9
May
Today, The Times did a bang-up job of reporting on the ‘in vitro’ meat contest, in which PETA US are offering $1 million to the first scientist to come up with a marketable lab-grown meat product. The paper version even lovingly printed the ‘Newkirk Nuggets’ box image that you can see below, harking back to a little prank we played on April 1st. Read more about why ‘in vitro’ is the future at Times Online.
9
May
The mock-croc look is in! Now while some celebs, (i.e. Ashley Olsen) not naming any names, will insist on the real deal and support an industry that costs the lives of magnificent crocodiles and alligators, we – along with fashion writers, shops and celebrities everywhere – know that fake is always better. Better for the sake of the animals and the mock-look is totally convincing. Alligators can naturally live up to 60 years, yet on farms they’re usually butchered before their fourth birthday, often beaten with hammers and sometimes take up to two hours to die. Check out these new ads aimed at the exotic-skins trade, pretty nifty huh? But what I want to know is, which do you prefer?
9
May
You may remember me subtly sulking about Americans getting the chance to enter a US-specific Stella McCartney competition. Well I have some great news – now it’s our turn!
Stella McCartney has teamed up with one of the UK’s biggest glossy magazines, Marie Claire, to give away a gorgeous set of Lesportsac travel bags worth over £700. What I’m equally loving is that 45p from each call to the competition line is being donated to PETA. The sun’s out this week, so go and grab yourself the June issue (which just so happens to be an eco-chic special – double score!), head down to the park or beach for a read, and get dialling…
8
May
What would you say to having Holly Madison naked on your iPhone? I’m hazarding a guess here, but I think all male readers will give a resounding YES PLEASE! Ladies, I’d say this is worth your while too actually, the video’s pretty cool and it’s based around her anti-fur ads she did a short while back. And what’s even more exciting is that the proceeds go to PETA, which will help in the fight against the cruel fur trade while jazzing up your iPhone at the same time. Download it here.
8
May
Boy am I excited. Our annual Proggy Awards are here once again, and this year we have some amazing winners. Please give a hearty round of applause to companies like New Look, Divine Chocolate, Marks and Spencer and more, for their commitment to compassionate shopping. What are the Proggy Awards? Every year we award companies for their progressive attitude (prog-ressive, geddit?) and policies, giving them a nice certificate and a big ‘ol mention on Peta.org.uk.
So who won what? You’ll have to go visit the feature for that info! Go on, off you go…
7
May
PETA’s good friend and amazing animal rights advocate, Pamela Anderson, had an ‘everything must go’ sale of the contents from her Malibu home over the weekend. The proceeds from the garage-styley sale went to none other than… PETA US! Thanks Pam, just a shame I couldn’t nip over to the ‘land of sun’ myself for a nose around, I had my eye on her red float from Baywatch. I could just picture myself running down Southend beach with it…
Image: BikiniPhoto / CC
7
May
Wearing not much more than painted flags on their bums and faux-bearskin hats, these star activists decided to bare all in Brussels and The Hague for bears. We think seeing a bunch of naked people in the street is a trillion times more acceptable than what hunters do to black bears – shoot them, skin them, then sell the fur to the Ministry of Defence (MoD) for the Queen’s Guards’ Caps. Actually, that’s not even the half of it. These lovely looking ladies and gents below, however, are doing something about it, by stripping off and drawing attention to the plight of the bears.
Oh and before you ask, the guy on the right isn’t wearing a hat that says ‘bent’ or ‘bent’ (though his choice of clothing might well prompt him to want to do that) – it says ‘bont’ or ‘bont’, which means ‘fur’ in Dutch. That’s no fun… ruin my fun. Hmpf…
6
May
If you needed any more proof that fish are smart, sensitive creatures that deserve more than being battered or stuck in a glass bowl – meet Comet. He plays football, basketball, rugby, limbo dances and more. Now before you start thinking, “Oh that’s soooo cute, I want one. Isn’t Comet amazing?” take the blinkers off and also think about these fun facts:
Fish are, by nature, intelligent beings. Comet is pretty darn amazing but so are all the other fish out there. So don’t go thinking he’s one of a kind.
If fish are proven to be this clever, do they really deserve to be doomed to a 10×10 bowl for the rest of their lives, merely to amuse us impressionable humans? A fish tank is a glass prison – what’s the crime?
Don’t even get me started on fish as food. If you eat fish, the story about Comet’s ‘tricks’ should serve as a good basis to, well… stop eating them. Would you eat your dog? ‘Cause dogs do some neat ‘tricks’ too.
6
May
Joss Stone gave the animals some love in a Metro interview today, vehemently stating that she would never advertise meat because she’s been a vegetarian her whole life. When asked if she’s ever fancied a sausage, she responded, “How would I fancy something when I don’t know what it tastes like? I don’t even register it as food, it’s just a dead animal.” Too right Joss, a sausage is a rolled up slab of dead animal, and why would anyone want to advertise that?
6
May
Activists from anti-bullfighting and animal rights group Equanimal stormed a Spanish bullring over the weekend during the festival of San Isidro. Check out the video below of six protestors braving the matador’s wrath as they cling to their banners in the centre of Las Ventas, Madrid. Want to stick it to the bullfighting industry yourself? We’ve got a huge protest happening in early July in Pamplona, contact me for more details. It’s time this blood ‘sport’ was banished to the history books for good.
