Whenever people ask where my parents got my name, I never miss a beat before saying “The X-Men.” Am I really named after Wolverine? Maybe, maybe not, but as a lifetime comic book fan I think it’s a better story than “My great-great uncle three times removed was a Civil War hero …” and, well, you get the point.

After today, though, I just might start mixing my story up a little, considering that I now share my name with another hero for animals: Boston’s Logan Airport has agreed to stop using glue traps and is the latest recipient of PETA’s Compassionate Action Award. Massachusetts Port Authority CEO Thomas Kinton Jr. made the decision to pull glue traps after learning about the days of starvation and dehydration suffered by animals who become ensnared in the inhumane death pads. As a result, airport employees have agreed to implement a no-glue-trap policy and are working with PETA to implement more humane methods of catching animals.

cec-waterjet / CC

Boston’s Logan sticks it to glue traps, I have animal-tastic blogging skills, and Wolverine is on our list of the Top 10 Animal-Friendly Superheroes … I’m beginning to see a connection. Anybody else notice that Logan and vegan only differ by two letters?

Posted by Logan Scherer

I don’t think anybody can blame Joe, Ray Romano’s character on TNT’s Men of a Certain Age, for making Patricia De León the woman of his fantasies. This former Miss Panama has jaw-dropping good looks and a soft spot for animals, and we’re thrilled that she’s joined our campaign to promote a vegetarian lifestyle.

After watching our slaughterhouse video footage, several Thanksgivings ago De León gave animals something to be thankful for by ditching meat for good. In our exclusive interview, she explains how eating cruelty-free saves animals and contributes to good health. And if you think she’s the cutest thing you’ll see in the video, think again. Her two adorable dogs make an appearance too.

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Posted by Logan Scherer

MedicalNewsToday.com – Effective January 31, 2010, equine owners, intending to sell animals directly or indirectly to Canadian meat processors, are being advised to record certain information. http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/177648.php

MedicalNewsToday.com – Effective January 31, 2010, equine owners, intending to sell animals directly or indirectly to Canadian meat processors, are being advised to record certain information. http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/177648.php

A WWF/IUCN Global Review of Forest Fires (2000) has been the subject of comment in media regarding its use as a source for the IPCC and questioning the credibility of some of its claims. Some commentators have concluded that potential climate impacts on the Amazon are overstated and unsupported. WWF refutes this conclusion and stands by the credibility of its report.

WWF-UK would like to clarify the following details:

• The Global Review of Forest Fires says that “up to 40% of the Brazilian forest is extremely sensitive to small reductions in the amount of rainfall.” WWF’s source for this statement was Fire in the Amazon, a 1999 overview of Amazon fire issues from the respected Instituto de Pesquisa Ambiental da Amazônia (IPAM – Amazon Environmental Research Institute). The source quotation from Fire in the Amazon reads “Probably 30 to 40% of the forests of the Brazilian Amazon are sensitive to small reductions in the amount of rainfall.” Our report does NOT say that 40% of the Amazon forest is at risk from climate change.

• WWF acknowledges that a reference to Fire in the Amazon as the source of the 40% claim outlined above was mistakenly omitted during the editing process of the Global Review of Forest Fires report.

• The essential point made in the report (and referred to by the IPCC) is that reduced rainfall increases fire risk and that a drying of the “normally fire-resistant Amazon forest” could impact the hydrologic cycle with implications for regional and global climate.

• WWF has since published a further, more detailed report that looks at this subject in further depth: Nepstad, Daniel C, The Amazon’s Vicious Cycles: Drought and Fire in the Greenhouse – Ecological and Climatic Tipping Points of the World’s Largest Tropical Rainforest, and Practical Preventive Measures, (WWF 2007). This report was supported by The Woods Hole Research Centre, the Instituto de Pesquisa Ambiental da Amazônia, and the Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, and independently reviewed by Prof Yadvinder Malhi, Professor of Ecosystem Science at Oxford University.

• What is not in contention is that the Amazon is at risk from factors which include and are complicated by climate change. Climate change is widely predicted to pose a significant risk to Amazon forest cover and type. A number of recent peer-reviewed studies support this.

• WWF cannot answer for the use of our 2000 report by other institutions.

The overwhelming majority of scientists from all relevant fields stand by the basic conclusion of climate science that human-induced changes in the composition of the atmosphere are resulting in warming which is driving damaging and possibly catastrophic climate change. This finding is supported by theory, modelling and more and more extensively by measurement over more than 20 years of what has become the largest international scientific collaboration ever mounted.

Recent controversies have largely concerned scientific standards employed in the assessment of projected impacts of climate change in a very small proportion of regions and cases studied. These incidents have no bearing on the overwhelming mass of findings on the reality and causes of climate change.

As the world’s leading science-based conservation organisation, WWF is committed to ensuring the information we provide to the public meets high standards of accuracy. WWF practice is to research any errors we are alerted to and make corrections where relevant.

For further comment please call Benjamin Ward (+44 7837 134 193) or Phil Dickie (+41 7970 31952).

Benjamin Ward
Head of Press & Media Relations
WWF-UK

+44 (0) 1483 412 378
+44 (0) 7837 134 193
bward@wwf.org.uk

In what is an outstanding victory for animals and a crippling blow to the exotic pet trade, Tarrant County Court Judge Jennifer Rymell yesterday affirmed Municipal Judge Michael Smith’s outstanding January 5 ruling: U.S. Global Exotics will not regain custody of the more than 26,000 animals confiscated by Arlington officials in a massive civil seizure last month.

After reviewing hours of testimony, video, and photos taken on the day of the seizure and gathered during PETA’s seven-month undercover investigation of USGE, Judge Rymell affirmed Judge Smith’s ruling that Jasen and Vanessa Shaw, the owners and operators of USGE, had cruelly treated all the animals seized from their business on December 15. Thousands of reptiles, amphibians, small mammals, arachnids, and many other animals—including sloths, wallabies, and ring-tailed lemurs—were cruelly confined to hideously cramped, filthy litter pans, dungeon-like cattle-feeding troughs, boxes, bags, and even soda bottles. They were denied desperately needed food, water, veterinary care, and other basic care. PETA’s undercover investigator documented that animals were starved and dehydrated, had resorted to eating each other out of stress and hunger, had wounds that were so deep that muscle and bone were exposed and legs were chewed off, were thrown away like trash, were intentionally frozen to death in the facility’s freezers, and more.

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Warning: This video contains strong language.

The animals seized have been held and cared for at a facility set up by experts brought in by PETA to ensure their welfare and safety and were cared for daily by staff of the SPCA of Texas, the wonderful Detroit Zoo, the Humane Society of North Texas, and other groups. Food and supplies for these thousands of animals have been subsidized by PETA—and costs run several thousand dollars a week. The great news is that we have been able to secure permanent homes for many of the animals with the Detroit Zoo—where they will have top-notch care—and prescreened groups are lined up to take in many others!

Since the December 15 raid, USGE has effectively been dead—it has not bought or sold a single animal! This means that PETA’s investigation and efforts have saved far more than 26,000 animals—the organization has spared tens of thousands of animals the misery of being captured and taken from their native homes; shipped in cramped crates, pillowcases, and containers; and kept in deplorable, hellish conditions at USGE’s nasty warehouse. The animals rescued from USGE will never have to suffer at the hands of the cruel pet trade ever again.

This is a huge victory that has saved countless lives, but until the PETCOs and PetSmarts of the world stop selling animals—all of whom come from hellholes like USGE, where profit is the only thing that counts and where the lives and welfare of these animals mean nothing—the misery will continue. Many of the animals pulled out of USGE in the nick of time were headed to PetSmart and PETCO distributors nationwide. Please don’t shop at PETCO or PetSmart, and tell your friends not to shop there either and never to support any pet store that sells live animals.

Posted by Shawna Flavell

In what is an outstanding victory for animals, and a crippling blow to the exotic pet trade, yesterday Judge Jennifer Rymell of Tarrant County Court affirmed the outstanding January 5 ruling of Municipal Judge Michael Smith: U.S. Global Exotics (USGE) will not regain custody of the more than 27,000 animals seized by Arlington officials in a massive civil seizure last month.

After reviewing hours of testimony, video and photos taken on the day of the seizure and gathered during PETA’s seven-month undercover investigation of USGE, Judge Rymell affirmed Judge Smith’s ruling that Jasen and Vanessa Shaw, the owners and operators of USGE, had cruelly treated all animals seized from their business on December 15. The animals, which included thousands of reptiles, amphibians, small mammals, arachnids, and many others—even sloths, wallabies, ringtail lemurs and others—were cruelly confined in hideously cramped, filthy litter pans, dungeon-like cattle feeding troughs, boxes, bags, and even soda bottles, and denied desperately needed food, water, basic and veterinary care. PETA’s undercover investigator documented starved, dehydrated animals, animals who had resorted to eating each other out of stress and hunger, animals whose wounds were so deep that muscle and bone were exposed and legs chewed off, live animals thrown away like trash, animals intentionally frozen to death in the facility’s freezers, and more.

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Warning: This video contains strong language.

The animals seized have been held and cared for at a facility set up by experts brought in by PETA to ensure their welfare and safety, and cared for daily by staff of the SPCA of Texas, the wonderful Detroit Zoo, the Humane Society of North Texas, and other groups. Food and supplies for these thousands of animals has been subsidized by PETA – and costs several thousand dollars a week. The great news is that we have been able to secure permanent homes for many of the animals with the Detroit Zoo—where they will have top-notch care—and pre-screened groups are lined up to take in many others!

Since the December 15 raid, USGE has effectively been dead⎯it has not bought nor sold a single animal! This means that PETA’s investigation and efforts have saved far more than 27,000 animals⎯it has spared tens of thousands of animals the misery of being wild-captured and stolen out of their native homes, shipped in cramped crates, pillowcases and containers, and kept in deplorable, hellish conditions at USGE’s nasty warehouse. The animals rescued from USGE will never have to suffer in the cruel pet trade ever again.

This is a huge victory that has saved countless lives, but until the Petcos and PetSmarts of the world stop selling animals—all of whom are from hellholes like USGE, where profit is the only thing that counts and where the lives and welfare of these animals mean nothing—the misery will continue. Many of the animals pulled out of USGE in the nick of time were headed to PetSmart and PETCO distributors nationwide. Please don’t shop at PETCO or PetSmart and tell your friends not to either, and to never support any pet store that sells live animals.

Posted by Shawna Flavell

Shouldn’t every day be “Bring Your Daughter to the Demo” Day?

This adorable girl joined other proud PETA supporters outside Johnson Space Center in Houston yesterday to urge NASA to ground its misguided plans to torment monkeys in cruel and ineffective radiation experiments. They educated tons of passersby about the more than two dozen monkeys who will be zapped with a large dose of radiation in NASA’s crude experiment at Brookhaven National Laboratory in Long Island, New York. After the experiment, the monkeys will be shipped off to Harvard’s McLean Hospital and forced into years of experiments to assess how the radiation deteriorates their brains and wreaks havoc on their bodies.

Facebook posts speaking out against the cruel experiment have flooded NASA’s page—to the point that NASA created a new discussion board solely dedicated to this issue. And we’re tweeting at astronauts on the International Space Station (retweet, anyone?) asking them to take action:

@Astro_TJ Pls tell @NASA 2 #savethemonkeys from cruel & ineffective radiation experiments & replace ‘em w/ humane/modern research methds!

Join the thousands of people signing PETA’s Twitter petition and urging Congress to halt NASA’s cruel plan.

Posted by Logan Scherer

Fur-loving figure skater Johnny Weir was pelted recently—with protests from animal defenders who were aghast to spot white fox fur in one of his costumes. Along with many others, we contacted Weir—and his agent was quick to point out that PETA made its case in a professional manner. Weir responded to the many complaints by announcing that he will go faux for the Olympics. Weir stated, “I do not want something as silly as my costume disrupting my second Olympic experience and my chance at a medal, a dream I have had since I was a kid.”

iceskatingintnl / CC

There isn’t anything sillier than an animal wearing another animal’s fur, so we hope that fur is forever gone from Weir’s wardrobe and that the flowers we’ve sent him to say thanks brighten up his dressing room as he prepares to take home the gold.

Posted by Karin Bennett

With the Super Bowl fast approaching, all eyes are on CBS and its plans to run an anti-abortion ad featuring college-football-star-to-watch Tim Tebow, sponsored by Focus on the Family. “We have for some time moderated our approach to advocacy submissions after it became apparent that our stance did not reflect public sentiment or industry norms on the issue,” said CBS spokesperson Dana McClintock—the same woman who cited the network’s “general policy against airing advocacy advertisements” when CBS refused to air our “Pizza Delivery” ad in 2004.

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Apparently, the times are a-changin’, and we’re left asking a question: Do CBS’ actions herald an era in which our provocative spots will see airtime? We hope so! But for now, as the advertising debate rages on, we’re happy taking a trip down memory lane. Over at Too Hot for TV headquarters, we’ve collected all our past banned commercials. Remember last year when NBC nixed our scintillating “Veggie Love” Super Bowl ad—and it went on to become a viral phenomenon? Well, that’s only the tip of the infotainment iceberg, which includes all the classics—from “Milk Gone Wild” to Joaquin Phoenix’s Thanksgiving PSA.

Here’s to next year: the year we’ll (hopefully) make it onto a list of top 10 Super Bowl commercials that actually aired.

Posted by Logan Scherer