PETA Global 2017 Issue 1

ISSUE 1 | SPRING 2017

RAISING THE ANIMAL RIGHTS FLAG WORLDWIDE

9 13 Joaquin Phoenix PAGE No Cheese, Please Yes, you can do dairy-free and delicious! PAGE Explains to PETA how vegan wool 'suits' him

20 PAGE PETA Under Threat PETA India harassed by animal-abusing bullies

PETA Shuts Down a Cruel Household Name Curtain Falls on Ringling Circus

Tiger: © iStock.com/SKapl | Joaquin Phoenix: © Michael Muller | Recipe: © Jackie Sobon | Bullock: © Koustubh Pol

T ogether we made it happen! It's finally over. As of May, Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus will stop touring and the circus will come to an end. No matter where Ringling showed up and despite whatever public relations nonsense it engaged in, PETA was there, targeting sponsors, capturing and releasing behind-the-scenes video footage, calling on federal and local authorities to take action, and distributing tens of thousands of leaflets to circusgoers. PETA's Ringling factsheet and website are filled with pages of documentation detailing the circus’s appalling history of cruelty. As people learned that it had whipped and beaten animals in order to coerce them into performing, attitudes began to change. PETA repeatedly filed complaints with federal authorities over violations of the federal Animal Welfare Act, and Ringling paid a record fine of more than a

quarter-million dollars. But perhaps what generated the most outrage against the cruel circus were the chilling photographs released by PETA showing baby elephants tied down by all four legs in violent training sessions. The public was horrified – and rightly so. As ticket sales continued to plummet and the campaign grew in scope and scale, Ringling at last acknowledged that its business model – like so many of the animals it had exploited – was dead. It pulled elephants off the road, but caring people knew that tigers, lions, and other animals were still suffering in fetid boxcars and tractor-trailers, so they didn’t let up. In January, Feld Entertainment, the parent company of Ringling, finally threw in the towel. PETA couldn’t have done this without every one of you who wrote a letter, picked up the phone to call a legislator, attended a protest, or spread the word on social media. Thank you! And now, onward!

Read all about the spies and lies, and what went on behind the scenes, on page 2 J

PETA vs. PETA

complaints to federal, state, and local authorities. PETA connected with schoolchildren through “elefriend” comic books and worked with humane agencies all across the country to encourage and help them enforce state anti-cruelty laws. PETA persuaded national circus sponsors, including MasterCard and Visa, to sever ties with

that exposed to the entire world just how low the circus was willing to go to protect its profits.

There’s more. Under George, former FBI counterintelligence agent Robert Eringer was

employed to gain the confidence of Janice Pottker, an author writing a tell-all about the Feld family and the circus. Eringer befriended her and persuaded her to abandon the Feld story, offering a significant amount of money for her to write a different book. He also visited PETA’s Maryland office and offered to pay PETA President Ingrid Newkirk a large advance for a book that he said he would publish. Finding the proposal sketchy, she declined. PETA Didn’t Quit … and Ringling Paid PETA documented cruelty to more than 20 elephants held captive by Ringling – ranging in age from just 2 years old to at least 54. PETA demanded that the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) take action when Kenny, a 3-year-old Asian elephant, died shortly after being forced to perform even though he was seriously ill. Feld agreed to donate $20,000 to Asian elephant organizations after the USDA dropped its complaint. PETA asked the agency to remove an ailing elephant named Sarah from the road. A month later, she collapsed while being loaded into a Ringling railcar.

Ringling. Early actions included street theater demonstrations and sit-ins and later evolved into life-size robotics and live tweeting during Ringling

performances. PETA’s website RinglingBeatsAnimals.com was visited by countless people who learned that animals were being beaten and forced to spend their lives in cages and chains. Circus attendance dropped, and outrage grew. The Fight Gets Dirty Ringling quickly learned that ignoring the groundswell didn't help, so it got serious. The company was so desperate to stay afloat that it hired spies – including Clair George, the former head of covert operations for the CIA (who was paid millions by Kenneth Feld of Feld Entertainment) – to use misrepresentation, illegal electronic surveillance, and stolen PETA

F rom the day when Circus was a target. Thirty seven years later, the circus that exploited animals for 146 years is finally calling it quits. PETA first opened its doors, Ringling Bros. and Barnum& Bailey

PETA continued to turn up the heat in 2009 by releasing eyewitness footage of Ringling workers striking tigers

Year after year, PETA was a thorn in Ringling’s side. There was no escaping the countless protests held wherever the circus went, the tens of thousands of leaflets distributed, the video exposés, the massive public outreach, or the dozens of formal

documents as part of a conspiracy designed to destroy PETA and other animal-protection organizations. When the conspiracy came to light, PETA filed suit and pried the lid off nearly 20,000 pages of documents

2 COVER STORY

“ [Kenneth] Feld had set up a special unit, much like the Watergate ‘plumbers,’ to destroy anyone who threatened the image of the circus as wholesome fun for the whole family …. His main target was People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) and similar groups that had annoyed Feld with charges that the Ringling Bros.’ elephants were badly cared for. ” – “The Greatest Vendetta on Earth,” Salon, 2001 Goliath

WINS

to stop using these painful implements to jab and beat elephants, the end was in sight. In 2016, Ringling stopped forcing elephants to spend most of their lives in boxcars and pulled them from touring. Months later, the company conceded that its dwindling attendance made the business “unsustainable.” What’s Next? PETA will continue to call for all the animals Ringling is holding captive to be retired to reputable sanctuaries. Our goal is to see animal-free circuses worldwide.

Boxing Glove: © iStock.com/Ljupco | Elephant: © iStock.com/Saddako | Film: © iStock.com/spinout

and beating, whipping, and hitting elephants with bullhooks (heavy batons with a sharp metal hook on one end). Later that year, PETA released shocking photos of baby elephants who were tied by all four legs and abused with bullhooks and electric prods. People were horrified to see that these babies, who were still nursing, were torn, screaming and crying, from their frantic mothers and forced to endure violent training sessions until they gave up all hope. A Long Record of Cruelty After an adult Bengal tiger named Arnie was shot to death in his cage by an angry Ringling trainer, PETA called on the USDA to suspend the circus’s exhibitor’s license. The agency ultimately issued a letter of warning. Ringling dismissed injuries that a zebra named Lima had sustained – and was later euthanized for – after escaping the circus and leading police on a 40-minute chase. PETA asked the USDA to remove zebras from Ringling’s

traveling shows in light of the escape as well as previous incidents in which multiple zebras ran amok.

When the USDA allowed the statute of limitations to expire on some serious cases – including that of Clyde, a lion who essentially baked to death in a Ringling boxcar – PETA’s attorneys met with the agency’s general counsel to voice objections. Two years later, the USDA assessed a $270,000 civil penalty against Ringling, the largest ever against an exhibitor under the federal Animal Welfare Act. A spokesperson for Feld Entertainment admitted that Ringling had agreed to multiple settlements with the agency to avoid any formal finding of wrongdoing. Banishing Bullhooks Over the years, one municipality after another recognized bullhooks for the weapons that they are and banned them. Since Ringling and other circuses refused

UniverSoul Circus has

worked with Hugo Liebel, who has racked up violations for two decades

concerning his treatment of an ailing elephant named Nosey, and has also contracted with with big-cat exhibitor Mitchel Kalmanson, who reportedly kept tigers caged 24 hours a day, seven days a week, for the entire four to seven weeks that they were on the road – and sometimes even longer.

Global 3

PETA Sues USDA for Hiding Animal Abusers’ Records

A MESSAGE FROM Ingrid Newkirk PETA PRESIDENT

People looking for previously public information about violators of the federal Animal Welfare Act in the US woke up on February 3 to find themselves out of luck. US Department of Agriculture (USDA) records on puppy mills, laboratories, roadside zoos, traveling animal shows, and other outfits that abuse and exploit animals – records that revealed serious violations of federal law– had been scrubbed from the agency’s website. And anyone seeking such information would have to embark on an often lengthy and potentially expensive bureaucratic process to try to get it, which could take months or even years.

In an effort to undo what it believes is illegal conduct by the agency, PETA – along with five fellow plaintiffs – has filed suit to force the USDA to provide the records. As plaintiff Delcianna Winders, a Harvard Animal Law & Policy fellow, put it, “The government should not be in the business of hiding animal abusers and lawbreakers from public scrutiny.” Meanwhile, PETA US has released every USDA inspection report of captive-animal exhibitors in its archives – nearly 21,000 records, the oldest of which dates from 1984. They can be accessed at PETA.org using the search term “USDA inspection reports.”

Just after the stunning news that Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus would finally close its doors after 146 years, an anti–factory farming campaigner posted online that, with so many animals killed for food, he didn’t think it was important to go after the circus. I’m glad that PETA never thought that way. PETA won’t let children grow up thinking that watching the debasement of elephants and tigers is a treat – or that the suffering of even one elephant deliberately orphaned and then abused daily for 60 years is not worth worrying about. “ Persistence eventually paid off, and PETA’s campaigns whittled away at Ringling’s operation until the giant finally fell. ” In 2009, a whistleblower sent PETA photos showing how Ringling trained baby elephants: by tying them down in the presence of their shackled mothers in order to teach them that no one would come to their rescue, then beating, electroshocking, and jabbing them as they screamed – until they figured out what meaningless things they had to do to escape the pain. People saw these photos at PETA ’ s protests, and they turned around and went home. One year, supporters gave PETA money to expand the fight against Ringling, and PETA , s legal department met with the USDA Office of the General Counsel over the deaths of two baby elephants and one lion. Just a few months later, Ringling agreed to pay the largest fine in circus history to settle dozens of violations. Persistence eventually paid off, and PETA’s campaigns whittled away at Ringling’s operation until the giant finally fell. Now, there are other animal circuses, marine abusement parks, roadside zoos, and bear pits to close down. If we all work together, they’ll soon be relegated to the dustbin of history, too.

PETA UK Launches First-Ever Vegan Tube Takeover PETA UK plastered London tube station Clapham Common with more than 60 ads featuring cows, pigs, and chickens telling

travelers, “I’mME, not MEAT. See the individual – go vegan.” The phenomenon attracted international media attention and inspired travelers to pledge to try going vegan.

UK

PETA and its affiliates have been taking “I, Chicken,” a virtual reality tool, to schools and busy lunch spots, letting tens of thousands of users see what it’s like to be a chicken. The experience allows people to socialize with other birds and even take dust baths – until a truck pulls up to take them to the slaughterhouse. There, they are put on a conveyor belt from which they can see another one carry the bodies of their slain friends to a waiting grocery store truck. “I, Chicken” helps Virtual Reality Lets Humans Experience Life as a Chicken

INDIA

PETA India Persuades Government to Ban Drug Tests on Animals Following appeals from PETA India and politician Maneka Gandhi, the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare passed an amendment preventing pharmaceutical drugs from being tested on animals in India when they have already been approved abroad.

people understand that chickens are individuals with interests, wants, and needs, rather than merely wings, breasts, and other body parts. Most participants have said that they will reconsider their food choices as a result of the experience.

4 GLOBAL NEWS

Good Riddance to the Bowmanville Zoo

The Bowmanville Zoo in Ontario, Canada, closed its doors after a PETA eyewitness videotaped the owner and former director of the zoo, Michael Hackenberger, whipping a young tiger up to 19 times during a “training session.” Hackenberger has been charged with five counts of cruelty to animals as a result. He had boasted to the eyewitness about using the whip to carve his initials in the animals. Wielding a stick as a wolf cowered on the floor, he added, “You smack ’em and they

generally fold like a house of cards. … And that’s the beauty of these things.” He was previously recorded swearing at a baboon on live television after the animal fell off a pony. And two local residents saw a woman, whom they suspect was a Bowmanville Zoo employee, fire what they believed to be a BB gun at a panicked giraffe. Hackenberger has supplied animals for many film and TV productions, including Life of Pi. The CBS show Zoo dropped its plans to hire him after hearing from PETA.

Pill: © iStock.com/rambo182 | Sign: © iStock.com/enviromantic | Raspberries: © iStock.com/digihelion | George Lopez: © Robert Sebree

USA

Actor Kate del Castillo, star of La Reina del Sur , has teamed up with PETA Latino to urge the Miami Seaquarium to return captive orca Lolita to the ocean, where she was seized from her family more than four decades ago. She hasn’t seen another orca since 1980, when her tankmate, Hugo, died after ramming his head repeatedly into the side of their cramped tank. “Lolita should have spent her life with her mother and aunts and siblings,” del Castillo says. “But instead, she has spent 46 long and totally miserable years stuck inside the world’s smallest orca tank at the Miami Seaquarium.” PETA filed a lawsuit against the USDA for issuing an exhibitor’s license to the Seaquarium despite the facility’s alleged violations of the US Animal Welfare Act. Another PETA lawsuit alleges that confining Lolita to a tiny tank with incompatible animals and virtually no relief from the hot sun violates the US Endangered Species Act. Kate del Castillo Calls for Orca Lolita’s Release

Growing up in Los Angeles, comedian and actor George Lopez saw firsthand the need for spaying and neutering dogs and cats. He often saw dogs running loose in his neighborhood and having litter after litter of puppies. That’s why he and his rescued Chihuahua, Owen, recently starred in an ad campaign for PETA Latino stressing that spaying or neutering helps animals live longer, healthier lives and is the only way to address homeless-animal overpopulation. Lopez credits Owen with enriching his life and calls the dog a loving and affectionate friend who helps keep him active. Chingón , by the way, means cool, great, or awesome! George Lopez and His Rescue Dog Make Adorable Spay/Neuter Plea

Two raspberry trade groups – the National Processed Raspberry Council and the Washington Red Raspberry Commission – were paying for animal experiments that were intended to study the effects of raspberries on everything from diabetes, obesity, and cardiovascular disease to balance and coordination. After a PETA push, the groups confirmed that they would no longer fund cruel and irrelevant experiments on animals. NoMore ‘Raspberries’ for These Trade Groups

Global 5

Maggie Q Leads PETA Protest Against Canada Goose

UK

Designated Survivor star Maggie Q led other PETA supporters in a protest against Canada Goose’s fur trimmed and down-filled jackets at the company’s Toronto headquarters. She was horrified to learn that the fur on its jackets comes from coyotes, who can experience long, excruciatingly painful deaths in steel traps, so she joined with PETA in calling on the brand to do what many compassionate retailers have already done – switch to innovative vegan fabrics.

Maggie also donated a Canada Goose coat that she had received as a gift to Toronto-based Wully Outerwear in support of the company’s Trade-Up Program, which allows shoppers to exchange their fur trimmed coats for a $225 discount off any of its stylish, cruelty-free winter jackets.

CANADA

A shocking PETA video exposé, which has already been viewed online more than 30 million times, shows tens of thousands of crocodiles confined to tiny concrete cells, some of which are narrower than the animals’ own bodies, so that they can be raised and killed to make “luxury” leather bags. The reptiles are imprisoned for 15 months before being slaughtered for their skins. The footage shows that metal rods are rammed down their spines while they’re still conscious. Two of the farms investigated have supplied crocodile skins to Louis Vuitton’s parent company, LVMH, and “some of the biggest brands,” according to a farm owner. Whether it’s sold by Louis Vuitton, Hermès, Prada, or any other brand, a fashion accessory made from the skin of a crocodile means that a living, feeling being experienced a miserable life and a painful death. Watch the footage – and tell LVMH to use only cruelty-free fabrics – at PETA.org. PETA Exposes Cruelty to Crocodiles Skinned for Bags

?

Why Does PETA Own Stock in Cruel Companies?

PETA holds a minimal amount of stock in a number of food, pharmaceutical, biotechnology, and other companies for the sole purpose of being able to attend annual meetings and present resolutions whenever a company is not making progress on animal issues. LVMH is one such company: PETA plans to use its shareholder position to urge it to stop its cruel production and sales of exotic skins.

This tactic has paid dividends – and not the cash kind. PETA has withdrawn resolutions from the annual meetings of Denny’s, Safeway, McDonald’s, 3M, DuPont, and GE following successful negotiations that stemmed from filing shareholder resolutions with those companies. PETA also holds stock in SeaWorld and in Whole Foods, which still sells so-called “humane” meat from farms that raise animals in grossly inhumane conditions.

6 GLOBAL NEWS

Chinese Celebrities Advocate Kindness

CHINA

Several popular Chinese celebrities – including Golden Bell Award winner Bo-Lin Chen; Show Luo, the “Dancing King of Asia”; and Wu Xiubo, aka “Stylish Uncle” – have starred in PETA Asia’s eye-catching ads to promote shelter adoptions, vegan fare, faux fur, and compassionate living.

Sheep: © iStock.com/Enjoylife2 | Cow: © iStock.com/yod67 | Chinese celebrities (left to right): Chen Bolin: © Joshua Lin,Wu Xiubo: © Li Weiming, Show Luo: © Lin Wei Cheng

AUSTRALIA

Other companies that have agreed to take steps to stop dehorning after discussions with PETA include Dean Foods, one of the largest dairy processors in the US, with more than 50 dairy brands; Chobani, a top-selling yogurt brand; ALDI US, with more than 1,500 stores across 33 states; and Mondelēz International, whose brands include Cadbury, Nabisco, and Oreo. PETA also enlisted some of its high-profile pals, including actor Ryan Gosling, who contacted the National Milk Producers Federation, prompting it to upgrade its oversight program by asking all farmers whether they are breeding hornless cows. An End to Cruel Dehorning Is Near, Thanks to PETA

Nabbed! Historic Guilty Pleas in Sheep Shearing Cases

One shearer in Australia has pleaded guilty in the first cruelty-to-animals case of its kind in history, seven other shearers are facing charges, and up to 40 shearers were cautioned by authorities. This all follows the release of a PETA video exposé documenting that wool industry workers beat sheep in the face with electric clippers and punched and stomped on their heads and necks. The convicted man has been banned from shearing or handling farmed animals for two years and has been ordered to donate $500 to the RSPCA. The investigation included video footage of 235 incidents recorded in one Australian state alone, as well as more than 40 pages of formal legal complaints.

After Shake Shack heard from PETA, which owns shares in the company, the fast-casual restaurant chain amended its animal-welfare policy to encourage suppliers to use selective breeding in order to eliminate dehorning. This painful mutilation involves, among other things, jamming searing-hot irons into calves' heads to destroy the tissue that would otherwise develop into horns. While PETA encourages everyone to choose vegan milks and cheeses, it also pushes companies to support breeding for polled, or naturally hornless, cattle as an interim measure that would spare calves the ordeal of dehorning.

Global 7

Q & A

Sue Coe Artist and Author of The Animals’ Vegan Manifesto

“ The minimum we owe animals is to go vegan.

fundraisers, and I can be useful. Being part of a community is imperative. One night, I was tearing my hair out with sorrow as I heard a cow had escaped a slaughterhouse and was recaptured and returned. It was midnight, and I sent an e-mail to a friend who rescues animals. He e-mailed back within a few seconds with these words: “I am outside the slaughterhouse right now.” I knewwith absolute certainty he

generally waffle over the cheese, and now there is the perfect tasty nonviolent substitute. Refuse to participate in the violence of breeding others just to murder them. ” IEN: Do you think attitudes are changing? SC: Yes, animal rights is now a global movement gaining in strength. There is curiosity about how to go vegan and there is the science that backs up going vegan for human health and [the] health of the planet. There is science to prove nonhuman animals are persons with all the dreams and imaginings and awareness of our own species. Animal activists will never give up.

Ingrid E. Newkirk: Why publish a book that is nearly all pictures? Susan Coe: My idea is to communicate something terrible, then something joyous, without words. The animals liberate themselves and find a vegan world, and it’s all told in a small book so you can keep it in your pocket and use when needed. IEN: How do you cope with cruelty to animals? SC: The enormity of the animal holocaust cannot be fully comprehended by most humans, only partially glimpsed. We are trying to see the world from the animals’ point of view, and we can be traumatized as well as trivialized and mocked ¬– just as animals are trivialized and mocked. It’s a trick to keep that frail thread between wanting justice for animals and believing in the human ability to change. Every social justice movement in history felt despair, frustration, and hopelessness. What was a utopian dream, dreamt by visionaries and revolutionaries, slowly emerged from the fog to become real. IEN: Is it hard to sleep when you know what’s going on? SC: I am lucky because making art is my therapy. I can help animals by making prints to sell for different

would rescue Freddie, who is now living at a sanctuary. I dedicated my book to Freddie, the cowwho made himself visible and escaped the slaughterhouse twice. IEN: What steps would you like people to take? SC: The minimum we owe animals is to go vegan. Refuse to participate in the violence of breeding others just to murder them. Walk away from it forever. Our real birthday is the day we all go vegan. SC: It’s easy for me not to be waffly because I live in between two “dairy” farms. I can see the replacement heifers every day by the highway, their tiny bodies lying on the snow and ice. They are chained next to their plastic kennels, row after row of them. I can hear the mothers crying for their calves who have been torn away. They will never know a warm lick from their mothers, or the scent of fresh meadows. They are bred to replace their mothers, like machines, every four years, over and over, and the male baby calves are just thrown away as a useless byproduct … all because humans like the “taste” of cheese? Well-meaning people, where animal cruelty is not in their face, IEN: How can someone become vegan who might be waffling about it?

The Animals� Vegan Manifesto is available for purchase at PETACatalog.com.

J Watch upcoming issues for more from Sue!

8 QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS

Why Joaquin Phoenix Won’t Wear Wool P hoenix’s ad in support of PETA’s anti-wool campaign was launched just in time for the busiest shopping season of the year. In it, he appears in a vegan wool Brave GentleMan

Sue Coe: © Steve Murray | The Animals' Vegan Manifesto images courtesy of © Sue Coe | Joaquin Phoenix: © Michael Muller

suit, alongside a flock of rescued sheep. The ad debuted the very same week that a PETA complaint resulted in cruelty-to-animals charges against six Australian shearers, a first in the world’s largest wool-producing country – and the first anywhere in the world. The charges came about after a PETA exposé documented that shearers had beaten sheep in the face with electric clippers, stomped on them, kicked them, and subjected them to other forms of abuse. Also for the first time in history, a shearer pleaded guilty to cruelty charges – he was the first to go to court and is now barred from being in charge of farmed animals for two years. During the ad shoot, Phoenix chatted with PETA Senior Vice President Lisa Lange about the implications of wearing wool. Lisa Lange : Wool doesn’t seem like something that’s cruel – sheep aren’t killed for it. So a lot of people think, “Why can’t I wear wool?” Did you ever feel that way? Joaquin Phoenix: I did, and I was also very naïve about [which] clothing used wool. I thought that I was avoiding wool because I never really thought that bulky sweaters were wool. I never knew that suits were made of wool. But at some point, I did realize it was wool. And I had that rationalization – “Well, it’s something that is just taken off them, and there’s not a lot of abuse” – which seems incredibly naïve, and that’s a nice way of saying it. And so, a couple years ago, I realized that it was something that I wanted to avoid. I’ve been vegan practically my whole life, and I don’t use animal products. I don’t use leather. But really, when PETA sent me that video of this [eyewitness] investigation of what happened in these shearing farms, that was really eye opening. It’s undeniably cruel.

BE THE CHANGE!

F I N D O U T W H A Y B A C K P G E • B E T H E C H A N G E ! • C N D O - T U R

LL: Is it easier to be vegan now than it was when you were younger? JP: Absolutely. There’s so many different products that are available now, both in

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food and in clothing. But clothing has really changed dramatically in the last few years. I remember it was very difficult getting nonleather shoes, particularly dress shoes or suits – things of that nature were always very difficult to find. So it’s changed a great deal. LL: PETA’s exposés of the wool industry have revealed that sheep are punched in the face, dragged through their own urine, stitched up without painkillers, and subjected to other abuse – they’re roughly treated. In the footage that you saw, what stuck out to you? JP: To be honest, I feel a sympathy and a sadness for everyone involved. It’s easy for us to sympathize with the animals, but the workers are incentivized to move as quickly as possible. And it seems that the whole environment is one that’s incredibly stressful and uncomfortable, and I think that breeds an ugliness in the people involved. It’s apparent that for the quantity that they’re trying to gather, it’s impossible to do that in a humane way. And so, it seems that the only option is to not use wool. That’s become abundantly clear.

Global 9

“Where can I find the biggest selection of vegan products?”

“Should I break up with my meat-eating boyfriend?”

We’re Here for YOU! PETA Mentor Program Helps Anyone Go Vegan

“Won’t cows overrun the Earth if everyone goes vegan?”

10 VEGAN LIVING

M ore people are going vegan every day, thanks to PETA’s information and encouragement from PETA’s seasoned vegan connoisseurs, shoppers, and advice-givers, who are eager to help aspiring vegans make the transition to a healthy, animal-friendly way of life. What Questions Do YOU Have? PETA’s vegan mentors field common questions such as “Where can I get vegan cheese pizza?” and “What the heck is tempeh?” They also provide guidance on shopping for and cooking vegan food, finding vegan restaurants, and answering questions from puzzled relatives and friends. Here’s a real-world sample of the kinds of questions PETA’s mentors receive, starting with a tricky query about maintaining relationships with family members: • “How can I tell my grandmother that I’ll no longer eat the cookies that she usually makes for me?” • “Why should I care about lobsters?” • “Can I still make French toast and go to Starbucks for lattes?” • “Why do some so-called ‘nondairy creamers’ contain dairy ingredients?” • “How will I get vitamin B 12 ?” • “Is it OK if I buy items that were manufactured on the same equipment as nonvegan items?” PETA’s mentors are always available to address questions or concerns and guide mentees with helpful tips to make vegan living as easy as chocolate tofu pie. As Keith Burgeson, the program’s coordinator, says, “Going vegan is simpler than ever, and our goal is to make the transition even easier.” The program, which has been featured on The Daily Meal and other popular sites, has a one-on-one format, so correspondence is tailored specifically to each mentee’s needs. Mentors serve as personal coaches for a vegan lifestyle. Why Vegan? Just by eating tasty vegan foods rather than meat, eggs, and dairy products, each vegan spares more than 100 animals every year. And a plant-based lifestyle also helps conserve resources and combat climate change and other environmental problems. Vegan Mentor Program. Since it began in 2016, thousands of people have signed up to receive

"It’s great having someone there to help me either through Skype, text, e-mail, etc."

“If we eat meat, eggs, and dairy products, we’re directly supporting some of the most egregious cruelty in the world,” Burgeson says. “These foods are responsible for immense environmental harm, the abuse and suffering of billions of animals, and the perpetuation of global hunger. Abstaining from these harmful products is a powerful statement in support of compassion, empathy, and justice for all living beings.” And that’s not all: Vegans are also less likely to suffer from heart disease, diabetes, cancer, and other life threatening illnesses. So going vegan is vital if you care about animals, the environment, and your health. PETA can help you make the switch to a kinder, greener, healthier lifestyle by providing individual advice and vegan friendly resources. Get a Personal Vegan Mentor If you’re a new or aspiring vegan – or if you just want someone to help you stay on track – and you’re interested in having your own personal vegan mentor (for free!), sign up at PETA.org/VeganMentor.

Take It From the Mentees “I joined the PETA mentor program because I was super-new to the idea of going vegan after watching the informative (and life-changing) documentary Earthlings! I don’t have a lot of people around me that can offer much info (although I’m now the one spreading the word out to others after I learn new things from either [my vegan mentor], the PETA website, or other resources), so it’s great having someone there to help me either through Skype, text, e-mail, etc.” – Vanessa “The program helped me transition from a non-vegan life to a vegan life nearly seamlessly. Many of the issues that were scaring me away were easily fixable, and I only learned that through my great mentor.” – Autumn

“My mentor has always been a text, e-mail or call away. He sent me a starter kit in the mail and suggested BE THE CHANGE!

several books and videos to aid in my understanding. I have personally grown as an individual and family unit from this valuable connection with PETA and my [vegan mentor].” – Rachele

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Global 11

Imagination It’s Not Your Addicted You Really Are to Cheese

If all that isn’t enough to put you off cheese, consider the fate of cows on dairy farms. The dairy “[i]ndustry relies on impregnating animals, separating them from their infants, pushing them to produce as much milk as drugs and biology can manage, and killing them as soon as it no longer pays to keep them alive,” Barnard writes. What’s the solution? Giving that “crack on a cracker” the old heave-ho. Barnard suggests eliminating all cheese from your diet for 21 days to break the habit and to give yourself a chance to see howmuch better you feel. What to eat instead? Try mashed avocados, peanut butter, nut butters, hummus, commercial vegan cheeses, or one of the tasty vegan cheese recipes on the following page. “Having put forward his case about how bad cheese is for us and how it smells like dirty socks, human vomit and body odour, Dr Barnard unsurprisingly does not think we should just cut down on cheese, but should ban it from our diets.” – The Times (UK)

T he average American devours 33 pounds of cheese per year. That spells trouble not only for animals on dairy farms but also for our health and the health of our planet. “Some foods are fattening. Others are addicting. Cheese is both – fattening and addicting. And that’s the problem,” explains Dr. Neal Barnard in his new book, The Cheese Trap: How Breaking a Surprising Addiction Will Help You Lose Weight, Gain Energy, and Get Healthy (available for purchase at PETACatalog.com). How does someone become addicted to cheese? When digested, it releases chemicals called casomorphins that make their way to the brain and attach to opiate receptors – the very same ones activated by heroin and other narcotics. Not only does cheese have more calories per ounce than Coca-Cola and more salt than potato chips, says Barnard, it’s also loaded with saturated fat. Take cheddar, for example: Sixty percent of its fat is saturated, compared to 14 percent in olive oil. That kind of bad fat has been associated with heart disease, type 2 diabetes, and an

elevated risk for Alzheimer’s disease. It has been shown that women who consume just one-half to one serving of high-fat dairy products per day have a 20 percent higher risk of dying of breast cancer than do those who eat little to no high-fat dairy products. Cheese spells bad news for men, too: In one study, among men attending a fertility clinic, those who ate larger quantities of it had a sperm count 28 percent lower than did those who ate less than half a serving per day. And tyramine, a compound found in aged cheeses, can trigger migraines.

The Cheese Trap is available for purchase at PETACatalog.com.

12 GOOD (and bad) EATS

Life without dairy doesn't need to be scary ... Try These Delicious Cheese-Free Dishes

(Recipes by Dreena Burton)

Cheese Head: © iStock.com/luckydunny | Cow: © iStock.com/esvetleishaya | Recipes: © Jackie Sobon | Pasta: © iStock.com/Jaromila

The end is nearly in sight. We have to keep pushing.

YOU’LL NEED • 1 lb. pack of fettuccine or other dry pasta • 1/2 cup soaked raw cashews • 1 Tbsp. tahini • 2 tsp. chickpea miso or other mild miso • 2-3 cloves garlic, peeled • 1/2 tsp. dry mustard • 1 tsp. sea salt • 1 1/2 cups plain nondairy milk • 1/2 cup cooked red or yellow potatoes, peeled and cubed or mashed • 1 1/2Tbsp. freshly squeezed lemon juice • Few pinches grated nutmeg and/or black pepper • 1/4 to 1/2 cup water Fabulous Fettuccine Alfredo Purée the cashews, tahini, miso, garlic, mustard, salt and 1 cup of the nondairy milk in a blender until smooth. Add the remaining 1/2 cup of nondairy milk, the potatoes, lemon juice, and nutmeg or pepper and purée until smooth. Transfer to the pasta pot. Swish the sauce remaining in the blender with the water and add to the pasta. Warm over medium-low heat, tossing gently until the sauce thickens, just a minute or two. Serve. METHOD Cook the pasta in a large pot of salted boiling water according to package directions. Drain.

Luscious Cashew Cream Tofu ‘Feta’

YOU’LL NEED • 1 (12-oz.) pkg. extra-firm tofu, cut into 1/2-in. to 3/4-in. cubes • 1 1/2 cups water • 1/4 cup red wine vinegar • 2 cloves garlic, roughly sliced or chopped • 1/2 tsp. sea salt For the Marinade:

This cream is wonderful for topping potatoes and casseroles or to add to sauces and soups for a touch of creaminess.

YOU’LL NEED • 1 cup soaked raw cashews • 1/4 tsp. sea salt • 1/2 to 2/3 cup water

• 1 1/2Tbsp. chickpea or other mild miso • 2 Tbsp. fresh-squeezed lemon juice • 1 1/2 to 2 Tbsp. red wine vinegar • 1/2 tsp. pure maple syrup • 1 tsp. dried oregano • 1/4 to 1/2 cup minced green olives or kalamata olives METHOD In a large saucepan, combine the tofu, water, vinegar, garlic, and salt and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer for 15 to 20 minutes, uncovered. If some of the tofu is not completely covered, stir occasionally to distribute evenly. To prepare the marinade, combine the miso, lemon juice, vinegar, maple syrup, and oregano in a medium bowl or baking dish. Whisk well, then stir in the olives. Drain the tofu. While still warm, transfer to the bowl with the marinade. Stir gently to coat, and combine well. Cover and refrigerate for up to 1 week.

METHOD In a blender, purée the cashews, salt, and 1/2 cup water until very smooth. (A high powered blender works best to give a silky consistency.) For a thinner consistency, add additional water 1 tablespoonful at a time.

Makes 1 cup

Makes about 2 1/2 cups

Makes 4 servings

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HOW ALEC BALDWIN HELPED

PETA TAKE DOWN THE BIG TOP

Alec Baldwin and PETA President Ingrid Newkirk at PETA’s Hollywood Awards Gala. Comedian and Actor is dead serious about saving animals in circuses and roadside zoos.

“Having worked with actors for many years, it’s hard for me to believe that anyone would have to be dragged kicking and screaming into show business, but for the elephants with Ringling Bros. and other circuses, that’s exactly what happens.” That’s how Alec Baldwin began his narration of PETA’s video exposé of Ringling Bros. back in 2012. It was one of PETA’s many tactics that raised awareness of circuses’ abusive practices. The video made headlines around the world, and major news outlets – including Newsday, the Daily Mail, and others – reported on the heartbreaking footage. It helped bring about the sea change in public opinion that eventually led the circus to take elephants off the road and, finally, to announce that it would close. But the story doesn’t end there. Baldwin is a vocal opponent of the abuse of animals for entertainment, even appearing on Capitol Hill with PETA to talk about the issue. He once memorably remarked that animals in circuses “don’t come out of the womb with a top hat in one hand and a cane in the other. In order to make these animals perform in ways that they were not meant to perform, they’ve got to be beaten and abused.”

Now, he’s advocating for the other animals still suffering in show business. “After 146 years of abusing elephants and tigers in the name of ‘entertainment,’ Ringling Bros. circus is finished,” he says. “Now, we need to make sure that remaining circuses, marine parks, roadside zoos, bear pits, and any other atrocities that mistreat animals are also tossed on the trash heap of history, where they belong.” To that end, Baldwin recently teamed up with PETA to narrate a video about the lives of captive bears imprisoned by roadside zoos and traveling shows. “People talk about the right to bear arms,” he begins in the exposé. “After seeing this video, you might want to push for the right to arm bears.” The footage vividly demonstrates that animals suffer when they’re held captive for entertainment purposes, regardless of the context. In nature, bears roam hundreds of miles and are active for 18 hours a day, but in barren enclosures, they pace continuously – a sign of severe mental distress. They gnaw on chain-link fencing in frustration and are reduced to begging for morsels of food from tourists. In a letter to the US Department of Agriculture, Baldwin called on officials to “recognize

the cruelty and danger inherent in bear pits and ban this archaic form of confinement without delay.”

Of course, ticket sales are what keep animals imprisoned in these roadside hellholes and deprived of any semblance of a real life. Baldwin’s advice: Stay away! “As long as well-meaning people continue to go to roadside zoos and shows,” he says, “the bears will continue to suffer.”

14 NEVER FORGET

Quantico Star Priyanka Chopra Is the Elephant in the (Class)room

ELLIE’S EVOLUTION For several years, Ellie was a PETA member dressed in an elephant costume. As engaging and effective as she was in that incarnation, PETA is always looking for innovative ways to teach empathy – and in 2015, its Innovations Department got to work. Combining electrical engineering, mechanics, robotics, and artistry, the team hunkered down in a studio for three months to create today’s animatronic Ellie. When she arrived at PETA’s Los Angeles headquarters, the Bob Barker Building, staff from the veterinary clinic nearby raced over to ask if she was real and why PETA had her in the back of a truck. With her lifelike appearance, it’s easy to see why Ellie is able to elicit empathy in kids of all ages.

Alec Baldwin & Ingrid Newkirk: © Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic | Alec Baldwin at circus demo: © Ilya Savenok/FilmMagic

S he’s a 6-and-a-half-foot-tall showstopper, and since she first joined PETA in August 2015, she’s persuaded 41,000 kids (and counting!) to stop going to animal circuses. Meet Ellie, PETA’s walking, talking robotic elephant, voiced by Quantico star Priyanka Chopra. “Ellie is teaching kids that elephants belong in the wild, with their families, and that they suffer in captivity, where they’re subjected to abuse and unable to engage in natural behavior,” says Chopra. “I’m pleased to join with PETA in bringing Ellie to life for children everywhere.” Most kids love animals, but not all children are aware of the horrors faced by elephants and other animals in the circus. This is where Ellie comes in – and when she comes in, she stirs up excitement. At a Bakersfield, California, school, students jumped up and down to peer through the tiny window of a classroom door just to catch a glimpse of her. They enthusiastically debated about her: “Is that a REAL elephant?” “No, there’s no way!” “Are you sure?” During her presentation, Ellie says, “In the circus, the first thing I remember is being taken away from my mom. I struggled and fought, but a whole bunch of men surrounded me, and they used ropes. I could hear my mom crying out for me, and I was crying, too. I was so scared.”

She recounts the physical punishment that she endured, talks about her happy life at a sanctuary after being rescued by PETA, and makes a plea to kids, stating, “If your family is thinking about taking a trip to a circus or aquarium, say, ‘No, thank you’! Tell your family and friends my story. Explain that animals deserve to be in their real homes, in the wild, not in cages and swimming pools.” “Elephants are truly magnificent creatures, who desperately need our help and protection,” Chopra says. Praising PETA’s Ellie project, she adds, “This is amazing, and hopefully it will catch on and help teach children and adults the reality of circuses.” Ellie definitely has caught on. One clearly bedazzled student at a school in Oakland, California, asked, “Why don’t circuses just use robots instead?” Ellie will continue to tour and inform kids about animals in captivity through the spring of 2018. Invite Ellie to Your School! Want to book Ellie for a presentation? Contact TeachKind at TeachKind@peta.org.

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Exposed Muscular Dystrophy Experiments Mean Misery for Dogs

A golden retriever slumps on the floor of a slatted metal cage, drooling profusely because of severely weakened jaw muscles, which make swallowing nearly impossible. A dog with atrophied esophageal muscles and an enlarged tongue struggles to swallow thin, watery gruel – coughing, gagging, and spattering the mush on the cage bars and floor. Teetering unsteadily, another tries desperately to walk, despite leg muscles that have wasted away. Shocking video footage that PETA obtained from inside laboratories in the US and France shows these and other dogs – who have been purposely bred to develop a canine form of muscular dystrophy (MD) – suffering in cruel muscle-wasting experiments. Since PETA released the footage, nearly 75,000 people have sent letters demanding an end to these experiments, which put dogs through hell and don’t help humans. PETA is pushing hard for these inhumane laboratories to be closed and for funds to be redirected to modern, non-animal studies (see sidebar). Dogs Bred to Suffer At Texas A&MUniversity, golden retrievers and other dogs in experimenter Joe Kornegay’s laboratory are bred

to develop different types of MD, including a canine version of Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD), which is particularly severe. Puppies born with this disease are so weak at birth that they require extra nutrition. By 6 weeks of age – when they should be exploring their surroundings and romping with their littermates – their hind limbs have shifted forward, making it difficult for them to walk. Their jaw muscles weaken so severely that some can’t even fully open their mouths. Dogs with this condition are also at high risk for pneumonia, because they can easily inhale liquid into their lungs. To gauge how much a dog’s muscles have deteriorated, Kornegay has invented a crude technique that could easily pass for medieval torture: He repeatedly stretches them with a motorized lever to cause them to tear. In one experiment, dogs endured this procedure 30 times. Those who don’t have the disease but carry the canine DMD gene are used as breeding machines to produce more puppies for these gruesome experiments. Deprived of loving homes, they frantically pace the slatted floors and bite the bars of their cages in frustration. They’re denied even the small comfort of a blanket.

16 BAD MEDICINE

Human-Relevant Methods Hold Hope While dogs used in these experiments languish and die, so do humans who are suffering from this terrible disease: Despite three decades of experiments on dogs, not one has led to a cure or even an effective treatment that reverses the symptoms of DMD in humans. Analysis of MD studies using dogs has shown that there are serious pitfalls to trying to apply the findings to humans. Some experiments on dogs have even produced the opposite results in humans. For a French animal rights activist and MD sufferer named Pascaline, the push to end MD experiments on animals is personal. “Wanting to cure a serious disease does not justify, for me, the practice of making other sensitive beings suffer and exploiting them,” she said in a recent 12 MINUTES documentary. “We have lost 50, 60 years. All the money that we invested in [animal experiments], in fact, [could] have been invested directly in the substitute methods.” As Pascaline knows, it is in advanced, non-animal methods that real hope lies. Scientists have recently used sophisticated technology to restore dystrophin function in human cells

“There’s no question that if we showed them our myopathic dogs, they would risk losing a lot of money.”

obtained from actual patients with DMD, a discovery that may result in treatment for up to 60 percent of people suffering from the disease. Researchers are also finding ways to grow functional human muscle tissue that could be transplanted into patients in order to restore muscle function or that could be used to screen potential new drugs. In addition, scientists at Harvard University recently engineered a human DMD “tongue-on-a chip,” which uses muscle stem cells from patients with DMD in order to recreate human muscle tissue on thin, microfluidic devices. Using this model, the scientists were partly able to explain why muscle regeneration fails in these patients.

Ian Hughes Muscular Dystrophy Sufferer

What AFM-Téléthon Donations Really Pay For Video footage given to PETA France by the group Animal Testing shows that dogs are subjected to the same misery at France’s Alfort National Veterinary School. Most of them never reach adulthood. Some are completely crippled before they turn 6 months old, and half endure an agonizing death before the age of 10 months. Some can’t even eat; their muscles are so deteriorated that they must be fed through a stomach tube. If they survive long enough, they’ll eventually develop heart problems, because the disease attacks and weakens the cardiac muscle. An employee at this laboratory acknowledged in the video footage that these animals are suffering. “I wouldn’t like to be in the beagle’s place,” he said. “The suffering is real.” So why do these experiments continue? Well-meaning people make donations with the intention of helping to find a cure or treatment for MD, but they have no idea what they’re really paying for. An official even admitted on camera that the laboratory could lose funding if the public saw the dogs’ condition. “There’s no question that if we showed them our myopathic dogs, they would risk losing a lot of money,” he said. The group Animal Testing showed people exactly what their donations are paying for by releasing the damning video footage to the French national publication L’Obs.

As someone who’s afflicted with it, I can tell you that I wouldn’t wish MD on my worst enemy, let alone on defenceless animals. These cruel experiments aren’t working – there’s still no cure or effective treatment for MD. But don’t misunderstand me: the choice is not between animals and humans – it’s between good science and bad science, between methods that lead to findings with direct relevance to humans and those that don’t. It’s time to switch to humane, effective, and modern non animal research which doesn’t cause animals to suffer and which offers those with MD real hope. I urge Texas A&M to end its experiments on dogs now.

The magazine ran an exclusive article about the experiments just one day before the national fundraising drive began for AFM Téléthon, which funds the experiments at the Alfort National Veterinary School.

F I N D O U T W H A Y B A C K P G E • B E T H E C H A N G E ! • C N D O - T U R

T H E F U R O A N I M L S D E P     O N W H A T E D • B E T H E C H A N G E ! •

T H E F U R O A N I M L S D E P     O N W H A T E D • B E T H E C H A N G E ! •

T H E F U R O A N I M L S D E P     O N W H A T E D • B E T H E C H A N G E ! •

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