Thursday, June 24, 2010

As the charismatic host of The Price Is Right, Bob Barker dedicated himself to PETA

As the charismatic host of The Price Is Right, Bob Barker dedicated himself to entertaining audiences during a run that spanned 35 years and 6,000 episodes.

Right now, in circuses and roadside zoos across America, thousands of animals—including elephants, bears, chimpanzees, and others—are being abused and mistreated in the name of a very different kind of entertainment. It's a spectacle that relies on pain, coercion, and the exploitation of these unwilling performers, and it's something that both Bob Barker and PETA desperately want to stop.

PETA is striving to raise $250,000 by July 4 from our members and supporters to help end the suffering of these and other animals. And thanks to the dedication of Bob Barker, your gift today will be matched dollar for dollar to help us do twice as much for animals at PETA's new office in Los Angeles.

The new Los Angeles headquarters is integral to all of PETA's work to stop the suffering of animals. Because LA is the center of the nation's entertainment industry, this expansion will greatly strengthen our efforts to save animals from being imprisoned and exploited for the sake of people's cheap amusement.

For example, PETA is right now fighting to rescue bears who are languishing in pitiful roadside zoos on Cherokee tribal land in North Carolina. These prisons confine these neurotic, hungry bears to desolate concrete pits or cramped cages, in which they continually walk in circles, cry and whimper, fight with one another, and beg tourists to toss them food.

PETA is working to bring national media attention to the bears' plight. We even arranged a meeting between Michell Hicks, principal chief of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, and Bob, who grew up on a reservation and is himself part Native American. Bob's visit has sparked dialogue within the Cherokee Tribal Council about the miserable conditions that these animals endure, and with your support as a PETA member, I am hopeful that we can end these bears' imprisonment.

By taking the Barker Challenge today and having your gift doubled, you can also help strengthen our fight against the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus. PETA recently obtained shocking photos from a former Ringling trainer. These photos showed Ringling employees abusing baby elephants, who cried out as they were beaten with bullhooks, shocked with electric prods, and roughly chained to concrete floors. (The baby elephants are often left to lie there, alone, for up to 23 hours a day.)

PETA is doing more than any other organization to convince national and local businesses to drop their sponsorship of circuses and to help elephants and other animals who are routinely abused in the circus. Right now, circuses like Ringling are dragging thousands of unwilling animal performers across the country in the sweltering summer heat, so PETA has never needed your support more.

By donating today—and having your gift doubled by Bob Barker—you will provide twice the resources to support our efforts to end these animals' involuntary servitude, and you will help sustain all our other work to stop the suffering of animals.

Thank you for doing so much to stand up to animal abuse.
Kind regards,
Ingrid E. Newkirk
President

P.S. PETA is making progress in our drive to raise $250,000 by July 4. But we won't achieve our goal without the help of caring individuals like you. Will you take the Bob Barker Challenge today and have your gift doubled?

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