Kategorie: Animals

BREAKING: ExxonMobil—one of the Iditarod’s last major sponsors—has confirmed that 2021 is the last year it will sponsor the death race. This huge victory for dogs, who deserve better than being run to death for mushers’ prize money, follows a tenacious PETA campaign that we couldn’t have won without your support.

BREAKING: Following pressure from PETA & nearly 100,000 of our supporters, @exxonmobil is ending its decades long sponsorship of the #Iditarod.

No one should support a race that forces dogs to run 1,000 miles in subzero temperatures until they collapse. https://t.co/DmlQj68qiz pic.twitter.com/UiViV4pY0D

— PETA (@peta) January 22, 2021

ExxonMobil has sponsored the Iditarod since 1978 and has given the race $250,000 per year for the last several years, so to get the gas giant’s attention, we pulled out all the stops. Together, we stuck it to Exxon at its gas stations …

… in more ways than one …

… erected a billboard near ExxonMobil’s Irving, Texas, headquarters; placed bus ads near the Iditarod’s start in Anchorage, Alaska; slammed the company on Twitter; sent it more than half a million e-mails; called it hundreds of times; and held protest …

… after protest …

… after protest.

And it has all paid off. ExxonMobil will soon join the growing list of companies (including Chrysler, Alaska Airlines, Coca-Cola, and Jack Daniel’s) that have listened to PETA and the public and stopped supporting an evil industry in which dogs are chained up like old bicycles …

… and forced to run so far and so fast that their bodies break down, their paws bleed, or they die after inhaling their own vomit.

More than 150 dogs have died during the Iditarod since it began, and that doesn’t include those who died during the off-season …

… or who were killed because they weren’t fast or fit enough to make the grade. Dogs used in the race are forced to pull heavy sleds across approximately 1,000 miles of grueling terrain, through blinding blizzards and subzero temperatures. During the 2020 race alone, more than 220 dogs were pulled off the trail because of exhaustion, illness, injury, or other causes. However, despite the death toll and a public outcry—and even though ex-sponsors have been running for the hills and a veterinarian has warned Iditarod CEO Rob Urbach that if the race is held during the COVID-19 pandemic, “the result could be dire”—Urbach and his colleagues still plan to hold the death race in less than two months.

Together, we persuaded ExxonMobil to stop funding cruelty. With your help, we can make even more of a difference for vulnerable dogs.

Wells Fargo, State Farm, Panasonic, and others have ended their support of the Iditarod after hearing from PETA and you—so let’s put the pressure on Millennium Hotels and Resorts to follow suit. Click below to urge the hotel company to do the right thing for dogs:

Tell Millennium Hotels to Stop Supporting the Deadly Iditarod!

The post Victory for Dogs! ExxonMobil to Drop Iditarod After Massive PETA Campaign appeared first on PETA.

Because interest in vegan eating is skyrocketing and January is fast becoming known as “Veganuary,” PETA’s pig mascot will get in on the action tomorrow by leading a giveaway of protein-packed vegan jerky and inviting people to sign up for PETA’s Vegan Mentor Program, which offers one-on-one help to anyone looking to give healthier, kinder meals a try.

When:    Friday, January 22, 6 p.m.

Where:    1321 Eubank Blvd. N.E., Albuquerque

“PETA is calling for a New Year’s revolution that starts on our plates with vegan foods,” says PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman. “By choosing animal-free meals, we can show kindness to animals, our bodies, and the planet we all share.”

Each person who goes vegan saves nearly 200 animals every year; reduces their risk of suffering from heart disease, diabetes, obesity, and cancer; dramatically shrinks their carbon footprint; and helps prevent future pandemics. SARS, swine flu, bird flu, and COVID-19 all stemmed from confining and killing animals for food.

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.

The post PETA’s ‘Pig’ Will Give Away Vegan Jerky for ‘Veganuary’ appeared first on PETA.

As many as 26 horses died in 2019 and 2020 while racing or training at Churchill Downs.

Churchill Downs Incorporated (CDI) is attempting to dodge one of PETA’s bare-minimum requests to save horses’ lives—even though it owns what in 2019 was called “one of the deadliest racetracks in America.” As a shareholder, PETA submitted a resolution to the company simply asking that it report on the feasibility of making the lifesaving switch to a high-quality synthetic surface. CDI’s response to this reasonable and necessary request that would help horses? Butt out. This is just our “ordinary business,” and shareholders have no say.

What’s “ordinary,” though, about the death of horses on a dirt track when a safer surface is available? Nothing. That’s why PETA is appealing to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to reject CDI’s attempt to quash our resolution. Replacing outdated dirt tracks with a modern synthetic surface is a necessary step that has been shown to protect horses, who are already pushed past their limits in an industry rife with drug abuse, injuries, and corruption.

The research shows that fewer horses die on synthetic tracks than on dirt tracks. Based on studies from the Jockey Club’s Equine Injury Database, during 2009 and 2010, as many as 2,000 horses could have been spared if they had been running on a synthetic track. At a time when tracks are under scrutiny for hundreds of violent deaths a year and the popularity of racing is at an all-time low, the survival of horses and CDI are inextricably linked.

CDI has an ethical and fiscal responsibility to do everything in its power to prevent fatal injuries and to ensure the highest standards of safety. It has already taken some important first steps, as when it installed a Tapeta synthetic surface at Turfway Park, another track that it owns. And at the request of PETA, it also cracked down on illegal shock devices and is working with state officials to phase out Lasix (a dangerous performance-enhancing drug) and make other improvements. However, there’s still much more to be done, and statistics show that investing in safer track surfaces would decrease the rate of fatalities at its tracks. As the owner of the track that hosts the most famous horse race in the world, the Kentucky Derby, CDI has a unique opportunity to be a leader.

While all the safety measures in the world could never make exploiting animals ethical, track owners have an obligation to do all they can to ensure that surfaces are safe. A simple report is an easy place to start. Please take action now to help horses used for racing.

The post Churchill Downs Refuses Even to Report on Feasibility of Safer Track appeared first on PETA.

Given how many times PETA has tipped off the feds to animal suffering at Natural Bridge Zoo (NBZ), it’s a shame that in 2019 the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) only requested a quiet, measly payment of $41,500 from NBZ owner Karl Mogensen to settle six egregious violations of the federal Animal Welfare Act.

PETA is calling on the USDA to stop giving this ramshackle roadside zoo slaps on the wrist and shut it down. The long-suffering animals at NBZ must be retired to reputable sanctuaries, where they’ll finally have the space, companionship, and care that they need.

What Animals Endure at Natural Bridge Zoo (NBZ)

At Natural Bridge Zoo, staff denied a sick tiger cub potentially lifesaving care. Others bludgeoned guinea pigs to death. The facility willingly endangered the public with cruel elephant rides and tiger photo ops. This hellhole has racked up nearly 150 animal welfare violations, faced tens of thousands of dollars in fines, and had its exhibitor’s license suspended twice.

NBZ used to offer tiger photo ops, even sending 1-week-old cubs to Doc Antle of Tiger King notoriety, but that practice ended after Virginia banned public contact with certain dangerous wild animals last year after a push from PETA and other advocates.

Despite these penalties and consequences, animal suffering continues at NBZ.

Take Action for Animals

The animals at NBZ have been subjected to a lifetime of confinement for the cheap amusement of speciesist humans. Asha the elephant, numerous giraffes, and all the other animals at NBZ deserve better. While the USDA drags its feet, you can make a difference for animals still suffering at roadside zoos like this one. Please, never buy a ticket to any seedy tourist trap that encourages dangerous hands-on encounters with animals.

Join PETA and thousands of compassionate people in calling on NBZ to do the right thing:

Take Action Now!

The post PETA to USDA: Do Better for Animals Suffering at Roadside Zoos appeared first on PETA.

With all eyes on Capitol Hill in the run-up to President-elect Joe Biden’s inauguration, PETA has plastered local pedicabs, bicycle stands, and transit shelters with ads calling for unity—not just across the aisle but across species. Some of these ads urge everyone to “Stop the Squeal” by choosing vegan meals, and others make the case that humans aren’t the only Americans who count—so we should stop “tearing each other apart” by eating their flesh. Check out the ads in Washington, D.C.:

We Are All Americans

Humans may look a bit different from the pigs, cows, and chickens who share our country. However, face the facts: We all have eyes, ears, noses, and limbs on the outside; we’re all made of flesh and blood; and on the inside, we all have hearts, brains, kidneys, and veins, so the differences aren’t that striking. And when it comes to the capacity to experience pain, joy, fear, love, and loneliness, we’re all the same. No group should be exploited, threatened, or killed because of trivial differences. Animals possess extraordinary talents and abilities, and it’s speciesist for humans to believe that they’re inferior or that it’s acceptable to exploit them.

Because of speciesism, humans confine animals amid their own waste on filthy feedlots, in soiled sheds, and inside laboratory cages. Electrodes are inserted into their heads, their beaks are cut off, and their throats are slit, often while they’re still conscious. Humans slaughter other animals and then eat, wear, or dissect their body parts. However, nature sometimes takes revenge: Exploiting animals for food and other purposes has led to outbreaks of swine flu, bird flu, MERS, SARS, Ebola, COVID-19, and other diseases.

Take a Stand Against Violence! Go Vegan Today

We know in our hearts that all individuals want to be free and stay alive. No group chooses to be exploited, threatened, or killed. The way we think about other animals continues to evolve as we learn more about them and become awestruck by their innate intelligence, self-awareness, communication and parenting skills, social structures, and unique abilities.

Start 2021 on the right foot by making compassionate choices that benefit animals, the environment, and our own civilization. PETA stands ready to help you make the switch. What are you waiting for?

PETA is nonpartisan. Because we are a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, educational organization, IRS regulations prohibit us from endorsing a particular candidate or party. Nonetheless, we do work with legislators of all party affiliations and recognize the accomplishments of politicians who have helped pass laws protecting animals, regardless of their party.

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