Kategorie: Animals

Earlier today, a federal judge in Tampa, Florida, sentenced exotic-animal dealer Jimmy Wayne Hammonds (aka “The Monkey Whisperer”) to five years of probation, including less than a year of home detention, and a $90,000 fine. Hammonds pleaded guilty in March to a felony charge of conspiracy to commit wildlife trafficking—stemming from his notorious sale of a capuchin monkey to singer Chris Brown—and three counts of violating the Endangered Species Act for selling endangered cotton-top tamarins to individuals in Alabama, South Carolina, and Wisconsin. Please see the following statement from PETA Foundation Associate Director of Captive Animal Law Enforcement Michelle Sinnott in response to the sentencing:

This brazen career criminal got off easy, but the conviction alone should be enough to keep him out of the monkey-exploitation business as long as federal officials do their jobs and revoke his federal Animal Welfare Act license. PETA is calling on the U.S. Department of Justice to use this case as a jumping-off point to relentlessly pursue the other Hammondses of the world and hold them accountable for trafficking animals for a buck.

PETA sent a letter to the U.S. Department of Agriculture urging the agency to revoke Hammonds’ federal Animal Welfare Act license, which would prohibit him from legally selling exotic animals for the pet trade. In 2017, PETA alerted California officials to Brown’s unlawful possession of the capuchin, which resulted in the animal’s seizure by the state and two misdemeanor charges levied at Brown. According to the search warrant affidavit, it was PETA’s complaint regarding Brown that triggered law enforcement to investigate Hammonds.

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

The post PETA Statement on Sentencing of ‘The Monkey Whisperer,’ Chris Brown’s Monkey Dealer appeared first on PETA.

At Allbirds’ first-ever annual meeting this Friday, PETA—which recently purchased stock in the company—will call out the retailer for duping shoppers into believing the sheep it uses for wool live “the good life,” despite being subjected to industry-standard practices such as mutilation, castration, and eventual slaughter. The group is urging the wool-focused shoe purveyor to stop making false “humane” claims about its products and end its sourcing of cruelly obtained and ecologically destructive wool.

“Every pair of Allbirds sneakers represents misery and death for gentle sheep, yet the company is misleading customers with bogus claims,” says PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman. “PETA is calling on Allbirds to run from humane- and green-washing its products by taking a page out of the vegan fashion playbook.”

PETA U.S. and international PETA entities have documented cruelty to sheep while visiting 117 wool operations worldwide, revealed in 14 exposés. Even on “sustainable” and “responsible” farms, workers beat, stomped on, cut open the skin of, and slit the throats of conscious, struggling sheep. By switching to sustainable vegan materials, such as the eucalyptus tree fiber that it’s already using, Allbirds could save lives and make good on its promises to fight the climate catastrophe.

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

PETA’s shareholder question follows.

Allbirds claims that the sheep whose wool it uses live “the good life.” This could not be further from the truth. In the wool industry, lambs’ ears are mutilated, their tails are chopped off, and the males are castrated—all within weeks of birth. When these sheep no longer produce enough wool to be profitable, they’re slaughtered and skinned. This is not the idyllic life evoked by Allbirds’ slogan.

Allbirds jokes that shearing is just a “haircut.” Do haircuts leave customers with injuries and gaping wounds? PETA entities have released undercover investigative videos from over 100 wool operations around the world—including self-proclaimed “responsible” farms—showing that workers routinely punch and kick terrified sheep, strike them in the face with their electric clippers, stomp on their heads and necks, and shear them so violently that they end up bleeding from the eyes, nose, and mouth, with portions of their skin shredded like ribbons. On a so-called “sustainable” and “regenerative” farm, workers tried to kill fully conscious sheep by hacking at their necks with a dull blade. Does that sound like the good life?

The use of wool also violates Allbirds’ stated goal of reversing climate change through better business. Producing just 1 kilogram of unprocessed wool can generate the same volume of greenhouse gas emissions as driving 100 miles, which makes the wool industry a major contributor to the climate catastrophe.

My question is this: If Allbirds truly wants sheep to enjoy “the good life,” when will it stop using wool, which is a product of cruelty?

The post Allbirds Is All Wrong on Wool: Company’s Claims to Face PETA Probe appeared first on PETA.

After four dogs reportedly died when they were left inside a hot car in New Smyrna Beach while their owner had lunch, PETA plans to hit local TV airwaves with an emergency message from actor Elisabetta Canalis reminding people of the deadly consequences of leaving animals in vehicles unattended. Even on a 75-degree day, the temperature inside a parked car can soar to 94 degrees in just 10 minutes, and on a 90-degree day, it can get up to 109 degrees in just minutes. As the temperature climbs, dogs endure agonizing symptoms: They go into shock, vomit blood, urinate, and have diarrhea and can experience multi-organ failure, cardiopulmonary arrest, fluid buildup in the lungs, muscle tremors, seizures, unconsciousness, and finally, death.

PETA urges everyone to be on the lookout for dogs who are in need of assistance in extreme temperatures, including those who may be experiencing heatstroke symptoms, and advises people to do the following:

• Touch the pavement before walks to ensure that it won’t burn dogs’ foot pads.
• Be alert to a long, curled-up tongue and heavy panting, as dogs can’t sweat as humans can and heat builds up inside their bodies.
• Walk only in the shade or on earth or grass, and never leave animals outdoors in extreme heat or, as Canalis pleads, inside vehicles.

“Four dogs were cooked alive inside a hot car, and countless others are at risk of suffering similar fates during summer’s scorching temperatures,” says PETA Senior Vice President of Cruelty Investigations Daphna Nachminovitch. “PETA is asking people to keep animals indoors where it’s cool and to do whatever it takes to save the life of a dog in distress.”

Last summer, PETA fieldworkers discovered the body of a dog who had died after being left chained up in the hot sun, and there have been similar reports nationwide. A law-enforcement officer mistakenly left a dog inside his patrol car, and the K-9 succumbed to heat prostration and died. In 2021, 59 dogs reportedly died from heat-related causes. (The actual figure is likely far higher, as most heat-related companion animal deaths go unreported.)

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

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