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  • 21
  • Feb

Repent – This Lent – With Cruelty-Free Pancakes

This Pancake Day, we’ve got a mouth-watering recipe to share with you! Pancake Day, also known as Shrove Tuesday, is the last Tuesday before Lent. Traditionally, Lent is a time of abstinence and making amends for one’s sins, and Pancake Day was the last chance people had to indulge themselves and use up the fatty foods in their homes, such as butter and eggs, which are forbidden during Lent.

But things are about to change. Here’s a pancake recipe that’s free of all those sinful animal fats, which means that people can now enjoy pancakes every day – Lent just got a whole lot easier! Because this recipe requires no animal fats, dairy products or any other animal-derived products, you can scoff these delicious pancakes with a clear conscience, knowing that you won’t be supporting cruel industries that exploit, maim and kill billions of animals each year.

The Shannons’ Cruelty-Free Pancakes

Ingredients:
170 g or 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 Tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
500 ml or 2 cups soya milk
2 Tbsp vegan margarine or non-dairy spread
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
2 Tbsp apple sauce
Oil or spread
Berries, apple sauce, jam, peanut butter or any other favourite filling
Icing sugar

  • In a bowl, mix the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and soya milk with a hand beater (using a whisk attachment) until smooth.
  • Add the margarine, vanilla and apple sauce and, with the bowl tilted, blend for approximately 2 to 3 minutes until smooth and creamy.
  • Lightly slick your non-stick frying pan with oil and heat at a medium temperature until bubbly. Repeat this step for each pancake.
  • To make one pancake, pour approximately 50 ml (or 1/4 cup) batter into the frying pan. Immediately rotate the pan until a thin layer of batter covers the bottom. Cook until the edges begin to turn light brown. Loosen the pancake by running a wide spatula along its edge and flip. Cook the other side until light brown. Remove from the heat.
  • Repeat the process with the rest of the batter.
  • Stack the pancakes on a plate, placing pieces of greaseproof paper between each. Keep the pancakes covered.
  • When you’re ready to serve, top the pancakes with your favourite filling and roll up or spread margarine and sprinkle sugar on the pancakes and fold over. Delicious!

Makes 6-8 servings

Special thanks to the Shannons from the Betty Crocker Project for helping us whip up this great pancake recipe.


  • 15
  • Feb

Canada’s Seal Slaughter Dying Off

Harp Seal Sea Shepherd

© Sea Shepherd Conservation Society

Since 1996, the Canadian government has poured millions of dollars a year into subsidising the commercial seal slaughter and marketing the fur and flesh of baby harp seals. But all that money isn’t doing any good – the seal industry continues to collapse.

Since the European Union banned the import of seal products in 2010, Canada has fought with it, the World Trade Organization and anyone else it could think of to have the ban overturned – so far without any luck. Canada tried to go a different route, selling seal meat to China, also without any luck.

After public outcry over the beating and skinning of baby seals drove the price of seal pelts so low that sealers could hardly cover their operating expenses, very few sealers took part in the 2011 slaughter and less than 10 per cent of the quota of 400,000 seals were killed.

Then, in December, the slaughter suffered one of its most crushing blows yet. Russia, Canada’s largest remaining market, banned the import of all harp-seal products. Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has called seal slaughters a “bloody industry that should have been banned long ago”.

A month later, it became obvious that at least some Canadian officials were getting tired of sticking their heads in the sand, when Member of Parliament Ryan Cleary publicly questioned the slaughter. “Part of our history is also whaling, for example, and the day came when the whaling industry stopped. Now, is that day coming with the seal hunt? It just may be”, he said. “We know that the world appetite is not there for seal meat, but the world appetite for seal products—I don’t know if it’s there. And you know what? I may be shot for talking about this, and for saying this, but it’s a question we all have to ask.”

While pro-slaughter politicos may blast Cleary, they can’t deny the truth in his words. With markets drying up, dwindling numbers of sealers willing to kill for dismal profits and the majority of Canadians opposed to the slaughter, the time has come for the Canadian government to start funnelling money into helping sealers find other ways to make a living rather than trying to prop up a cruel industry that has garnered worldwide disgust.


  • 15
  • Feb

Massive Anti-Bullfighting Demonstration in France

In a tour de force, more than 2,000 citizens from 177 groups, including PETA France, took to the streets of Paris on Saturday to speak out against bullfighting.

After marching through the nation’s capital, past the UNESCO office, the activists gathered at the foot of the Eiffel Tower to illuminate a giant banner reading, “Corrida Abolition” (“Abolish Bullfighting”).

With the Eiffel Tower in the background, the activists raised a lit banner.

The demonstration follows another event in which 95 activists staged a peaceful sit-in protest in a bull ring in Rodilhan, only to be physically attacked by the pro-bullfighting crowd.

Fleur with banner

PETA France activist Fleur, who was assaulted during a recent demonstration in France

Countless bulls are violently stabbed to death in arenas throughout France. You can help end this so-called “sport” – take action for bulls today.


  • 13
  • Feb

Victories, Progress and Patience

It’s always fantastic to be involved in an intense campaign that achieves quick results for animals. Two weeks ago, we stopped an Air France shipment of monkeys destined for an animal laboratory, and the week before, we persuaded the government to refuse permission for a new beagle-breeding farm.

However, we also make slow and steady progress in areas that impact thousands and even millions of animals. For instance, we have just learned of a small but vital change that removes some of the bureaucratic obstacles preventing companies from bypassing animal testing.

Because vaccines are made from live viruses, there can be variations in the strength and safety of different batches of the same vaccine. To detect this problem in veterinary vaccines, each new batch has traditionally been tested on the “target” animals (ie, on cows for cow vaccines, on cats for cat vaccines, etc) in a practice known as “target animal batch safety testing”, or TABST.

Following a study of the scientific and ethical aspects of this test, the European Commission stated in 2002 that the routine use of TABST was not considered relevant and that the testing “appeared to be superfluous”. In 2005, a rule introduced in Europe took these findings into account and allowed companies to forgo TABST if they proved their batches to be reliable.

In 2008, PETA UK learned that the UK government was not ensuring that companies used the mechanism that allowed them to avoid animal testing – they were even charging companies to waive the tests! After some “targeted” work, we finally closed those loopholes.

We then pressed the issue with the European Medicines Agency, which has now published new guidelines designed to simplify the process for companies applying to waive the tests – guidelines that will save animals’ lives and help implement the 2005 ruling at long last.

In another animal-testing issue, you can help PETA ensure that the UK law governing animal tests isn’t watered down by a new European Union Directive, 2010/63/EU, which describes protection of animals used for scientific purposes. Please contact the government today.


  • 13
  • Feb

PETA and ARAN Activists Warm Dublin’s Heart for Valentine’s Day

Holding heart-shaped signs that read, “Ireland: Fur Out, Love In”, four sexy activists – two women wearing only red panties and spiked heels and two male “cupids” wearing only red boxer shorts and a pair of wings – led a protest held jointly by PETA and Irish group Animal Rights Action Network (ARAN) on the eve of St. Valentine’s Day. The amorous activists aimed to turn up the heat on the Minister of Agriculture to include a ban of fur farms in the impending Animal Welfare Bill.

PETA and ARAN activists in Dublin

“We’re bringing our big hearts and bare skin to beautiful Dublin with the message that animals are not ours to wear”, said PETA Senior Programme Manager Yvonne Taylor. “By showing some of our skin, we hope to save animals’ skins and encourage Ireland to ban fur production once and for all.”

There are five remaining mink fur farms in Ireland. To cut costs, fur farmers pack animals into extremely small cages, preventing them from taking more than a few steps in any direction or doing anything that is natural and important to them, such as running, swimming, making nests and finding mates. The anguish and frustration of life in a cage leads many animals to pace frantically and circle endlessly, cannibalise their cagemates and self-mutilate, biting at their skin, tail and feet. Eventually, workers kill the terrified minks by gassing them. Take action via ARAN’s website to have your voice heard by the Irish government.


  • 09
  • Feb

Giant ‘Condom’ Promotes Animal Birth Control in Run-Up to National Condom Day

With a sign that read, “Dogs Can’t Use Condoms: Spay and Neuter”, a PETA member dressed as a giant pink condom descended on Newcastle in advance of National Condom Day (14 February) to point out that Tyne Tees has England’s largest population of stray dogs per person and that the only way to get a handle on the cat and dog overpopulation crisis is always to have companion animals spayed or neutered.

PETA's giant condom

“If cats and dogs could wear condoms, millions of animals would be saved from suffering and death”, says PETA Senior Programme Manager Yvonne Taylor. “But they can’t – so it’s up to their guardians to take responsibility for spaying and neutering.”

Hundreds of thousands of unwanted cats and dogs enter animal shelters every year in the UK, and many of them are euthanised because there simply aren’t enough good homes for them. Millions more never make it to an animal shelter and are left to fend for themselves on the streets, where they often are subjected to cruelty, are struck by cars or suffer from starvation, disease or injuries. The solution is simple: always spay or neuter your animal companions. Spaying one female dog can prevent 67,000 births in six years, and spaying one female cat can prevent 420,000 births in seven years. Help end the animal-homelessness problem.

PETA's giant condom


  • 09
  • Feb

Win Squash Champion James Willstrop’s Signed Book and Racquet

Pontefract-born vegetarian, the world’s number two squash player (he was number one last month!), and PETA pinup James Willstrop has given us the perfect prize for squash fans.

Not only do we have a signed copy of his new book, Shot and a Ghost, in which James chronicles his rise to number one and the challenges of competing in a sport that takes him all around the world, we also have one of James’ squash racquets that he used during one of his recent matchups. In his book, James also devotes a chapter to the positive effect that a vegetarian diet had on him during competitions and how it improved his fitness.

Here’s how to enter:

Leave a comment below answering the following question before 23 February:
Who did James Willstrop succeed as the world’s number one squash player in January?

PETA will then choose one winner at random from the correct entries and will notify the winner by 24 February.

By submitting this form, you’re acknowledging that you’ve read and you agree to our contest terms and conditions and privacy policy.


  • 03
  • Feb

Missing: Charlie, 2 Days Old! Can You Help?

Charlie is missing! He was torn away from his mother by strangers with evil intentions. Can you help save him? Please read on.

This coming week marks National Dairy Week (3 to 9 February), during which milk-touting companies try to portray as idyllic the life of a cow used for her milk. What they won’t be telling you, of course, is that calves like Charlie are torn away from their mothers within one to two days of being born – a separation so traumatic that the mother cow and her calf whimper for days afterwards. Many male calves are either shot (because they are of no use to the dairy industry) or sent to veal farms in Europe, where they are immobilised and confined in tiny stalls and can never in their short lives graze outside. Female calves replace their mothers in the cycle of forced pregnancy, over-milking, birth and traumatic separation.

Charlie

Click to enlarge and save the full sized image.

Far from being “good for you” as the dairy industry would have you believe, dairy milk has been linked to cancer, juvenile-onset diabetes and many other diseases, and it contains large amounts of fat and cholesterol – and often traces of blood and pus from infected teats. Delicious milk alternatives are available in all major supermarkets. Please ditch the dairy products during National Dairy Week – for your health and for Charlie.

We want you to take a stand during National Dairy Week. For just one week, join us in posting Charlie’s ad as your Facebook profile picture. This will help spread the word and educate others. You can get the image here. Post a comment on our Charlie photo to show us that you’re against cruelty to animals.


  • 31
  • Jan

You Did It: Air France Cancels Live Monkey Transport for Animal Testing!

Within a few hours of obtaining reports that Air France was planning to transport 60 live monkeys from Africa to a United States laboratory for use in animal experiments, PETA and several of our international affiliates quickly mobilised members and supporters to take action.

Within 24 hours, you and others like you managed to generate 68,000 e-mails, thousands of Facebook posts and tweets, and hundreds of calls. Thanks to your fast work and dedication, we are thrilled to confirm that Air France has cancelled plans to deliver these monkeys into the hands of experimenters!

This fantastic show of support proves once again that strength in numbers and coordinated actions can have a huge effect on companies. This victory couldn’t have been possible without your help. From all of us at PETA, a huge “Thank you!” to everyone who helped stop this transport! We are now urging Air France to create a formal policy to prohibit future shipments of primates to labs.

With this victory so fresh, please use your voice to influence the Home Office not to weaken protection laws for animals in laboratories in future.


  • 31
  • Jan

Paris Without Fur

Last Thursday, eco-friendly online magazine Neoplanete and international multimedia platform OneHeartChannel, with the support of PETA France, helped present a brand-new event aimed at showing chic and ethical alternatives to fur at the Hôtel Fouquet’s Barrière. “Paris Without Fur” (Paris sans fourrure) took place on the last day of Paris Couture Fashion Week and aimed to show the public the fabulous alternatives to the real fur produced by the fur industry.

Photo © Maï-wen Wauthy

Spirit Hoods, PLICH, C&A, Etam, Frank Sorbier, VJ Couture and others showed off their latest fur-free collections. Models from Up Models strutted down the runway with elegance and humour promoting the message to the public that winter can be warm and trendy without killing innocent animals.

Join these followers of fashion by ditching the skins and going fur-free today.


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