About PETA

PETA's History: Compassion in Action

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) is an international nonprofit charitable organization with offices in Norfolk, Va., and affiliates in the United Kingdom, Germany, the Netherlands, and India.

Founded in 1980, PETA is dedicated to establishing and defending the rights of all animals. PETA operates under the simple principle that animals are not ours to eat, wear, experiment on, or use for entertainment. PETA educates policymakers and the public about animal abuse and promotes an understanding of the right of all animals to be treated with respect.

PETA's animal protection work brings together members of the scientific, judicial, and legislative communities to halt abusive practices. Such cases, aided by thorough investigative work, congressional involvement, consumer boycotts, and international media coverage, frequently result in long-term changes that improve the quality of life for, and prevent the deaths of, thousands of animals.

Historic Cases

PETA has been responsible for such breakthroughs as the closure of the largest horse-slaughter operation in the United States, the shut-down of a military laboratory where animals were shot, and stopping the use of cats and dogs in all wound laboratories. USAToday.com reported, “Could we imagine a world without PETA? ... [T]he organization has inspired a few people to take action instead of lounging in their living rooms, wondering who let the dogs out.”(1)

Other major accomplishments:

PETA first uncovered the abuse of animals in experiments in 1981, launching the precedent-setting “Silver Spring monkeys" case. This resulted in the first arrest and criminal conviction of an animal experimenter in the United States on charges of cruelty to animals, the first confiscation of abused laboratory animals, and the first U.S. Supreme Court victory for animals in laboratories.

PETA released 70 hours of graphic videotape documenting the appalling treatment of primates at the University of Pennsylvania head-injury laboratory, resulting in government fines and the loss of funding for the cruel study.

PETA's undercover investigation of a huge contract testing laboratory in Philadelphia and our subsequent campaign led to Benetton's permanent ban on animal testsóa first for a major cosmetics company. Other leading companies, such as Avon, Revlon, and EstÈe Lauder, followed suit. Gillette announced a moratorium on animal tests after PETA's 10-year campaign. PETA now lists hundreds of companies that do not test products on animals.

PETA was victorious over the General Motors Corporation, which ended crash tests on animals.

PETA released investigators' photographs and videotaped footage taken inside Carolina Biological Supply Company, the nation's largest biological supply house. PETA documented animals removed from gas chambers and injected with formaldehyde without being checked for vital signs, as well as cats and rats' struggling during embalming, and employees' spitting on animals. The company was charged by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) with violations of the Animal Welfare Act.

With the help of celebrities like Ewan McGregor and Martin Sheen, U.S., German, and Canadian government officials, and activists worldwide, PETA was able to secure the release of polar bears who had been suffering for years in the Suarez Bros. Circus. The bears are now recovering and thriving in more appropriate climates.

PETA distributed an undercover video showing Las Vegas casino "entertainer” Bobby Berosini beating orangutans with a metal rod. The U.S. Department of the Interior revoked Berosini's captive-bred wildlife permit, making it illegal for Berosini to buy or sell orangutans.

An undercover investigation of painful scabies experiments on dogs and rabbits at Ohio's Wright State University led to charges by the USDA of 18 violations of the Animal Welfare Act. The experiments were stopped.

PETA released undercover photographs and videotapes showing ducks being violently force-fed on a foie gras farm in New York, resulting in the first-ever police raid on a U.S. factory farm. After learning the gory details of foie gras production, many airlines and restaurants dropped the so-called “delicacy” from their menus.

Undercover investigations at pig-breeding factory farms in North Carolina and Oklahoma revealed horrific conditions and daily abuse of pigs, including one being skinned alive, leading to the first-ever felony indictments of farm workers.

In another precedent-setting case, a California furrier was charged with cruelty after a PETA investigator filmed him electrocuting chinchillas by clipping wires to the animals' genitals. The American Veterinary Medical Association denounced the killing method, saying that it causes animals to experience the pain of a heart attack while fully conscious. In another undercover exposÈ, PETA videotaped a fur rancher injecting minks with weed-killer, causing them to die in agony. Both farms agreed to stop these cruel killing methods.

After exposing the National Air and Space Administration's Bion experiment, in which straitjacketed monkeys were to be launched into space implanted with electrodes, PETA succeeded in pressuring the U.S. to pull out of the project.

PETA's undercover investigation of a Florida exotic-animal "training school" revealed big cats beaten with ax handles, which encouraged the USDA to develop new regulations governing animal training methods.

PETA's undercover investigation of Boys Town National Research Hospital's experiments, in which kittens' heads were cut into and cats were starved in order to study deafness, spurred the National Institutes of Health to issue a report condemning Boys Town's animal care and use program. The USDA found that Boys Town had failed to comply with the Animal Welfare Act.

PETA convinced Mobil, Texaco, Pennzoil, Shell, and other oil companies to cover their exhaust stacks after showing how millions of birds and bats had become trapped in the shafts and were burned alive.

After two years of negotiations and more than 400 demonstrations worldwide, McDonald's became the first fast-food chain to agree to make basic welfare improvements for farmed animals. Burger King and Wendy's followed suit within a year's time, and within two years, Safeway, Kroger, and Albertson's had also agreed to adopt stricter guidelines in order to improve the lives of billions of animals slaughtered for food.

PETA convinced national chains Target, Walgreens, Eckerd, Rite Aid, Kroger, and Albertson's to stop selling AquaBabies, tiny cubes in which fish, frogs, or snails were imprisoned.

Other Projects

Since its inception in 2001, PETA's mobile SNIP (Spay and Neuter Immediately, Please) program has sterilized thousands of dogs and cats at a reduced cost in the Hampton Roads, Va., area, preventing the births of tens of thousands of unwanted animals.

PETA has participated in the production of three animal rights albums (Liberation: Songs to Benefit PETA, Tame Yourself, and Animal Liberation) featuring artists such as Chrissie Hynde, Howard Jones, Indigo Girls, Michael Stipe, Belinda Carlisle, and Good Charlotte. PETA has also held several "Rock Against Fur" and "Fur Is a Drag" benefit concerts featuring The B-52s, k.d. lang, and other prominent performers. Long-time supporter Paul McCartney invited PETA to set up literature tables on his world tour.

Supermodels Christy Turlington and Marcus Shenkenburg, actors Kim Basinger and Pamela Anderson, musicians from The Go-Go's, and others have posed for our internationally publicized "I'd Rather Go Naked Than Wear Fur" Campaign. PETA persuaded top modeling agency Boss Models to announce that its models would no longer wear fur and received pledges from filmmakers including Oliver Stone, Martin Scorsese, and Rob Reiner to keep fur off movie sets. Top designers, including Stella McCartney, have banned the use of fur in their designs.

PETA convinced 40 companies, including Adidas-Salamon, May Department Stores, DaimlerChrysler, Nike, and Reebok, to refuse to use Indian leather in their products after our investigation revealed horrific abuses during the illegal transport of cows to slaughter. "We found the treatment of animals, as documented by PETA, to be totally unacceptable and not in keeping with the image or standards of our company," said the CEO of Florsheim.(2)

Supermodel Tatjana Patitz, actor Jennie Garth, and tennis star Martina Navratilova appeared in PETA's "Live and Let Live" Vegetarian Campaign. "Few are as colorful or effective for its size as People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals," reported CBSMarketwatch.com.(3)

PETA staffers speak to students, from elementary school through the university level. In just one year, PETA distributed information packs to every elementary school in the U.S., reaching millions of young people. PETA and actor Alicia Silverstone launched a national "Cut Out Dissection" Campaign, educating students about their right not to dissect. Thousands of children also receive Grrr!, our kids' newsletter that tells how to help animals.

"Meet Your Meat," a video produced by PETA and narrated by Alec Baldwin, is a powerful look at each stage of life of animals raised for food. It was distributed to every member of Congress with a letter from Baldwin that encouraged them to "protect animals from the array of abuses that are standard in the farmed-animal industry."(4)

In addition to our flagship site, PETA.org, PETA has dozens of Web sites, including CowsAreCool.com, FurIsDead.com, and GoVeg.com. We welcome more than 2 million visitors to our Web sites every month.

PETA's president, Ingrid Newkirk, has written a how-to book for animal rights activists, You Can Save the Animals!, and a children's version, Kids Can Save the Animals!, as well as Free the Animals, which details the history of animal liberations in the United States, and the first animal rights cat care book, 250 Ways to Make Your Cat Adore You. PETA has produced three cookbooks, The Compassionate Cook, published by Warner Bros.; Cooking With PETA, published by the Book Publishing Company; and The PETA Celebrity Cookbook, published by Lantern Books.

Contributions

PETA is registered with the Internal Revenue Service as a nonprofit, tax-exempt 501(c)(3) organization, ID No. 52-1218336. PETA receives no government support and is supported by membership contributions.

References

1)Whitney Matheson, "20 Years of Kicking and Screaming," USAToday.com, 18 Oct. 2000.
2)Katie Abel, "Major Names Boycott Indian Leather," FN, 3 Sep. 2001.
3)William Spain, "Crashing the Party," CBS.Marketwatch.com, 23 May 2002.
4)Alec Baldwin, Letter to Congress, 14 May 2003.