People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals ( PETA ) ( stylized PeTA ) is an American animal rights organization based in Norfolk, Virginia, and led by Ingrid Newkirk, its international president.

The organization is known for its aggressive media campaigns, combined with a solid base of celebrity support — Pamela Anderson, Drew Barrymore, Alec Baldwin, John Gielgud, Bill Maher, Stella McCartney, and Alicia Silverstone have all appeared in PETA ads.

As part of its anti-fur action, PETA members have infiltrated hundreds of fashion shows in the U. S, Europe, and once in China, throwing red paint on the catwalks, and unfurling banners.

PETA has been criticized for aiming its message at children.

PETA spokesperson Lindsay Rajt told the Huffington Post, “ We try to use absolutely every outlet to stick up for animals ,” adding that “ We are careful about what we do and wouldn ’ t use nudity or some of our flashier tactics if we didn't know they worked .” PETA also used nudity in its " Veggie Love " ad which it prepared for the Super Bowl only to have it banned by the network.

PETA sends its staff undercover into research laboratories, factory farms, and circuses to document the treatment of animals, requiring them to spend many months as employees of the facility, making copies of documents and wearing hidden cameras.

PETA runs several programs though its Community Animal Project that helps cats and dogs in poorer areas of Virginia, near its headquarters.

In 2004, Something for Kate joined People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals ( PETA ) in its fight against animal cruelty.

In October 2003, animal rights group PETA urged the town to change its name because it invokes images of the sport of rodeo, which they claim is harmful to animals.

In November 2011, animal rights organization PETA petitioned the town to temporarily change its name to " Tofurkey.

* In 1996, the animal rights group PETA suggested the town ( and, presumably, the village as well ) change its name to something less suggestive of violence toward fish.

In 1996, the animal rights group PETA suggested the town change its name to something less suggestive of violence toward fish.

On November 20, 2007, the organization People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals ( PETA ) published a press release calling on the Association of Zoos and Aquariums to revoke its accreditation of the Buffalo Zoo based on U. S. Department of Agriculture ( USDA ) reports alleging unsafe animal conditions and nonstandard handling procedures.

For the most part the California Milk Processor Board has ignored the alternative uses, although in 2007 it threatened lawsuit against PETA for its anti-dairy campaign, " Got pus ", which began in 2002.

The controversy led to an amendment to the 1985 Animal Welfare Act, became the first animal-rights case to be heard before the United States Supreme Court, and established PETA as an internationally known animal-rights group, with Newkirk as its outspoken president.

Undeterred, PETA succeeded on its third attempt by purchasing a brick which read " Break Open Your Cold Ones Toast The Padres Enjoy This Champion Organization.

It was the first animal-rights case to do so, though the newly formed PETA ultimately failed in its battle to secure the animals ' release.

PETA stopped its protests against the company after HLS threatened it with legal action, and SHAC took over as a leaderless resistance.

Then, in December 2008, one of the world's largest retailers, Liz Claiborne, ( in which PETA is a shareholder ) banned the use of Australian Merino wool in its products in opposition to the mulesing practice, at the time an Australian Wool Innovations spokesman said " the company did not purchase any Australian wool ".

In June 2006, at the request of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, PETA, Ocean Spray agreed to end its support for animal experiments.

Sportservice has been recognized for its culinary advances and PETA friendly menus.

PETA includes the Alzheimer's Society on its list of charities who test on animals.

PETA said that it would close its account with Go Daddy and urged others to do the same.

PetSmart has been the subject of public criticism by animal rights organization PETA for the company's sale of live birds.

PETA also claims that the use of pest control glue traps within PetSmart stores is cruel.

A settlement was reached, and PETA agreed to stop the boycott, while the wool industry agreed to seek alternatives to mulesing.

Iyengar wrote to Karan on behalf of himself and PETA, urging her to stop using rabbit fur in her designs.

In November 2007, she was awarded the " Compassion in Action Award " from the animal rights group PETA for her efforts to stop the dolphin hunt in Japan.

" The company filed a parallel lawsuit in England in an attempt to stop PETA showing the tape ; the British judge called the footage " highly disturbing ," and ruled that there was a legitimate public interest in the material being shown.

" This followed Whole Foods Market, the biggest grocery chain in natural stores, threatening to stop selling their products, initiated by the PETA campaign.

McDonald's and Wendy's introduced vegetarian options after PETA targeted them ; Petco stopped selling some exotic pets ; and Polo Ralph Lauren said it would no longer use fur.

PETA Asia-Pacific promotes vegetarian and vegan diets through three specific campaigns: education about the benefits of a vegetarian diet, demonstrations and celebrity involvement against fast food outlets, and undercover investigations of animals used for live transport and traditional religious slaughter.

PETA ( People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals ) is also the scene of a running battle with PETCO, a pet food retailer in San Diego, for several years regarding the purported mistreatment of live animals at PETCO stores.

PETA cited earlier statements by Pope Benedict XVI on factory farming, in which the pontiff criticized the " industrial use of creatures, so that geese are fed in such a way as to produce as large a liver as possible, or hens live so packed together that they become just caricatures of birds " as being incompatible with Biblical teachings on animals.

The campaign by PETA also seeks to draw attention to Australia's live sheep export trade.

Stan's horse randomly takes him to a PETA compound where he finds that PETA's members live with animals, practicing bestiality and even interbreeding with them.

After a Todd Beamer High School student followed up a campaign promise by swallowing a live goldfish, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals ( PETA ) criticised the school.

PETA also opposes the use of down from birds and the use of silk from silkworms or spiders.

PETA alleges that workers were instructed to rip the heads off of birds who missed the throat-cutting machines.

PETA alleges that it is cruel to sell birds bred in warehouses and feels that the breeding of the birds is similar to the use of puppy mills.

After PETA placed ads in school newspapers linking milk to acne, obesity, heart disease, cancer, and strokes, Mothers Against Drunk Driving and college officials complained it encouraged underage drinking ; the British Advertising Standards Authority asked that the ads be discontinued after complaints from interest groups such as The National Farmers ' Unions.

In another case, two PETA employees were acquitted in 2007 of animal cruelty after at least 80 euthanized animals were left in dumpsters in a shopping center in Ashoskie over the course of a month in 2005 ; the two employees were seen leaving behind 18 dead animals, and 13 more were found inside their van.

During the trial, Daphna Nachminovitch, the supervisor of PETA's Community Animal Project, said PETA began euthanizing animals in some rural North Carolina shelters after it found the shelters killing animals in ways PETA considered inhumane.

PETA itself faced legal action in April 2007 after the owners of a chinchilla ranch in Michigan complained about an undercover inquiry there, but the judge ruled in PETA's favor that undercover investigations can be legitimate.

In 1990, Bobby Berosini, a Las Vegas entertainer, lost his wildlife license, as well as ( on appeal ) a later lawsuit against PETA, after the group broadcast an undercover film of him slapping and punching orangutans in 1989.

In 1999, a North Carolina grand jury handed down indictments against pig-farm workers on Belcross Farm in Camden County, the first indictments for animal cruelty on a factory farm in the United States, after a three-month PETA investigation produced film of the workers beating the animals.

Stewart also created a video on behalf of fur-bearing animals after being approached by PETA while in jail.

PETA set up the visit after Barker heard from Florida congressman Bill Young, whose wife had been " appalled " by what she saw.

Chauncey even has an official Myspace site, which has been deleted once by PETA, but was re-uploaded soon after.

Soon after this, PETA attempted to purchase a brick to protest Petco's treatment of animals ( PETA and Petco have a long-standing dispute over this matter ), but the first two attempts were denied.

SHAC was started in November 1999 by three British animal rights activists — Greg Avery, Heather James, and Natasha Dellemagne — after video footage shot covertly inside HLS in 1997 by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals ( PETA ) showed HLS staff shaking, punching, and shouting at beagles in their care.

" Firm fined $ 8, 720 after PETA video ", Associated Press, April 1, 2006.

In July 2007 the zoo was under heavy scrutiny by PETA after a 1-year-old Kangaroo was struck and killed by the exhibit's train.