January 11, 2010

Cats and Their Claws

We cat lovers all have the same issue. What to do with our sweet little ones when they go on clawing around! We all know that declawing is a no-no, so what to do? Here is an excerpt from my book Making Kind Choices, which discusses the issue.

Cats have to scratch as surely as birds gotta fly, for reasons buried deep in their psyches, like marking territory, as well as for play, exercise, and nail conditioning. However, rather than take a hatchet to a hangnail and remove kitty's claws (and ligaments, muscle, and bone, for that is what happens in ''declawing'' surgery), there are simple, non-invasive solutions to worries about the furnishings. Those solutions, unlike declawing, do not lead to ''out of the litter box'' experiences, neuroses, and spinal problems. Of course, if everything must be pristine and perfect, a house isn't a home for any living being!

Kind veterinarians will not declaw. As Dr. Nichols Dodman of the Tufts University School of Veterinary Medicine says,''Declawing is abhorrent and inhumane,'' and as Dr. Louis J. Camuti, who has practiced veterinary medicine for 40 years, puts it, ''I wouldn't declaw a cat if you paid me $1,000 a nail.'' Declawing is illegal in England because it is cruel, and it should be here, too, but commerce sometimes gets the better of compassion.

The reasons not to declaw are too numerous to count on one paw. It can make cats who were once full of life lifeless, withdrawn, and upset, and you will not be able to turn back the clock. Also, cats naturally walk like ballerinas on their ''points,'' but declawing throws them off balance, forcing them to learn to walk in a very different way, which can cause irreparable and painful damage to the spine.

There are other problems that arise from declawing, but suffice it to say that alternatives to declawing are the only things acceptable to a kind cat companion.

Here is how to avoid tatters:

It is the little hook on the end of your cat's nails that is responsible for pulling threads and tearing at things, so that hook has to be worn down or snipped off. Then, bingo, the problem is solved.

Get as many scratching posts as you can (the horizontal ones work as well as the vertical), trying different surfaces and styles. Put catnip on them once in a while to make them super inviting. Don't just buy ones at the store; try to pick up the occasional log, the taller the better, or a large fallen branch. Shake it out well to dislodge insect life, then leave it outside, in the sun if possible, and up off the ground on a piece of newspaper for a couple of days, just to be extra sure. Make sure any log you bring home is anchored so that it can't fall on your cat while being used

Smear a little cologne or flea dip on any fabric area where you do not want your cat to scratch. Sometimes covering a piece of furniture temporarily with contact paper or something else that's slippery will stop the behavior.

If you have a steady hand and good eyesight, buy a pair of cat nail clippers and use them. Gently squeeze each nail out, look for the quick (this is vital), and snip off the hook only, just above the quick. If you are unsure, go to a gentle veterinarian or groomer and insist on staying with your cat while his or her nails are clipped

There you have it, friends. Hope this works out well for you and your companions.

November 30, 2009

Podcast: Alternatives to Animals in Research

In September 2009, I spoke at the seventh World Congress on Alternatives to Animal Use in the Life Sciences in Rome, Italy. The congress was given the motto "Calling on Science" in order to emphasize that scientific progress today goes hand in hand with progress toward the reduction, refinement, and replacement of animal use in experiments. You can listen to my speech here. As noted in my address, I hope that we may be able to say that each of us had the nerve, the backbone, the principle, and the vision to say what needs to be said about the use of animals, about the suffering of animals and the appropriateness of the behavior of those around us.

November 17, 2009

An Open Letter to Sarah Palin

One has to wonder if there is an original line in Sarah Palin's book, given her remarks in it about vegetarians. (She seems to believe that we only eat salad, but if she's keeping an eye on the New York Times bestseller list, she will spot two vegan cookbooks in the top five with barely a salad recipe in either of them.) The long-brandished rebuttal to Ms. Palin's filched quote "If God had not intended for us to eat animals, how come He made them out of meat?" is "I guess God also intended for humans to be cannibals then because we are also made out of 'meat.'" And as for the amazingly glib "I love animals—right next to the mashed potatoes," the first time I saw that slogan was a few decades before America was graced with Ms. Palin's public presence, when it was used interchangeably with "I love spotted owls: baked or fried."

Ms. Palin reportedly finds evolution a bit hard to swallow. Judging from her book, that applies to the evolution of ideas and attitudes as well.

Continue reading " An Open Letter to Sarah Palin "

November 06, 2009

Come on Al, Steak or Earth?

Like the Greek god Typhon, who threatened heaven with his scorched breath, Glenn Beck creates a firestorm whenever he opens his mouth. The heavens shook and the gods fled when Typhon appeared on that giant TV screen of old—the sky—and, now as then, guilt by association is the order of the day. That was clear when I appeared on Glenn Beck's show this week to argue that Nobel Peace Prize winner Al Gore—who most of us know as the man who wants us to change our light bulbs and save up to buy a Prius—is obliged to go vegetarian. (And judging by the results of a Los Angeles Times poll this week, it would seem that if he fails to kick his meat habit in the noble cause of saving the Earth, the scorn he felt when driving a Lincoln Town Car will look like small potatoes indeed.)

Soon after appearing on Beck's show, I found out that it wasn't only George W. Bush and that Darth Vader-like hunter Dick Cheney who were hell-bent on destroying our right to say what we want to say, where and when we want to say it. Liberal blogs screamed over my "stupidity," "gall," and "balls" in appearing on FOX and, sin of sins, on that show. Didn't I realize I was "used"? (One might ask who was using whom when some 30,000 people came to PETA.org after the show, and more than 9,000 of them stayed to watch Alec Baldwin's video "Meat Your Meat."

Didn't I know that Al Gore is a saint, off-limits and that PETA is obliged to support anything the left does, right or wrong? This very gripe is usually offered up by the right to lambaste its opponents. At least both sides agree on something.

PETA's history contradicts the theory that either side is always correct. The fact is, for the last 30 years, we have been an equal opportunity critic, scrutinizing the actions of everyone from President Reagan to President Obama. Wear a fur hat or buy a purebred dog and we will say what we need to say—on behalf of the foxes in steel traps with fear in their hearts or the dogs sitting at the pound with hope in their eyes. Some days, that means we lose more members than we gain, but we are not hobbyists or begging to be cuddled, so we do not back away from criticizing cruelty no matter who wields the cudgel or, in this case, the steak knife.

For those who think PETA started out with a battering ram, please know that we have long tried privately to cajole, convince and even cook for Mr. Gore. We've offered to send him a famous chef with impeccable credentials and a mouthwatering culinary repertoire, provide him with nutrition experts and praise him mightily for dipping his toe into it all by taking PETA's 30-day "veg pledge." We have pointed out that the United Nations, the Worldwatch Institute and even his own Live Earth agree that going vegetarian is the most effective step that anyone can take to combat climate change.

That's why he has only himself to blame for the blows dealt him this week from the BBC's Mr. Paxman, ABC's Ms. Sawyer and other commentators. Yes, he's the son of a Black Angus rancher. My father climbed mountains and went out in to the ocean in small boats during storms, but I'm not following suit. He protests that eating meat is a "personal choice" and tries to excuse his penchant for a daily steak (sometimes two, we hear from a reliable source) because he finds it "too hard" to "give up" meat? Driving a Hummer for the hell of it is a personal choice, and how hard can it be to go vegetarian when this week's New York Times list of best-selling hardback advice books shows chef Tal Ronnen's The Conscious Cook sitting pretty at number three and Alicia Silverstone's The Kind Diet at number five? Both are vegan—not just vegetarian—cookbooks that I dare anyone to open without drooling. Last week, Chipotle at Dupont Circle in Washington test-marketed a Gardein vegan "chicken" burrito. It sold out almost instantly, and an emergency supply of these delicious little medallions of soy protein had to be dispatched to meet demand.

Take a look at these few facts among the many: A 2006 United Nations report concluded that the meat industry produces about 40 percent more greenhouse gas emissions than all the world's transportation systems—that's all the cars, trucks, SUVs, planes and ships in the world combined; Worldwatch estimates that filthy factory farms, transport and all the related parts of putting the nugget into the bucket and the burger into the bun account for 51 per cent of all greenhouse-gas emissions; and that animal-based agriculture is responsible for deforestation, river contamination and 130 times more manure than the whole human population produces.

However, considering that "water wars" are widely believed to be the ones we'll wage in the future, we have asked Mr. Gore to consider one other fact: It takes 2,400 gallons of water to bring 1 pound of flesh to the table. The threat from draining the water from our own aquifers to feed "livestock" should be chillingly familiar to those who have witnessed the crises and bloodshed that spring from depletions of gas and oil. That tidbit alone should be enough to compel Mr. Gore to give a vegetarian diet a whirl. As leading climate change expert Lord Stern told The London Times last week, "Meat is a wasteful use of water. ... It puts enormous pressure on the world's resources."

Of course, Mr. Gore isn't the only public figure who should wave the steak plate away. Appendicitis is related to high meat consumption, and this week, Mr. Beck was rushed to the hospital to have his appendix removed. I'm sure there are many people who wish the hospital had taken his vocal cords along with it, but although Mr. Beck disagrees with almost everything PETA stands for, our position is that "we may not agree with what you say, but ..." we'll gladly come on your show to defend our right to hold our own views.

Continue reading " Come on Al, Steak or Earth? "

October 22, 2009

The Land of the Free?

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President Obama recently made a historic pledge on gay rights that moved our country closer to that original promise of "liberty and justice for all."

In my Washington, D.C., neighborhood, gays are not only "out" but out and about: Same-sex couples hold hands on the street and laugh and chat at tables in restaurants. Only a mean soul could begrudge them the joy of being "de-closeted" on a fine autumn evening. And only a dead soul could wish to deny them the basic rights that most of us take for granted.

Washington is where those who feel discriminated against and exploited come to make their case on the streets and in the halls of Congress. You can pop down to Lafayette Park and march with Iranian families protesting their government or visit the National Mall and talk to veterans demanding better care for soldiers. The Capitol has witnessed Martin Luther King Jr.'s masses and Vietnam War protesters.

Twenty years ago, deaf students at Gallaudet University went on strike, demanding a deaf president. When they won, a student wrote, "When slaves rose up against their masters, whites weren't ready, but the slaves were; when women demanded the vote, men weren't ready, but women were; and hearing people may not be ready for us to get a deaf president, but we're ready."

Those words, and President Obama's, illuminate the struggle that precedes bestowing respect upon those once regarded as unworthy of consideration. They exemplify the erosion of prejudice.

A few winters ago, I spoke at an international conference on nonviolence. Everyone's account of oppression seemed to end with the words, "We demand respect; we are human beings." I spoke of those who feel pain every bit as acutely, love their young every bit as deeply and long for freedom from shackles and the whip every bit as intensely as any human being, but who are not human.

Dinner was lamb. The mouths of people who spoke of ending violence were full of the bodies of animals whose throats had been slit with a knife. But haven't we always had to be pushed to open our hearts and minds when the suffering is not our own? When will we be able to say, not, "Respect them, for they are human beings," but rather, "Respect them, for they are sentient beings"?

The animals cannot rise up to claim consideration. They have no power to bring about a revolution. They can only bleat and squeal when they are attacked. Those of us who want to end their suffering must promote their interest in not being eaten, worn, experimented upon or beaten in the circus.

Human beings may not be ready, but animals are ready. They have been ready ever since the day our race declared war on them and made them our slaves. One day, a president may appear at an animal rights convention to say just that. Until then, it's up to us to relate to those on the plate.

September 15, 2009

Take the Factory Farming Challenge and Have Your Gift Doubled

Through dozens of investigations of factory farms and slaughterhouses, PETA has done more than any other organization to expose the hideous abuses inflicted on animals who are bred, confined, and killed for their milk and flesh. By unflinchingly confronting the horrors that are inflicted on these animals behind closed doors, our investigators force corporate giants and the public to face them as well.

With your help, we now have a unique opportunity to do even more. A group of generous PETA donors, who believe deeply in this work, have put up $200,000 of their own money as an online challenge to dedicated supporters like you to stop the cruelty on factory farms and to support all our efforts in behalf of abused animals everywhere.



By donating and having your gift doubled during our Factory Farming Challenge, you can help us write the historic next chapter in the story of the fall of the industrialized meat industry. Recently, we achieved three groundbreaking milestones in our fight against factory farming:



The first ever convictions for abusing or neglecting factory-farmed pigs in Iowa, the nation's top pork-producing state, came as a result of our investigation of a farm there that breeds piglets killed for Hormel products. Three men were sentenced to prison terms and fined; four defendants were ordered not to work with any animals.



The first felony indictments for cruelty to factory-farmed birds in U.S. history were issued following a PETA investigation of turkey farms in West Virginia owned by Aviagen Turkeys, Inc., the world's leading poultry-breeding company. The case is ongoing, but two men have already been convicted; one was sentenced to 12 months in jail the stiffest penalty ever levied by an American court for abuse of a factory-farmed animal.



The world's largest kosher slaughterhouse went bankrupt shortly after a PETA investigator exposed its Humane Methods of Slaughter Act violations, including allowing living cows to suffer from gaping cuts that had been sawed into their necks.

Investigations like these have led to critical new corporate animal welfare standards everywhere, from farms to fast-food restaurants. These new standards are not only revolutionizing the industry as a whole but are also improving the living and dying conditions of countless individual animals. These cases have also helped us convince growing numbers of people to recognize the whole factory-farming system for what it is institutionalized cruelty to animals and dump meat for heart-healthy, animal-friendly diets.

PETA is bringing about reforms like these, which means that millions of individual cows, chickens, turkeys, pigs, and other animals are spared the nightmare of life on a factory farm and death in a slaughterhouse.

But for every one of these animals, many more are living in pain and fear right now on factory farms. It is for them that PETA is working nonstop to expose and confront this abuse, and we cannot sustain our efforts without the support of caring friends like you.

Please take the Factory Farming Challenge donate to PETA today to have your gift for animals doubled dollar for dollar. This is the moment when your financial support can do the most for animals. Thank you.

August 26, 2009

The Skinny on our Growing Girth

dailymail.co / CC

As the high cost of health care was debated this week in the nation that was once the most powerful on Earth and is now just the fattest, two announcements were made. Time showed a slab of meat on its cover and declared, "The real cost of cheap food" (meat, in particular) costs Americans big-time when it comes to our health. And KFC--whose suppliers have been caught on camera breaking chickens' legs and wings and scalding the birds to death in order to produce "cheap" chicken--came out with a new "sandwich" that substitutes fried chicken parts for bread and is stuffed with artery-clogging and waistline-expanding bacon and cheese. Why would KFC executives decide to do that? For the same reason that there is a Whopper and a Fifth Third Burger: Because they know that people want unhealthy foods almost as much as they want health care.

Also this week, the fat hit the pan over PETA's pro-vegetarian billboard in Jacksonville, Florida, which read, "Save the Whales. Cut the Blubber. Go Vegetarian," and led to the PETA website where people could download our free "Vegetarian Starter Kit" as well as take the "30-Day Veg Pledge." There wasn't a peep about the advertisements for meals that spell death to one million animals per hour and that contribute to our nation's ever-expanding waistlines. There were no angry phone calls and blog messages about the audacity of the purveyors of the chicken and cheese that is turning humans into blubbery masses, or..."whales."

America's obesity epidemic calls for tough love à la Dr. Phil and America's Biggest Loser, not more coddling and mock shock over a billboard pointing out that the majority of fat people need to have some discipline and remember that being fat means being a bad role model to our children, many of whom are now so fat themselves that "teeter-totter" has come to describe their wobbly gait. Only three percent of the population has a medical condition that genuinely prevents them from losing weight. The rest of the obese people hiding behind them are obese because they shovel in food and haven't a clue (or don't want to have a clue) about a healthy diet. They haven't listened to or perhaps haven't heard the polite admonitions from health experts (real ones) urging them to eat their fresh fruits and veggies, whole grains, nuts and beans. So America is getting fatter, largely because we don't realize that killing animals and squeezing the cheese out of them, perhaps especially the cheese, is slowly killing us too.

A study published last year in the journal Obesity found that if current trends continue, nearly 90 percent of adults will be overweight or obese by the year 2030 and the number of overweight children will double. This is a serious health crisis: Research has shown that higher body mass index is associated with a greater risk of premature death from all causes. For example, according to the American Heart Association, obesity contributes to heart disease, America's number one killer. What's more, one out of every six health-care dollars will be spent on costs related to our growing girth.

Going meat-free can make a huge difference. Studies show that vegetarians are, on average, 10 to 20 pounds lighter than meat-eaters and that a vegetarian diet reduces our risk of heart disease by 40 percent and adds seven or more years to our lifespan. A study published in The American Journal of Medicine found that people who eat a low-fat vegan diet (no meat, no eggs and no dairy foods) lose about a pound per week--even without exercising or counting calories.

PETA's billboard was fueled by a healthy respect for all the animals who are raised cruelly and killed in painful ways as well as for our own species's potential to be kind and healthy. I read the communiqués from fat people who said "thank you" and from those who told us where we can go. To all the people considering gastric bypass or tummy-tuck surgery or who tried a low-carb diet and only got constipation and bad breath in return, I say, just try it: Choose the oatmeal with Silk soy milk instead of bacon and milk; the bean instead of the beef burrito; and the mushrooms, tomatoes and peppers instead of the meat balls. All animals would thank you for it if they could, and I'm betting that you will feel better, both inside and out.

August 19, 2009

Help Animals on Chinese Fur Farms

Every year, millions of individual animals, including more than 2 million cats and hundreds of thousands of dogs, are killed for their fur in China. Some are strays, and countless others are companions who once shared homes with people who loved and cared for them before the animals were rounded up often with metal tongs around their necks and tossed, screaming, into a crate.

A timid young rabbit waits, terrified, in a cramped, filthy wire cage. Suddenly, a hand reaches in and roughly grabs her. Her neck is broken. She is then tossed, still convulsing, into a barrel. When it's filled, the barrel is wheeled into another room, where she is skinned.

This horrific abuse is happening right now to countless rabbits and cats and dogs on Chinese fur farms and in Chinese markets. Won't you please help us stop this massive cruelty?

China is one of the world's largest fur suppliers, and more than 95 percent of the country's finished garments are exported with many ending up in North America. And as we now know, Chinese companies have been known to deliberately mislabel cat and dog fur as "Asian jackal," "rabbit," or "raccoon" to fool consumers. Every fur-trimmed collar or other fur item from China, regardless of the kind of animal slaughtered to manufacture it, is the product of cruelty on a truly massive scale. And we must combat it!

We need your help right now. Please make an urgently needed donation to PETA today and help us stop the horrific slaughter of cats, dogs, and other animals for their skin.

The suffering on Chinese fur farms involves all sorts of animals, all of whom are deeply frightened. Powerful video footage taken during a PETA Asia-Pacific undercover investigation documents the misery of rabbits condemned to a short, miserable life and painful death at the hands of grubby fur-farm operators. The investigator saw rabbits who were crammed into filthy cages covered with urine and feces, where they could only wait, petrified, as workers made their way along the tiers of cages.

The rabbits were yanked out of their cages by their ears or legs. The workers aimed at their heads with handheld electrical devices often multiple times as the animals kicked and screamed. The rabbits were then hung upside down and were crudely decapitated. The farm that the investigator visited has 11,000 cages and will be responsible for the slaughter of more than 600,000 animals this year alone in the quest to satisfy the demand for their skins.

Through difficult investigations similar to this one and through decades of relentless campaigning, PETA has saved many thousands of rabbits, dogs, cats, and other animals by convincing consumers and corporations to reject all fur. We've successfully persuaded some of the world's leading designers and retailers including Ann Taylor, Calvin Klein, Polo Ralph Lauren, and Tommy Hilfiger to adopt permanent no-fur policies, and we've made fur so synonymous with suffering that furs are no longer considered "luxury goods," and fur prices have seen record lows.

While we've accomplished much, the wholesale slaughter of so many animals for their fur in China is an urgent matter. To help these animals, we must educate consumers, corporations, and even governments about the pain that goes into every piece of fur trim and every fur cat toy produced in China. That is only part of our work, but it is a vital part.

Please contribute to our work for dogs, cats, and all animals by making a special gift today.

On behalf of all animals, especially those confined and killed for their skins in all parts of the world, thank you.

With the fall fashion season just around the corner, we need to do everything we can to make sure designers, retailers, and consumers know the horrific extent of the animal suffering that takes place on fur farms in China and around the world. Please rush your online donation to PETA today. Together, let's save more animals from being cruelly mistreated and killed for their skin.

August 04, 2009

This Summer, be an 'angel' to neglected backyard dogs.

Countless backyard dogs are struggling to survive long days in the harsh sun and soaring temperatures of a sweltering summer. Some will pant nonstop, their tongues hanging out, and others will die a horrible death from heat exhaustion because they lack even basic shelter. Yet somehow, most will manage to survive despite their deplorable living conditions and their terrible suffering. But with your help, we can improve the lives of many of them. How?

By building and delivering hundreds of sturdy, all-weather PETA-built doghouses. The doghouses provide the animals with urgently needed shade plus protection from the pounding rains that accompany summer thunderstorms.

Won't you become one of PETA's "angels for animals" today and personally help alleviate the suffering of outdoors dogs who spend their lives with no shelter whatsoever from the scorching sun, searing heat, torrential downpours or summer's other weather extremes? As an "angel," not only can you help mistreated dogs make it through this summer's worst weather, you can also help keep them from suffering through winter's freezing cold.

Please make the most generous gift that you possibly can and help us provide sorely neglected dogs with quality doghouses, giving them a place where they can curl up and feel safe...

https://secure.peta.org/site/Donation2?df_id=2020&2020.donation=form1&autologin=true

July 31, 2009

Meat-Free Mondays, Mr. President?

President Barack Obama
The White House
Washington, D.C.
July 30, 2009

Dear Mr. President,

Sir Paul McCartney is in town this weekend and has launched an initiative called "Meat-Free Mondays" to help stave off climate change, lessen the suffering of animals, and promote a diet healthier than the artery-clogging, obesity-inducing one that is a major cause of the soaring health-care costs and worker absenteeism in this country.

As you no doubt know, on October 5, 1947, in the first televised White House address, President Truman asked Americans to refrain from eating meat on Tuesdays and poultry on Thursdays to help stockpile grain for starving people in Europe. Today, the number of starving people in the world is on a par with the number of obese people in the U.S., and a restriction on meat and dairy-product intake could help tip those scales for the better.

Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, the city of Ghent in Belgium, parts of Israel, and, this fall, many schools in the U.K. are among those embracing the concept of "Meat-Free Monday." It's one-seventh of where we should be, but it's a great start. If you institute this program in the White House, it will be a giant step forward in transforming it to a green house, and it will set a wonderful example for people nationwide?or worldwide? Who look to you for leadership when it comes to a kinder, environmentally friendlier, and more health-conscious approach to life.

Respectfully yours,

Ingrid E. Newkirk
President, PETA