PETA’s Mom of the Year:
Andrea Kahn Eisenberg!

Happy Mother’s Day and a big congratulations to Andrea Kahn Eisenberg, who’s just been named PETA’s first-ever Mom of the Year! I hope I can be half the wonderful influence that she’s been on her family and community. It’s my first Mother’s Day as a mother, and I’m a little wigged out about getting cards and coupons in the mail for things like massages and haircuts (do moms really have time for fun like that?), but I won’t say “No” to breakfast in bed (hint, hint!).

Our Campaigns Department has been hammering away at our anti–seal slaughter campaign this spring—and even though seals have scored a big victory this week, the details of the slaughter would break any mother’s heart.

Since animal moms get the short end of the stick in our world, I thought I’d take a few minutes to remind our dear readers that some of the best moms in the world are found in the animal kingdom. Check out the following animal moms:

• Seals: Human mothers tuned in to “Channel Mom” may find themselves responding to anybody’s child when they hear someone calling the “M” word, but seals never make this mistake. Fresh from foraging for food, moms have to find their young quickly in a sea of hundreds—or possibly thousands—of seals, so both mother and pup depend on their uncanny powers of vocal recognition to find one another. Both will call out and answer, responding selectively to one another until they are reunited.

• Elephants: The TLC that these mammoth mothers bestow on their babies is among their most endearing qualities. Always ready to give an affectionate caress, a gentle nudge in the right direction, or a cool bath to help their babies beat the heat, doting moms maintain constant touch with their young ones, never allowing them to stray too far from their side. Mothers even stay in touch with their adult kids and enjoy close relationships with their daughters that can last up to 50 years.

• Cows: For cows and their calves, it’s love at first sight. The first minutes after birth are spent developing a bond that will last a lifetime. Throughout life, mother and child maintain social contact and regularly enjoy each other’s companionship. Their attachment and affection for each other is so deep that if they are forced apart, they both suffer severe stress. Moms have been known to escape their enclosures and travel for miles looking for their calves.

• Dolphins: Dolphins are known for graceful synchronized swimming, but dolphin mothers and their babies also synchronize their breathing for the first few weeks following the babies’ birth. These dedicated moms may nurse their young for up to 10 years and will also mentor less experienced females by allowing them to babysit as practice for when they have babies of their own.

• Cheetahs: Let’s hear it for single moms! These lightning-fast felines have their paws full caring for their cubs all on their own. Not only does mom protect her children from predators while she is nursing them, she also hunts for them from the time they are weaned until they are 14 to 18 months old. Overly active offspring can make the task of hunting even harder: Cubs often scare hunted animals away with their animated antics, leaving mom so worn out that she sometimes falls asleep in the middle of a hunt.

• Chickens: Nurturing begins in the nest for these caring moms. Mother hens will turn their eggs as many as five times an hour and cluck softly to their unborn chicks, who chirp back to her and to one another from within their shells! Once chicks hatch, devoted moms use their wings to shield their babies from predators and have been known to refuse to leave their nests during a fire if they have newly hatched peeps.

This Mother’s Day, please take a moment to recognize the unique bond between mothers and children of all species. For more tips on practicing kindness and compassion in honor of all animal moms, check out more PETA Living articles.

Enter to win!

Whether you are just getting started or a seasoned animal rights activist, The Animal Activist’s Handbook: Maximizing Our Positive Impact in Today’s World, co-authored by PETA Vice President Bruce Friedrich, is an essential addition to any animal rights library.

The authors, Matt Ball and Bruce Friedrich, have dedicated their lives to ending animal suffering and building a ground-up case for reasoned and impassioned activism that makes the most difference possible.

Ten lucky winners will receive The Animal Activist’s Handbook. Just enter by April 30. Enter to win now!

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The following post is a guest post by PETA Files writer, Amy Elizabeth.

Digging through tax records, deciphering difficult directions, and struggling with simple math totally sucks. What doesn’t suck? The tax refund that results from this headache. Whether your tax refund is already in the bank or somewhere in the mail, here are some cool and cruelty-free things to do with that extra coin:

1. Take the tribe on a trip. Nothing says “Thanks for being such an awesome deduction” like taking your dependents (er, kids) on a little family vacation. Getting great rates on hotels, cruises, and travel packages is as easy as joining the PETA Member Advantage Program. Plan your animal-friendly vacation by clicking here.

2. Buy a house. A doghouse, that is. Think the housing market is bad? Try being an outdoor dog. Every year, PETA builds and delivers hundreds of sturdy doghouses filled with straw for dogs whose guardians won’t let them inside. Help us help dogs by sponsoring one of these doghouses. And don’t worry—we’re all about fixed dogs, not fixed rates …

3. Purge and splurge. Are there products that blind bunnies in your cabinets—or skeletons in your closet? Make over your make-up bag with cruelty-free cosmetics and personal-care products. Lose the gruesome garb (leather, wool, and fur) and stock-up on stylin’ synthetics instead. While you’re at it, get rid of those stirrup pants and that tired “U Can’t Touch This” T-shirt. They may not be cruel to animals, but they are cruel to anyone who has to see you in them.

4. Plan a little R&R (romantic romp) at a B&B. Looking for something more stimulating to do with your refund or stimulus check? We’ve got you covered. From Victorian mansions to cozy cabins and oh-so-unique yurts (you haven’t lived until you’ve loved in a yurt), you’ll find your perfect getaway on our list of vegetarian-friendly bed and breakfasts.

5. Earn your wings (and a tax deduction for next year). Resist the urge to blow your money on a butterfly tramp stamp. Help real animals instead! Donate to PETA today.

PS If you didn’t get a tax refund, don’t worry—hugs (and copies of our “Vegetarian Starter Kit“) are still free …

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The following post is a guest post by PETA Files writer, Christine Doré.

Easter is meant to be one of those great holidays in which Christians share quality time with their families and celebrate their religion in a festive and peaceful manner. But somewhere along the way, the message got skewed and animals have paid the price for it.

Growing up, tradition was an important part of my family. Despite the family bonding that happened around Easter, I always felt as though some aspects of our Easter tradition just didn’t quite fit the compassionate message that Jesus seemed to stand for.

As far back as I can remember, my mother would wake me up every Easter morning, and I’d excitedly get dressed in a pastel, floral getup—the kind that includes frilly socks and a pink woven wide-brimmed hat. I’d slip into my purple wool cardigan while my mother donned her massive black mink coat.

We would then go to church and come home for the long-established Easter egg hunt (using real eggs that we’d dyed the day before). Afterwards, my sister and I would tear through our Easter baskets, which were filled to the brim with milk chocolate coins. Easter dinner would typically consist of a gigantic roast, potatoes with turkey gravy, bread and butter, dirty rice, and seafood gumbo.

Years later at 13, I began questioning everything. I asked myself why we ate foods that cost animals their lives and why animals were killed to make coats. I began to research how animals are exploited and quickly went vegetarian after I discovered the gruesome truth that I had searched for.

Now as an adult, I still celebrate Easter but put my own twist on the traditions so that no one has to suffer for my celebration. On Easter morning last year, I slipped on a cute lavender summer dress with a cotton cardigan. I donned my new pleather wedge heels and walked a few blocks to church. For Easter dinner, I cooked up a savory vegan gumbo (a recipe that my mother was excited to come up with from scratch!), and for dessert, I enjoyed a vegan dark-chocolate bunny that my parents had mailed to me.

Cruelty-free Easter? I think the peaceful Jesus that I’ve grown familiar with would agree with that sentiment.

That’s Why We Don’t Eat Animals

A book made its way across my desk recently that immediately captured my attention (hard to do, these days!). It’s a creatively illustrated, well-written little book called That’s Why We Don’t Eat Animals: A Book About Vegans, Vegetarians, and All Living Things by Ruby Roth, and it’s designed to help kids understand how their food choices affect other living beings and the planet. I went vegan as an adult, after reading about the horrors of factory farming, and my decision was cemented after a viewing of “Meat Your Meat.” But it’s hard to explain to little kids why I’m vegan without painting the kind of nightmarish word picture that will land them in therapy for years to come. This book successfully tackles this tough subject with grace and clarity.

Roth’s book emphasizes the importance of family, something that most kids can relate to. Roth fills the book to the brim with fascinating facts about our furry and feathered friends, such as, “Pigs need the sight, sound, and touch of one another. Sometimes they snuggle so close that it’s hard to get them apart. Love is part of their nature.” And about turkeys: “They’re so sensitive that they even blush. Their snoods change color depending on their mood.” Children have a natural empathy for animals, of course, but these types of details reinforce that empathy and help kids to understand why it’s important to treat animals with kindness and respect.

The book covers the basics of factory farming in a way that is real but not overly frightening for young readers. In a discussion of factory farmed birds, Roth says, “Crowded together, they can’t follow their instincts, so they grow sick and scared.” The accompanying illustrations are appropriately sad—but not graphic, and not traumatizing. This is a great addition to any compassionate kid’s library and will make a wonderful gift for any parents in your life who want to talk to their kids about animals but need a little help getting started.

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Smoking isn’t just bad for people; it harms our animal friends as well. Researchers at the University of Massachusetts and Tufts University School of Veterinary Medicine have found that cats who live with smokers are more than twice as likely to suffer from feline lymphoma, and population studies suggest that environmental smoke may increase the risk of nasal and lung cancer in dogs. If that doesn’t prompt smokers with animal companions to quit, I don’t know what will.

Fortunately, a study conducted by the Henry Ford Health System Center for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention suggests that many smokers with animal companions would butt out cigarettes if they knew that they were putting their dog’s or cat’s health at risk.

Nearly 3,300 people participated in an online survey aimed at determining if smokers would change their behavior if they knew that it harmed their animal’s health. One in five of the people who took the survey smoked, and more than one in four lived with a smoker. Of the smokers, one in three said that knowing that smoking was bad for their animal’s health would compel them to kick the habit. Nearly one in 10 people would ask a partner to quit, and one in seven would ask their partner to smoke outside.

It’s a start, at least. No one should put their best buddy’s health in danger—ever. If you care about animals, you really need to stop smoking, pronto. Do it for yourself, all your loved ones, and animals in laboratories too.

Companion cats and dogs aren’t the only animals who suffer when people smoke. Mice, rats, dogs, primates, and other animals are mutilated, pumped full of nicotine, and forced to inhale smoke in cruel laboratory experiments to “test” the effects of smoking.

Help Animals Breathe Easier
This information should light a fire under all caring individuals, and if you smoke, it should give you even more incentive to stamp out cigarettes once and for all. It may not be easy, but your beloved animal companions—and animals suffering in laboratories—are counting on you to quit.

Learn more about the effects of secondhand smoke and companion animals.

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On a recent episode of a TV talk show—which shall go unnamed—a doctor advised a woman who was planning to become pregnant to avoid contact with her three cats because of the risk of toxoplasmosis, a parasitic infection that can spread through cats’ feces and cause birth defects.

I’m always one for the “better safe than sorry” route, but it’s simply not necessary (or fair!) to ignore and avoid—or worse, abandon—your beloved feline friends when there’s a baby on the way. For one, indoor cats are extremely unlikely to carry toxoplasmosis, and second, even if they were infected, pretty much the only way that you could catch the parasite would be to actually touch the cats’ feces and then touch your mouth or eat before washing your hands. I don’t know about you, but I’m not going to be sifting through my darlings’ litterboxes with my bare hands anytime soon! That’s what scoopers are for, right?

Seriously, though, if you’re expecting and your doc tells you that Kitty has to go, you should consider getting rid of your obstetrician—not your cat! Cats can only contract Toxoplasma gondii (T. gondii) in a couple of ways: by eating raw meat or by hunting infected birds, mice, or other animals. Infected cats only—ahem—shed potentially infective “oocysts” in their feces for about two to three weeks (after which time, they develop immunity to the parasite). And since oocysts in feces don’t become infective until one to five days later, cleaning the litterbox daily—which needs to happen anyway, to keep kitties happy—will ensure that there isn’t anything icky hanging around.

For a healthy baby and happy kitties, follow these simple tips:

• Keep cats indoors (this is vital for kitties’ safety—whether you’re pregnant or not).

• Never feed cats raw or undercooked meat.

• Wear gloves while scooping the litterbox and wash your hands thoroughly afterward. Better yet, enlist your spouse, partner, friend, or neighbor to handle litterbox duty until the baby arrives (I would take full advantage of this, if I were you!)

• Clean cats’ litterboxes daily.

• Wear gloves while gardening or working in the soil and thoroughly wash hands afterward—in case stray cats use your garden as a litterbox.

• Thoroughly wash uncooked vegetables and fruit.

• Go vegetarian, if you haven’t already, because the most common way that humans contract toxoplasmosis isn’t from cats but by eating raw or undercooked meat!

So basically, if you’re a responsible kitty guardian and you use a little common sense, you have nothing to worry about! But if you’re still not sure, don’t take my word for it—check out what the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has to say.

Order vegan chocolates from PETA

Still stumped about what to get that special person in your life for Valentine’s Day? Whether you are getting a present for your SO, your BFF, or your mom, we have five quick ideas to help you get started:

1. Vegan chocolate, of course!

2. A romantic trip to a bed and breakfast

3. Cruelty-free body-care gift packs

4. A romantic vegan dinner for two (for inspiration and recipe ideas, visit the Veg Cooking blog)

5. A cute digital photo frame with your fave photos

P.S. If your dog or kitty happens to be your Valentine, make them some yummy treats or toys to show your love.

Help inspire others by sharing your Valentine’s Day gift ideas with us!

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Valentine’s Day is just around the corner, and fortunately, this year Valentine’s Day falls on a weekend. So if you’re still looking into what to do with your sweetie, why not have a fun weekend getaway at a romantic vegetarian bed and breakfast?

Check out our list and travel tips for ideas. If you don’t find one near you, and you end up booking a room at a nonvegetarian B&B, you can always call ahead to ask about vegetarian options. In my experience, I’ve found that most will be accommodating if you just let them know ahead of time.

If you’re driving to your destination, be sure to prepare a couple of travel mugs of vegan hot cocoa or hot cider, and be sure to pack plenty of vegan snacks for the road!

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I was inspired when I heard that President-elect Barack Obama was encouraging Americans to join him in observing Martin Luther King Jr. Day (January 19) by rolling up their sleeves and giving back to their communities.

If the President-elect can carve out time in his jam-packed inaugural schedule to serve others, surely the rest of us can find a few minutes on this special day to make the world a better place too!

I’m thinking of heading to my local animal shelter to give the animals some love and perhaps drop off a basket of homemade cookies to say “Thank you!” to the hardworking shelter staff.

There are countless ways to reach out and many who deserve our help, but the following are some ways that you can make a difference for the furry, feathered, and finned members of your community:

• Play with cats, walk dogs, or clean cages at your local animal shelter.

• Remove trash from a nearby stream or woods so that birds, fish, and other wildlife can live there safely.

• Drop off some yummy (and nutritious!) vegan groceries—such as canned vegetable soups, dried rice and beans, and pasta with marinara sauce—at your local food pantry.

• Go on a shopping spree—for cruelty-free home cleaners and personal-care products.

• Give toys, treats, and/or warm straw to a lonely “backyard dog” in your neighborhood. Politely encourage the dog’s guardians to allow him or her indoors.

• Clear your closet and your conscience by donating your fur coats to PETA. Your tax-deductible fur donation may be used as bedding for injured or orphaned wildlife or as part of our anti-fur campaigns, or it may be donated to homeless people who can’t afford to buy their own coats—the only people who have any excuse to wear fur.

Need more inspiration? Check out PETA president Ingrid E. Newkirk’s new book, One Can Make a Difference, which is filled with thought-provoking essays from celebrities and everyday Joes alike who have made a positive impact on our world.

I’d love to hear what you’re doing to make a difference on Martin Luther King Jr. Day! Tell me in the comments.