'Yips and Yowls'

“Yips” are for celebrities, politicians, or corporations that promote the protection of animals, and “Yowls” are for those who harm animals, whether directly or indirectly. Read below to find out who has been compassionate and who has been cruel, then let them know how you feel about their actions.

Yowls to Beyoncé Knowles

Yowls to repeat offender Beyoncé Knowles for her unrelenting efforts to promote fur as fashion. Miss Knowles received her first “Yowl” nearly three years ago for frequently draping herself in dead animal hides - some with recognizable body parts still attached - in her videos, public appearances, and live performances, and for promoting her favorite fur parlors in the press. Since then she has gotten even more blood on her hands by launching her own clothing line, House of Dereon, which incorporates animal pelt apparel in its designs and even sells a logo-sporting teddy bear made from the fur of once living minks.

Beyoncé recently auctioned off a lunch with herself and was surprised to find that the winners were animal activists who confronted her about her senselessness of style during lunch at an upscale Hollywood restaurant. The fashion conscious but ethically unconscionable singer could offer no defense against their charges of animal cruelty. Please tell this Destiny’s Child it is time to grow up and stop putting her selfish desires ahead of the lives of innocent animals.

Beyoncé Knowles
c/o Yvette Noel-Schure
Columbia Records
550 Madison Ave., 26th floor
New York, NY 10022
Phone: 212-833-4483
Fax: 212-833-8536
E-mail: Yvette_Noel-Schure@sonybmg.com

'Yips' to Mariah Carey

Yips to Mariah Carey for turning down two expensive fur coats she received as unwelcome gifts from a wealthy admirer. According to the New York Daily News, a Russian millionaire sent the Grammy Award-winning singer a Saga mink and a fur coat, worth $9,000 each, in a misguided attempt to impress her. Instead, horrified by the sight of these barbaric pelts, Carey donated them to an animal protection organization that will use them to educate the public about the terrible suffering inflicted by the fur industry each year.

Please thank Ms. Carey for opening her heart to animals and trying to teach others to do the same.

Mariah Carey
C/O Creative Artists Agency
9830 Wilshire Boulevard
Beverly Hills, CA 90212-1825
Phone: 310-288-4545

'Yowls' to Careerbuilder.com

Yowls to Careerbuilder.com, the employment company that continues to exploit chimpanzees in its ad campaigns, despite being repeatedly told of the cruelty involved in training great apes to be "actors." The television commercials feature an office full of chimpanzees in business suits sitting behind desks in cubicles much larger than the cages most of these animals are typically kept in when not performing.

Careerbuilder.com received hundreds of letters from chimpanzee experts and the public educating the company about the animal suffering it is helping to perpetuate. Unfortunately, while companies including Keds, Puma, HomeUSA Warehouse, and Honda decided pulled ads featuring great apes after learning of the abuse inherent in training chimpanzees, Careerbuilder.com has chosen to ignore these pleas for compassion. Furthermore, rather than receiving a pension when they retire, chimpanzees are often sent to roadside zoos and other substandard facilities to languish for decades.

Please contact Careerbuilder.com, and the advertising agency responsible for the commercials, and ask them to replace chimpanzees with lifelike computer and animatronic simulations.

Richard Castellini, Vice President for Consumer Marketing
CareerBuilder Inc.
8420 W. Bryn Mawr Ave., Ste. 1000
Chicago, IL 60631
Phone: 866-438-1485
E-mail: www.fuzeqna.com/careerbuilder/consumer/question.asp

Peter Krivkovich, President and CEO
Cramer-Krasselt
225 N. Michigan Ave.
Chicago, IL 60601-7601
Phone: 312-616-9600
E-mail: pkrivkov@c-k.com

'Yips' to Engine Company 2, Austin, TX

Yips to the firefighters of Engine Company 2 in Austin, Texas for saving lives even when they are not out on a call. These five men - Lieutenant Scotty Walters, Fire Specialist James Rae, and Firefighters Rip Esselstyn, Derick Zwerneman, and Matt Moore - are all vegans. They adopted the diet over the course of the last two years as a way of maintaining a healthy life style despite their demanding schedules, and now take turns preparing tasty and nutritious meals at the station house using the four major food groups of fruits, vegetables, whole grains and legumes. The station's Web site contains delicious and easy to prepare vegan recipes, as well as links to organizations like the American Vegan Society, which they describe as an "organization teaching a compassionate way of living."

Please contact these firefighters and thank them for being real heroes to both humans and animals.

Fire Station 2
506 W. MLK Blvd.
Austin, TX 78701
www.engine2.org/site/index.php?option=com_contact&catid=2&Itemid=5

'Yips' to Nellie McKay

Yips to rising singing star, animal advocate, and Doris Day fan Nellie McKay for using her celebrity to promote the welfare of animals. At the 2005 Genesis Awards, she received the special Doris Day Music Award for her canine tribute, “The Dog Song,” and has vowed not to perform in Canada until that country stops slaughtering seals for their fur. Recently, she won the Theatre World Award for Outstanding Debut Performance for her current role on Broadway as “Polly Peachum” in The Threepenny Opera, where she is still advocating for animals. In the Playbill program for the musical production, Ms. McKay’s bio mentions her participation in “the campaign to close Columbia University’s primate laboratories” and “encourages everyone to go to www.vegetarianstarterkit.com to help eradicate starvation, pollution, animal suffering, heart disease, and cancer.”

Please take the time to thank Ms. McKay, via her agent and publicist, for ensuring that she carries the animals of the world with her on her climb to the top.

Joe Brauner (Agent)
Creative Artists Agency
146 West 57
New York, NY 10019
Phone: 212-277-9000
E-mail: jbrauner@caa.com

Carla Parisi (Publicist)
Wrecking Ball Media
Phone: 973-846-0041
E-mail: wreckingball@nj.rr.com

'Yips' to Welch's Juice Company

Yips to Welch's for abandoning nutritional tests on animals for their line of juices. Unbelievable as it may seem, for years the company had been conducting tests on dogs, monkeys, rabbits and rats in an effort to examine the health properties of their grape juice products. Thanks to pressure from animal protection organizations, the company reexamined this policy and on May 16, 2006, released a statement that read in part: “As scientific research capability is advancing rapidly, we believe it is appropriate to adopt the following formal policy on Welch's scientific research...Welch's will not fund animal research.” You can read the entire statement at http://www.welchs.com/healthy/research_policy.html.

Please thank Welch's for coming to their senses and joining the many other juice companies—including Sunny Delight, Cascadian Farms, Newman's Own, Jamba Juice, and Campbell's V8–that are committed to promoting the health of humans without damaging the health of animals.

Daniel P. Dillon, President and CEO
Welch Foods Inc.
3 Concord Farms
575 Virginia Rd.
Concord, MA 01742
Phone: 978-371-1000
E-mail: askwelchs@welchs.com