Results tagged “peta”

Okay, we know it's not Chicago-related, but we got a few emails and tweets about the video we posted yesterday (and was seen all over TV and the web) of San Antonio Spurs player Manu Ginobili swatting down a bat out of mid-air (yes, he received rabies shots later). We also noted we hadn't hear PETA's reaction. Until now. A PETA rep emailed us this morning with the organization's official statement on the matter:

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, well-known for attention-grabbing stunts (as evidenced by this simple and totally NSFW Google search) has enlisted Andy Dick and Martin Short to produce a clever two minute short to draw attention to its campaign to pressure McDonald's to improve its treatment of chickens.

Yesterday, when we shared a video of President Obama swatting a fly, one commenter wondered how long we'd have to wait for PETA to react. The answer is: not long at all. Yesterday, PETA posted a response on their blog that said, in part, "In a nutshell, our position is this: He isn't the Buddha, he's a human being, and human beings have a long way to go before they think before they act." They also said they were sending Obama a humane bug catcher. PETA posted again today, continuing to call for, "compassion for all animals, even the most curious, smallest, and least sympathetic ones." [via CSM]

These days, the hype surround banned Super Bowl commercials is a big as the commercials that make it to air during the big games. This year is no different as PETA puts the "hump" in our Humpday Diversion courtesy of this racy ad that NBC has rejected because of, among other things, a woman "screwing herself with broccoli" and "asparagus on her lap appearing as if it is ready to be inserted into vagina." Read the NBC letter [PDF] and check out the video below.

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, or the animal-right group otherwise known as PETA, has named Oprah Winfrey their "Person of the Year" for, as President Ingrid E. Newkirk puts it, using her "powerful voice to defend those without one." A well-known dog lover, Oprah did several shows this year that explored animal rights issues including an exposé on puppy mills and an investigation of California's Proposition 2 which provides more comfortable lodging for livestock. PETA's plaque and letter of appreciation are in the mail. Perhaps they should also send a quick thank you note to those behind that infamous billboard.[S-T]

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals bought 65 shares of Chicago-based DeVry University last week, part of a plan to escalate its campaign against the technical school's veterinary program. PETA plans to show up at DeVry's November 13 shareholders meeting to stage a protest and appeal to the board. According to the animal welfare organization, the St. Kitts-based Ross University veterinary school requires their students to operate on healthy animals. PETA charges that "healthy dogs have their stomachs, intestines and urinary bladders needlessly cut open. Sheep have tissue removed and suffer from infected wounds because skin flaps are improperly sutured. Donkeys have the nerves in their toes severed, their ligaments cut, plastic tubes inserted through their noses to their stomachs, their abdomens punctured, their tracheas (windpipes) cut, and fluid removed from their joints – after which they are killed so that students can practise amputating animals’ bones and drilling into their skulls."

The Kentucky Derby is marketed as a glamorous event, but those who have been there know otherwise – it’s really just a rip-rollicking, drunkified good time. And the “most exciting two minutes in sports,” as a recent documentary would have us know, would not be so without years of dirt, sweat, and hard work. Now, the Kentucky Derby is associated with a different kind of dirty business, after the highly publicized death of one of the race’s thoroughbreds.