Kategorie: Animals

Maker’s Mark is sponsoring PETA’s drive-in inaugural party in Washington, D.C., on January 19 to celebrate animals and their champions in Congress and welcome President-Elect Joe Biden’s dog Major, the first “first dog” adopted from a 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.”

“PETA has long hosted bipartisan inaugural balls, and since Joe Biden will be the 46^th president, we’re delighted to have Maker’s Mark sponsor this year’s event with bottles of 46,” says PETA Senior Vice President Dan Mathews (pictured here with a bottle of the bourbon). “Regardless of their candidate, all voters are surely happy to see the first shelter dog in the White House, and we’ll be saluting lawmakers from both sides of the aisle who have pushed pro-animal bills.”

The event will be held at Washington’s Drive-In at Union Market, and each guest will enjoy a gourmet vegan menu—delivered to their cars—and a bottle of Maker’s oak-finished 46 bourbon (for the 46^th POTUS). The distillery has also donated “doggie bags” packed with everything needed to carry on the celebration at home with a vegan hot toddy, including Blenditup bee-free honey, cinnamon syrup, and even a lemon.

At the family-friendly event, PETA will premiere a short video hosted by Edward James Olmos on the history of U.S. presidents and their animal advocacy, followed by a screening of Disney’s classic Lady and the Tramp. The program will also feature virtual 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 dog food, bedding, and toys so that PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to abuse in any way”—can distribute them to disadvantaged families with dogs this winter.

For more information, please visit PETA.org.

The post Maker’s Mark ‘46’ to Toast 46th POTUS at PETA Drive-In Inaugural Party appeared first on PETA.

PETA is not letting recent events prevent it from welcoming the new administration with a dog-friendly and socially distant drive-in inaugural eve party 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 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.”

The following representatives, some who are vegan and will no doubt cheer for the fabulous menu that night, will participate:

• Earl Blumenauer (Oregon’s third district), who hosted PETA scientists for a congressional briefing on cutting-edge, non-animal test methods and who co-chairs the Congressional Animal Protection Caucus
• Brendan Boyle (Pennsylvania’s second district), who urged the National Institute of Mental Health to end its electroshock and near-drowning tests on animals and who cosponsored the BEST Practices Act
• Steve Cohen (Tennessee’s ninth district), who called on the FBI to stop stabbing and shooting animals in outdated trauma training exercises
• Alcee L. Hastings (Florida’s 20^th district), who cosponsored the Preventing Future Pandemics Act and called for oversight of China’s enforcement of its ban on wildlife slaughter markets in the wake of COVID-19, a zoonotic disease
• Sheila Jackson Lee (Texas’s 18^th district), who cosponsored the BEST Practices Act (seeking to end the use of goats and pigs in military trauma training) and who received PETA’s Congressional Leadership Award for clamping down on trophy hunting imports after Cecil the Lion’s killing
• Eleanor Holmes Norton (District of Columbia), who received PETA’s Justice in Action award for her support of bills to end horse slaughter, phase out the military’s tests on animals, and stop the use of elephants in performances
• Jamie Raskin (Maryland’s eighth congressional district), who pledged to promote vegan eating for the sake of “species survival,” as animal agriculture is a leading cause of climate change
• Lucille Roybal-Allard, (California’s 40^th district), who worked with PETA to end the government’s psychological experiments on baby monkeys as well as the Coast Guard’s stabbing and shooting of animals in outdated military training exercises and is pushing the National Institutes of Health to decrease its experiments on animals
• Dina Titus (Nevada’s first district), who fought to keep dog leather out of the U.S. and to end the use of aircrafts for animal-abusing spectacles such as “turkey drops”

Hosted by actor Edward James Olmos, the inaugural eve party will also feature stories about past FIDOs and the presidents who loved them, a screening of Disney’s Lady and the Tramp, and a delicious multicourse vegan menu—plus 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.

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

The post Members of Congress to Join PETA’s Inaugural Eve Drive-In Party appeared first on PETA.

On Saturday, PETA supporters in sheep masks will lead a spirited, socially distanced protest outside the Urban Outfitters store at E. Kenilworth Place. Protesters will block the store’s entrance and screen new, gruesome video footage from PETA Asia’s latest investigation into the wool industry in Australia—which produces 88% of the world’s supply used for apparel, including wool sold by Urban Outfitters brands—showing shearers punching sheep and leaving them bleeding from deep wounds.

When:    Saturday, January 9, 1 p.m.

Where:    Urban Outfitters, 1937 E. Kenilworth Pl. (at the intersection with N. Prospect Avenue), Milwaukee

The protest is part of PETA’s new international campaign demanding that all Urban Outfitters, Inc., brands—which include Anthropologie and Free People—stop selling wool and anything else cruelly obtained from animals. It coincides with PETA’s takeover of two city bike stations—including one right in front of the protest site—with ads showing stills of abused animals in the wool, alpaca, and cashmere industries.

“Urban Outfitters brands want to appeal to open-minded and progressive young people, but they’re missing the mark by selling fleece taken from animals who get beat up, cut up, and killed in the process,” says PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman. “Anything forcibly taken from an animal is a product of fear and suffering, and PETA is holding Urban Outfitters to its consumer pledge of sustainability and ethics by calling on the company to sell only vegan materials, which would be easy for it to do because it already stocks them.”

PETA notes that workers hit, kick, and mutilate gentle sheep for their wool; pin down goats and pull their hair out with sharp metal combs, leaving them with bloody wounds at cashmere operations; and make alpacas spit and vomit in fear as they’re shorn.

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to wear” and which opposes speciesism, a human-supremacist worldview—has also protested at other Urban Outfitters brands stores across the country. For more information, please visit PETA.org or follow the group on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram.

PETA’s ads are on bike stations located at 2165 N. Prospect Ave., right outside an Urban Outfitters store, and at 411 N. Broadway, about a block away from an Anthropologie store.

The post PETA ‘Sheep’ to Protest Urban Outfitters in Milwaukee appeared first on PETA.

Happy New Year!   Out with the most stress-inducing year on record, in with the promise of a great year. PETA’s list of easy resolutions will make your wildest dreams come true. By the end of 2021, you could be a vegan chef who supports Black-owned brands, shops for animal-free fashion, reads animal rights books, and more. Here’s to a happy, healthy, and vegan 2021.

Support Black-Owned Brands

It’s more important than ever to speak up for Black lives and advocate for real change. One easy way you can show support is with your wallet: Buy from Black-owned restaurants with vegan options and beauty brands that don’t test on animals. Our seemingly endless list of vegan restaurants across the country covers fish-less Po’boy sandwiches (yum), loaded waffle fries, and more.

You can also use your consumer power when shopping for cosmetics and skin-care products. The beauty brands below offer a variety of shades for every skin tone, never test their products on animals, and have vegan products galore.

Buy From Black-Owned Beauty Brands

Get Your Vegan Chef Skills On

Cooking is a perfect activity to do during all that extra time you have without a commute to the office (and that’s a lot of time if you live in a big city like Los Angeles). Remember how you used to fill the hours with dinner parties or potlucks? You can still share mouthwatering meals—from a distance, that is. Summon your inner home cook, make a few extra servings of whatever vegan dish is for dinner, and drop off a portion on the front porches of your friends and neighbors. They’ll love the consideration, you’ll build a sense of community, and you can introduce people to vegan food.

Try our tofu scramble burritos for brunch and stuffed crust pizza for dinner. Try our twist on vegan naan if you’re still craving some bread—it’s sure to delight.

PETA’s Two-Week Meal Plan

Order Takeout From a Local Vegan Restaurant

Not a chef? No problem. All across the country, vegan restaurants offer tasty and creative dishes that will leave you wanting more. And they need your help. Since the beginning of the pandemic, over 60% of all restaurants on Yelp have closed their doors permanently. The best way to ensure that your favorite vegan spot will keep on serving delicious meals is to order takeout or buy a gift card for a friend. You can also support and feed those in need.

PETA’s Top Vegan-Friendly Small Towns

Work and Play With Your Animal Companions

Working from home has no end in sight for some of us. On the bright side, this means more days spent with loved ones, including animal companions.   A great way to use your lunch break is to take a stroll around your neighborhood together. Both of you will love the fresh air, and a walk around the block may just cure your writer’s block.

If you’re thinking of adopting a dog while sheltering in place, please consider these things first:

Self-Isolating? Here’s How to Keep Your Dog or Cat Happy

Buy Cute and Compassionate Fashion

Online shopping reached a whole new level last year, and the trend doesn’t seem to be slowing down anytime soon. The new year is a perfect time to invest in a new wardrobe—one that won’t cost any animals their lives.

There’s a certain joy in getting all dressed up, even when the only place you’ll be going is your kitchen table for dinner. Go ahead, indulge in sustainable animal-free fashion. Sweat it out in eco-friendly activewear. And while you’re at it, check out our guide to vegan clothing.

Eco Clothing Belongs in Your Closet

Read (Some of) These Books

Have you watched way too much TV over the past nine months? No judgement here! We’ve been hooked on these life-changing movies about food and animals. But every once in a while, it’s great to unplug and hold a real book in your hands. These stories about animal rights activists and the many benefits of going vegan will inspire you in the new year.

Books You’ll Love to Read in 2021

Donate to Help Save Lives

You can support PETA’s crucial work with just one click of a button. Our fieldworkers are out 365 days of every year, providing animals in need with food, water, and shelter. In 2020, PETA staffers assisted more than 26,000 animals in over 260 cities. Your support makes our work possible.

Donate to PETA Today

The post 7 New Year’s Resolutions That Will Keep Hope Alive in 2021 appeared first on PETA.

PETA Asia investigators recently returned to Thailand one year after exposing the use of forced monkey labor on Thai coconut farms—prompting Costco and other retailers around the world to cut ties with Thai coconut milk brands—and found that manufacturers and the Thai government are lying to the public and importers about monkey use, which continues despite false claims. In response, PETA is pushing Publix with urgency to reconsider its business relationship with coconut milk brand Chaokoh, the biggest company implicated in the investigation.

PETA Asia’s new video, available here, includes interviews with industry insiders who discuss how farms simply hide monkeys until auditors leave or are able to buy monkeys without registering them, even though registration is legally required. Of the 14 coconut farms that PETA Asia’s investigators visited in 2020, half were confirmed to be using monkeys—including two farms visited the previous year. As for the rest, because farmers can hire contractors to bring in monkeys only during harvest time, it’s nearly impossible to know whether they’re monkey-free.

“Useless audits and empty promises haven’t stopped monkeys—some whose teeth have been pulled out—from being chained for life and forced to labor on Thai coconut farms,” says PETA President Ingrid Newkirk. “PETA is calling on Publix to stop selling milk from coconuts picked by abused monkeys.”

To push Publix to reconsider its relationship with Chaokoh, PETA sent the company’s CEO, Todd Jones, a delivery of humanely picked coconuts; dumped wheelbarrows full of coconuts on the doorstep of its headquarters; erected a billboard in Lakeland showing a terrified monkey from the investigation; and created a more accurate company logo. Tens of thousands of PETA supporters have joined PETA in calling on Publix to stop selling coconut milk obtained via monkey labor—but it has clung to the insupportable and evidently false assurance from the Thai ambassador to the U.S. and the Thai Food Processors Association that monkeys are not used for the Chaokoh products that the retailer carries.

More than 26,000 other stores—including chains Wegmans, Costco, Walgreens, Food Lion, and Stop & Shop—have banned coconut milk brands that use coconuts picked by monkeys.

Photos from the most recent investigation are available here, and broadcast-quality footage is available upon request. 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, please visit PETA.org or follow the group on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram.

The post Monkey Labor Cover-Up in U.S.-Thai Coconut Trade: Publix Tied to PETA Exposé appeared first on PETA.