Ever since our first victory put animal rights on the map back in 1981 , PETA’s work has proved that protecting all animals from exploitation, abuse, and death means more than just focusing on what we eat. What we wear, rub on our skin, watch, buy tickets to, and fill our homes with affect animals, too, which is why the animal rights movement must take aim at every injustice that animals face.
It’s common knowledge that meat is dead animals’ flesh and eggs are chicks who have not yet seen the light of day, but not everyone knows that wool comes from sheep who are abused with metal clippers or that circus trainers beat animals into submission and bully them into performing . That’s why PETA shouts the truth from every mountain or billboard that we can and refuses to back down from a challenge. We intensely campaigned against Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus for three decades until the cruel abusement company finally closed this year, after 146 years of business .
PETA casts a wide net when it comes to fighting for animals’ rights and doesn’t leave anyone out. Thanks to our efforts, the global auto industry no longer subjects animals to terrifying car-crash tests and industry-leading fashion designers and brands are renouncing fur, leather, angora, down, and other cruel, animal-derived materials left and right. In the past five years, we’ve rescued 60 bears who were forced to live in cages or filthy, cramped concrete pits at roadside zoos across the country . From ending orca-breeding programs at SeaWorld to stopping the National Institutes of Health’s callous maternal-separation studies on baby monkeys , we’re tackling cruelty to animals wherever it occurs.
This year, following pressure from PETA and U.S. Rep. Lucille Roybal-Allard (D-Calif.), the U.S. Coast Guard became the first branch of the military to suspend the shooting, stabbing, and killing of animals in trauma-training drills. We also persuaded the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to accept results from simple non-invasive skin tests on human volunteers instead of requiring that rabbits and guinea pigs be injected with lubricants. This precedent-setting ruling not only spares the lives of the animals who would have been used but also provides a clear guide to allow other companies to use tests that don’t require animals .
Society has come a long way, but the animal rights movement still has a lot to accomplish. The goal is for humans to respect and have compassion for all animals, so let’s learn to consider animals before we act—not just before we eat.
