In case you hadn’t noticed, we’re all getting fatter. Or to put it politically correctly, ‘wider at the waist’. Now you can harp on about genes all you want, but let’s face it - here in the West we eat a hefty helping of junk food. And to prove this point and highlight the growing epidemic of obesity, the Government has released this - the UK’s very own ‘fat map’.

The full list and explanation is at SkyNews, but I’ll just very quickly gloat over the fact that London is one of the slimmest places - ha!

If you’re concerned about your, or your children’s ‘widening waistband’, click here and pick up one of the best presents you can give yourself this year.

Image: SkyNews / CC

Two gorgeous gals got naked and took a shower in the middle of Sergels Torg – Stockholm’s most central public square. So why get wet in front of the Swedish public? PETA is bringing the American message to Europe that meat production has a devastating effect on the environment including wasting an immense amount of water. It was World Water Week in Stockholm last week, so we thought this a perfect opportunity to encourage everyone to “Clean Your Conscience” and “Go Vegetarian”. Armed with the knowledge that producing just 1kg of meat requires water equivalent to one year’s worth of showers, who wouldn’t take to the streets in the most, erm, interesting way to spread the word?!

Well, I’m not sure if these cats can actually fly but these photos sure do suggest they’re growing wings! The strange phenomenon is taking place in, of all places, China. My guess is the moggies are planning a cunning escape from the Chinese fur trappers who butcher cats and dogs for their fur. “You want my fur do you, hmm? Well, see if you can catch me now! Muahahaha.”

Or something like that. Anyway, read the full story here.

Image: Mike&Mandy / CC

Anjelica Huston has decades of experience on the set, tracing back to watching her father, John, filming during her childhood. Given her experiences with animals on the set, we were excited when she sat down with PETA US to discuss the abuses endured by great apes used in film, television, and advertising.

U.S. Department of Agriculture inspectors have documented that chimpanzees and orangutans were denied even minimal “environmental enrichment” and veterinary care in times of illness. And undercover investigations have shown that trainers beat and scream at great apes in order to force them to perform dumb, confusing tricks, take after take, under the burning arc lights.

Chimpanzees can live to be 60 years old and orangutans can live to be 50, but they grow too strong to be handled around the age of eight. That’s when, useless to the industry, most are dumped in roadside hellholes, where they can live in barren cages, languishing amid their own waste or sold for use in experiments. There is no Hollywood actors’ retirement home for them.

Anjelica also gave an exclusive interview after the filming of the video, explaining how she grew so passionate about this issue, and why the abuse of great apes will never happen on her set.

Thanks, Anjelica, from us and from them!

Matt here (before you run off, don’t worry, her highness is back tomorrow!)

Scientists at the University of Vienna have released a study that – according to this article from the Mail - claims “living with humans has taught dogs morals.” The researchers state that the dogs’ sense of fairness is directly related to their contact with humans.

Now I may be as mad as Mad Jack McMad, but I always thought that humans were more well known for their systematic abuse of the world and all its inhabitants, wars, social control, power struggles, dominance – all brought about by yep….us! Not at all how I envisage the canine species, which in my contact with them has been filled with love, caring and loyalty. In my opinion, the latter traits in humans are often well hidden by the former..

This story from Argentina is a good example: A 14-year-old girl abandoned her newborn baby outdoors, in winter, in the middle of the night. When the baby was found, she was being kept safe and warm – not by the human being who left her to die or by any other human but by a dog.

The dog, called China, was keeping the baby girl safe among her own puppies and, perhaps seeing that she was weirdly hairless, had even covered her with a rag! Authorities theorize that China found the baby outdoors and carried her back inside. If not for China, the baby would have died unprotected against the cold outside.

So let’s face up to it – who should learn from whom here?

Yes, the credit crunch stories are starting to wear thin now (except for this ace one, of course), but when they involve any PETA-friendly tips my ears prick up and suddenly I want to accept these strangers’ kind advice.

There’s one good thing about families with children not having as much money to dabble with these days (I know, bear with me), especially during the school holidays, it’s how they look for cheaper alternatives to summer staples like the zoo, aquaria and animal circuses. So when the Independent suggested camping trips to see the UK’s amazing wildlife – without all the bar biting, head bobbing and general misery in captivity – naturally I just had to share it with you.

We may all moan about British weather but you’ve gotta admit we’ve got some pretty gorgeous landscapes and countryside, just waiting for us to delve into and appreciate for what it really is. Teaming with animals like badgers, wild horses, deer, rare birds and even dolphins and seals on the coast, there’s never been a better time to say a firm ‘No’ to animals in captivity. Seeing animals in their natural habitat provides much more of an education for inquisitive children, than seeing them crammed into a cage or alone without family and no environmental stimulation.

Remember, however, to leave the cute critters alone, and watch from a safe distance – for both of your sakes!

Image: © 2008 Jupiterimages Corporation

Some very sad news from Germany this week, where Gana, an 11-year-old gorilla in the Muenster Zoo, has been raising her baby boy, Claudio. However, the world is now in mourning as Claudio suddenly died, possibly from a heart defect.

Heartbroken, Gana kept carrying her dead baby on her back as she had when he was alive, and kept looking back again in the hope of finding him recovered. She held her little child up, desperately searching for signs of movement in his limp body, and sat cradling him. But of course, nothing could bring poor Claudio back to life.

Zoo visitors were visibly moved and many cried upon seeing Gana’s grief. But no one should really be surprised by the depth of emotion that Gana showed in her mourning. Animals feel pain, fear, anger, love, and grief. Mother cows bellow for their calves, who are taken away so that humans can drink the milk that they make solely to nourish their babies. Dogs, beavers, and monkeys take pity on orphaned animals and adopt them as their own. Animals – from pigs to porpoises – show concern for humans, too, by going to great lengths to rescue us from peril. (And look how we repay them!)

Yet people often look away from this glaring evidence of sentience. By convincing themselves that animals “aren’t like us”, humans have justified inflicting all kinds of horrors on animals. But if people torturing primates in laboratories or slaughtering gorillas in the Congo could look into Gana’s shattered heart, they might wake up to the true cost of their actions.

Image: kdrv / CC