More About Ingrid Newkirk: Ingrid Newkirk, cofounder of PETA, is the acclaimed author of Save the Animals! 101 Things You Can Do, Kids Can Save the Animals, and The Compassionate Cook. She lives in Washington, DC.
The History of PETA:
PETA’s thousands of victories in the past 40 years have led to massive changes to laws and company policies. Among them: everyone from Chanel to H&M and Nike have dropped exotic skins; the EPA is on track to stop funding tests on mammals; Wells Fargo and others ended sponsorship of the Iditarod dog race; hundreds of retailers no longer carry angora; TripAdvisor stopped promoting elephant rides; and NASA no longer sends animals into space.
1980: PETA is formed and organizes the first World Day for Laboratory Animals protest in the U.S.
1981: A PETA undercover investigation results in the first confiscation of animals used in research.
1987: PETA stops a plan to ship stray dogs from Mexico to laboratories in California.
1993: All car-crash tests on animals stop worldwide following PETA’s hard-hitting campaign.
1994: PETA persuades Calvin Klein to become the first major designer to stop using fur.
2001: PETA’s undercover investigation of a pig farm in Oklahoma leads to the first-ever felony cruelty convictions of farm workers, and PETA convinces Burger King—the first among many companies—to adopt sweeping animal-welfare reforms.
2007: After a PETA exposé, POM Wonderful, PepsiCo, and Coca-Cola end all animal tests.
2011: After reviewing PETA’s evidence, the USDA hands Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus the largest fine in history for Animal Welfare Act violations.
2015: The National Institutes of Health ends cruel maternal deprivation experiments on baby monkeys after a PETA campaign.
2016: After an intense PETA-led campaign, SeaWorld ends its captive orca-breeding program.
2017: New York City bans wild and exotic animals from circuses.
2019: The New York City Council passes local legislation that includes banning the sale of foie gras in NYC, and California becomes the first state to ban fur sales.
