Victory! Oakton Community College Cuts Out Cruelty November 6, 2009

Posted by Ryan at November 6, 2009 4:36 PM | Permalink | Comments ( 0 ) | TrackBack

When PETA was contacted by a compassionate student at Oakton Community College nine months ago and they told us horror stories about students in anatomy and physiology classes cutting open live rats and mudpuppies (no relation to sea kittens), we jumped into action. We reminded the administration that using live animals is both cruel and ineffective for teaching, especially when so many scientific non-animal alternatives are widely available.

Well, our emails and petitions have paid off, because this week OCC confirmed that they would stop the use of ALL live animals in the classroom! As a result of OCC's decision, countless animals, like the happy character you see below, will be spared a lifetime of misery and a needless death under a student's scalpel.

shiachat / CC

Of course, not all schools are as progressive as OCC. Some colleges are still stuck in the stone age (*cough* ASU *cough*)—despite pleas from students to join the 21st century. Don't they know—biology is supposed to be the study of life, not death?

Suicide Girls: Animal Testing Breaks Hearts November 6, 2009

Posted by Shannon Phillips at November 6, 2009 2:30 PM | Permalink | Comments ( 0 ) | TrackBack

What better way to celebrate the end of the week than a new video and photo slideshow with our favorite punk pinups? That's right—the Suicide Girls are back to spread the word that "animal testing breaks hearts" with a new photo slideshow and video in support of buying cruelty-free cosmetics.

So what's the big deal about testing on animals? Every year in testing laboratories, millions of animals including rabbits, mice, guinea pigs, and rats (just like the ones you may have as companions at home!) are forced to inhale and ingest products like hairspray and household cleaners and have cosmetics rubbed into their eyes. Since these animals are significantly different than humans, these cruel tests often lead to inaccurate and misleading results. Thankfully, there are more than 700 cruelty-free companies who have banned animal testing and use more humane methods like computer models, cell cultures, and voluntary human studies to research and test their products.

This is why some of our favorite pinups—Moxi, Zoli, Sash, and Bob—joined forces to talk about their favorite cruelty-free products (Urban Decay was a popular choice!), and why animal testing breaks their hearts. Check it out ...

Can't get enough of the Suicide Girls? Check out our new "animal testing breaks hearts" slideshow with the girls here, or check out their past campaign against fur here.

Happy Friday!

ASU Students Rally Against Dissection! October 12, 2009

Posted by Ryan at October 12, 2009 4:15 PM | Permalink | Comments ( 3 ) | TrackBack

When Kirby Mauro found out that professors at her school were encouraging students to cut holes in rabbits' chests, inject them with various drugs, and then kill them, she was horrified. Thankfully, as one of the leaders of STAAR (Students Taking Action for Animal Rights) on campus, she was in a position to do something about it.

She and her other group members started gathering petition signatures, encouraging the school to replace the cruel experiments with scientific non-animal alternatives, which are widely available.

Last week, she even confronted the University president about the issue during an open forum, asking him why he's allowing his school's reputation to be dragged down by refusing to join the 21st century.

Well, Kirby's efforts haven't gone unnoticed. In today's issue of The State Press—the student newspaper at ASU—she's on the front page!

Click on the image for the full article.

Pretty awesome, right?

If you want to help Kirby and her group succeed, make sure to sign the petition against ASU here, and then leave your words of encouragement below.

Here, I'll start: "Kirby, you ROCK!"

Your turn.

peta2 Scavenger Hunt! Will You Take the Challenge? September 30, 2009

Posted by Rachel-O at September 30, 2009 1:59 PM | Permalink | Comments ( 22 ) | TrackBack

What's one kind of hunt that peta2 can get down with? A scavenger hunt! We're giving you ten clues below to find your way to our awesome prize pack full of the coolest peta2 merchandise, including a Glamour Kills "Animal Testing Breaks Hearts" tee, PETA's Vegan College Cookbook, the peta2 'Vegetarian' hoodie, and a pack of buttons and new peta2 stencils!

Here are the rules: You have until Friday, October 23, 2009, to find the answers to the ten questions below. All answers are somewhere on the peta2 site, and we've included links to help you along the way! One lucky person who finds all of the answers and sends them to us at StreetTeam@peta2.com will be chosen at random to win! The winner will be notified by November 1, 2009, and everyone else who completes the scavenger hunt will be awarded 2,000 peta2 points!

So get scavenging!

• According to the peta2 liberation video, a mother went back into a burning building in New York City to save her babies. What species is this animal?
• A Brookstone in New Jersey was served a cease and desist order for selling what animals in tiny plastic prisons?
• Thanks to the work of the peta2 Street Team, Delia's, the cute and trendy t-shirt retailer, agreed to stop selling merchandise promoting what scummy company known for beating animals?
• I went vegetarian after doing a school newspaper report on what issue?
• How many peta2 Street Team points is our "You, a Camera and Ronald McDonald" mission worth?
• On our peta2TV on YouTube, which video out of these has the most views? To Animals, It's Not Entertainment, Welcome to peta2—Missing E-mail, How to Raise Buzz on Campus, or Fried?
• What company was the focus of a recent PETA undercover investigation, showing a dairy farm owner and one of his sons electro-shocking cows who were in too much pain to stand up?
• What four peta2 videos are available for upload on your iPod?
• In the Classroom Cut-Ups video, which species of animal was seen being pumped full of formaldehyde while still alive?
• Go find your favorite vegan food that you have at your house (doesn't need to be fancy!) and take a pic with it to send in with the rest of your answers!

Remember, by entering, you're acknowledging that you've read and agreed to our privacy policy and agreed to the following terms and conditions.

Good luck, and have fun!

peta2 Takes Over the University of Michigan! Where Next? September 25, 2009

Posted by Ryan at September 25, 2009 4:20 PM | Permalink | Comments ( 6 ) | TrackBack

When walking around the lovely and historic campus of the University of Michigan (U-M), you'd never guess that tens of thousands of animals are used in grotesque experiments there.

That's because many of the cement buildings that house these animals have no windows, and nobody can hear the screams. Hidden from public view, students go from class to class each day, never knowing what happens right next to their dorm.

That's where we come in. You see, we at peta2 do know what happens behind the scenes—stuff like monkeys being intentionally addicted to cocaine and nicotine, or cases of live mice being placed out with the trash, only to be crushed to death in a compactor—and we want everyone else to know too.

That's why we worked with the student animal rights group at U-M to host a peta2 event on campus this week, called "Testing ... One, Two, Three." We even brought in one of the big guns, named Dr. Alka Chandna, who is one of PETA's senior researchers on animal experimentation issues. Animal abusers didn't stand a chance.

Of course, as you've seen before, when peta2 comes to town, people tend to notice. That's because all this week, we were everywhere at U-M.



We chalked the word "Test" hundreds of times on the campus sidewalks, to highlight the staggering number of cruel tests performed there.



I do say, who's that charming chimp in the student newspaper?

What do you think—should we come to your school to shake things up? If so, why?

peta2, Welcome to the District! September 2, 2009

Posted by Marta at September 2, 2009 11:36 AM | Permalink | Comments ( 2 ) | TrackBack

This is my first peta2 blog, which is really cool, but right now you're thinking, "Who are you?" Well a little about me: I'm Regina a.k.a. Reggie, DC Street Team Coordinator, fan of vegan cupcakes, the Metro Master, and I say weird things like Hearts and Unicorns. But enough about me.

The peta2 DC Street Team has been rocking the District for three months now and we have a lot to brag about! Check out all the craziness we've been up to.

We have collected over 1,300 petition signatures to show that Animal Testing Breaks Hearts for the millions of rats, mice, rabbits and other animals that suffer in labs this year.

With 22 participants, the McCruelty demonstration in Rockville, MD, was a huge success letting everyone who passed by know that McDonald's suppliers are cruel to chickens. These very social birds are being tormented and hung from shackles while their throats are slit—all while conscious.


Some individuals in particular have been rocking it extra hard! Jennifer and Christine from George Mason University officially started the Animal Rights Collective (ARC)—the university's new animal rights group. They started off with a delicious vegan bake sale to raise funds for the new student group. Yum!


Rob just completed his internship with peta2, traveling around the country to many different shows like Rock the Bells, Warped Tour, 10 for $10 and Rise Against/Rancid—spreading the word that Animal Testing Breaks Hearts. Yay, Rob!


Kandace, our resident vegan fashion guru, has an amazing blog Fashion is my Girlfriend and was featured on the DC Vegan blog for her compassionate fashion sense. Every post helps you look good while helping animals by not wearing fur, leather, or wool.


Michelle started VegTerps, the animal rights group at the University of Maryland. They not only will be campaigning to help animals but also will be eating some awesome veg food at the university's veg friendly co-op, the Maryland Food Collective.


Wow that's a lot for three months—but we're just getting started! If y'all are in the District come out and say hi. And if you want to get busy for animals in your town, get some friends together and email peta2@peta2.com for petitions, stickers, and advice on how to get started.

Smiles!—Regina

Save Animals With Your iPod! August 28, 2009

Posted by Rachel-O at August 28, 2009 1:55 PM | Permalink | Comments ( 42 ) | TrackBack

If I had a vegan cupcake for every time someone said they'd stopped eating animals, wearing fur or going to the circus because of a video they'd seen that shocked them, well, I'd be a very happy person. Even though it can be hard to watch, videos like Meet Your Meat, Chew On This, or our undercover investigations into Ringling Bros., suppliers for McDonald's, and others, are really what make people realize that what happens to animals is wrong—and that they can make a difference.

School has started for most of you, and while you're probably dreading spending time in those buses, hallways and classrooms, peta2 has found a new way for you to spend that time really educating your classmates.

Click on the images below to download our videos specially encoded for your iPods (if they play videos!), or iPhones. Once they're downloaded to your computer, just drag or import them into iTunes like you normally would a song.

Download the Animal Testing Breaks Hearts and McCruelty videos


Trent Reznor dog and cat fur investigation and our new Ringling investigation

If you're on the Street Team, we'll give you 500 points for showing them to your friends! E-mail us at StreetTeam@peta2.com and let us know what videos you downloaded, who you showed it to and how it went! We'll give you an extra 500 points if you send us a screen shot or a picture of the videos on your iPod!

Wrappin' Up Warped Tour! August 27, 2009

Posted by Marta at August 27, 2009 4:47 PM | Permalink | Comments ( 0 ) | TrackBack

Friends!

Well, we've reached the end of Warped Tour 2009. It seems like just yesterday we were starting the tour in Pomona and now 2 months later it's over. Pretty crazy! We've had days of intense heat and humidity, downpouring rain and even a few days that were pretty cold. Throughout all the varying conditions we had a great summer with you all and we hope you enjoyed your time at Warped Tour as well.

We spent this Warped Tour raising awareness about the animals that are kept in labs while various cosmetic and household products are tested on them. It was our job this summer to inform all of you of the horrible practices and to tell you about the companies that do not test their products on rats, bunnies, or any other animals. During our 2 months on Warped, over 218,000 of you signed our petition to demand companies stop these barbaric experiments.

Plenty of your favorite bands from the tour gave us their support including Chiodos, Hit the Lights and Silverstein. Speaking of the latter, our friends in Silverstein stopped by our booth at the August 22 Chula Vista, CA, show to sign autographs for some their fans at the show. The fans had a great time and Silverstein was thrilled to meet all of you.




The wonderful people at Warped Tour put together a little goodbye video for all you wonderful supporters. Check it out! We're in it, sort of ... who do you think sports our shirt the best?

We're all going home for a few weeks to rest up before heading back out on the road this autumn. What tours and campuses will we be on? Just check back in—we'll be out soon with brand new petitions for you to sign and more ways to help animals! If you start to miss us too much, remember that there's always lots to do to keep you occupied!

Hopefully your summer was as cruelty free as your hearts.


Take care!

Joey

Tree Of Hearts August 27, 2009

Posted by Pulin Modi at August 27, 2009 1:21 PM | Permalink | Comments ( 12 ) | TrackBack

If you've been to our Animal Testing Breaks Hearts page, you've probably noticed the "Tree of Hearts." In addition to the awesome merch and web banners, adding a heart to the tree is a great way to show your support for animal rights.

Here are some examples of the hearts people have been leaving on the tree.

Did you add a heart to the tree yet? What does it say? And if not, go do it, please!

Show Off Your Heart! August 13, 2009

Posted by Rachel-O at August 13, 2009 2:14 PM | Permalink | Comments ( 2 ) | TrackBack

From coast to coast, on the road with Warped Tour and Rise Against, on Facebook and MySpace, our Animal Testing Breaks Hearts campaign is everywhere!

Check out a couple of creative pictures that peta2 Street Teamers have sent in to help make a difference for the hundreds of thousands of mice, rabbits, rats and other animals that suffer needlessly for useless product tests every year.

If you haven't shown the world you have a heart for animals yet, get to it! Send your heart photo to us StreetTeam@peta2.com. We'll give you 500 Street Team points, feature it on our Flickr page, and maybe even on peta2!

Wanna know what all these hearts are about? Don't be a heartbreaker! Check out peta2.com/breakshearts!