PETA Milestones

1981

PETA US’ undercover investigation of a Maryland laboratory results in the first-ever conviction of an animal experimenter on charges of animal abuse and the first-ever suspension of federal research funds for cruelty.

1982

PETA US files the first-ever lawsuit to become the guardian of animals used in experiments.

1983

PETA US closes a Department of Defense “wound lab” in which the military had planned to fire high-velocity missiles into dogs, goats, and other animals. PETA US achieves the first-ever permanent ban on the shooting of dogs and cats in wound labs.

1984

PETA US releases more than 70 hours of graphic videotape footage from the University of Pennsylvania head-injury laboratory, documenting the cruel treatment of primates there. Protests by PETA US lead the secretary of health and human services to cut off all funding to the laboratory, and the experiments are stopped after a 14-year history of baboon abuse.

PETA US closes down a Texas slaughterhouse operation where 30,000 horses are trucked in annually from all over the United States and left to starve in frozen fields without shelter.

1985

PETA US uncovers gross mistreatment of dogs and other animals at the City of Hope laboratory in California. The government fines the center $11,000 and suspends more than $1,000,000 in federal funding to the lab.

1986

PETA US stops total-isolation confinement of chimpanzees at a Maryland research laboratory called SEMA. PETA US launches a national “Save the Chimps” Campaign that gains the support of many international scientists, including Dr. Jane Goodall, who calls her tour of the SEMA lab “the worst experience of my life.”

1987

PETA US exposes a plan by Cedars-Sinai, California’s largest hospital, to ship stray dogs from Mexico into California for experiments. As a result, no such imports occur.

PETA US’ “Don’t Kill the Animals” record with Nina Hagen and Lene Lovich tops dance charts in the U.S. and Europe.

PETA US launches the Compassion Campaign to alert consumers to the cruelty of cosmetics and household product testing on animals.

1988

PETA US’ distribution of a secret video shot at East Carolina University, showing an improperly anesthetized dog subjected to painful surgery in a standard classroom exercise, prompts the university to declare a moratorium on the use of live animals.

PETA US draws a crowd of 35,000 to its Animal Rights Music Festival, then the largest gathering for animals ever to take place in the U.S.

1989

PETA US forms an international coalition of more than 80 animal protection organizations, totaling more than 3.3 million members, to join with Congress to press for the release of the Silver Spring monkeys.

PETA US’ Compassion Campaign persuades Avon, Benetton, Mary Kay, Amway, Kenner, Mattel, and Hasbro to stop testing on animals.

PETA US exposes the plans of Ohio State University to distribute a videotape to public schools showing guinea pigs being injected with powerful “street” drugs. The U.S. Department of Education withdraws its support of the video.

PETA US’ first-ever “Rock Against Fur” concert, starring The B-52’s, Lene Lovich, Jane Wiedlin, and River Phoenix, sells out in New York City.

1990

Armed with slaughterhouse footage, PETA US launches a national campaign promoting vegetarianism – supported by k.d. lang, Paul and Linda McCartney, and Chrissie Hynde – that is featured on CNN, on Entertainment Tonight , and in major newspapers.

PETA US’ Caring Consumer Campaign succeeds in persuading industry giant Estée Lauder and 40 other companies to halt animal testing.

PETA US exposes the backstage beating of orangutans by Las Vegas entertainer Bobby Berosini, who uses these gentle, endangered primates in a nightclub act. Berosini’s captive-bred wildlife permit is suspended by the U.S. Department of the Interior. The show closes.

1991

The Silver Spring Monkeys case receives a unanimous, positive ruling from the U.S. Supreme Court. It is the first time in history that a case involving animals in laboratories has been heard by the nation’s highest court.

PETA US’ album Tame Yourself , featuring k.d. lang; The Pretenders; River Phoenix’s band, Aleka’s Attic; Belinda Carlisle; and others, spawns a hit MTV video.

1992

PETA US undercover investigators expose U.S. foie gras production, documenting the cruel force-feeding of thousands of ducks, whose livers swell up to 12 times the normal size. Police conduct the first-ever raid on a factory farm, and many restaurants drop foie gras from their menus.

PETA US gives compelling testimony at the first-ever congressional hearing on the use of animals in circuses, rodeos, films, and other types of entertainment.

1993

Following PETA US’ hard-hitting campaign against GM’s use of live pigs and ferrets in crash tests, General Motors gives PETA US a written statement of assurance that it will never again perform animal crash tests.

PETA US uncovers cruel scabies experiments using dogs and rabbits at Wright State University (WSU). As a result of the investigation, WSU is charged with violating the Animal Welfare Act, and the experiments end.

1994

The USDA cites the Buckshire Corporation, a laboratory animal breeding facility, with violations of the Animal Welfare Act after receiving a 38-page complaint from PETA US documenting the abysmal conditions at the facility.

After PETA US protests hot-iron face-branding and the spaying of cows without anesthesia—procedures mandated for cattle imported into the U.S. from Mexico—the USDA stops face-branding and requires that anesthesia be used for spay operations.

Calvin Klein and Anne Klein swear off fur following PETA US protests.

For the first time in U.S. history, a furrier is charged with cruelty to animals following the release of videotapes, made by a PETA US investigator, in which a California fur rancher electrocutes a chinchilla by clipping wires to the animal’s genitals.

The Nevada Supreme Court unanimously rules in PETA US’ favor and overturns a Las Vegas jury’s $3.2 million defamation award to abusive orangutan trainer Bobby Berosini.

PETA is established in the UK, and PETA Netherlands and PETA Germany are also born

1995

Mobil, Shell, Texaco, and other oil companies agree to “cap their stacks” after PETA US investigators reveal how open exhaust stacks become fiery graves to countless birds and bats.

PETA US adds Claudia Schiffer to its “Models of Compassion” petition, meaning that every top supermodel in the world is now fur-free.

The U.S. government files 41 charges of Animal Welfare Act violations against Hazelton Research Products, a Michigan company that breeds animals for pharmaceutical laboratories, after PETA US investigators reveal that employees beat animals, sometimes to death.

1996

PETA US unveils a giant photo album featuring pictures of hundreds of women who have sworn off Premarin, the menopause drug made from the urine of pregnant mares. Since PETA US revealed the horrors of Premarin, its manufacturer, Wyeth-Ayerst, has lost more than $73 million in Premarin sales.

PETA US finds that more than $3 million in tax money was granted to experimenters at Omaha’s Boys Town National Research Hospital to cut into kittens’ heads and starve cats for deafness and vocal-tract experiments. The government launches an investigation, and Boys Town ends the experiments.

PETA US blows the whistle on Bion – a joint U.S./Russian/ French experiment in which monkeys are implanted with electric wires, restrained in straitjackets, and launched into space – and convinces the U.S. government to cancel the experiments.

1997

An Illinois fur farmer pleads guilty to cruelty to animals after a PETA US investigator documents the killing of foxes with painful, untreated injuries by anal electrocution.

Following PETA US’ investigation of a New Jersey testing laboratory, film star Kim Basinger pleads publicly for the lives of 40 beagles whose legs are to be broken in a painful experiment. The dogs are released for adoption into loving homes.

1998

PETA US’ complaint to the U.S. Department of Agriculture about the death of Kenny, a baby elephant, results in Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus’ being forced to pay $20,000 to settle the case.

After PETA Managing Director Ingrid Newkirk visits Taiwan and documents and exposes the shocking plight of dogs who are being starved, electrocuted, drowned, and beaten to death in filthy pounds, Taiwan passes its first-ever law against cruelty to animals.

1999

Sears, Roebuck & Co. pulls its sponsorship of Ringling Bros. after receiving a barrage of complaints from PETA US members.

Cosmetics giant Mary Kay, the focus of a PETA US campaign, upgrades a 10-year moratorium on animal tests by agreeing never to test its products on animals again.

A North Carolina grand jury makes history when it hands down the first-ever felony cruelty indictments against three pig-farm workers at Belcross Farm. An undercover PETA US investigator had videotaped the workers beating lame pigs with wrenches and metal poles and skinning and dismembering a pig alive.

2000

Gap Inc., one of the country’s largest clothing retailers, agrees to stop using leather from India and China after PETA US members protest in its stores. Liz Claiborne, Clarks, and Florsheim also agree to stop selling Indian and Chinese leather.

Following an intensive 11-month PETA US campaign, McDonald’s agrees to require groundbreaking improvements in the treatment of the animals raised and slaughtered by its suppliers, including conducting unannounced slaughterhouse inspections and prohibiting debeaking and forced molting (starving) of laying hens.

2001

PETA US settles a lawsuit with Rosie O’Donnell stemming from her comment that the leather featured on her show was approved by PETA US. Said Ms. O’Donnell in an on-air correction that was viewed by millions of people: “The fact is, PETA feels no one needs to wear leather apparel at all—no one needs to hurt and kill animals for fashion anymore.”

After PETA US provides March of Dimes corporate sponsors Jamba Juice, M.A.C. Cosmetics, and the Sara Lee Corporation with information about cruel animal tests funded by the March of Dimes, the companies all agree to earmark their donations strictly for non-animal programs. Sara Lee also provides information about the charity’s animal experiments to each of its 154,000 employees.

Following PETA US’ five-month “Murder King” Campaign, Burger King announces that it is taking action to ease the suffering of millions of animals. The company will now conduct unannounced inspections of its slaughterhouses, require that hens be given 75 square inches of space in cages, stop purchasing hens from suppliers who starve the birds to shock their bodies into another laying cycle, and more.

2002

Thanks to more than 100 PETA US protests at Safeway stores, the grocery chain becomes the first in U.S. history to improve conditions for factory-farmed animals, including unannounced slaughterhouse inspections and increased space for laying hens. Albertson’s and Kroger follow suit.

After receiving a letter from PETA US, the National Collegiate Athletic Association agrees to stop using leather basketballs in its “ March Madness” tournament in favor of cruelty-free synthetics. The Women’s National Basketball Association has banned leather, and PETA US urges the NBA to do the same.

PETA US persuades 40 companies, including Nike, Reebok, May Department Stores, and DaimerChrysler, to place a moratorium on the purchase of leather from India, where animals are transported in bone-breaking conditions and skinned alive. Indian leather producers lose more than 40 million dollars in revenue.

PETA US helps activists pass ordinances banning circuses with animals in Costa Rica; Windsor, Canada; Greenburgh, New York; Bogota, Colombia; São Leopoldo, Brazil; Orange City, North Carolina; and Pasadena and Rohnert Park, California.

TV journalist María Celeste Arrarás joins PETA US to launch the Spanish language Animal Times , the first-ever animal rights magazine in the U.S. dedicated to a Spanish-speaking audience. PETA US also reaches out to the teen audience with the introduction of peta2.com, a Web site about animal-friendly action, featuring popular bands, athletes, and actors.