashmere production, from the combing process to the slaughter of the animals. Therefore, claims that cashmere is “cruelty-free” or “without cruelty” are false and likely to mislead ordinary consumers.
Help Goats Used by the Cashmere Industry
If you see a company engaging in false advertising, politely inform its leadership or customer service that if a product’s not vegan, its production involves violence against animals. Urge the company to remove the misleading marketing immediately and to sell only vegan materials. Check out PETA’s guide to compassionate fashion to keep your closet cruelty-free:
What exactly makes a restaurant romantic? For us, it’s a combination of atmosphere, elegance, and—of course—really delicious food. If you’re looking for a spot that will impress your sweetheart, you’ve come to the right place, because some of the most romantic restaurants in the world also happen to be some of the best vegan restaurants in the world! So next time you’re booking a reservation for Valentine’s Day, your anniversary, or just a fancy date night, check out one of these romantic vegan restaurants:
Did you know that there’s a scientific reason that vegan fare is the recipe for romance? The cholesterol and fat in animal-derived foods slow the flow of blood to all vital organs—not just the heart. Healthy vegan foods will leave you full of energy and maybe even feeling a little frisky. Plus, leaving meat, eggs, and dairy off your plate means that you won’t be breaking animals’ hearts.
Theme parks in the Orlando, Florida, area just got a major animal-friendly menu upgrade! Vegan meat brand Worthington has launched its fish-free tuna and meat-free pepperoni at eight new locations in Walt Disney World Resort and Universal Orlando Resort. We love to see theme parks add even more vegan options, because it makes it even easier for guests who want to help spare fish, pigs, cows, and all other animals who are used for food.
At Disney World, you can try Worthington’s savory vegan tuna in two delicious dishes:
You can find both these options at six Disney properties in Orlando: the All-Star Sports Resort, the All-Star Movies Resort, the All-Star Music Resort, the Pop Century Resort, the Art of Animation Resort, and the Port Orleans Resort.
At Universal Studios, you can find Worthington’s vegan pepperoni slices on two menu items:
These options are just a few of the many available at both theme parks. Our Disney World and Universal Studios guides can help you find the best vegan food during your visit to either park.
Fish, cows, and pigs are all intelligent, complex individuals who simply want to experience a life free of fear and pain. Going vegan is an easy yet effective way to make a difference in their lives. Learn about going vegan by ordering our free vegan starter kit:
Our cats show us their love with cuddles, nudges, and purrs every day of the year. On the day that celebrates everything about love, why not show them just how much they mean to you? Here are some simple suggestions for high-quality, animal-friendly presents that your cat is sure to love, whatever your budget may be.
Nothing says “love” more than learning how to communicate better with your cat companion—this bundle includes a copy of PETA President Ingrid Newkirk’s book 250 Vital Things Your Cat Wants You to Know, which helps you learn their language so you can be a better guardian. The pack also comes with some fun organic catnip toys and silly signs.
Upgrade your cat’s litterbox with this smart, automatic cat litterbox from PETA Business Friend PurrSong. It even connects to an app on your phone so you can monitor your cat’s health and receive notifications when the box needs a deep clean.
Not all cats (or dogs) are loved and cared for by guardians like you—millions are neglected and homeless, which is why it’s essential to have your animal companions spayed or neutered and never buy animals from a breeder or pet store. Learn more about PETA’s Community Animal Project, and take our pledge to help end animal homelessness:
Our dogs are part of our families—so don’t forget them when you’re shopping for your valentines this February 14. Of course, taking your canine companion for a long, meandering walk on a beautiful day shows how much you care, but we’ve also identified a few animal-friendly gifts for dogs that will help make this Valentine’s Day special for them.
If you want to splurge, why not give your dog a luxurious spot to nap in? This organic, vegan dog bed from Avocado is made of waterproof cotton, coconut husk, and vegan buckwheat hulls. It’s soft, durable, eco-friendly, and supportive.
How about a gift that will keep on giving, long after Valentine’s Day? Upgrade your dog’s kibble with Wild Earth’s vegan dog food, which is made with tasty animal-free ingredients for all the wholesome nutrition your dog needs.
Not all dogs (or cats) are loved and cared for by guardians like you—millions are neglected and homeless, which is why it’s essential to have your animal companions spayed or neutered and never buy animals from a breeder or pet store. Learn more about CAP, and take our pledge to help end animal homelessness:
PETA has a message for Super Bowl fans: The only wings you should eat are ones that don’t come from birds. To remind everyone that chickens are living, feeling beings who don’t want to be killed and eaten as a half-time snack, we purchased an ad in this year’s Super Bowl program that says, “Let Them Keep Their Own Damn Wings.”
An estimated 1.45 billion chicken wings will be consumed during Super Bowl weekend—that’s more than 350 million chickens killed, just for a single event.
Farms—even ones that use deceptive marketing labels like “cage-free” and “humane”—typically breed birds to grow so large that some have difficulty even walking. They’re often denied opportunities to satisfy even their most basic needs, such as experiencing fresh air and sunlight.
At slaughterhouses, chickens are shackled upside down by their legs, their throats are slit—often while they’re still conscious—and many are scalded to death.
Did You Know?
Chickens form social hierarchies known as “pecking orders,” and every chicken knows his or her place on the social ladder.
Birds Shouldn’t Suffer for Your Super Bowl Snack—Go Vegan!
You can still enjoy your favorite classic Super Bowl grub while watching the big game. Check out PETA’s guide to the best vegan wings across the U.S., which lists restaurants that serve tasty, chicken-free wings.
If you don’t live near any vegan wing spots, don’t sweat it! Brands like Gardein, LikeMeat, and MorningStar Farms all offer delicious vegan chicken wings that you can find at most major grocery chains.
Don’t just go vegan for Super Bowl Sunday—show compassion to animals every day! Order PETA’s free vegan starter kit to help you get started today:
Have some fun with these vegan vibrators and dildos in the shape of some of your favorite fruits and veggies from this company in the U.K. Will you go for the Corn on the Cob Vibrator or the Eggplant Orgasm Combo? Remember, fruits and veggies are good for you!
While you should never hit horses with crops, there’s nothing wrong with using crops in the bedroom with a consenting human partner. This vegan leather line has all the BDSM basics, from crops and floggers to cuffs and gags.
Slip into something sexy with these vegan options that forgo animal-derived materials like silk, which is made by boiling silkworms alive, and leather, the skin ripped from animals. There’s nothing attractive about wearing someone else’s skin.
Not everyone wants to be tied up, but for those who do, there are plenty of vegan options that leave sensitive cows out of the picture. The bondage gear in this brand’s Maze collection is “100% Wild, 0% Animal” and is sure to command attention. The brand also offers toys, massage oils, and other pleasurable products.
If you’re looking for something sexy to wear but not into bondage, Rihanna’s got you covered (or not so covered) with an extensive line of vegan lingerie. There’s sure to be something for everyone.
Protection is important, and luckily Glyde has a variety of options, including flavored ones, for people who want to avoid animal-derived products. Conveniently, you can find Glyde condoms online and have them shipped right to your door.*
What’s more sensual than massage oil and candles? Edible vegan massage oil and candles, of course! This cruelty-free company offers a variety of lickable lotions, oils, and candles in multiple flavors.
For natural options for achieving sexual wellness, look no further than The Honey Pot. It offers multiple products that are organic, plant-derived, and backed by science.
Simple and sensual, whipped cream can offer a fun way to play with your partner. Vegan options are plentiful, but we recommend the cans from Trader Joe’s or Whole Foods.
The only cries we want to hear are those of pleasure, so please leave cruelty to animals out of the bedroom. Only buy vegan sex toys and other cruelty-free intimacy enhancers for your bedroom toy box. So go have some fun, and remember—vegans last longer.
*Remember that being sexually active comes with real responsibilities and that you should take all measures necessary to protect yourself from sexually transmitted infections and unwanted pregnancy. If you don’t have cruelty-free condoms, sex with any condom is safer than sex with no condom.
If you’re planning to play Hogwarts Legacy, here are three ways to make it a little more animal-friendly. Even magical beasts made of pixels deserve respect.
Don’t Ride Animals
The game offers players various methods of transportation, from brooms to the Floo Network. If you choose to fly around in the areas surrounding Hogwarts Castle, always opt for a broom. Hippogriffs and thestrals are (digital) individuals—they aren’t modes of transportation. Treat them with respect and leave them be. And then avoid horse, elephant, and donkey rides in your muggle life.
Much to our dismay, health potions in Hogwarts Legacy use horklump juice in addition to a plant component. As tempting as health potions might be to a low-health witch or wizard (or anyone else), horklumps need their juice more than you do. Avoid drinking what belongs to another animal by just dodge rolling like a pro instead. You won’t need a potion if you never get hit in the first place. And a perfectly timed Protego spell can show off your skills far better than chugging down juice from a “living” being.
A number of outfits in the wizarding world include fwooper feathers or mooncalf fur. While PETA doesn’t often have to deal with cases of niffler abuse, you can still demonstrate compassion by avoiding wardrobe pieces that use the feathers and fur of others. Sure, jobberknoll feathers might just be pixels, but practicing compassion in a game can help remind you to avoid buying feathers in the real world.
While the magical beasts found in Hogwarts Legacy are merely digital, many animals in the muggle world are exploited for the same types of reasons as in the game. Some, like horses and camels, are exploited for entertainment and treated as living taxis. Others, like cows and ducks, are used for food and clothing. Although Luna doesn’t appear in the game, the actor who portrayed her, Evanna Lynch, wrote the foreword for The Unofficial Harry Potter Vegan Cookbook. This magical book offers a selection of recipes for delectable dishes from the wizarding world without any animal-derived ingredients. Evanna also stands up for animals who are used in experimentation—and you can, too. Please treat all sentient beings, magical or otherwise, with respect. Practicing compassion in a digital world can remind you to practice it in the real one.
There’s no need to worry about an egg shortage when companies like YoEgg are offering the same taste and experience without using chickens. The Israel-based start-up debuted its innovative vegan poached egg in the U.S. for the first time this week at six restaurants across Southern California.
Made out of chickpea and soy protein, YoEgg looks and tastes almost identical to one stolen from a chicken—even down to the runny yolk. However, it doesn’t support the egg industry’s cycle of abuse.
Real Food Daily’s sister restaurant in Silver Lake is also serving it on the Avocado Toast and in a breakfast special Eggs Benedict, which comes with Tofurky ham. Find it on the breakfast menu on Thursdays and Fridays.
This classic diner on Beverly Boulevard in Los Angeles offers tons of vegan options on its menu, and now you can try YoEgg on many of its dishes, including Avocado Toast, the Quinoa and Eggs bowl, and the All American breakfast (which can be made completely vegan by ordering with vegan sausage and multigrain pancakes).
Coyote Grill’s menu was already vegan-friendly, but now the Laguna Beach eatery is stepping it up by offering YoEgg as an option on its Eggs Benedict, Huevos Rancheros, and Chilaquiles. (Check with the restaurant to make sure items can be made without animal-derived ingredients.)
Vegan eggs come in many varieties and are quickly popping up on menus at both vegan and nonvegan establishments. When you choose options like YoEgg, you make a difference in the lives of some of the most abused animals on the planet. Learn more about going vegan by ordering a free vegan starter kit today:
Super Bowl LVII will kick off on Sunday, February 12, at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona. There’s one thing you just can’t go without for the big game—vegan chicken wings, of course! So to make sure you have your favorite savory snack before kickoff, we’ve found some of the top vegan wings in the greater Phoenix area, many of which are available near the stadium.
In 2021, humans consumed nearly 1.5 billion chicken wings—at least 350 million individual chickens—during Super Bowl weekend alone. For the 2023 Super Bowl, help spare chickens by piling your plate with these game-changing vegan wings from restaurants all across the Valley of the Sun.
Green New American’s wing platters are perfect for Super Bowl parties. They’re served with a house-made ranch dipping sauce, and they’re available in three flavors: Buffalo, Espresso BBQ, and “Huney” Jalapeño.
The Buffalo Bills may not be in the Super Bowl this year, but these crispy drumstick-style wings are positively smothered in a spicy Buffalo sauce. Cool them off with a dip in the zesty house-made ranch dressing.
Picazzo’s vegan menu is full of flavorful options, including the Vegan Chick’n Bites, which are served with vegan ranch and carrot sticks. They’re available in five tasty flavors: Italian Seasoned, BBQ Original, BBQ Chipotle, Buffalo, and Spicy Thai Peanut.
For an elevated take on the game-day dish, head to Vegan & Vine for its Buffalo Cauliflower appetizer, which features crispy, spicy cauliflower with ranch and a tangy vegan gorgonzola cheese.
Hot Sauce and Pepper is a food truck based in Mesa that offers vegan comfort food, including its signature Caulifyah Wings. These deep-fried bites are crispy and saucy and are even available gluten-free. Choose from three flavors: Sweet Mambo, Spicy Mambo, and Hot. Arrange for pickup or local delivery, or find the truck at one of its pop-up locations.
Nana’s Kitchen food truck is based in Chandler, where it’s serving crispy cauliflower Wangz that come in six flavors: BBQ, Korean BBQ, Lemon Pepper, Sweet Heat, Buffalo, and Jerk.
Yard House is a sports bar chain with a menu full of vegan options, including Gardein Wings, which come in three flavors: Buffalo, Ancho BBQ, and Whiskey Black Pepper. (Just be sure to replace the nonvegan side of ranch with spicy tahini or another vegan sauce option.) With three locations in Glendale, Scottsdale, and Phoenix, it’s also a great spot to watch the game if you can’t attend in person.
Grocery stores are stocked with vegan wings, so it’s easier than ever to make them at home. You can also make a huge batch of crispy cauliflower wings, which are great if you’re on a budget!
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