When PETA learned that AC Reynolds High School in Asheville, North Carolina, intended to hold a "Kiss a Pig" contest, we sprung into action. We contacted the school principal and alerted her to the cruelty involved in bringing a young, frightened piglet into a huge auditorium packed with screaming students. The principal agreed that terrifying pigs and degrading teachers wasn't the lesson she wanted to teach her students. The pig was never taken into the school, and the students and faculty learned a valuable lesson about compassion.

PETA worked with Aruba's government to help replace T-61--an unacceptable euthanasia agent that can cause extreme burning pain and is difficult to administer humanely--with sodium pentobarbital, the most humane method of euthanizing unwanted, sick, or injured cats and dogs.

Thanks to pressure from PETA, a Minnesota man who tossed his girlfriend's cat into a 250-degree F oven was convicted of animal cruelty to animals and banned for life from owning any animal.

Read more about the link between animal and human abuse.

Another 675 animals were saved by PETA's review of all testing proposals made by companies under the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's notorious high production volume chemical-testing program.

The American Chemistry Council (ACC) was planning to run a reproductive/developmental toxicity test on benzoyl chloride. In PETA's June 2004 comments on this test plan, we pointed out the absurdity of this plan since benzoyl chloride reacts, upon contact with moisture, to form benzoic acid and hydrochloric acid. The Food and Drug Administration recognizes benzoic acid as a "generally recognized as safe" food ingredient, and hydrochloric acid, on the other hand, is well known to be highly corrosive. Therefore, the only results from the proposed testing would have been to demonstrate, once again, that strong acids corrode animal tissues.

The ACC has now agreed not to conduct the test.

In March 2002, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) rejected an application from Six Flags Marine World to import and put on display at the amusement park two endangered baby Asian elephants. When Six Flags Marine World requested that USFWS reconsider the denial of the permit, USFWS reversed its earlier decision and granted the permit to allow the baby elephants to be imported.

PETA, along with In Defense of Animals, Animal Protection Institute, The Elephant Alliance, The Elephant Sanctuary, and private citizens, filed a lawsuit to overturn the irresponsible decision. The lawsuit charged that the permit to import the elephants violated the U.S. Endangered Species Act and the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, both of which prohibit the importation of endangered animals for commercial purposes. Less than two weeks after the lawsuit was filed, in an unprecedented action, Six Flags Marine World voluntarily surrendered its permit.

The elephants will remain in their natural homelands with their families.

PETA was notified that The Zoo had set up at Coralwood Shopping Center in Cape Coral, Florida. We immediately faxed a letter to officials of the company that manages the property, alerting them to the cruelty associated with this tawdry display and asking that they reconsider contracting with animal exhibitors in the future. We received a call back soon after, notifying us that in order to avoid the sort of negative attention that this exhibit has brought to the shopping center, they have vowed never to contract with this or any other animal exhibitor again.

After the two hijacked airplanes slammed into the World Trade Center, residents of nearby apartment buildings quickly fled, not realizing that it would be days before they were allowed to return. Others were at work and returned home to find their entry barred.

PETA received dozens of calls from New York City residents, desperate to retrieve animals who they feared were suffering from dehydration, hunger, smoke inhalation, or worse. Countless animals were orphaned in the attack, waiting behind closed apartment doors for loved ones who would never come home.

A special PETA rescue team in New York helped reunite animals with their guardians. We plastered the area with 'wanted' posters in order to gather information on animals whose guardians were missing. Rue McClanahan, who lives in New York City, made a special appeal to building superintendents to listen for sounds from animals behind locked apartment doors. "The dearly beloved animal family members of those who died must not become another part of the casualty toll," she said.

In 1997, PETA called on McDonald's to make improvements for animals before they become Big Macs and McNuggets, holding news conferences and demonstrations around the country. After a 'Day of Action' in October generated dozens of protests around the country, McDonald's invited PETA into negotiations. Negotiations proved fruitless, so PETA launched a campaign against McDonald's in 1999 that lasted 11 months and included more than 400 demonstrations at McDonald's restaurants in more than 23 countries, as well as advertising and celebrity involvement. In September 2000, McDonald's agreed to make basic but important animal-welfare improvements, which are the only protection for chickens in factory farms because the Animal Welfare and Humane Slaughter acts do not cover birds.

For more information and a complete campaign chronology, please visit McCruelty.com.