Program areas at PETA
Research, investigations, and rescues receiving hundreds of complaints related to animal abuse and neglect each week, peta works to rescue abused, neglected, and at-risk Animals and organize care for them. Peta also investigates cruelty cases, conducts investigations, gathers evidence of legal violations, and engages in investigative journalism and newsgathering. In addition, it takes action to ensure the enforcement of laws and regulations. Pancake (so named by petas field team because shed had so little interaction with humans that she flattened herself to the ground upon their approach) was chained for years, neglected, and frequently deprived of food and water. After being kept in isolation, she had to learn how to overcome a lifetime of fear and anxiety. Pancake was fostered and has been adopted by a patient family dedicated to rehabilitating her and helping her build confidence and start enjoying her life. Her story was featured in People magazine and in the Washington post magazine article a dogs life: why are so many People so cruel to their dogs? By two-time pulitzer prize winners journalist gene weingarten and photojournalist michael s. williamson. Petas animal rescue team visited puerto rico with the goal of improving several animal shelters on the island. the team helped build catios to get cats out of cramped cages and taught shelter staff how to introduce dogs into playgroups safely so that they could enjoy more space, playtime, and socialization. for safety, enrichment, and exercise, the team built a puppy socialization area and repaired outdoor fencing so more dogs could enjoy the yards. Petas mobile clinics division added a stationary clinic in ashland, Virginia. This clinic has much more space than the mobile clinics and can do bloodwork and x-rays. A new mobile clinic was also added to the fleet in order to serve more locations. Peta exposed a Missouri puppy mill that denied care to thin and injured dogs and kept others in filthy conditions without adequate shelter, a Texas couple who kept dying sugar gliders among others rotting remains and thousands more in cages teeming with roaches, and a pet trade supplier in Michigan who left 1,500 hamsters caged amid feces and the rotting remains of others. After a pandemic-related two-year hiatus, petas poochella adoption event returned and five local animal shelters participated. the organization welcomed the public into its bea arthur dog park in norfolk, Virginia, to meet adoptable dogs, and several of them, including peta-rescued eleanor, a former hunting dog, found wonderful homes with loving families. After a compassionate person called peta about emaciated sheep kept in a barren pen at a rural convenience store, caseworkers talked to their owner, who agreed that their needs were not being met. Camellia and her lamb, marigold, recovered in foster care and are thriving in a permanent home. When a victim of domestic violence contacted peta because she wanted to leave her abuser but not her dogs, the organization helped find safe places for all of them. A u.s. department of agriculture (usda) judge revoked the federal animal welfare act (awa) license of a Pennsylvania guinea pig breeder whom peta found denying severely injured Animals veterinary care. After peta alerted local humane investigators, the perpetrator was convicted of cruelty and banned from having Animals for two years. Petas undercover investigation into an Ohio breeding facility called great pets documented that guinea pigs and birds were denied care for upper respiratory infections and paralysis, crammed into dark cages and small plastic tubs, and even left to die. One frustrated bird was kept in a filthy cage so small that she couldnt even spread her wings. Peta continues to urge petland to reconsider selling Animals from this animal factory. Peta launched an investigation into a Michigan dog-breeding kennel, where the owner severed puppies tails and cut off their dewclaws as the puppies screamed in pain. Dozens of dogs penned in snow were given nothing but a few handfuls of straw per dilapidated doghouse, leaving them shiveringthe wind chill dropped as low as 1 degreeand their drinking water froze daily. After the local sheriff sat on petas evidence for a month without helping the Animals, staff and activists from across the country conducted a fourday sit-in at the sheriffs office. Two peaceful protesters were arrested. Tens of thousands of supporters e-mailed and called the department. A short while later, the county seized the 39 jack russell terriers and successfully sought their permanent forfeiture in court, and they were then placed for adoption. Animals in the experimentation industry a groundbreaking peta undercover investigation blew the lid off neglect, intense confinement, suffering, and death at envigos massive beagle- breeding facility in cumberland, Virginia. the company is an international supplier of Animals for use in experiments. Within a few months, the expos was followed by citations for dozens of violations of federal animal welfare regulations, the execution of a search warrant that resulted in law-enforcement officials seizure of nearly 450 dogs and puppies in acute distress, and a legal battle between envigo and the u.s. department of justice (doj). A federal judge approved the dojs plan to transfer all approximately 4,000 surviving dogs from envigo to shelters for adoption. the judge then entered a consent decree that permanently barred envigo from breeding and selling dogs and experimenting on Animals at the facility, which is closing down. No more dogs will be bred or born at this beagle factory farm. Following more than a decade of intense campaigning by peta, other peta entities, and grassroots activists around the world, air france announced that it would end its transport of monkeys to laboratories as soon as its current contracts end. Peta also persuaded egyptair to ban the transport of monkeys to laboratories. the pakistani government banned the use of live Animals in testing and surgical veterinary trainings in the capital, islamabad, and surrounding areas after peta sent urgent letters to three colleges implicated in gory videos showing horrific scenes of reportedly abducted dogs being subjected to invasive surgeries without having received anesthetics. the organization also sent letters to the relevant pakistani ministries in charge of professional education and veterinary trainingand it met directly with the head of prime minister shehbaz sharifs strategic reforms unit (sru) communicating petas recommendations and broader animal testing concerns urging them to embrace humane simulation models and ban training methods on Animals that arent medically necessary and dont directly benefit the Animals involved. the sru agreed with peta and initiated this landmark reform for Animals. Following discussions with peta and kindness to Animals, a partner organization in taiwan, agv products corp.a major company licensed by nestl to produce, distribute, and market its nestea products in taiwan banned animal tests not explicitly required by law. Agv had conducted or funded at least 12 cruel experiments on Animals between 2006 and 2020 in which nearly 900 Animals were mutilated and killed to support human health claims for the marketing of products sold by the corporation. for the second year in a row, not a single animal was killed in survival training drills during cobra gold 2022, a massive joint multinational military exercise held in thailand. This victory came after an intense campaign in which peta and thousands of its supporters urged the secretary of defense and the marine corps commandant to end the cruel behavior of marines participating in the annual exercise, which included beheading snakes and drinking their blood, killing chickens with their bare hands, eating live scorpions, and gutting live geckos. the taiwan food and drug administration (tfda) finalized a regulation that removes animal testing as an option for companies wanting to make blood pressure health claims for marketing their food and beverage products to consumers. the testing included feeding certain foods for at least eight weeks to rats bred to develop hypertension and measuring their blood pressure response using the stress-inducing tail-cuff method. the tfda will now require only safe and effective human tests for this purpose. This followed pressure from peta that included the submission of a detailed scientific critique at the agencys request and e-mails to agency officials from more than 50,000 supporters opposing animal experiments. Following discussions with peta, grape king biotaiwans largest biotech fermentation health food company, known there for its popular energy drinkbanned animal tests not explicitly required by law. It had conducted or funded at least 10 animal experiments from 2002 to 2020 that involved mutilating and killing more than 1,330 Animals, purportedly to support health
International grassroots campaigns peta campaigns to inform the public about the abuse and killing of Animals in the experimentation, food, clothing, and entertainment industries, among other types of cruelty. In 2022, peta organized and led 867 demonstrations and sent out millions of letters through its online advocacy campaigns to urge companies and individuals to make changes that benefit Animals. Animals in the experimentation industry dr. amy clippinger, managing director of petas regulatory toxicology department, won the 2022 society of toxicology enhancement of animal welfare award. the society of toxicology, an international scientific organization with more than 8,000 members, chose dr. clippinger for her exceptional contributions to the advancement of non-animal approaches to toxicology testing. After years of efforts by peta, the u.s. department of transportation fully accepted nonanimal methods to test corrosive materials. This updated rule will spare rabbits painful tests in which potentially hazardous substances are applied to their shaved skin to see if burns or other signs of skin damage develop. In a win for petas work to inform the public and hold the university of washington(uw) and the Washington national primate research center accountable, the king county superior court held that uw violated the state public records act by withholding records revealing financial and personnel dysfunction at the center and by maintaining a policy of destroying photos and videos of primates. the 19th judicial district court for the parish of east baton rouge ruled that Louisiana state university must turn over records peta requested related to experimenter christine lattins taxpayer-funded experiments on sparrows. Peta filed its lawsuit in december 2020 after the school refused to release public documents, including veterinary care records and videos recorded by lattin, whose experiments involved trapping sparrows, pumping sex hormones into them, exposing them to terrifying calls from predators, and then killing them. the university has appealed the decision, but peta remains confident that its victory will remain intact. A judge ruled that Oregon health & science university (ohsu) was found to have caused undue delay and unreasonably withheld videos and photos requested by peta including by taking steps to delete videos of deadly experiments in which prairie voles were given the equivalent of 15 bottles of wine a day. the judge also found that the universitys police illegally surveilled peta by subscribing to regular reports on the organizations protected first amendment activity. As a sanction, ohsu will have to pay costs and fees peta incurred in the lawsuit. Animals in the food industry paul mccartney partnered with peta and wrote to the ceo of starbucks asking to drop the vegan milk surcharge, and peta widely placed its sir paul to starbucks billboard. Peta activists also held a demonstration outside the companys headquarters, hosted vegan brew giveaways, and sent out an e-mail alert to its members. A peta representative questioned the company at its annual meeting of shareholders, too. Peta placed billboards and ads focused on a variety of issues, including a not your mom, not your milk billboard in chicago that ran through mothers day and garnered more than 20,000 in discounted ad space, im me, not meat ads in st. louis that also received a largely discounted rate, and an end speciesism ad featuring wu-tang clan cofounder rza that was posted in 75 airports across the u.s., canada, and the u.k. and will reach over 60 million travelers. Peta launched a save the whales initiative calling on People to stop eating fish and other sea life in order to save whales. the organization urged greenpeace to stop promoting sustainable fishing since encouraging fishing of any kind harms whales and the environment. Publix, walmart, and jewel-osco stopped selling chaokoh coconut milk, which uses forced monkey labor in thailand, after an investigation and campaigning by peta. Peta hosted its largest food justice giveaway ever, at a Georgia church, with pastor dr. jamal bryant, restaurateur pinky cole, and music producer jermaine dupri. It gave out hundreds of free vegan meals and vegan meal starter kits as well as 500 containers of dupris vegan ice cream. Ahead of easter, peta launched an e-mail and action alert and ran its redemption ad featuring james cromwell in multiple cities, urging wegmans and harris teeter to reconsider their business relationship with plainville farms for abuse of turkeys. the ad called out the blasphemy of humane meat and directed People of all faiths to the organizations plainville turkey farm investigation. Petas thanksvegan ad ran in the Washington times and was displayed on dozens of billboards and bus stops across the country. It was likely seen by 16 million People. Peta launched its fight the bite campaign ahead of the super bowl, including a new tv ad that received more than 1.3 million views, vegan chicken giveaways, and demonstrations outside chicken chain restaurants. the organization also partnered with local restaurants to promote their vegan wings. Petas new hell on wheels chicken truck is touring the u.s., stopping at food festivals, city centers, and other busy locations in dozens of cities. Peta created and sells a limited-edition lone star tick cookbook in its online store. the lone star tick makes People allergic to meat and other animal-derived products, and the organization wants to let everyone know that they can avoid this by eating vegan. Peta was a co-plaintiff in a successful lawsuit challenging the state of iowas second attempt at an ag-gag law. the u.s. district court for the southern district of Iowa issued an order on march 15 holding that the law criminalizing undercover investigations at factory farms, slaughterhouses, and puppy mills violates the first amendment. the states appeal of that decision is currently pending. After the court preliminarily enjoined iowas second ag-gag law, the legislature passed another law that switched the states strategy from criminalizing undercover investigations to criminalizing the use of surveillance technology during a trespass. the same plaintiffs who challenged the first two laws filed suit on august 10, 2021, challenging this third laws constitutionality. the court issued an order on september 26, 2022, finding the states third attempt at an ag-gag law also unconstitutional. Peta latino placed a billboard in the most industrial city in mexico asking kids not to eat pigs at christmastime if they wouldnt eat their dogs. the billboard caused so much controversy that People asked the states governor to take it down. the issue got widespread media coverage. Animals in the entertainment industry after years of pressure from peta, travel giant expedia stopped selling tickets to seaworld and swim with dolphins programs. for petas annual boycott seaworld day, it protested at all three park locations, called on aaa to cut ties with the company, and worked with a vegan restaurant on an empty the tanks drink, with a percentage of proceeds supporting petas work. Dozens of celebrities and influencers got involved. Across social media platforms, peta had over 3.5 million impressions for the day. During seaworlds annual meeting, peta pal joan jett called for an end to the parks dolphin- and whale-breeding programs. the global calls to release lolita from the worlds smallest orca tank, at the miami seaquarium, are stronger now than ever due to petas relentless pressure, eye-catching demonstrations, and viral social media posts and videos. A damning federal inspection report revealed a slew of animal welfare violations at the facility, including holding incompatible dolphins together who ended up dying from trauma, forcing lolita to perform tricks that likely injured her jaw, and repeatedly acting against its own veterinarians instructions. When a whistleblower reported that lolita was deathly ill at the park, peta broke the news, emphasizing the need to move her to a sanctuary as soon as possible. Thousands of peta supporters, including kate del castillo and paulina rubio, have called on the seaquariums new owner to release lolita to a seaside sanctuary. for the iditarods 50th anniversary, peta ran tv and bus ads in Alaska, held protests, published many blog posts, and issued dozens of news releases. Following years of pressure from peta and other peta entitiesincluding protests all around the world, shocking ad campaigns, and phone calls and e-mails from nearly 500,000 supportersmillennium hotels and resorts dropped its sponsorship of the iditarod and global software company nutanix followed suit. Nearly every major company has dropped its support of the iditarod following peta campaigns, and the organization ramped up the pressure on gci, an Alaskan telecommunications provider owned by liberty media. It held a demo at libertys headquarters, purchased stock
Public outreach and information peta conducts informational campaigns and publishes materials for children, high school and college students, and educators as well as factsheets, booklets, flyers, posters, and a magazine called peta global for the public and supporters. Petas campaignswhich reach millions of People and receive extensive media coverageinvolve renowned celebrities, attention-grabbing social media posts, hard-hitting videos, website features, news articles, and public service announcements, which are typically placed for free in high-exposure outlets. In fiscal year 2022, peta secured free advertising space worth nearly 15 million and logged more than 100,000 interactions with the media via news releases, letters, tweets, and radio, tv, print, and online interviews.
Cruelty-free merchandise program peta encourages and facilitates cruelty-free living by providing compassionate People around the world with consumer productssuch as cosmetics and household cleaners that arent tested on Animals, animal-care products, and animal rights t-shirtsinformational videos and books, animal-rescue equipment, and campaign materials. These items are available online through the peta mall and the peta shop. This fiscal year, peta added 676 brands and companies to its global beauty without bunnies list of companies that dont test on Animals, bringing the total number to 6,184 (and 3,511 of them are also vegan). the program was mentioned and featured by many leading industry publications and media outlets, including marie claire, People, refinery29, yahoo, cnn, harpers bazaar, forbes, huffpost, readers digest, and parade. Peta also welcomed the addition of many celebrity-backed brands, including eilish by billie eilish, rhode by hailey beiber, and af94 by halsey. In the past year, petas global beauty without bunnies searchable online database received 2,907,657 page views (an average of 242,305 views per month).