Protesters Descend on Home Office

PETA protesters demonstrated outside the Home Office holding a shocking image showing “the real cost of animal experimentation” – a photo of Malish, a monkey who endured years of torture at the hands of vivisectionists who sawed off the top of his skull and implanted electrodes into his brain. The protest – a response to the pharmaceutical industry’s push to plough more money into animal experiments and the government’s plans to enact special measures “to deal with animal rights extremists” – garnered enormous media coverage, including the BBC, CNN, and The Guardian.

Major Retailers Stop Selling Fur

PETA helped UK chain Topshop declare “All our fur is fake” in a display at their Oxford Street flagship store, featuring a blow-up of PETA’s fur-free window sticker and scores of battery-operated bunnies. Topshop brand director Jane Shepherdson said, “No matter what the current fashion is, we will never compromise our ethical stand against fur.” All 280 Topshop stores will display the sticker. Thanks to pressure from PETA supporters, international clothing store Mango and fashion distributor Inditex Group, owner of Zara, declared their stores worldwide fur-free as of 2005. The world’s media covered PETA’s “Fur Out, Love In” exhibition outside the Paris Louis Vuitton store. PETA’s annual “Worst-Dressed List,” featuring fur-wearing celebrities, our anti-fur photo shoot with Imogen Bailey and our advert for a billboard slamming Beyoncé for wearing fur made headlines as well.

Iams’ Animal Tests Blasted

As part of PETA’s international campaign against Iams’ gruesome tests on animals, activists sat in cages outside parent company Procter & Gamble’s UK headquarters. We also held “snarl-in” demos featuring protesters and their dogs, and we crashed the Iams-sponsored Crufts Dog Show as it was broadcast live on the BBC. Activists were televised holding “Iams tortures animals” signs. Media coverage of our demos across the UK, Spain, Poland, Croatia, the Ukraine, Denmark, Norway and elsewhere was phenomenal. Musician Morrissey pledged his support by posing for an ad with canine friends and holding a sign stating, “We hate Iams”.

PETA’s ‘Human Race’ Offers Alternative to Pamplona Bull Run

Seventy UK activists and hundreds more from around the world – some wearing only plastic “bull horns” and running shoes – took part in a media-mobbed “Human Race” along the very same route where the bulls are forced to stampede. Crowds lined the street hoping to catch a glimpse, and stories of our protest ran in newspapers and television networks around the world.

Youth Web Site Hugely Successful

PETA’s teen Web site, peta2.co.uk, kicked-off with a contest in which one lucky activist won a guitar autographed by punk band Goldfinger’s lead singer, John Feldmann. The site features interactive message boards, free stickers and literature and interviews with favourite bands like Good Charlotte, Oi Polloi and Sonic Boom Six. The “Street Team” and “Get Active” sections show teens how to put their compassion into action.

PETA Promotes Vegetarianism

PETA’s thought-provoking display showing photos of factory farms side-by-side with photos from Nazi death camps garnered coverage by three national newspapers and Dutch national TV programme, NOVA. A PETA delegation dressed as “party animals” handed out vegetarian starter kits at Lieden’s annual independence parade and urged parade-goers to “give animals something to celebrate” by going vegetarian. In September, PETA’s “Lettuce Ladies” put in an appearance at Utrecht’s hugely popular vegetarian festival, distributing free food and brochures to the enthusiastic crowd.

PETA Europe Shows Cruelty Behind KFC

In one month alone, PETA organised 32 demos across the UK against KFC, the world’s largest buyer of chickens raised on factory farms. Our “crippled chicken” crossed numerous roads, garnering coverage on BBC South news, ITV Wales news, and local outlets in every city we visited. A giant “chicken” also descended on KFC parent company Yum! Brand’s European headquarters and fouled the building with fake bird droppings. PETA US’s shocking undercover investigation of KFC supplier Pilgrim’s Pride, which revealed employees who were throwing birds against walls, flooded the media, including The Times, Edinburgh Evening News, Metro and Newsnight.

Australian Wool Boycott Takes Off

Launched in spectacular fashion by world-famous musician Chrissie Hynde, PETA US kicked off an international campaign against the Australian wool industry with a protest in Sydney. Aimed at stopping the worst abuses of the world’s largest wool producer, specifically live export (journeys of up to two months from Australia to the Middle East) and mulesing (carving huge strips of flesh off the backs of unanaesthetised lambs’ legs), protests were then held at Australian Embassies around the world, including those in London, Edinburgh, Brussels and Paris. PETA Europe persuaded UK chain New Look and UK fashion giant George to boycott Australian wool, and PETA US launched a campaign against Benetton when they refused to stop using Australian wool, with high-profile demonstrations outside Benetton stores in Milan, Zagreb and Vienna.