Kategorie: Animals

An award-winning video by Action for Animals Oakland and Sila Productions is showing people why they should never go to a rodeo — one of America’s most shameful “traditions.” Featuring expert testimonials and interviews with reformed rodeogoers, “Bucking Tradition” is a reminder that maintaining customs doesn’t justify sustaining cruelty. To learn why we must stop the abuse of animals for events like rodeos, check out the video now:

“Some traditions truly deserve to die.”

Every reputable animal protection organization is opposed to rodeos, and for good reason. The federal Animal Welfare Act provides animals used in rodeos with no protection, and certain states exclude them from anti-cruelty statutes. Oversight of rodeos is minimal at best.

Animals exploited for calf roping, bull or bronc riding, steer wrestling, and other events are typically gentle and docile. But when these prey animals are used in rodeos, humans terrorize them and provoke their instinctual response to run from harm by physically abusing them with ropes, spurs, electric shock prods, and their hands. Riders bind horses with flank straps to make them experience discomfort, causing them to “buck,” or kick wildly, in an attempt to get free.

Bulls are sometimes injected with anabolic steroids. Animals who do manage to make it through a rodeo relatively unscathed are given little time to rest or recuperate. They’re loaded into trucks, hauled to the next event, and forced to do it all again just days later. When they become too old or worn out to continue, “retirement” often means a one-way trip to the slaughterhouse.

Animals Are Not Ours to Use for Entertainment

Cows, horses, and all other animals used in rodeo events experience pain and fear—even industry insiders and former participants admit this. They form herds or families, make friends, feel terror, anticipate events, and recognize dangerous situations.

If there were no ropes or gates to prevent them from escaping, animals would never participate in a rodeo. Instead, they’d run for their lives.

Remember: It’s speciesist to think that any one type of animal is more important than another. No animal should be abused for cheap human thrills—not a dog, not a cat, not a cow, not a horse. The feelings and interests of all animals must be considered equally, regardless of any perceived purpose they might serve humans. As they have for thousands or even millions of years, animals lead full and complex lives, entirely independent of our own. They don’t exist to serve as our clowns, vehicles, fabrics, or meals.

Never Go to a Rodeo

Be sure to share this important video online with your friends, family, and social media followers. Let them know why you’ll never go to a rodeo. You can also support animal-friendly legislation in your community. Contact your local officials and ask them to work toward a ban on rodeos.

If a rodeo is slated to take place in your area, PETA stands ready to help you protest the abuse with expert advice and informational materials. Never be silent when animals are suffering!

Contact PETA’s Action Team

The post WATCH: ‘Some Traditions Truly Deserve to Die’—Powerful Video Slams Rodeos appeared first on PETA.

The post Speak Out Against Cormorant Massacre in Ohio! appeared first on PETA.

Because a winter storm warning has been issued for your area,  PETA is sharing tips for keeping animals safe. They are especially vulnerable in cold weather and winter storms, and there were at least 37 cold weather–related companion animal deaths in 2019. (Those are just the ones that were reported—most aren’t.)

The following steps can go a long way in helping animals survive throughout cold weather:

• Bring Them Indoors

Companion animals should always live indoors. “Backyard dogs” and “outdoor cats”—like those featured in Breaking the Chain, the new documentary produced by Oscar winner Anjelica Huston—often go without adequate food, water, shelter, and veterinary care. They are no better equipped to survive freezing temperatures or extreme weather conditions than humans are, they suffer terribly from frostbite, and they can die of exposure.

• Gear Up

Coats will keep dogs comfortable in cold weather, secure harnesses can help prevent them from getting loose on walks, and booties will protect their sensitive paw pads from the frozen ground. Keep walks short in cold weather, especially for shorthaired dogs.

• Don’t Forget Birds

During extreme winter weather, provide birds and other wild animals with access to an emergency water supply by filling a heavy nonmetal water bowl (tongues can freeze to metal) and breaking the surface ice at least twice a day.

Good Samaritans who see companion animals kept chained or penned outside 24/7 or without adequate shelter from the elements should note the animals’ exact location and alert local law-enforcement authorities immediately. Anyone who leaves animals outside to suffer in severe weather may be prosecuted.

PETA has released a cold-weather public service announcement. For more information, please visit PETA.org or follow us on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram.

The post Urgent From PETA Ahead of Winter Storm: Survival Tips for Animals in Mississippi   appeared first on PETA.

PETA is not letting recent events prevent it from welcoming the new administration with a safe, socially distant drive-in inaugural eve party that will celebrate animals and their champions in Congress, as well as welcome Major, the first “first dog” (FIDO) to be adopted from an animal shelter.

“COVID-19 didn’t stop us from working to protect animals, and we are not going to roll over because bullies have attacked our hometown of D.C.,” says PETA President Ingrid Newkirk. “PETA intends to raise spirits, commemorate those who have been on the front lines during the pandemic, and welcome in a new administration with a wish for compassion, unity, and understanding across all party lines.”

Held at Washington’s The Drive-In at Union Market, the event—by invitation only—will be hosted by Edward James Olmos and feature stories about past FIDOs and the presidents who loved them, a screening of Disney’s Lady and the Tramp, and special digital appearances from members of Congress who have helped advance animal protection, from proposing a ban on trophy-hunting imports to getting the military to replace animals in trauma-skills training with sophisticated human-simulation technology.

Guests will enjoy a multicourse vegan menu that includes vegan shrimp rolls with gochugaru sauce, crispy sweet potato chips, coconut bacon tartlet, vegan maple glazed chicken drumsticks with lemon parsley beurre blanc, piping hot cider, chocolate mousse, and much more—plus plenty of vegan peanutty treats for dogs! Event sponsor Maker’s Mark has also donated “doggie bags” packed with everything needed to carry on the celebration at home with a vegan hot toddy, including bottles of its oak-finished 46 bourbon (for the 46^th POTUS), “bee-free” honey, cinnamon syrup, and even a lemon.

Attendees are invited to bring donations of supplies, such as dog food, bedding, and toys, for PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to abuse in any way”—to distribute to disadvantaged dogs this winter, as shown in the documentary Breaking the Chain, produced by Anjelica Huston.

PETA 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 to Push for Unity—Across Species and Across the Aisle—With Inaugural Eve Drive-In Party appeared first on PETA.

PETA’s approach to vegan entertaining in the era of social distancing and political turmoil: The group is not letting recent events prevent it from welcoming the new administration with a drive-in inaugural eve party on January 19 at Washington, D.C.’s The Drive-In at Union Market that will celebrate animals and their champions in Congress as well as welcome Major, the first “first dog” (FIDO) to be adopted from an animal shelter.

“COVID-19 didn’t stop us from working to protect animals, and we’re not going to roll over because bullies have attacked our hometown of D.C.,” says PETA President Ingrid Newkirk. “PETA intends to raise spirits, commemorate those who have been on the front lines during the pandemic, and welcome a new administration with a wish for compassion, unity, and understanding across all party lines.”

Guests will enjoy a multicourse vegan menu catered by D.C.’s Soupergirl and Elizabeth’s Gone Raw—delivered right to their cars!—that includes vegan shrimp rolls with gochugaru sauce, crispy sweet potato chips, coconut bacon tartlet, vegan maple glazed chicken drumsticks with lemon parsley beurre blanc, and more. There will be popcorn and inaugural chocolate to snack on, piping hot cider to drink, and caramel-topped chocolate mousse for dessert. In addition, there will be plenty of vegan peanutty treats for dogs, who are encouraged to attend! Event sponsor Maker’s Mark has also donated “doggie bags” packed with everything needed to carry on the celebration at home with a vegan hot toddy, including bottles of its oak-finished 46 bourbon (for the 46^th POTUS), “bee-free” honey, cinnamon syrup, and even a lemon.

The event—by invitation only—will be hosted by Edward James Olmos and will feature stories about past FIDOs and the presidents who loved them, a screening of Disney’s classic Lady and the Tramp, and special digital appearances from members of Congress who have helped advance animal protection, from proposing a ban on trophy hunting imports to getting the military to replace animals in trauma-skills training with sophisticated human-simulation technology.

Attendees are invited to bring donations of supplies, such as dogfood, bedding, and toys, for PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to abuse in any way”—to distribute to disadvantaged dogs this winter, as shown in the documentary Breaking the Chain, produced by Anjelica Huston.

For more information, please visit PETA.org.

The post What Will PETA Serve at Its Inaugural Eve Bash? appeared first on PETA.