Kategorie: Animals

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Bull Escape Caught on Video Shows How Dangerous Rodeos Are for Everyone

A bull escaped the Redding Rodeo Grounds in Redding, California, on May 20, taking a leap of faith directly into the audience. Video taken during the rodeo shows the frantic bull twisting and leaping to buck off the rider, jumping several feet in the air to make it over the fence, and barging through the crowd in his panic to break free. Unlike all the humans in attendance, the bull had not chosen to be there.

Rodeos Are Terrifying, Unsafe Places for All Animals

The bull’s frantic escape took place during the final section of the bull-riding event at the Northern California rodeo. According to Redding Rodeo officials, the bull “ran out of the rodeo grounds and towards the contestant parking area” and was eventually corralled by livestock handlers about a half-mile away, near the Sundial Bridge, and immediately placed in a trailer. Officials didn’t provide any further details about the bull’s fate, but the Redding police have confirmed that six humans were injured during his escape.

Rodeos are displays of human dominance over other animals, thinly disguised as entertainment. Many bulls forced to participate have sustained fatal injuries, including broken backs and necks, and have experienced heart attacks and aneurysms. Rodeo performers have been observed beating, kicking, and shocking normally docile bulls and other animals in holding pens—abuse they inflict in order to provoke bulls’ instinct to run from harm. It’s no wonder that bulls are frantic by the time they’re released into arenas and that they’ve caused injuries to humans many times in their panic.

The animals who aren’t killed during events often still meet a vicious death: When they’re too old or worn out to continue “performing,” “retirement” often means a one-way trip to the slaughterhouse.

Bulls Are Being Tormented—They Need Us to Speak Up

To help bulls like the one who escaped at the Redding Rodeo, never support rodeos, bull riding, or any other activity that forces animals to perform. If a rodeo comes to your town, write letters to sponsors, leaflet at the gate, or hold a demonstration. You can contact PETA for help, too. Take action for bulls being tormented in other barbaric “sports” today!

SOS highlights

Students Opposing Speciesism—the PETA-backed, youth-led revolt against human supremacy—doesn’t miss a beat in furthering the mission of ending speciesism, including when it comes to denouncing rodeos.

The post Bull Escape Caught on Video Shows How Dangerous Rodeos Are for Everyone appeared first on PETA.

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PETA Calls For Investigation After UMass Fails to Report Marmoset Escape to Feds

It’s a hot mess inside a laboratory conducting absurd hot flash experiments on animals! Records recently obtained by PETA reveal that staff at the University of Massachusetts–Amherst (UMass)—where experimenters purport to study age-related changes in human cognition associated with menopause using marmosets, who don’t even experience the condition—failed to meet even minimal animal welfare and care standards for monkeys held in the school’s laboratories. Some marmoset monkeys at UMass escaped restraints, and others were physically harmed as a result of employees’ improper handling. In addition, the school hid one of the violations from federal agencies, even though it’s required to report all of them.

Marmoset experiments at UMass

Records Reveal Injured Animals, Staff Failures in UMass Laboratories

On three occasions, marmosets at UMass escaped from transport boxes—twice leading to fights with other monkeys that left some animals injured. Notably, the university failed to report the first escape to the National Institutes of Health’s Office of Laboratory Animal Welfare, as required by the government since it receives public funding. This means that the other two escapes may have been prevented had the school upheld its duties to animals and taxpayers by reporting the first one.

A handler injured the tail of one marmoset, who had escaped from a restraint device, so severely that it required amputation. Another marmoset was severely burned after experimenters left hot hand warmers on his body while he was recovering from surgery, leading to his death three days later.

Incidents detailed in the records obtained by PETA suggest a pattern of noncompliance with federal guidelines and a failure on the part of UMass to be transparent about violations in its facilities. As a result of our findings, we’re urging the U.S. Department of Agriculture to investigate possible violations of the federal Animal Welfare Act and the associated animal welfare regulations at the university.

What You Can Do for Monkeys in UMass Labs

UMass has demonstrated that it cannot properly handle the marmosets in its laboratories, threatening all the monkeys in its facility as well as its staff members. It shouldn’t be challenging for UMass staff to remember to feed animals, give them water, administer the correct dosage of a medication, or provide pain relief when needed, yet records show that violations keep piling up at the school.

PETA is urging the university to ditch crude and painful tests on marmosets—and you can help.

The post PETA Calls For Investigation After UMass Fails to Report Marmoset Escape to Feds appeared first on PETA.

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PETA to ‘Grill’ McDonald’s Over McPlant Rollout

When McDonald’s holds its annual shareholder meeting tomorrow, PETA will be there to plant a question to company executives about what plans are in the works for a well-advertised, nationwide launch of the new vegan McPlant burger.

PETA will point out that McDonald’s could easily replicate its successful U.K. release of the McPlant, yet the chain has only tested the meat-free burger in a handful of select U.S. markets—and its promotion of the patty on this side of the pond was so lacking that PETA had to step in. The group gave away 10,000 McPlants in 10 days—sans mayo and cheese to make it vegan, of course—to delighted recipients in the San Francisco and Dallas–Fort Worth areas, but the sluggish rollout on McDonald’s part has PETA questioning whether the chain is truly invested in the McPlant’s success in the U.S.

“It would be no biggie for McDonald’s to satisfy the skyrocketing consumer demand for a juicy vegan burger option, yet it’s dragging its heels,” says PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman. “PETA is calling on the company to dish up its delicious McPlant nationwide.”

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 or follow the group on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram.

PETA’s shareholder question follows.

My name is Mary Robles, and I’m here on behalf of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.

After undeniably escalating customer demand, McDonald’s finally began testing its McPlant burger in the United States, reflecting the consumer-driven expansion of vegan food in the quick service restaurant industry. While we were beyond pleased to see the company moving in this direction, we have been baffled that the McPlant has only been trialed in three markets and that there has been minimal advertising and marketing to promote it, which makes us wonder whether McDonald’s is serious about this initiative. Most people had no idea the McPlant was on offer.

International markets have seen strong performance for plant-based burgers. A market test of the McPlant in the United Kingdom and Ireland led to market wide rollouts. That launch was supported by extensive company marketing, including a robust joint marketing program across TV, radio, social media, public relations, mobile, and digital elements. McDonald’s efforts in the U.S. are depressing compared to the ambitious launch and success of the McPlant in the U.K., something this company can easily replicate here.

My question is this: At a time when demand for vegan food in the U.S. has skyrocketed and is still growing, thanks to consumer awareness of animal welfare, public health, and the climate catastrophe issues associated with meat production and consumption, when will McDonald’s get serious about this issue and launch a McPlant trial nationwide with a robust advertising and marketing campaign?

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