Help Animals on Cruel Factory Farms

Billions of chickens, cows, and pigs in factory farms are never allowed to spend a single moment of their lives doing anything that is natural and important to them. From birth until slaughter, these animals are either crammed by the thousands into warehouses or confined to cages and pens so small that they can barely move. Most of these animals will never feel the sun or breathe fresh air. Each day brings more physical pain and psychological trauma. Their deaths are the final injustice, as they are killed in a cruel and painful manner. You can help end this cruelty to animals today by making a tax-deductible gift to PETA. Factory farms are the biggest cause of animal suffering in the world. However, PETA has won several historic victories for animals that have sent shock waves through this cruel industry in recent months. Our actions are changing how some of the world's biggest meat buyers and producers do business—and improving the lives of literally billions of animals who are used for food. But there are still countless animals who need our help. I hope that you will support PETA's ongoing campaign to reform factory farming. Making a donation today is the most effective action that you can take to stop the suffering of the greatest number of animals. Your support is helping PETA transform the entire animal agriculture industry. For example, PETA has worked behind the scenes with Burger King for the past six years. As a result of our efforts, the company recently announced a series of animal welfare reforms that are changing the face of commercial animal farming. Burger King will now start purchasing more of its animal products from farms that do not confine hens to cruel battery cages or keep sows trapped in hideous gestation crates. The company is also rewarding its suppliers for adopting a much less cruel method of chicken slaughter. These changes will mean less painful lives and deaths for billions of animals. In response to Burger King's and other companies' new purchasing demands, Smithfield Foods—the largest pork supplier in the world—announced that it will phase out the use of all gestation crates in its farms. Just a few days later, Canada's largest pork producer, Maple Leaf Foods, announced that it will follow suit. Almost simultaneously, Cargill Foods—another of the world's biggest pork producers—pledged to stop using gestation crates in half its farms immediately. Thanks to your generosity, PETA is changing how the world's cruelest industry treats the animals it uses. But there are still holdouts. Some companies, like KFC and its chicken suppliers, continue to choose cruelty. To keep the pressure on the animal agriculture industry, we must do more than we ever have before, and we are counting on your continued support. Together, we can spare billions of chickens, pigs and cows the agonizing lives and violent deaths that they now suffer in factory farms and slaughterhouses. Now is our moment to make important changes that will stop animal suffering. Thank you for your immediate response. Sincerely, Bruce Friedrich Vice President for Campaigns P.S. Factory farms aren't going away any time soon. PETA can do the most good by changing how billions of factory-farmed animals are bred, kept and killed. Please support PETA's efforts to reform factory farming by making an online donation right now.

PETA Exposes more cruelty on animals

Companies that torture, kill, and exploit animals depend on people's ignorance. They go to extreme lengths to hide their hideous abuses from the public. So PETA goes even further to uncover the truth. KFC thought that it could hide the fact that its suppliers' workers delight in torturing chickens. Fashion designers thought that they could cover up the fact that many of their "raccoon fur" coats are actually made from dogs who are killed and skinned alive in China. And medical laboratory Biosearch believed no one would ever know that its employees were dripping caustic substances into terrified kittens' eyes. They were all wrong. Thanks to PETA's undercover investigations, the world has seen graphic evidence of the horrific cruelties that these companies are perpetrating. Once we've exposed the abuse, it's only a matter of time before it stops. You and I have seen it happen time and again. PETA's investigations have forced hundreds of the largest and best-known companies to stop hurting animals. It is your support that drives our lifesaving work. By making an online donation to PETA today, you can help us take down the next corporate abuser that thinks no one is watching. Your donation is crucial because these investigations require an enormous amount of resources. We must create a fake identity for our investigators and get them hired at companies that are abusing animals. Every day, our investigators must appear to be doing their jobs — while actually videotaping the horrors that they see. They can't quit until we have enough proof to take to the public. I often fear for the safety of PETA's undercover investigators. But I know that they do it because our investigations are the only hope for animals who are tortured and killed behind locked doors. Please make a special donation to support our investigative work in behalf of animals today. Your donation will send this powerful message to every company that abuses animals: You have no refuge, no safe haven, nowhere to hide. With gratitude, Ingrid E. Newkirk President P.S. By supporting PETA's undercover investigations, you are refusing to allow animal suffering to take place in silence. With your support today, the world will learn about the violence inflicted upon animals used by the cruelest industries. Thank you for speaking up for these forgotten animals.

An Article from PETA Newsletter

Dear Friend,

As an eyewitness to the barbaric practices that take place behind the scenes at Ringling, I'd like to tell you exactly what happens so that you can help me spread the word to people who still think that circuses that use animals are good family "entertainment."

I joined Ringling last April because I wanted the opportunity to work with animals every day. I was totally unprepared for what I saw.

The public has no idea that Ringling's handlers are taught to keep the animals afraid. I saw the elephants, horses, and camels get hit, punched, beaten, and whipped by circus staff members. Everyone from the head of animal care to totally inexperienced handlers abused animals. The abuse did not take place once in a while; it happened every day.

Witnessing this abuse left me a nervous wreck. I routinely complained to my supervisors about what I knew was outright cruelty to animals, but I was told repeatedly that I was overreacting. Just a few months after I'd joined, I quit Ringling because I couldn't stand the cruelty inherent in the circus any longer.

I was an animal lover before I joined Ringling. Now, I am also an animal activist. I have joined PETA's efforts to stop the horrific violence inflicted on animals by Ringling.

I am a mother of five children, and having seen what goes on behind the scenes at Ringling, I will never again take them to a circus that exploits animals.

Among all the horrors I saw behind the scenes at Ringling, one event stands out. That was the day I saw Ringling's head trainer viciously assault a sweet elephant who was chained by her front and back legs, unable to escape from the blows. For at least half an hour, the trainer beat her with a bullhook—a heavy, steel-tipped club that Ringling's handlers use frequently. At one point, I saw the trainer swing the bullhook into the elephant's ear canal with all his force as she screamed in pain.

That particular trainer was known to have a violent temper. On June 11, 2006, I saw him lead two elephants, whom I believe were called Luna and Tonka, within inches of a man who was videotaping them. Luna and Tonka are Ringling's most aggressive elephants, and I was shocked that the trainer would so recklessly endanger this man's life. I then saw the trainer attack the man with his bullhook. It was only later that I learned that the person the trainer had threatened worked for PETA.

The PETA staff members who tracked our tour stood in stark contrast to the bullies working for Ringling. I observed the tireless PETA staff members from afar and was impressed by their composure, dedication, and compassion. That's why I knew I had to tell PETA everything I'd seen when I decided to leave Ringling.

Now that I've come forward, I know that PETA—and members like you—will make sure that Ringling faces consequences for its heartless cruelty. Let's make sure the elephants' story is told.

Sincerely,

Archele Hundley

I can only imagine the kind of resources it takes to put investigators on the road in order to follow a company like Ringling for an entire year. But if it weren't for PETA's willingness to do so, no one would ever know what's being done to Ringling's animals. Thank you for supporting their work.