PETA 30th Anniversary: Celebrities Baring It All For Animal Rights (PHOTOS)

On Saturday, animal rights group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) celebrated its 30th anniversary in Hollywood, California. Countless celebrities were in attendance for the gala, hosted by Alec Baldwin.

PETA, which claims to be the largest animal rights organization with more than 2 million members and supporters, was founded in 1980. In 1981, PETA embarked on a laborious legal struggle, the Silver Springs monkey case. The efforts resulted in the first arrest and criminal conviction of an animal experimenter in the United States, and the first confiscation of abused laboratory animals.

After such landmark results, PETA rapidly grew into an international force for animal rights, notorious for using sensational and controversial methods to raise awareness. The organization has become especially well known for its camaraderie of celebrity support, with famous personalities often stripping down for nude photo shoots to bring publicity to PETA's campaigns.

Whether you adore or abhor PETA's often dramatic and contentious tactics, one thing is certain -- they sure know how to get people's attention.

We've rounded up 30 years of actors, actresses, musicians, athletes, models, comedians and even adult film stars campaigning for PETA. While you may remember iconic PETA publicity from the likes of Pamela Anderson, Cindy Crawford, Anna Nicole Smith, and Alicia Silverstone, some of these forgotten ads may surprise you, like when Andy Dick, Bea Arthur, Justin Bieber and even Dennis Rodman lent their reputations to the organization.

Which of PETA's celebrity star supporters from the last three decades was your favorite?

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Pamela Anderson "All Animals Have The Same Parts" Ad (PETA.org)

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Pamela Anderson "All Animals Have The Same Parts" Ad (PETA.org)

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Comments

[JohnUSA]

02:21 AM on 10/11/2010

I wonder if PETA hates my cats for killing scorpions, lizards and the occasional bird and mouse. They probably hate me for having cats although I saved them from a near certain death in an animal shelter.

[mommy2wes]

09:08 AM on 10/09/2010

I absolutely HATE PETA! Out of the 2,366 animals it's Norfolk, VA headquarters took in last year, it adopted out 8 of them. Yup, you read that right. 8. It transferred 31 of them. What happened to the others? They killed them. PETA killed 2,301 animals just last year. And they do this EVERY year. Since 1998 they have killed 23,640 dogs, cats, kittens and puppies. The Virginia Beach SPCA, just down the road from PETA’s Norfolk headquarters, manages to adopt out the vast majority of the animals in its care.
PETA doesn't care about animals at all. They only care about themselves.

http://www.petakillsanimals.com/

[Patrick Britton]

02:40 PM on 10/08/2010

There has to be someone out there saying the harsh truth. People don't like Peta because they are "preachy." I'm sure slave traders hated Lincoln. Is it equal? No, but it is just as wrong to wear or eat animals.

[thereisonlyoneparty]

02:47 PM on 11/04/2010

Bulldink.

Animals are unable to have rights. Rights require a fundamental understanding and mutual agreement. Animals cannot be given rights unless they are able to acknowledge and respect the rights of others.

This is just another of the many reasons why I hate the species. Humans are the smartest, yet stupidest and most illogical animals known. It is crazy. There are actually people--get this--who think that humans are above all other animals and have an obligation to protect nature from itself? Can you imagine how stupid someone has to be and how much they have to hate science to think that morality (which is nothing more than human emotions, which themselves are just chemical reactions) is somehow not only absolute, but some legitimate concrete thing? I cannot.

[OneSweetGay]

01:34 PM on 10/04/2010

I'm a vegetarian of 10 years, I own a vegetarian restaurant, and I hate PETA. To them, nothing you'll ever do will be enough. I'm vegetarian because I've grown up on farms and I know how animal husbandry is supposed to be and I know what it truly is now. I think it's safe to say everyone can agree that fur is cruel, that factory farming is incredibly cruel - damaging to small scale farmers and their livelihood - and ultimately unhealthy. It's safe to say most people would not wear fur if they knew of confinement, electrocution, live skinning tactics employed. But, I feel that their scare tactics do more to push people away from any kind of vegetarianism and ultimately hurt the movement.

[elcerritan]

02:04 PM on 10/04/2010

You're too sensible for them. They just don't "get" how ultimately counterproductive their extremism and twisted perspective are.

[Patrick Britton]

02:42 PM on 10/08/2010

Just like telling people that war kills people? Show them the reality? Yeah, that will push them away. Or telling people that driving gay teens to suicide is wrong? Don't show them the details? I get it. The key to solving an injustice is to not offend people. Our bad.

[steve12]

05:34 PM on 10/08/2010

If your purpose is to persuade, than PETA tactics fail. If your purpose is to satisfy the most extreme elements of the animal rights movement, PETA succeeds abundantly.

[theseusofaustralia]

05:58 AM on 10/01/2010

Peta is a phycotic organisation. Comparing holocaust victims to animal slaughter houses. There are so many organisations for animal welfare that are not as extreme, not as phycotic.

[ebroadcast]

05:09 PM on 09/30/2010

They missed Pamela's "implant" cut, which is sometimes referred to as the "breast" on other woman

[Exene]

01:42 PM on 10/05/2010

Yes, that would be the "vegetarian alternative" to breast meat.

[jumbotron16]

11:57 AM on 09/30/2010

To crows and spoonplayer, and anyone else who supports PETA...

The reason I come on these threads is that I like to believe that many PETA-supporters are well-meaning folks who love their pets and care deeply about animals (like I do). I would like for these people to be aware that the end goal of PETA is far different from what it appears. PETA wants "total animal liberation"--meaning no human will own pets or interact with animals IN ANY WAY. My hope is that once they understand this, people who actually like animals and like being around them will reject PETA and support other animal welfare organizations which do not have that hidden agenda.

If the two of you agree with that end goal--fine. Continue supporting PETA. But don't begrudge me trying to get the word out to others. I personally love having animals in my life and I think Ingrid Newkirk is batsh*t crazy.

[jumbotron16]

01:46 PM on 09/30/2010

Also, I gather you don't approve of the philosophy of the site I posted below (activistcash.com) which compiled some of Ingrid's most interesting quotes. (I don't either.) However, you haven't addressed the fact that those quotes are actual quotes from Ingrid which can be found in many other locations all over the internet as well as in "real life." So why on earth does it matter who compiled the quotes? Unless you would like to argue that the quotes are fabricated? You have not yet come out and said that. So...do you believe the quotes were fabricated?

[goldfarmer]

11:18 PM on 09/30/2010

It doesn't matter who compiled the quotes. Abolitionist vegans admit to those quotes.

Therefore Abolitionist Vegans are not interested in animal welfare, i.e how well they live or die. They are interested only in ending the human institution of pet ownership, and, all animal based agriculture. In other words, peta and animal abolitionists want to end our current relationship with animals, whether it be farm or pet related.

In reality, peta is against what 99% of the American public wants for animals. So, why is peta so well represented here if they are an extreme fringe group?

[steve12]

05:43 PM on 10/08/2010

Do you really think PETA is that stupid. PLEASE!!! They may be extreme, but they're not that idiotic.

[Rand]

11:46 AM on 09/30/2010

Is PETA STILL claiming that they need money tyo stop Proctor & Gamble from conducting animal testing?


They were claiming that as late as the mid-90s... Even though P&G stopped the practice in the 70s

[Crows]

03:22 PM on 10/01/2010

You must have P&G mixed up with another company. As of 2009 P&G still tested on animals.

"P&G uses many other species of animals, including guinea pigs, rabbits, hamsters, ferrets, rats and mice for "product safety research", in addition to using cats and dogs in pet food experiments."

http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Procter_%26_Gamble

http://animalrights.about.com/b/2009/07/19/dawn-kills-animals.htm

[Rand]

11:43 AM on 09/30/2010

Vegan: "I don't eat my friends"

My wife: "Perhaps if you did you'd have more friends"

(How could I NOT love someone that clever?)

[Rand]

11:41 AM on 09/30/2010

"Life is nature's way of keeping meat fresh" - Doctor Who

[wildisthewind]

03:24 PM on 09/29/2010

Ingrid Newkirk, founder and President of PeTA, speaking about her time working at an animal shelter (from a 2003 interview in the New Yorker):

"In the end, I would go to work early, before anyone got there, and I would just kill the animals myself. Because I couldn't stand to let them go through that. I must have killed a thousand of them, sometimes dozens every day."

[Vickster]

11:00 PM on 09/30/2010

As someone who only kills healthy animals for food, I'd have to live a thousand years to rival the number of healthy animals killed by Ingrid Newkirk.

[wildisthewind]

02:36 PM on 10/01/2010

That's a good point Vickster. Apparently Ingrid Newkirk was absent from school the day that they taught the adage about how people who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones. She is certainly in no position to be judging anyone else. Perhaps she should burn her own house down, or mail herself an envelope with a razor blade dipped in rat poison hidden in the part where it is opened, as the people that she supports did to over 80 medical researchers.

[deezus]

01:54 PM on 09/29/2010

Watch this before giving any support to this organization:

Penn & Teller - Bullshit! - PETA (s02e01)
Part1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7kXUPy-dCx4
Part2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OzQgfWYwTzg
Part3: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wsUSDMclWQg

[IMOPINIONH8D]

08:57 PM on 09/29/2010

Thanks for posting the links.I was into it with someone about PETA being a scam operation. I mentioned Penn and Tellerbut didnt know where tolink it..........fnnd for positive effort.......\;0)

[whizzobutter]

01:17 PM on 09/29/2010

Give peas a chance, and eat Corey Feldman. That way he'd serve a purpose in life.

[alsm9]

12:57 PM on 09/29/2010

I'm a vegetarian and I do like some of PETA's ideas, but I do think a lot of what they do and say is extreme, which is why I would never support them.

[elcerritan]

02:27 PM on 09/30/2010

This seems sensible. There are far more rational and ultimately more effective ways to work on behalf of animals than the lunacy of PETA.

[jumbotron16]

12:49 PM on 09/29/2010

A few quotes from Ingrid Newkirk, cofounder and president of PETA:

“Pet ownership is an absolutely abysmal situation brought about by human manipulation."

“One day, we would like an end to pet shops and the breeding of animals. [Dogs] would pursue their natural lives in the wild ... they would have full lives, not wasting at home for someone to come home in the evening and pet them and then sit there and watch TV.”

“The bottom line is that people don't have the right to manipulate or to breed dogs and cats... If people want toys, they should buy inanimate objects. If they want companionship, they should seek it with their own kind.”

“I am not a morose person, but I would rather not be here. I don’t have any reverence for life, only for the entities themselves. I would rather see a blank space where I am. This will sound like fruitcake stuff again but at least I wouldn’t be harming anything.”

“Perhaps the mere idea of receiving a nasty missive will allow animal researchers to empathize with their victims for the first time in their lousy careers. I find it small wonder that the laboratories aren’t all burning to the ground. If I had more guts, I’d light a match.”

[Janis Moorhouse]

11:20 AM on 09/30/2010

I couldn't agree more with Ms. Newkirk.

[jumbotron16]

11:43 AM on 09/30/2010

Well, at least you're not supporting PETA without knowing what they're about. I personally love having animals in my life. But to each their own! :)

[elcerritan]

01:15 PM on 09/30/2010

So now we know there are at least two b@tsh!t crazy people in the world.