As Australia experiences the impact of climate change, with droughts and other manifestations of extreme weather, our quirky challenge is meant to highlight the extent of water use in animal agriculture. A single day of eating vegan saves 4,160 litres of water – the equivalent of four months of taking showers – and animal agriculture significantly contributes to greenhouse gas emissions and subsequent climate change.

If the minister chooses to go vegan, we’ll send her a delicious hamper of vegan goodies to get started. If she opts not to shower, we’ll send her some cruelty-free deodorant and pegs for her cabinet colleagues to wear on their noses.

Recently, the Australian National University and the Australian Research Council’s Centre of Excellence for Climate Extremes made a dire forecast: that Australia is looking at more than 20 years of “megadroughts” – and that’s before factoring in the human impact on the climate. “The only thing we can do to lessen the potential severity and length of future droughts is to rapidly reduce greenhouse gas emissions,” notes one of the study’s co-authors.

Earth Day is designed to highlight the biggest environmental challenges we face today, but it’s not just about ending fossil fuels. Animal agriculture is Australia’s third-largest source of greenhouse gas emissions, behind the energy and transport sectors. Methane from animals on farms accounts for most of the nation’s agricultural emissions and has more than 80 times the warming power of carbon dioxide over its first 20 years in the atmosphere. Farming animals is also remarkably water intensive. Each Australian cow raised for beef drinks up to 112 litres every day – and there are almost 27 million of them.

We’re sure that the idea of going six months without washing feels uncomfortable, perhaps even unimaginable. Happily, going vegan is as enjoyable as it is ethical. Opting to forgo animal-derived products is one way we all can make a far greater positive impact than by not taking showers – not only for the environment but also for animals. Sign up to receive e-mails with information and tips on vegan living:

Article source: PETA Action Alerts

In October 2023, a PETA Asia investigator recorded video footage showing that two cows with Australian ear tags were thrashing around on an abattoir floor after workers slashed their throats. Both animals were still kicking and one was heard gurgling as they were dragged by their legs across the filthy floors and hoisted. One of the cows continued to struggle until a worker cut deeper into her throat.

Similar Findings Revealed in 2021

In 2021, PETA Asia investigated seven randomly selected abattoirs – some of which were part of the Australian government’s Exporter Supply Chain Assurance System (ESCAS) – where animals from Australia were put into restraint boxes and repeatedly shot with a captive-bolt gun before their throats were cut. Workers sometimes failed to stun animals effectively – if at all. Some were simply shoved into a restraint box, and their throats were then slashed. One panicked, still-conscious animal whose head was dangling from his neck was writhing in pain as a worker carved up his flesh and attempted to sever his head.

Little has changed since PETA Asia’s earlier investigation. Even though exporters are required to ensure compliance with ESCAS standards, Australia’s meat industry still ships cattle overseas to countries where they are killed in ways that would be illegal in Australia.

Government Failure

The Australian government has done nothing to stop this rampant abuse. Even though the Labor Party promised during its election campaign in 2019 to phase out the live export of sheep over five years, cattle weren’t included and the party has since refused to commit to a timeline for helping sheep. Nothing has changed.

Widespread Abuse Around the World

The horrors seen in PETA Asia’s footage are not exclusive to Australia. Around the world, countries export cows, sheep, pigs, and other animals for slaughter abroad. They are crammed onto filthy lorries and ships where they languish for days – sometimes even weeks. Deprived of rest and breaks, they are left standing in their own waste without sufficient water or food, resulting in the loss of many lives. Imagine being trapped in a car for weeks.

Animals often don’t survive these dangerous journeys. In 2022, a ship sunk in the Red Sea with 15,000 sheep on board. Across the sea that same year, nearly 800 bulls were sent back to France and killed after a spat between France and Algeria.

You Can Change This Reality

The live-export industry is the meat and leather industry. If you buy meat or leather, you’re paying for this cruelty.

Many blame governments or policymakers, but the responsibility lies with us. Animals will continue to be crammed onto ships and bleed out on abattoir floors as long as humans consume animal-derived products.

The solution to preventing cruelty to animals is to go vegan.

We’re closer than ever to stopping boats crammed with terrified animals from leaving our shores, but we need your help.

Article source: PETA Files

Sea World on the Gold Coast is notorious for its lack of transparency – little is known about the approximately 60 bottlenose dolphins listed on the website Ceta-Base as having died at the park. In the open ocean, dolphins swim many kilometres a day alongside their families and communicate over vast distances by unique dialects of pulsed calls, whistles, and clicks that are passed down from generation to generation. In marine parks, they languish in pools filled with chemically treated water. They never get to dive deep, feel the ocean currents, or choose what to eat.

While shooting the PETA ad, Crosby shared the story of an abused mother, Morgan, an orca born in the wild who has been forced to perform tricks for the past 12 years at the notorious Loro Parque in Tenerife, Spain. “The story of Morgan and Ula shatters my heart as a mam,” says Crosby. “It’s actually devastating to even think about.” She goes on to explain that, in addition to having no bodily autonomy and often being denied the chance to care for their young, animals held at marine parks endure lives of intense deprivation. “Knowing what these animals go through … they have no freedom. They are deprived of everything,” Crosby says. “They are living in the most awful, awful circumstances and conditions. It’s just cruelty to animals. That is all it is.”

Dolphins are wild animals, not performers, but at Sea World in Queensland, they’re confined to cramped, unnatural enclosures and their intelligence is exploited in shows for human entertainment. Please join us in urging the Queensland government to stop dolphin breeding and ensure captive dolphins are retired at a sea sanctuary.

Article source: PETA Files

PETA’s letter to Royal Agricultural Society of New South Wales President John Bennett encouraging him to make the event vegan points out that currently, the show involves over 6,500 non-consenting animals, who are tied up, pulled around, roughly handled, robbed of their fleece, and ridden. In contrast, a vegan event could feature harmless, family-friendly activities such as a vegan sausage-eating contest, a hobby horse race, and a potato-sculpting competition.

Animal agriculture is one of the world’s leading causes of environmental destruction, requiring massive amounts of land, food, water, and energy while emitting huge quantities of greenhouse gases. In Australia, the red meat industry contributes around 10% – over 46 million tonnes – of greenhouse gas emissions nationally. Despite this, Meat Livestock Australia concedes it won’t meet its own net zero emissions target and says that doing so is unnecessary. PETA writes that “given that raising cattle for beef is the nation’s leading cause of deforestation, the Sydney Royal Easter Show celebrates an industry responsible for koala habitat destruction, pollinator decline, and coral reef degradation”.

‘Grow’ Vegan

You don’t need to wait for the Sydney Royal Easter Show to make the switch – go vegan today! Sign up to receive e-mails with information and tips on vegan living:

Article source: PETA Files

Our letter includes a mock-up of the proposed message and explains to the mayor that fish are misunderstood and much maligned, but in all the ways that matter – including the ability to feel pain – they’re no different than you, me, or any other animal, including those with whom many of us share our homes.

Fish are smart and social. They can recognise shoalmates and change their behaviour to avoid hazards they’ve seen other fish fall victim to. Some gather information by cleverly eavesdropping, and others use tools. All of them suffer when they’re yanked from their watery homes – gasping for air while they suffocate – before being beheaded and gutted.

While the famed Adaminaby landmark represents a freshwater rainbow trout, PETA warns that all fishing is environmentally destructive. One-third of freshwater fish species are now threatened with extinction, and ocean trawlers damage delicate ecosystems and release planet-warming carbon. Abandoned ghost gear from all kinds of fishing harms animals long after it’s left behind, killing some 150,000 seals and cetaceans annually. Farming fish is no solution. Aside from the cruelty of confining living, feeling beings, these facilities increase the risk of disease and pollute waterways with nitrogen and phosphorus, leading to deadly algal blooms.

Want to take steps towards helping fish and other animals? Sign up to receive e-mails with information and tips on vegan living, and learn why fishing is always wrong:

Steven Walker

Article source: PETA Files

The two python farms that PETA Asia’s investigators visited supply skins to Caravel, a tannery owned by fashion conglomerate Kering, the parent company of Gucci, Yves Saint Laurent, and other brands.

Kering is supporting the immense suffering and horrifically violent death of animals as long as it allows its brands to sell python, crocodile, and other exotic skins.

Watch the video footage and use the form below to speak up in behalf of animals.

Sick Pythons, Filthy Living Conditions

In nature, pythons warm themselves in the sun, climb trees, swim, and explore extensive ranges. On the two python farms that PETA Asia’s investigators visited – Closed-Cycle Breeding International (CCBI) and Sisatchanalai Python Farm – workers kept snakes in small, barren boxes and cages, some of which were filled with faeces.

To maximise output, employees at CCBI bred female pythons with three or four different male pythons in one breeding season. The owner admitted that some pythons die as a result of fighting with each other during the breeding season.

CCBI’s owner, during a tour of his father’s facility, Sisatchanalai Python Farm, directed an investigator’s attention to an emaciated snake, noting that he or she likely “didn’t eat for a long time” and that “they should get rid of it … it’s better to kill [the snake]”. The owner said that another snake who hadn’t shed properly – causing scales to become stuck to their eyes – should be killed.

The owner of Sisatchanalai Python Farm told an investigator that in addition to Caravel, he sells skins to Gucci and Louis Vuitton.

Pythons Bashed With Hammers, Impaled With Hooks

The investigators documented that workers pin struggling pythons down by the neck and bash them over the head with a hammer before driving metal hooks through their head. To make their skins easier to remove, workers inflate the snakes with water, even as they continue to move. According to Dr Clifford Warwick, a reptile expert who reviewed the footage, it’s likely that most of the animals were conscious during this horrifically painful process. The snakes were then skinned.

CCBI’s owner claimed that his workers put pythons in a chilled room for one day before slaughtering them, but there’s no scientific evidence that imposed hypothermia (intentionally causing a reduction in core temperature) has any meaningful effect on reducing sensitivity or awareness in snakes.

According to the owner, at the time of the investigation, CCBI confined some 15,000 pythons at a massive factory-farm operation – one of the largest that PETA Asia has investigated. It slaughters approximately 2,000 snakes during its busy season, typically killing 20 to 30 pythons a day. The owner told an investigator about the farm’s contract with Caravel to supply it with 5,000 skins in 2024.

Kering’s Complicity in Snakes’ Suffering

Despite indisputable documentation of abuse at facilities that supply Kering with exotic skins – including PETA Asia’s 2021 investigation into an Indonesian slaughterhouse that provides Gucci with lizard skins – the company continues to tout its Animal Welfare Standards, which specify that animals must have “room to move around freely” and be “managed to promote good health and treated immediately should disease or injury be discovered”. The standards also require “humane handling at end of life”. Claims of upholding these standards were proved false by PETA Asia’s investigations.

Make a Difference for Snakes

PETA and international PETA entities have repeatedly exposed the cruelty in the exotic-skins trade on three continents, which includes pumping snakes full of compressed air and scrambling alligators’ brains with metal rods.

Please don’t support this suffering. Never buy anything made of the skin of animals. There are so many humane and eco-friendly vegan materials available today, and there’s no excuse for continuing to wear or sell exotic skins.

Urge Kering to Drop Exotic Skins

“Humane standards” are meaningless and nothing more than an excuse to continue the cruel cycle of abuse and slaughter. These sensitive, complex animals just want to be left in peace, and every accessory made of their skin represents enormous pain and suffering.

Please join us in calling for Kering to stop selling anything made of the skin of pythons or other animals through Gucci, Yves Saint Laurent, or any of its other brands.

Article source: PETA Files

Australians take a whopping number of domestic flights – more than 57 million passengers flew within the country in 2023. Many of us consider animals part of the family, so it’s no surprise that we’d want to take these companions along when flying for a holiday, for a weekend city break, or to visit home for Christmas. And as guardians know, making arrangements for animals to be cared for is stressful, and no airline in the country allows companion animals on board in the cabin. But that could all soon change.

What We Know

Virgin Australia has said that the service is subject to regulatory approval and likely to launch within 12 months, pending planning and stakeholder consultation. Small dogs and cats would be allowed to be booked on specific routes and accommodated in a limited number of designated rows in an approved carrier. There would be a charge for bringing a companion animal on board, but the new policy would not result in any change to approved assistance animals being able to travel in the cabin of a Virgin Australia aircraft at no additional cost.

PETA applauds Virgin’s decision to offer the service as an alternative to the stressful and even deadly trips for animals in the cargo hold. Even in the cabin, animals’ health, temperament, and travel logistics must be considered before packing up and heading off on a trip. In some cases, it may still be better to leave your animal friends at home in the care of a trusted guardian, such as an adult relative, close friend, coworker, or neighbour.

Flying With Cats or Dogs

If your animal friend must fly, the following tips can help make the experience a safe one:

• Plan ahead, and ensure you understand airlines’ restrictions and rules when it comes to flying with animals in order to avoid problems.
• Be sure to use a sturdy, escape-proof carrier. Cats in particular can easily squeeze through small openings. Airlines will likely have specific guidelines for approved carriers. Double-check the carrier’s clasp and consider padlocking it. The carrier must be adequately ventilated and have a sizable rim around the sides so that the air holes won’t be covered if the cage is pressed against a wall or luggage.
• Open the carrier several days before the trip and put blankets, toys, and treats inside so that your animal companion will view it as a cosy den.
• Do not put a lead inside the carrier because they could become tangled in it and suffocate.
• To prevent an animal from suffering from an upset stomach, it may be advisable not to feed him or her for six to eight hours before the flight. Check with your vet. Provide water immediately before placing him or her in the carrier. Only tranquilise animals if they are frantic and could hurt themselves by trying to escape. In such cases, use a veterinarian-prescribed tranquiliser or a natural herbal remedy, but test it ahead of time to make sure that it will work for your companion.
• Make sure that animals are wearing a collar and an identification tag, and take some temporary tags with you – one for each place that you will be staying (but be sure to keep the permanent tag on as well).

If you absolutely must bring your animal friend and they can only travel in the cargo hold, take the following precautions:

• Always book a nonstop flight. During transfers, animals are at an increased risk of accidents, trauma, and escape. If you must transfer, ask about the airline’s transfer policy. Most will not transfer animals to a connecting flight; you will need to retrieve them at the baggage claim area and recheck them.
• Avoid travelling in extreme temperatures. Many airlines don’t allow animals to fly in the cargo hold during hot summer months.
• Verify that the carrier’s baggage-claim tag shows the correct destination and is securely attached.
• Mark the carrier with the animal’s name and your name, address, phone number, and destination. Write “live animal” in at least 1-inch-high letters with arrows showing which side is up. Because the baggage compartment of the plane contains areas in which animals cannot be safely placed, make sure that airline workers situate your companion in the proper area. Tape a note to the carrier with large letters reading, “Please make sure that I’m placed in the live bin!”
• Fill animals’ water dishes with ice cubes instead of water, which can easily spill.
• When you check in, ask the gate agent if you can speak to the ramp supervisor for your flight to offer that person any information that you feel may be useful about the handling of your animal companion.
• If the flight is delayed, inform the crew that an animal is on board and ask that the captain be informed. If the delay is lengthy, animals must be removed from the plane until flight time. Insist on this. You are the only person who is going to protect your animal companion.
• Watch as the animal is loaded into the cargo area to ensure that he or she is on the same plane. If you cannot watch, ask the flight attendant to phone the cargo area to make sure that the animal is on the plane before you board.
• When you reach your destination, retrieve animals immediately. If they appear to be ill or injured, rush them to a veterinarian.

Article source: PETA Action Alerts

“Bullfighting is the ritualised killing of innocent animals, who have no choice but to enter the ring. They stand no chance of coming out alive. It is the killing of living, feeling beings for entertainment and pleasure. … Our LGBT+ community has long fought against oppression and injustice. … Not only is torturing animals to death in a bullring morally indefensible, it also flies in the face of the altruistic values we stand for as a community.”
– Peter Tatchell

Archaic Spectacle

Every year, thousands of bulls are tormented and slaughtered in bullrings around the world. They are repeatedly speared and stabbed until – suffering from painful injuries and exhausted from blood loss – they are killed by a sword to the heart or a knife to the spine.

Matadors may even cut off a bull’s ears or tail as a trophy, sometimes while the animal is still conscious.

What You Can Do

• Push for legislative change by signing petitions and supporting initiatives that challenge the legality of bullfighting. In Spain, animal advocates are gathering signatures for the popular legislative initiative #NoEsMiCultura. If successful, the initiative would strike down Law 18/2013, which regulates and protects bullfighting in Spain as cultural heritage.
• Refuse to attend bullfights or participate in any events that promote cruelty to animals when travelling.
• Please also sign our petition to the prime minister of Spain calling for a national ban on bullfights and bull runs:

Jo-Anne McArthur | We Animals

Article source: PETA Files

From Nazareth to the Vatican and from New Delhi to Kathmandu, gospel musician Kameron Waters and documentary director Kip Anderson questioned world-renowned theologians, Christian farmers, Indigenous shamans, archaeologists, and religious leaders and asked them to explain why cruelty to animals is accepted around the world, even though compassion is supposedly the uniting core principle of all world religions.

The historical texts and facts that they found – some hiding in plain sight and others deeply buried – are explosive. Christspiracy reveals truths that many lifelong Christians, Muslims, Jews, Hindus, and Buddhists have never heard. For those of us who have felt isolated and confused by seemingly conflicting values, the film offers hope: clear and compelling evidence that great religious leaders absolutely rejected harming and killing animals. This revelation has massive implications for how we conduct our moral lives.

Listen to PETA US’ conversation with director Anderson on The PETA Podcast.

Thanks to the support of believers around the world, the film will be released globally in more than 600 theatres on 20 March with an encore screening on 24 March. Find your nearest screening and get tickets here.

Article source: PETA Action Alerts

The spot was created by global integrated marketing agency Samy Alliance with creative direction from Santiago Lucero. It was directed by MM (Martin Jalfen and Mike Usandivaras) and produced by ROMA Productions.

Don’t Be Part of the Blood Bath

It’s time everyone took off the blinders – help friends and family see the reality. Leather is just hairless fur, produced by an industry defined by animal suffering.

Show this video to everyone you know and commit to never buying leather. Sign our pledge today.

The Violence Behind Leather Belts and Shoes

Exposés by PETA entities have shown that animal leather is always the product of extreme violence – no matter where it comes from.

The more than 1 billion animals exploited annually around the world for leather endure horrific abuse. In India, cows’ tails are routinely broken and irritants like tobacco and even chillis are rubbed into their eyes to force them to trek up to 60 miles to an abattoir.

Inside abattoirs, cows are thrown onto bloodied floors with their feet bound. Sometimes their legs are hacked off while they’re still conscious. Some endure the agony of being skinned alive while others are shot in the head before their throats are slit.

Calf Leather Is Tearing Families Apart

Much of the skin used for misleadingly labelled “luxury” fashion comes from calves who were torn away from their mothers just hours after they were born. A mother’s instinct to protect her babies is intense. Just like us, cows share a strong, loving bond with their young, and no handbag or jacket can justify the trauma of separation or the horror they endure at abattoirs.

Remember: any item branded “calf leather” came from the violent splitting up of families and slaughter of babies.

Calves Are Mutilated for Leather Bags and Belts

It is standard industry practice for workers to punch holes in calves’ ears, castrate them without the use of painkillers. Some are also forced to endure the agony of their faces being branded with hot irons.

It’s Not Just Cows

In China, dogs and cats are also killed for their skin, which are often mislabelled and sold to unsuspecting buyers. So if you wear leather, there’s no way of knowing whose skin you’re in.

A Toxic Industry

As well as being cruel, leather is terrible for the planet. Each year, the global leather industry produces 600 million cubic metres of effluent. Industry studies have identified that cow leather is fashion’s most environmentally devastating material, and over 90% of the damage occurs before skins even reach the tannery, where up to 170 unique chemicals are used.

Which Designers Will Become Vegan Fashion Leaders?

We applaud Victoria Beckham for her label’s policy against fur and exotic skins. PETA UK has sent her this video in the hope that it will inspire the mother of four to extend compassion to others. By ending the use of all animal skin across her brand, she’d spare desperate mothers and babies the trauma of being torn away from one another.

Choose Vegan Leather

Innovative plant-based leathers are already available, including those made from cactus, olive, and grape as well as the plastic-free material Mirum. We’ve put these handy guides together to make choosing animal- and planet-friendly materials easy and vegan shopping a breeze.

Article source: PETA Files