PETA

By Gemma Vaughan

Horses haven’t been slaughtered in the United States for the last five years. But Congress recently restored funding for U.S. inspectors to oversee horse slaughter, paving the way for horses to be killed and butchered here in the U.S. once again. While killing horses anywhere is contemptible, the decision does provide an opportunity to reexamine this entire issue.

A ban on killing horses in the U.S. doesn’t help horses—it prolongs their suffering. And they will continue to suffer as long as the industries that breed horses for profit—horseracing, rodeo and the carriage trade—keep exploiting these animals for our “entertainment.”

When horse slaughter was banned in the U.S. in 2006, it didn’t stop horses from being killed. Mercenary ranchers who make their living from horse flesh simply jam horses into undersized trucks and haul them for hundreds—sometimes thousands—of miles to slaughterhouses in Canada and Mexico.

Horses who manage to survive this grueling journey often arrive at the slaughterhouse with gashed foreheads, broken bones, compound fractures, eye infections and other injuries. They meet their end with a bolt gun, an often slow and agonizing death caused by the carelessness of workers who fire poorly aimed bolt after bolt until the animal finally dies. They are then bled out and skinned, usually in full view of other terrified horses.

Anyone who cares about animals should condemn horse slaughter altogether and call for an absolute ban on both the export of live horses and slaughter in the U.S. One doesn’t work without the other.

Horses have been exploited for human purposes and profit since the beginning of time, and we need to take an honest look at the disconnect between society’s horror over eating horses and its tacit approval of exploiting them in so many other ways. Many of the horses who end up in slaughterhouses used to pull carriages, perform in rodeos or cross the finish line but are now too worn-out to continue.

Even though horses tend to be skittish and sensitive, they are still forced to provide carriage rides on busy city streets and, at this time of year, in shopping mall parking lots for seasonal promotions. Fighting crowds, dodging traffic and trying not to slip on icy streets while hauling oversized loads day after day takes a toll. Accidents have occurred in nearly every location where carriage rides are allowed and many horses have died. But as long as people pay to ride, horses will continue to be worked until they can’t take another step.

The horseracing and rodeo industries are equally culpable for sending horses to their deaths. Horses are bred over and over until “winners” are produced. But not every horse makes money, and continual breeding has led to a critical overpopulation of horses: too many horses, not enough good homes. And just like dogs and cats, unwanted horses are often abandoned, neglected, starved and left to die without veterinary care. Thousands are sold to meat buyers and go from grassy fields to blood-soaked killing floors.

If eating horse flesh appalls you, so should the industries that provide the bodies. People can make a real difference by staying away from the racetrack, shunning carriage rides and steering clear of the rodeo.

Gemma Vaughan is a cruelty caseworker with PETA, 501 Front St., Norfolk, VA 23510; www.PETA.org.

By Bobbie Mullins

Ever since 2002, when the landmark Women’s Health Initiative (WHI) abruptly halted its study of combination hormone replacement therapy (HRT) after researchers found compelling evidence that women who take estrogen plus progestin are at increased risk of breast cancer, heart attacks and strokes, HRT has come under increased scrutiny.

Now, a follow-up study has revealed a new and even more alarming twist: Not only is HRT linked to breast cancer, it is also linked to more advanced forms of the disease that result in even more deaths. Data from the WHI study have also revealed that HRT is linked to ovarian and lung cancer.

Like many women, I stopped hormone replacement therapy—after taking Premarin for years—because of the health risks (although I’d read about the cancer link long before the WHI study came out). But then I learned that there’s another reason to think twice about HRT. Premarin and Prempro, two of the most widely prescribed estrogen replacement drugs, contain a surprising secret ingredient: animal suffering.

It sounds ridiculous—especially with so many options available to drug manufacturers—but Wyeth’s Premarin and Prempro are made from the estrogen-rich urine of pregnant horses. Every year, thousands of pregnant mares are confined to PMU (pregnant mares’ urine) farms in the U.S. and Canada. They are kept in stalls that are so small, the animals are unable to take more than a step or two in any direction. The cumbersome rubber urine-collection bags that mares must wear at all times chafe their legs and prevent them from lying down comfortably. Some farmers tie up horses so tightly that they cannot lie down at all in their narrow stalls.

And although equine veterinarians say that horses need daily exercise, some mares are forced to stay in their cramped stalls for months at a time.

Farmers are also encouraged to limit horses’ access to water so that the estrogen in their urine will become more concentrated. This practice causes dehydrated mares to fight—and sometimes become injured—as they struggle to drink during water-distribution times. It also causes serious health problems. One veterinarian who worked on PMU farms told U.S. Department of Agriculture inspectors that he’d seen mares suffering from renal and liver problems as a result of insufficient drinking water.

The thousands of foals who are born on PMU farms each year fare no better than their mothers. Some are used to replace exhausted mares, many of whom have been confined to PMU farms for up to 20 years. But most of the remaining foals, along with the worn-out mares, are sold at auction, where they are bought by “kill buyers” for slaughterhouses.

Horse rescue groups would gladly take some of these foals. But according to the founders of one such group in Arizona, Wyeth actually forbids farm owners from giving or selling PMU horses to rescue organizations for fear of the bad publicity that results when the horses’ plight is discussed in the media.

Not surprisingly, the use of Premarin and Prempro has plummeted since WHI’s findings were first publicized. But some doctors continue to prescribe these drugs out of habit—and some women continue to take them for the same reason.

Fortunately, a growing number of physicians are now recommending alternative therapies to manage the symptoms of menopause. HRT drugs made from plant sources or synthetics, for example, more closely mimic the estrogen found in human ovaries. As I can attest, adopting healthy habits also helps. I stopped drinking wine and coffee and incorporated soy foods into my diet and was rarely bothered by hot flashes. Women can also combat hot flashes by exercising regularly, quitting smoking and eating low-fat foods—which is smart advice for anyone.

They say that menopause makes women do strange things. It doesn’t get much stranger than taking a pill made from animal urine. But I’m willing to bet that most women, if they knew the truth about Premarin, would find it a bitter pill to swallow.

Bobbie Mullins lives in Norfolk, Va. She wrote this for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), 501 Front St., Norfolk, VA 23510; www.PETA.org.

By Lisa Wathne

An Indiana boy and his dog were injured recently by the family’s pet monkey—who had been locked in a cage for years because of “aggression”—after he escaped and ran amok. You’d think that after a Connecticut woman’s face was ripped off by her friend’s pet chimpanzee last year—or after a toddler was strangled to death by her family’s python, or a Texas teenager was mauled to death by her stepfather’s tiger—that lawmakers would step in to put an end to the carnage.

But there’s still no federal law prohibiting people from breeding, selling or acquiring exotic and dangerous animals to keep as pets. Why?

The journey for many of these animals begins in places such as Asia and Africa and in the jungles of Central and South America. Many are imported legally in the billion-dollar-a-year exotic-animal industry. Others are jammed into trunks or suitcases or not infrequently, strapped or taped to the smuggler’s body. Such was the case with a Mexican man who was recently caught with 18 dead and dying monkeys stuffed into a girdle.

What few laws and penalties exist hardly dissuade dealers when compared to the kind of money to be made from smuggling: Prices on animals’ heads can range from a few thousand dollars for a jungle snake to tens of thousands of dollars for a hyacinth macaw.

Closer to home, countless tigers, primates and other exotic species are bred specifically to be sold as pets. Babies are removed from their frantic mothers (who sometimes have to be sedated) so that the infants can be acclimated to human contact. Traumatized and terrified, these young animals don’t stand a chance of ever living as nature intended. Primates are diapered and often have their canine teeth yanked out. Within weeks, tiger cubs outgrow their ramshackle backyard pens and spend the rest of their lives pacing and yearning for something that they want and need but will never get: their freedom.

Buying an animal on a whim or because one wants to be “different” almost inevitably leads to buyer’s remorse. Since dealers market these animals as little more trouble than stuffed toys, most people are inevitably shocked by the responsibility and expense of specialized food, space and veterinary requirements of exotics. When the novelty wears off and reality sets in, some try to unload their high-maintenance pets at zoos, which are unlikely to accept such animals.

Jack Cover, a curator at the National Aquarium in Baltimore, says, “We’d have to have two or three warehouses to handle the [animals] we get calls on.”

Others simply abandon animals in woods, swamps or along rural roads—but since the animals’ wild instincts have been irrevocably corrupted, many starve to death or fall victim to the elements or predators. Some species, such as pythons dumped in the Florida Everglades, thrive and wreck havoc on entire ecosystems.

Too many animals—and in far too many tragic cases, people—pay with their lives in this cruel cycle. The time is long overdue for federal lawmakers to put a stop to it once and for all.

Lisa Wathne is the senior captive exotic animal specialist for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, 501 Front St., Norfolk, VA 23510; www.PETA.org.

By Lindsay Pollard-Post

The arrival of Hurricane Alex and Tropical Storm Bonnie is just the beginning of what experts have predicted will be one of the most active hurricane seasons on record. Up to 23 named tropical storms and hurricanes are predicted, and emergency planners are concerned that a storm surge could carry oil from the Gulf spill inland. We can’t control the weather, but we can help our loved ones weather this year’s hurricane season safely by making emergency plans now to protect all the members of our families, including our animals.

As the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, the earthquake in Haiti and the tragic Gulf oil spill have shown, animals aren’t any better equipped to survive disasters than humans are. Cats and dogs can’t phone for help, row a boat or open a can of food, and emergency shelters for humans often refuse to accept animals. People who leave their animals behind during an evacuation often learn the hard way that even if their homes haven’t been damaged, downed power lines or impassable roads may prevent them from returning home for weeks, leaving their animals stranded without food or water.

That’s why it’s so crucial to have an evacuation plan in place for our animal companions long before a disaster strikes. Start by mapping out possible evacuation routes and scouting out places to stay with your animal companions. Ask family members and friends if they would be willing to accommodate you and your animals for a few days, and also call around to several hotel chains—many lift their no-animals policies during emergencies. Campgrounds are another animal-friendly lodging possibility. Write down the addresses and phone numbers of these places or program them into your phone or GPS.

If all else fails, your animals are better off spending a few nights with you in your car than being left behind. However, use caution and never leave animals unattended in a parked vehicle. Even on a mild day, cars heat up quickly, and animals can suffer and die from heatstroke within minutes.

Having an emergency kit ready for each of your animals will also help ensure that you can evacuate at a moment’s notice. The kit should include all of your animals’ necessities, such as leashes, bowls, towels, blankets, litter pans, litter and at least a week’s supply of food and medications. Some facilities will only accept animals who are current on their vaccinations, so schedule an appointment now to have your animals immunized, if they aren’t already, and keep copies of their vaccination records in the kit. Make sure that your animals are wearing collars with identification tags. Having your animals microchipped offers additional protection, since collars can fall off and tags can become unreadable.

Leaving animals behind is the last resort, but you can help increase their odds of survival by leaving them indoors with access to upper floors. Tying up animals or caging them is a virtual death sentence because they won’t be able to escape rising floodwaters. Provide at least a 10-day supply of dry food and fill multiple sinks, bowls, pans and plastic containers with water. Put signs on windows and doors indicating how many and what kind of animals are inside as rescue workers may be able to save them.

Whether you live in a hurricane zone, near a fault line, in Tornado Alley or somewhere in between, disasters can strike anytime and anywhere. Please prepare now so that your animal companions can weather any storm.

Lindsay Pollard-Post is a research specialist for The PETA Foundation, 501 Front St., Norfolk, VA 23510; www.HelpingAnimals.com.

By Chris Holbein

You probably don’t need anyone to tell you that Americans are losing the battle of the bulge. Two-thirds of U.S. adults are overweight or obese, and obesity rates among children have tripled in the past 30 years. The problem is so alarming that earlier this year, a nonprofit group called Mission: Readiness, fronted by senior retired military leaders, issued a report titled “Too Fat to Fight,” which concluded that 27 percent of all young adults “are too fat to serve in the military.”

So it’s heartening to see that the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s new dietary guidelines take aim at the obesity epidemic in part by recommending a shift toward a plant-based diet. Going vegetarian (or better yet, vegan) is a proven way to lose weight—and keep it off—as well as to improve your overall health.

In its new report, the Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee calls obesity “the single greatest threat to public health in this century.” Along with commonsense measures such as increasing physical activity and reducing consumption of foods containing added sugars, the report recommends eating a “more plant-based” diet. Americans are advised to consume more fruits and vegetables, beans, peas, whole grains, nuts and seeds, and only moderate amounts of lean meats, poultry and eggs.

I would suggest leaving out the meat and eggs altogether and sticking with those veggies. In a study of nearly 22,000 people, Oxford University researchers found that men who switch to a vegetarian diet are less likely to experience the yearly weight gain—and clogged arteries—that can plague middle-aged meat-eaters.

A study published in The American Journal of Medicine found that people who eat a healthy vegan diet (meaning no meat, eggs or dairy products) can lose about a pound per week—even without exercising or counting calories.

Going vegan can make a difference in other ways too. Heart disease, strokes and other health problems cost Americans billions of dollars every year. But research has consistently shown that going vegetarian or vegan can reduce the risk for these ailments. The American Dietetic Association reviewed hundreds of studies and concluded that vegetarians have lower rates of obesity, heart disease, diabetes, cancer and hypertension.

If going vegan seems daunting, then take some baby steps. Last year, Sir Paul McCartney launched the “Meat-Free Monday” campaign, and people all over the world have committed to consuming no meat (and in many cases, no animal foods at all) at least one day a week.

New York Times food writer Mark Bittman suggests the “Vegan Before 6″ (VB6) plan. He eats only plant foods—vegetables, fruits, beans and whole grains—until 6 p.m. and then eats whatever he wants at dinnertime. “Within three or four months” of starting VB6, Bittman says, “I lost 35 pounds, my blood sugar was normal, cholesterol levels were again normal …. All these good things happened, and it wasn’t as if I was suffering, so I stayed with it.”

With so many vegan cookbooks, blogs, online recipes and other resources available, there’s really no reason not to at least try cutting back on animal foods.

How we eat, and what we eat, has a real impact on our bodies. We all know this. While the USDA’s new dietary guidelines aren’t that much different from recommendations issued 30 years ago, one thing has changed: The growing mountain of evidence linking our overweight, sedentary lifestyles to disease—coupled with skyrocketing medical costs—means that we can no longer afford to ignore this sound advice.

Chris Holbein is the manager of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals’ (PETA) Special Projects Division, 501 Front St., Norfolk, VA 23510; www.PETA.org.

By André du Broc

I’ve spent much of my life in careers centered around making others happy. As an actor, I believed that my first responsibility was to the audience. They needed to be engaged by everything that I did on stage. This was particularly true of my time as a circus clown. If an audience’s joy depended on my dropping my pants, I dropped my pants. If it meant taking a pie in the face, so be it.

The veneer of the circus was everything I desired in a career. It was a chance to make masses of people happy, a chance to travel, and an opportunity to take my silliness very seriously. What I found backstage, however, was very different.

Audiences come to Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey’s Greatest Show on Earth primarily to see two things—clowns and elephants.

I spent most of my time with the elephants. In Tampa, I had a roommate who was an elephant trainer for a local zoo, so I had a deep fondness for these animals. If you look into the eyes of an elephant, you can’t help but remark at their soulfulness. They are filled with expression. When an elephant is happy, you can tell at a glance. Back in Tampa, when the elephants were allowed to play in the water, their eyes would twinkle, and their trunks would curl up, pulling their large mouths into an unmistakable smile.

I never saw elephants in the circus make that face. They looked tired, frustrated, angry, and so very sad. I stopped one elephant handler to ask why a particular elephant had tears pouring down the sides of her face. He pointed to the welt on his face from where she had slapped him with her trunk. He then showed me his bullhook, a 2-foot-long stick with a metal hook on the end. “I gave her about 10 good whacks across her skull. Bam! Bam! Bam!” he demonstrated.

There was always a bullhook in the corner of the apartment in Tampa. The metal hook had a blunt, rounded tip. My roommate had explained that it was used to hook the inside of where the mouth and trunk met. You give it a slight tug and the elephant will move in that direction. I witnessed many of the Ringling trainers sharpening their bullhooks to dangerous points. They wanted the elephants to fear them, and the best way to do that was to inflict as much pain as possible.

King Tusk had a particularly sad story. When he came to Ringling from another circus in 1986, he was the largest traveling land mammal alive. At 42 years old, weighing 14,762 pounds and standing 12 feet 6 inches tall, King Tusk (Tommy) was spectacular. In the wild, elephants are constantly rubbing down their tusks to reduce the weight carried by their head. Tommy, however, had been prohibited from doing so for 42 years. His tusks were more than 7 feet long and put enormous weight and strain on his back. He had arthritis in his neck and back, and by the time I joined the circus, he could no longer perform any tricks.

Instead of retiring this great elephant and shaving down his tusks so that he could live out his remaining years in comfort, Ringling would have him simply stand in the center ring while two acrobats performed on his back.

Tommy was finally transferred to the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium in 1998 after spending 51 years performing in circuses. Columbus sent him to live out his remaining years at Two Tails Ranch’s elephant facility in Florida, where at 57 years of age he was finally euthanized just before Christmas 2002.

I am grateful for the experiences that I had in the circus. I learned about who I am as a person, an entertainer, and a clown. Most importantly, I learned what dignity means. I filled my steamer trunk with plenty of it as I rolled it out of Clown Alley and away from the Big Top forever.

I will not go to a Ringling show ever again.

Tommy would have wanted it that way.

André du Broc graduated from Clown College in 1992 and went on the road with Ringling’s blue unit. He left the circus about a month later because he could no longer bear to witness the horrific treatment of the animals. André maintains a blog at www.TooManyCookies.wordpress.com.

By Ingrid E. Newkirk

BP has more than the loss of human life, livelihoods and tourism to answer for. And so do the government inspectors who allowed this corporation—as seemingly greedy as the bankers, mining companies and marine park owners whose careless conduct has resulted in similar destruction—to put profit over safety. 

If the criminal investigation of BP and those who signed off on the drill-site inspection sheets and safety assurances shows willful fraud and deception, dereliction of duty, bribes or who knows what else, there is one additional set of criminal charges that should be added to the list: cruelty to animals. For this is the largest case of cruelty to animals in U.S. history. 

We are being spared, for political reasons, some think, but mercifully perhaps, most of the photographs of the animals who have died and are still dying, slowly, painfully, not just coated but drenched in oil. It is hard for anyone with a heart to see the gulls and pelicans, blinking up through a thick coat of muck that prevents them from flying, eating, taking a drink of water and escaping the burning heat of June. It is even too much to come across a snippet of video that shows a huge rubber-gloved hand gently plucking a tiny crab out of a puddle of black glop. Only the outline of his body tells you what he is, although his struggles tell you that he is still alive. For the moment.

For most of the animals, any help is too late. Studies show that even if wildlife rescuers capture an oiled bird in time, before much damage has been done, the terror of being handled by a predator, of being force-fed, doused and scrubbed, is too much for their pounding hearts to endure. Even if they survive the trauma of being cleaned and re-cleaned, it is suspected that most die after their release.

And in this case, one must ask, “Where can they be released?” Many birds mate for life; others are lost without their flocks. Their nesting grounds now lie under the oil slick; their friends and family are dead or dying. What is there for them to return to?

And what of the turtles, dolphins and―dare I write it―the whales? Cetacean experts do not expect whales to escape this slick completely. Once killed for their own oil, will they now be killed by ours?

And don’t laugh, but what of the fish? As inconvenient as it may be to think about it, given the seafood buffets of summer, studies show that fish feel pain and fear just as acutely as mammals do.
Whether or not BP is charged with cruelty, there are many things that we can and should do other than just pointing a finger. Some suggestions are to provide less support to oil companies by consuming less oil, by buying fewer oil-based plastic goods (the beaches of Hawaiian atolls are inches deep in discarded plastic) and by following the recommendations issued by the United Nations this month and going vegan in order to save the waterways, forests and ozone layer. Paul McCartney’s “Meat-Free Monday” project is getting institutions and individuals to look at the environmental devastation caused by energy-intensive factory farming and to do something about it by reducing meat consumption. In taking responsibility, President Obama would do well to announce that he, too, is embracing at least that one baby step.  

Those responsible in the corporate world and in government can never truly make amends. How do you “make it up” to those who are suffering and dying in agony out there at this very moment or to those who have already lost their lives or loved ones? However, before looking away from the umpteenth heart-wrenching photo of an oil-coated pelican, the rest of us can do something positive and make some personal choices ourselves so that none of the oil companies will be able to claim consumer demand as a reason for misbehaving. It’s just a thought.

Ingrid E. Newkirk is the president and founder of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, 501 Front St., Norfolk, VA 23510; www.PETA.org. Her latest book is The PETA Practical Guide to Animal Rights.

By Paula Moore

Coming in June, it’s “Free Fishing Day”—your “one chance during the year to get hooked for free!” (exclamation point courtesy of the Nevada Department of Wildlife). Anglers across the country are being encouraged to take advantage of states’ upcoming license-free days by introducing friends and family members to their favorite blood sport.

Sorry, does that sound harsh? We don’t like to think about it, but there’s no longer any doubt that fish can feel pain. We should stop pretending that hurting animals for “fun” is an acceptable way to spend an afternoon.

I haven’t always felt this way. Like most people, I grew up thinking that fishing was a normal pastime. My father fished, and when I was a kid, I often accompanied him on fishing trips. I loved talking to my dad on the long drives to the lake and back—although, admittedly, my favorite part of these outings was stopping by the bait shop, because the man who owned the shop had a “pet” skunk. I played with the skunk while my father purchased items for our trip.

And my least favorite part? Fishing. Hooking worms was gross, and I always felt uncomfortable when we’d pull a fish out of the water. Adults said that fish don’t feel pain, but that was hard to believe while watching a fish struggle and gasp for air as my father removed the hook. I was always secretly glad when we didn’t catch any fish.

Science has caught up with what I knew instinctively as a kid: Fish do feel pain, and they suffer greatly when they are impaled in the mouth by a sharp hook.

In her new book Do Fish Feel Pain?, biologist Victoria Braithwaite says that “there is as much evidence that fish feel pain and suffer as there is for birds and mammals—and more than there is for human neonates and preterm babies.“

After surveying the scientific literature on fish pain and intelligence, not only did researchers at the University of Guelph in Canada conclude that fish feel pain, they also insisted that their welfare deserves our consideration.

For anglers who argue that fish “lack the brains” to feel pain, University of Guelph researcher Dr. Ian Duncan reminds us that we “have to look at behaviour and physiology,” not just anatomy. “It’s possible for a brain to evolve in different ways,” he says. “That’s what is happening in the fish line. It’s evolved in some other ways in other parts of the brain to receive pain.”

Fish are “brainy” in other respects too. According to recent studies, fish can count, tell time and recognize individuals—including individual humans. The assistant curator of the London Zoo’s aquarium says that fish there know the difference between an aquarium worker (who might have food) and a visitor (who doesn’t).

Fish also have complex social relationships and “talk” to one another underwater. They can use tools and learn by watching what other fish do. And they have impressive long-term memories: In one study, fish who had learned how to escape from a net in their tank could still remember how they did it 11 months later. That’s like you or me remembering something from 40 years ago.

But, you say, fishing can help parents get their kids to go outside, away from the computer. So can hiking, biking and canoeing. When I went fishing with my dad as a kid, the actual fishing was always the least important—and least enjoyable—part of our trips. Children want to spend time with their parents, and there are certainly better ways to do that than inflicting pain on small, defenseless animals. Instead of participating in your state’s free fishing day this year, why not get your kids hooked on compassion?

Paula Moore is a research specialist for The PETA Foundation, 501 Front St., Norfolk, VA 23510; www.PETA.org.

By Dan Paden

If you care about animals, you should never buy one from a pet store. That may seem counterintuitive, but PETA’s undercover investigations have demonstrated time and again that pet shops and the companies that supply them treat animals like disposable objects. No thought is given to the fact that they are living beings.

PETA’s latest case proves this point.

Imagine a worker putting hamsters into a plastic bag and bashing them against a table in a crude attempt to kill them. One hamster languishes—panting heavily and suffering—for several minutes.

Unsalable animals are gassed in a filth-encrusted glass tank. Hamsters are killed when careless employees crush their necks between shipping boxes and box lids.

These are just a few of the atrocities that PETA documented during a recent three-month undercover investigation of Sun Pet Ltd., a Georgia-based wholesale animal dealer that supplies small mammals, birds, fish and other animals to PETCO, PetSmart, Pet Supplies “Plus,” Walmart and “mom and pop” pet stores across the U.S.

At Sun Pet, PETA’s investigator routinely found severely decomposed rat, mouse, gerbil and hamster remains in bins containing live animals. Guinea pigs, hamsters, rats, chinchillas and sugar gliders were housed and/or shipped in severely crowded bins, cages and boxes. Sometimes the distressed animals fought, resulting in injuries such as shredded ears and gouged eyes. 

A supervisor and employees routinely handled animals roughly. The supervisor said that “you could throw [the mice] against the wall and they’ll stand back up again and keep on running” and that you could forcefully squeeze small mammals’ abdomens “like a … PlayStation controller handle” to determine their gender.

In more than three months of employment, PETA’s investigator never once saw anyone from PetSmart’s or PETCO’s corporate offices inspecting the Sun Pet facility. Dozens of PETCO and PetSmart stores shipped sick and injured animals back to Sun Pet without food, water or veterinary care. Some animals were dead upon arrival.

One bad apple? Hardly. The situation at Sun Pet is all too common.

This is PETA’s fourth exposé revealing the abusive handling and filthy conditions endured by animals who are eventually sold at PETCO stores and our third revealing such conditions for animals sold at PetSmart. 

Last year, a PETA investigator spent seven harrowing months working inside U.S. Global Exotics, Inc. (USGE), a Texas-based multimillion-dollar animal supplier that sold animals to Sun Pet and other distributors.

Animals at USGE were routinely confined for days or weeks to pillowcases, shipping boxes and soda bottles without proper heat and humidity or even food or water. Hundreds of lizards who were never unpacked perished inside bags and “shipping cups.” Snakes routinely starved, and animals suffering from life-threatening conditions—including an emaciated and dehydrated wallaby who was too weak to stand—were left to suffer and die slowly. Workers routinely put sick, injured and dying animals in a freezer to kill them. Some animals deemed “no good” for sale were thrown into a Dumpster.

As a result of PETA’s investigation, Texas authorities seized more than 26,000 animals from USGE last December in the largest animal confiscation in history. USGE’s U.S. Department of Agriculture license has since been cancelled, and the company is now closed. Its owner, Jasen Shaw—who is now a fugitive—is wanted by the federal government for violations of the Lacey Act and is under investigation for charges of smuggling, conspiracy and aiding and abetting.

One down, many more to go.

If you share your home with an animal companion, please stock up on necessities at shops that sell only supplies, not live animals. And if you’re ready to pour your time, energy, money, attention and love into an animal, visit PetFinder.com or your local animal shelter to adopt a furry friend.

Most importantly, never buy an animal from a pet store. Appalling abuse and neglect are just business as usual for the warehouses that supply pet shops. The suffering will continue until consumers stop patronizing stores that purchase animals from these hellholes.

Dan Paden is a senior research associate in People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals’ Cruelty Investigations Department, 501 Front St., Norfolk, VA 23510; www.PETA.org.

By Elaine Sloan

As a breast cancer survivor, I’ve seen many tasteless examples of “pinkwashing” over the years. But KFC’s new “Buckets for the Cure” campaign takes the cake. The chicken chain is peddling pink buckets of chicken—available in stores through the end of May—ostensibly to raise funds for breast cancer research.

This is the same company that recently introduced the fat and sodium nightmare known as the Double Down sandwich—slices of bacon and cheese tucked between two chicken fillets.

Finding a cure for breast cancer is certainly a noble goal. But so is preventing cancer in the first place. And this won’t happen if consumers are encouraged to eat unhealthy foods by the bucketful.

A Washington Post blog entry about Buckets for the Cure reminds us that according to the National Cancer Institute, “studies have shown that an increased risk of developing colorectal, pancreatic, and breast cancer is associated with high intakes of well-done, fried, or barbecued meats.” Researchers have long known that cooking certain meats—including chicken—at high temperatures can create carcinogenic chemicals.

Even KFC’s supposedly healthier grilled chicken is problematic. When researchers tested samples of grilled chicken from six different KFC stores, they found PhIP, a chemical that’s classified as a carcinogen by the federal government, in every single sample. PhIP has been linked to several forms of cancer, including breast cancer, in dozens of studies.

We also know that being overweight—a risk if you make too many trips through fast-food drive-throughs—can increase your chances of developing cancer. On its Web site, the American Cancer Society warns that being overweight or obese raises the risk of several types of cancer, including breast cancer in postmenopausal women.

If anyone doubts the connection between diet and health, I’m proof that changing how you eat can save your life. 

When I first learned that I had breast cancer, I was devastated. I didn’t know where to turn or whom to trust. For much of my life, I regularly ate meat, eggs and dairy foods. After my mastectomy, though, I knew that I had to make some changes in order to prevent my cancer from coming back.

My son suggested that I switch to a vegan diet.

The research backs him up. Studies conducted in England and Germany, for example, have shown that vegetarians are 40 percent less likely to develop cancer than meat-eaters are. A Harvard study of nearly 136,000 people found that people who frequently eat skinless chicken—supposedly the “healthiest” kind—have a 52 percent higher chance of developing bladder cancer.

And a Colorado State University study released in March found that diets high in plant foods—specifically fruits, vegetables and soy—can cut the risk of developing breast cancer by 30 percent.

But I don’t need any more studies to tell me that vegan foods are wholesome and beneficial. I can feel the difference for myself.

Since I switched to a vegan diet, my energy level has increased, my cholesterol has decreased and I feel healthier overall. And I have peace of mind from knowing that I’m much less likely to have a relapse of breast cancer. I went vegan 18 years ago and have been cancer-free ever since.

KFC no doubt hopes to make a killing by selling many, many pink buckets over the next month. But it is doing consumers a real disservice by glossing over the fact that regularly eating what’s in those buckets can increase your odds of being diagnosed with cancer in the first place. My advice to anyone who wants to beat breast cancer is to load up on fruits, vegetables and other healthy plant foods—and kick the KFC bucket.

Elaine Sloan lives in New York City. She wrote this for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), 501 Front St., Norfolk, VA 23510; www.PETA.org.