Kategorie: Animals

Please see the following statement from PETA Senior Vice President Kathy Guillermo regarding the fatal injury of Thoroughbred Havnameltdown, trained by Bob Baffert, at Pimlico Race Course today on Preakness Stakes day:

Pimlico should have followed Churchill Downs’ example and barred Bob Baffert from the track. Baffert has been implicated in drugging scandals and the deaths of seven horses who collapsed in California, and at least 75 horses in his care have died. The tragic death of Havnameltdown is the latest in a long line of fatalities. The racing industry must kick out the bad guys or it will have blood on its hands as well as blood on its tracks.

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to use for entertainment or abuse in any other way”—opposes speciesism, a human-supremacist worldview. For more information, please visit PETA.org or follow the group on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram.

The post PETA Statement: Baffert-Trained Horse Dead at Pimlico appeared first on PETA.

PETA supporters wearing elephant masks have chained themselves to the Jim R. Miller Park & Event Center’s front gate and are blocking drivers from accessing the entrance to the Yaarab Shrine Circus’ scheduled 11 a.m. performance. Other animal allies are armed with signs proclaiming, “Yaarab Shriners Support Animal Abuse.” The happening is being livestreamed on TikTok here.

“Elephants should be with their families in nature, but those exploited by the Yaarab Shriners are chained and forced to perform trick after trick under the constant threat of punishment,” says PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman. “PETA is urging the Yaarab Shrine to stop promoting big-time cruelty under the big top.”

Video footage shows the head trainer for Carson & Barnes Circus—which frequently provides the elephant acts for the Yaarab Shrine Circus—instructing trainers to sink bullhooks into elephants’ flesh and twist them until the animals scream. Carson & Barnes’ appalling and long history of animal abuse also includes more than 100 citations for violations of the federal Animal Welfare Act.

Today’s disruption is the latest action in a PETA Shrine circus campaign that has included urging Yaarab Shrine Potentate Robert Hampton to embrace animal-free circuses and running a TV spot that shows suffering and abused tigers and elephants at Shrine circuses more than two dozen times on WXIA-TV.

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to use for entertainment”—opposes speciesism, a human-supremacist worldview. For more information, please visit PETA.org, listen to The PETA Podcast, or follow the group on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram.

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The post Happening Now: Chained PETA Supporters Block Entrance to Local Yaarab Shrine Circus Show appeared first on PETA.

In honor of National Hamburger Month, PETA has named its picks for the best vegan burgers in the U.S., and Charlotte’s own Bean Vegan Cuisine has won a top spot with its juicy Cowboy Burger.

Located at 3001 E. Independence Blvd., the eatery—which opened in 2012 as Charlotte’s first all-vegan sit-down restaurant—puts a vegan spin on Southern comfort food classics, dishing up Southern fried tofu fingers and waffles, Pimento Cheesish Dip, and a BBQ Jackfruit Sandwich. The award-winning Cowboy Burger is a hand-formed patty (made with Harmony Valley vegan burger mix) with house-made seitan bacon, Daiya vegan cheddar, onion rings, pickles, ranch dressing, and BBQ sauce.

“This plant-powered patty is a hot mouthful of flavor and the perfect animal-friendly answer to those comfort food cravings,” says PETA President Ingrid Newkirk. “All the winning vegan burgers on PETA’s national top 10 list prove that serving plant-based foods is a smart business decision.”

Bean Vegan Cuisine will receive a framed certificate from PETA in honor of its culinary achievement. The other top burgers receiving the group’s recognition are the Ménage à Trois at Slutty Vegan (Atlanta), the Mushroom Swizz Burger at Modern Love Omaha (Omaha, Nebraska), the Love Life Burger at Love Life Cafe (Miami), the Dirty Secret at J. Selby’s (St. Paul, Minnesota), the Flatiron at Meta Burger (Boulder, Denver, and Edgewater, Colorado), the Garlic Mushroom Burger at Mark of the Beastro (Salt Lake City), the WAP-er at Houstatlantavegan (Houston), the Deluxe Vurger at Vurger Guyz (Los Angeles), and the Beet Burger at Three Carrots (Indianapolis).

Every person who goes vegan spares nearly 200 animals each year daily suffering and terrifying deaths and reduces their risk of developing heart disease and cancer. PETA’s free vegan starter kit can help those looking to make the switch.

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to eat”—opposes speciesism, a human-supremacist worldview. For more information, please visit PETA.org, listen to The PETA Podcast, or follow the group on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram.

The post ‘It’s Good Y’all!’ Local Eatery ‘Bean Vegan Cuisine’ Wins National PETA Award for Cowboy Burger appeared first on PETA.

The deadly race for the Triple Crown—which consists of the Kentucky Derby, the Preakness Stakes, and the Belmont Stakes—is underway, leaving a trail of dead horses in its wake. Eight horses have died at Churchill Downs, the home of the Kentucky Derby: Thoroughbreds Freezing Point and Chloe’s Dream, who both died on Derby Day; Code of Kings, who broke his neck in a paddock before a race; Wild On Ice, who was euthanized after sustaining a bone fracture while training for the Kentucky Derby; Parents Pride and Chasing Artie, who both collapsed on the track and died after races; Take Charge Briana, who was euthanized after sustaining an injury during a race; and Rio Moon, who was euthanized after breaking his leg during a race.

Enough is enough.

Rio Moon is the EIGHTH horse to DIE at #ChurchillDowns in just over TWO WEEKS. Horses aren’t safe at this track! Get the deaths to zero or bury this "sport" once and for all! pic.twitter.com/1TV5MGcfwA

— PETA (@peta) May 15, 2023

Churchill Downs claims that it is determined to “continually improve upon the highest industry standards.” If this statement were true, the company would have shut down its track so that stronger protocols could be implemented to protect horses—like PETA asked.

On the heels of the deaths at Churchill Downs, PETA’s renewing our call for racetracks to enact more protections for horses, including replacing dirt tracks with high-quality synthetic ones, installing CT equipment to detect injuries before horses get on the track, and banning all medications two weeks before a race.

The horse racing industry continually profits off forcing horses to run. Trainers often push them beyond their limits and subject them to cocktails of legal and illegal drugs intended to mask injuries and artificially enhance performance. When the horses can no longer be exploited, they’re “retired”—which, for many of them, means they’re sent to slaughterhouses.

@officialpeta

Real sports don’t have body counts.

♬ original sound – PETA

Tell Racetracks to Adopt PETA’s Protections for Horses

It doesn’t matter who makes it across the finish line first—there are no winners in horse racing. While this activity will always be cruel to horses—because no animal deserves to be exploited for entertainment—racetracks should at least do the bare minimum by implementing the changes that PETA has suggested. If the industry can’t get the number of deaths down to zero, the “sport” should be buried.

Please share this page on social media and send a tweet to Churchill Downs urging it to adopt safer regulations for horses.

Take Action for Horses

The post Death Toll Mounts During the 2023 Triple Crown—Here’s What Happened in Advance of the Preakness Stakes appeared first on PETA.

When PETA’s fieldworkers met the beautiful Helen, she was hardly being treated like a queen. The young brown tabby was just one of many animals being kept in squalor by a hoarder, whose compulsion to acquire cat after cat far surpassed their ability to care for the animals in basic ways, such as by providing veterinary care when they were sick or injured.

This became abundantly clear when Helen needed urgent medical attention for a ruptured cornea—a painful injury often caused by an untreated infection or trauma to the eye, both likely outcomes from living in a cramped, filthy space with numerous stressed cats. Thankfully, Helen’s former owner agreed to let PETA’s fieldworkers take her away—not to be held in Troy, like her namesake, but to get emergency treatment and to ultimately find a new home.

After a course of antibiotics, pain medication, and some time recovering in a comfortable foster home, Helen has healed handsomely. While her affected eye will always have a scarred, cloudy appearance, this comely cat still has “the face that launched a thousand ships.” But most importantly, her eye doesn’t affect her quality of life—a quality that she expects any potential adopter to maintain to the most royal of standards.

Despite her less-than-hospitable start in life, Helen is exceptionally sweet, social, and friendly. Her hobbies include perching on cat trees and the backs of couches, accepting treats from her human devotees, and gazing out the window at the local wildlife—or is she admiring her own radiant reflection?

This adaptable girl is equally at home pouncing on her flopping fish toy or warming your lap while you crack open a good book. (She’s partial to Greek mythology.) She’s already spayed—no long lines of warring feline suitors to worry about—and at only 8 to 10 months old, she’s ready to rule over her new kingdom for many years to come.

Can you provide Helen with the care and respect worthy of a Spartan queen? E-mail Adopt@peta.org to learn more.

Learn More About Helen and Other Adoptable Animals

The post The Face That Launched a Thousand Adoption Applications? Meet Helen appeared first on PETA.