PETA WATCH

MILITANT vegan lobby People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) has claimed it will suspend its campaign against retailers who sell Australian wool if the industry produces a time-line to breed sheep that do not need mulesing.

The ABC network is Australia reports that the pressure-group has written to the Federal Government offering to end its tiresome campaign against wool farmers if the government sets up a timeline to 'solve the mulesing issue' by using genetics.

Australian Wool Innovation - Australia's peak wool growers body - is already spending millions on genetics and is prioritising flystrike research.

The government has yet to respond to PETA's demand.

* PETA activists in Shreveport, Louisiana donned giant condom costumes on wednesday in an effort to advance the lobby's bizarre 'sterilize every pet' campaign. The tacky stunt was conducted during the mad lunch hour near the Greyhound Station and Federal Courthouse.

* Animal rights group HSUS has taken out the curious honor of beating the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals on the issue of trust. Independent American charity evaluator Charity Navigator has slashed the rankings for HSUS stating it offers a lower level of trustworthiness than previously and 'is not adequately fulfilling its stated charitable purpose'.

* Pneumatic PETA puppet Pamela Anderson's stint on 'Dancing with the Stars' is being supplied with an artificial boost according to MSNBC. After being placed in the bottom two in the first week, PETA supporters have apparently been instructed to keep voting her in. A spokesperson for the lobby claimed: 'Pam's tireless work to expose cruelty in the meat and fur trades has created a very emotional bond with PETA's two million members and supporters who are thrilled to see her and vote for her on ‘Dancing with the Stars.’

Supporter of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) Emily Lavender gets pied in downtown St. John’s 29 January by Salty Dog, the Downhome mascot.

Lavender, 21, was in town to protest the seal hunt to Prime Minister Stephen Harper, who was a speaker at the Canadian Construction Association conference. — Photo by Keith Gosse/The Telegram

JANUARY 2010: PETA member Emily McCoy has been arrested for assault after striking Canadian Fisheries Minister Gail Shea in the face with a pie moments after she began speaking at an event in Burlington.

Shea was targeted for supporting Canada's annual seal hunt but said the assault would not deter her from advocating the cause.

'This just strengthens my resolve to support the seal hunt and Canadian sealers,' Shea said.

'It's unfortunate that people have to resort to this type of behavior because they are not dealing with the facts of the seal hunt.'

Thirty-seven year old New York City resident McCoy has been charged with assault and is expected to appear in court over the incident shortly.

Tracy Reiman from the lobby dismissed the attack, claiming 'a little tofu pie on her face is hardly comparable to the blood on Ms. Shea's hands.'

A very happy vegan Easter, Passover etc from PETA WATCH.

PETA CO-FOUNDER Ingrid Newkirk has taken the rare step of issuing a media release today to advise the noisy vegan lobby will no longer be issuing media releases.

The media release in part states:

From time-to-time PETA has in the past very reluctantly issued media releases.

These were only ever sent out after very careful deliberation and only then on issues of the most paramount importance.

For example the one we sent out condemning President Obama for swatting a fly wasn't something we did lightly.

The time, care and effort we put into it remains largely unknown and certainly unappreciated by the wider public.

PETA considers this thankless task a stretch on its resources and unsustainable in the long term.

A subsequent media release issued by the group minutes later however has qualified the above, stating that PETA could still issue future media releases 'about topics such as fat men, fat-women and Heidi Fleiss' should the need arise.