After high profile accidents during the 2014 palios in the Italian villages of Siena and Pistoia, the future of the palios is being called into question.  The mayor of Pistoia has already announced that the 2015 polio is canceled.  The President of the Tuscan Greens party called the palio “carousel of death which had killed seven horses and made another 17 lame.”  A former Italian minister said, “Events like these have nothing to do with culture and tradition, but they are a throwback to a time in which absolutely no account was taken of animals’ welfare.”

Hiding behind a veneer of tradition and glamor, horse-racing is an exploitive, cruel event in which the horses almost always die at the end — on the track or in the slaughterhouse.  To their owners who claim to love their horses, they are merely money making commodities to be used and discarded when no longer profitable.  To learn more about horse-racing and to see how you can help, please visit PETA.

In Pleasanton, which is a San Francisco suburb, about 2,500 people raced two dozen bulls on Saturday during the “Great Bull Run,” the American version of the running of the bulls in Pamplona Spain.  Several dozen protesters held signs that read, “It’s not entertainment, it’s violence.”  Animal-rights activists sued to stop the bull runs, but the case wasn’t resolved in time to stop Saturday’s event.

Stupidity plus cruelty is a lethal combination for both people and animals, and running with bulls is both stupid and cruel.   It’s stupid because bulls can and do gore people with their horns, and it’s cruel because the bulls are scared, confused and running for their lives.  They have no way of knowing that they’re participating in a recreational activity for thoughtless members of another species.   To learn more about why running bulls is cruel, please visit PETA’s website on the issue.

At a fundraiser in the South of France for his charitable foundation, Leonardo Di Caprio raised $25 million to protect wild animals.  He said, “The wild species that depend on us to protect their habitat, like tigers whose numbers have plummeted to under 3,200 left in the wild, or African elephants, who are being slaughtered at a rate of over 30,000 a year for their ivory tusks — they have no voice. We must be their ambassadors. We must be their protectors. We must stop their slaughter. We must now make an effort to protect the rich biodiversity that could allow nature to eventually recover.”

Some people applaud when celebrities become advocates for a cause; others wish they’d go away.  Regardless of your position, celebrities can and do effect change.  It was in part because Alec Baldwin narrated Meet Your Meat that I watched the video on factory farming and went vegan.  I am grateful to the dozens of stars who lend their powerful voices to animals.  Of course, we’d all like some celebrities to vanish — like Liam Neeson, who is a spokesman for NYC’s inhumane horse-drawn carriage trade, and Anthony Bourdain, who defends and promotes foie gras, the a “delicacy of despair.”

In an ongoing attempt to free Lolita, a killer whale who was kidnapped from the Pugent Sound 44 years, PETA is appealing a lawsuit it lost that challenged the USDA’s automatic renewal of Miami Seaquarium’s Animal Welfare Act license, which allows it to exhibit Lolita.  PETA claims that the Seaquarium is in violation of at least three of the act’s regulations. The group says Lolita is kept in a tank that is smaller than the minimum size required and has no orca companion or shelter from the sun.

Photo credit: Ross Cobb

Kidnapping an intelligent orca from her home and holding her captive for over 40 years in a small tank is unspeakably cruel.  And the fact that she is alone makes it even worse.  She must be extraordinarily stressed, frustrated, depressed and lonely.  This case is truly heart-breaking.  Kudos to PETA for attempting to free Lolita and release her into a coastal sanctuary that is ready to take her.  Please use this link to submit a letter to the owner of the Seaquarium.

Activists in Columbia are demanding an end to carriage horse abuse following several incidents in which overheated, malnourished and exhausted horses collapsed in the streets of the tourist city of Cartegena.

Horse-drawn carriages cannot be operated humanely or safely in any urban area, much less in a city like Cartegena that doesn’t regulate the industry and where the drivers are abusing their horses.  Forcing nervous prey animals to haul carriages in the streets with motor vehicles and depriving them of the ability to do anything that comes naturally to them is simply cruel.  And this anachronistic industry needs to be banned. Tradition is never an excuse for the inhumane treatment of animals.  To learn more about the plight of urban carriage horses, please see BLINDERS The Movie.