The video footage shows workers grabbing and carrying geese by their delicate necks or by a single wing. The frightened birds are squeezed while held upside down between workers’ knees as the workers rip out fistfuls of feathers. One worker was photographed sitting on a goose’s neck in order to prevent the birdfrom escaping.

Once their feathers have been ripped out—exposing raw skin—many birds lie on the floor, bleeding and shaking. Birds are frequently plucked so violently that they are left with gaping wounds. When this happens, workers use a needle and thread to sew up the wound—without any painkillers.

Buying down also supports the cruel foie gras industry, which force-feeds ducks and geese until their livers expand up to 10 times their normal size. Outdoors outfitter The North Face admitted in 2012 that it was using down from foie gras farms, despite previous claims that none of its down came from geese who were force-fed or live-plucked.

In contrast, after learning from PETA how down is obtained, The Coleman Company, Inc. recently became the first outdoors outfitter to switch to selling only down-free sleeping bags, jackets, and other products.

Coleman’s ethical decision shouldn’t hurt the company’s bottom line, according to a poll that PETA recently commissioned of outdoor sports enthusiasts, which revealed that the vast majority of consumers—80 percent—are happy to choose products with synthetic insulation over duck or goose down and would shop at stores that don’t sell down products. That number rose to 88 percent after respondents were informed that down is sometimes obtained from birds who are force-fed for foie gras.

Concerned consumers can look for outerwear and bedding insulated with “down alternative” polyester fill, PrimaLoft®, Thinsulate, and other vegan materials that are lightweight, packable, machine-washable, and, unlike down, retain their insulating properties even when wet. Last year, one totally synthetic jacket—Outdoor Research’s Halogen jacket—earned Outside magazine’s prestigious Gear of the Year Award. The North Face’s new Thermoball technology—which is constructed with low-weight, individual high-loft clusters that mimic down—reputedly offers the best warmth-to-weight ratio of any synthetic on the market, which is all the more reason for the company to get out of the down business.

Photography from rml-stock.

The post Wait! Read This Before You Buy That Down Vest appeared first on Chic Vegan.

PETA, the organization that started Fur-Free Friday, wants to garner some holiday goodwill not just for animals killed for their fur but for all animals who suffer and die so that people can buy leather boots, animal-tested cosmetics, and memberships to sausage-of-the-month clubs. So this year, for the first time ever, we will celebrate Cruelty-Free Friday, a chance for people who care about animals to promote cruelty-free holiday shopping by attending a demonstration, posting on social-networking sites, and leading by example.

And to give you a head start on the leading-by-example part, here are a few gift finds that look good and do good: All the proceeds go to help PETA save animals.  

Here’s one calendar that makes compassion an everyday occurrence. Each month of the 2014 “Rescued” calendar features the beautiful portrait and heartwarming story of an animal who was rescued.

True beauty comes from within. So not only are women who choose cruelty-free cosmetics darling to animals, they also give themselves a lovely glow. Give the women in your life a gift that’s as pretty and as thoughtful as they are with a “Beauty Without Bunnies” cosmetics bag.

Make the world a sweeter place for animals—and for her. Sweet Anthem handmade perfumes are always cruelty-free and vegan, so they’re as nice to animals as they are to noses.

We all splurge a little during the holidays. But when the treats are vegan, it’s a splurge that you can feel good about. This holiday chocolate box is the right size to give—or to keep.

Go ahead—give cruelty some lip. Take a bite out of animal testing and Old Man Winter the festive way with a stocking-ready three-pack of holiday lip balms.

Make a compassionate statement with these unisex rings. Why are they called “animal” etched rings? Each band has engravings inspired by the Morse code for the word “animal” on the outside and an engraved PETA bunny on the inside.

Classy and cruelty-free is the way to be. He can wear his heart on his chest whether he’s headed to the office or a holiday soirée, with Jaan J.’s elegant nonsilk ties. Each design features an animal pattern that represents a major focus of PETA’s campaigns.

And who could forget our best friends? The “Woof. Walk. Wag.” dog collar will make your pooch want to do all three.

To find a Cruelty-Free Friday demonstration near you, contact PETA’s Action Team. Happy (and humane) holidays!

Written by Michelle Kretzer

The post Get Ready for the First-Ever Cruelty-Free Friday appeared first on Chic Vegan.

Now, before you say that I don’t care about breast cancer, let me add that I lost the person I was closest to, my grandmother, to the disease, and other women in my family have survived it. So even though I’m vegan, I still consider myself to be at high risk. I would love nothing more than for someone to find a cure for breast cancer—which is exactly why you won’t catch me filling up my shopping cart with pink whatnots.

The problem I have is this: Nearly all the companies churning out these products are “pinkwashing,” meaning that they toss a pittance at a breast cancer charity so they can slap a pink ribbon on their products and rake in huge profits from well-intentioned but uninformed people. And that makes me blue in the face.

My other big problem with most breast cancer charities is where the money actually goes. No, I’m not just referring to Susan G. Komen head Nancy Brinker, who quietly gave herself a 64 percent raise, bringing her annual salary to $685,000. I’m just going to let that sink in for a minute. OK, let’s move on. My big beef with most breast cancer “charities” is that they waste money on archaic and cruel animal experiments that still haven’t produced a cure—and won’t because animals’ genetic makeup is vastly different from humans’. Richard Klausner, former head of the National Cancer Institute, stated, “The history of cancer research has been a history of curing cancer in the mouse. We have cured mice of cancer for decades, and it simply didn’t work in humans.”

Continuing to dump money into these useless and cruel experiments sounds to me like the definition of insanity.

Susan G. Komen, the American Cancer Society, the Breast Cancer Research Foundation, and the Nina Hyde Center for Breast Cancer Research all waste your hard-earned money funding experiments on animals. But PETA has extensively studied breast cancer charities that fund modern, sophisticated non-animal research or help provide women with direct care and education about prevention.

The American Breast Cancer Foundation (ABCF) “provide[s] early detection education and screening services to those in need, no matter what age, race, sex, or financial challenge.” The ABCF’s Breast Cancer Assistance Program facilitates mammograms, ultrasounds, and biopsies and gives post–breast surgery care kits to hospitals for mastectomy patients to use. The Breast Cancer Fund works to identify and eliminate environmental and other preventable causes of breast cancer. And the Avon Breast Cancer Crusade funds access to care, education, and modern, sophisticated, non-animal research, particularly through its collaboration with the Dr. Susan Love Research Foundation.

Click here for a complete list of breast cancer charities that do and do not conduct animal experiments. And this October, instead of buying up pink, let’s put the charities that are actually helping women in the black.

Written by Michelle Kretzer

The post Want Your Breast Cancer Dollars to Count? Think Outside the Pink appeared first on Chic Vegan.

So the strange new “snail facial” offered by one Japanese salon seems kind of, well, slimy. The theory is that as the snails roam around a person’s face, their mucus helps to exfoliate and moisturize the skin. But snails need their mucus more than we do: It’s how they protect their feet as they travel. Snails are also nocturnal animals who like it dark and damp. That’s not exactly what they get in a dry plastic box under bright salon lights. And there’s no solid data or science behind the touted snail-slime benefits, not like there is for the exfoliating properties of plant-derived glycolic acid, for example, or the moisturizing benefits of aloe.

And with those, you don’t get snail slime in your hair.

Much more common but equally ridiculous are so-called “fish pedicures.” Nail salons keep Garra rufa fish in tubs of water and starve them so that they are hungry enough to eat the dead skin off patrons’ feet. And since live fish can’t be sanitized, there’s an increased risk of infection. I believe I’ll stick with a nice pumice stone.

Of course, I also prefer that my beauty products not be made from anyone who once moved about independently, either. So I stay away from crushed-snail facial creams, ant body wash, bee-venom masks, and all the other bizarre beauty concoctions of the week. And I like using PETA‘s Beauty Without Bunnies online database to find out which products are and are not tested on animals.

Because every woman loves to feel pretty, and there are few things uglier than being cruel.

Written by Michelle Kretzer

Image courtesy of Flickr

The post Crawling Snails, Biting Fish, and Other Beauty Treatments That Aren’t Pretty appeared first on Chic Vegan.

Many vegetarians and vegans have to work to get meat-free meals in the workplace. Members of the newly formed Congressional Vegetarian Staff Association—aka the “Veggie Caucus”—are lobbying for more meat-free meals in Capitol Hill cafeterias. They’re tired of the same boring bean dishes every day. They want Capitol Hill to promote healthy eating—and to help save animals and the environment. If it does, maybe more workplaces will follow suit.

Encouraging employees to eat healthier—and conserve resources—by offering more vegan options in the office cafeteria is a win-win situation. When employees eat vegan foods, they’re less likely to suffer from weight problems, heart disease, strokes, cancer, diabetes, and other diet-related conditions, which, in turn, reduces everyone’s health-care costs.

Many large companies aspire to be green by recycling and using reclaimed water and energy-efficient lighting but still serve meat in the office cafeteria—even though studies show that cooking just one charbroiled burger causes as much pollution as driving an 18-wheeler for 143 miles. Researchers from Loma Linda University say that vegans have the smallest carbon footprint, generating 41 percent fewer greenhouse gasses than meat-eaters do and 13 percent fewer than vegetarians, and a NationalGeographic.com report shows that the average vegan indirectly consumes nearly 600 gallons of water a day less than the average meat-eater. If you multiply these savings for a staff of 100, it’s … well, it’s a lot—even if some employees choose to eat meat or other nonvegan foods when not in the office.

Many Americans are fed up with meat, though. U.S. Department of Agriculture statistics suggest that meat consumption in the U.S. has been on a steady decline for four years. People are clearly craving something better. If more employers implement a vegan office policy—or even offer just a few more vegan foods—the workforce might be healthier and happier.

If you work in an office with a cafeteria or have a lunchroom meal plan, ask your employer to offer more vegan options. If this gets you nowhere—or if you work somewhere without a lunchroom—PETA and the LunchBoxBunch.com both offer free vegan “brown bag” recipes. It’s easy enough to tote tasty vegan fare, such as hummus and veggie wraps, pasta salad, lentil soup, and vegetarian sushi, to work with you, but if your office cafeteria is serving a lot of meaty meals, it’ll benefit everyone if you encourage your employer to include vegan options, too.

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Image courtesy of Flickr.

The post You Shouldn’t Have to Work to Get Vegan Options in Your Workplace appeared first on Chic Vegan.

This family of geese will refuse to add ambiance to a picturesque sunset ever again if you buy down.

This gosling is going to turn to a life of crime if you kill his mother for her feathers.

Look like ducks just sitting in a row? That’s what they want you to think. These duck intelligence operatives are hatching a plan to destroy your down comforter and make it look like an accident.

(credit: AndyRobertsPhotos|cc by 2.0)

If you wear down, these parents of quintuplets have vowed to make you watch hours of the scariest videos that they could find: Jon & Kate Plus 8.

This gosling is going to go all Gangnam Style on you if you wear down.

 These geese have vowed to make your car’s paint job sing its swan song if you buy down.

This mother and her babies are going to “forget” where they put your car keys if you plan to head to the mall to buy a down coat.

(Credit: Dirk Duckhorn|cc by 2.0)

This duck isn’t even going to look at you if you buy down feathers.

These ducks will never play Duck, Duck, Goose with you again if you purchase down bedding.

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Save ducks and geese and save yourself. Buy cruelty-free bedding and coats and leave down where it belongs.

Written by PETA

The post These Ducks and Geese Think Down Is a Downer appeared first on Chic Vegan.

• A harp seal might help you get you a Harp Irish Lager faster: Seals have sensitive whiskers that help them find food in murky waters, so they should have an edge at finding the only open spot around a crowded bar.
• Talk about a great wingman: Guys, if you think that the dog park is the premier spot to meet girls, imagine the reaction you’d get if you sauntered into a party with an adorable baby seal on your arm. The ladies would be melting faster than the polar ice caps.
• Or a great wingwoman: Female seals are used to males competing for their attention. So if a blathering windbag at the bar is trying to monopolize your time, a seal can swoop in and steer you toward the cutie on the dance floor.
• Bustin’ moves, not chops: Seals have superb hearing, so they can easily detect a fresh new beat. But that hunter who’s always trying to spot someone fresh to beat up on? You’ll notice he’s standing by himself.
• They can pull an all-nighter: If everybody needs to crash at your house after a late night, a seal will gladly sleep on the couch and let you have the bed, as evidenced by the seal pup who curled up on a woman’s couch for some shut-eye. Letting a seal pass out on your couch makes you an Internet sensation. Making a seal pass out from blood loss just makes you a jerk.

Unfortunately, seals aren’t likely to accept an invitation that includes the word “club” until that other type of seal clubbing ends. E-mail Canada’s political leaders and urge them to support the proposed bill to end the seal slaughter. Then go polish your vegan dancing
shoes.

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Image courtesy of Flickr’s The Commons.

The post Top 5 Reasons to Go Clubbing WITH Seals appeared first on Chic Vegan.

Not all people who eat animal products will eventually require extensive surgery, of course, but they do face some serious health hazards during the holidays (salmonella poisoning from the raw eggs in that eggnog is just the start). The average person consumes an extra 600 calories per day between Thanksgiving and New Year’s and gains 1 pound during the holiday season. That’s hardly surprising when you consider that just one bite-sized cheese ball can contain more than 500 calories and that turkey is loaded with even more fat and cholesterol than many cuts of beef.

While 1 pound doesn’t sound like much, remember that most people never lose that extra weight. The weight stays on throughout the winter and keeps adding up, year after year. For those who are already overweight, the news is even more depressing than a lump of coal in a Christmas stocking: Overweight people tend to gain 5 pounds or more during the holidays.

Vegans, in contrast, tend to be slimmer than meat-eaters and are better able to avoid the dreaded holiday spread. When researchers at the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine asked overweight patients to try a low-fat, vegan diet, not only did the patients lose weight without counting calories—they also kept the weight off during the holidays. And as we all know, vegans don’t just give their health a boost—they also save more than 100 animals every year from the horrors of factory farming.

This holiday season, why not give your loved ones the gift of good health by treating them to a fabulous vegan feast? (Check out PETA’s website for easy vegan recipes.) With delectable vegan dishes such as savory vegetable pot pie, baked acorn squash drizzled with maple syrup, wild mushroom pâté, roasted pumpkin soup, chocolate mousse tart, and spiced soy nog, no one—not even Aunt Edna—will miss the meat. And by not mindlessly munching our way through the holidays, we won’t have to ask Santa for a bigger (leather-free) belt!

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Image courtesy of Gretchen Tseng

The post This Holiday Season, Don’t Be a Butterball appeared first on Chic Vegan.

Nearly half of the chapter “Coats and Jackets” is a treatise on fur. In fact, he subtitled the chapter “Why fur belongs in the dustbin of history.” And Tim provides fur’s history, including taking his readers back to the time when he himself believed, while working at Liz Claiborne, Inc., that it would be difficult to have a luxury clothing brand without fur. But, as he explains, he agreed to meet with PETA Vice President Dan Mathews to discuss the possibility of the 46 Liz brands, which include Juicy Couture and Kate Spade, going fur-free. “[O]ver time,” Tim remembers, “I became convinced that fur was unnecessary and even immoral.” And under Tim’s guidance, Liz Claiborne became a completely fur-free company.

Now, Tim derides real fur with the same wit that struck fear into the hearts of many a Project Runway contestant whose design talents came up short: “Now, my bile rises when I see fur on someone in this day and age. A fur coat today is the grossest form of conspicuous consumption, with only the possible exception of Kim Kardashian’s $2 million engagement ring,” he writes. “It’s gross. And I seldom use the word ‘gross.’ Few items of apparel to me are as gut-wrenching and repugnant as a full-length fur coat.”

And Tim doesn’t just talk—he acts. He helped PETA save animals who are used for their skins by narrating an exposé of the fur, leather, wool, and exotic-skins industries, which he then personally sent to designers.

Between the media buzz, the industry accolades, and the glitzy release parties, Tim Gunn’s Fashion Bible is sure to be a bestseller, just like his second book, Gunn’s Golden Rules. And we’re betting that after fur-wearers read that none other than Tim Gunn, the dashing dignitary of decorum, places real fur below even UGGs and jeggings, they’ll want to give their wardrobe a makeover.

Image courtesy of Flickr’s The Commons.

The post ‘Tim Gunn’s Fashion Bible’: Thou Shalt Not Wear Fur appeared first on Chic Vegan.

Paul Mitchell had begun selling its products in China, but the government informed the company that it would have to start paying for experiments on animals in order to stay in the marketplace. Paying for the tests would require a complete reversal of the company’s values, as it was one of the first to join PETA’s Caring Consumer campaign decades ago. Urban Decay’s very product labels read, “We don’t test on animals. How could anyone?” So consumers who were aware of China’s animal testing policy were shocked when the brand announced plans to introduce its line there, and they voiced their disappointment to the company. Both Paul Mitchell and Urban Decay faced an important decision.

After PETA had extensive discussions with our long-standing contacts at Paul Mitchell and urged our members to e-mail Urban Decay, both companies decided that, rather than hurting even one animal, they would forgo the Chinese market.

PETA has funded a group of scientists to travel to China to offer advice on how to replace animal experiments with superior non-animal methods, and the country is now poised to approve its first ever non-animal tests for cosmetics.

Soon, principled companies may not have to choose between their morals and their bottom line. In the meantime, consumers can support only those companies that don’t harm animals at home or abroad by using PETA’s Caring Consumer database.

Images courtesy of Flickr’s The Commons.

The post Yay to Urban Decay and Paul Mitchell for Picking Bunnies Over Profits appeared first on Chic Vegan.