PETA was founded in 1980 and is dedicated to establishing and defending the rights of all animals. PETA operates under the simple principle that animals are not ours to experiment on, eat, wear, use for entertainment, or abuse in any other way. PETA informs policymakers and the public about animal abuse and promotes kind treatment of animals. PETA is an international nonprofit charitable organization based in Norfolk, Virginia, with entities worldwide. PETA believes that animals have rights and deserve to have their best interests taken into consideration, regardless of whether they are useful to humans. Like you, they are capable of suffering and have an interest in leading their own lives. The very heart of all of PETA’s actions is the idea that it is the right of all beings—human and nonhuman alike—to be free from harm. Our world is plagued with many serious problems, all of which deserve our attention. Cruelty to animals is one of them. We believe that all people should try to stop animal abuse whenever and wherever they can. Since 1980, PETA has campaigned to establish a global society in which humans consider the needs of what Henry Beston, noted American writer and naturalist of the mid-20th century, so beautifully called “the other nations.” We uphold the rights of individual animals to be respected. For most, that means simply leaving them alone. PETA opposes speciesism, a human-supremacist worldview, and focuses its attention on the four areas in which the largest numbers of animals suffer the most intensely for the longest periods of time: in laboratories, in the food industry, in the clothing trade, and in the entertainment business. We also work on a variety of other issues, including the cruel killing of rodents, birds, and other animals who are often considered “pests” as well as cruelty to domesticated animals. In today’s world of virtually unlimited choices, animal exploitation is simply unacceptable. We can eat better, educate ourselves better, clothe ourselves better, and entertain ourselves better without torturing and killing animals. We have the power to spare animals excruciating pain by making better choices about the food we eat, the things we buy, and the activities we support. Mason Melito: Since starting at PETA in 2023, I have organized demonstrations in more than two dozen states. When I was 14, I was active for environmental issues, but I became more involved in animal rights when I became vegan at 15. Now that I work at PETA, I spend my time organizing protests that are sure to get the media’s attention. When cow manure was frozen in the dump truck in front of the ASPCA headquarters in New York City, where we planned to dump it to call attention to the BS “animal welfare certified” labels that the group supported at the time, I climbed right in the truck with the manure, attracting loads of news coverage! I also traveled to Denver, Colorado, where I protested Liberty Media to stop funding dogs’ deaths in the Iditarod. When I’m not traveling across the country for PETA, you can find me playing pickleball and advocating for animals in San Diego.