*Note: I know I'm probably infringing copyright of PETA, by copying and pasting this weekly email from their president, Ingrid Newkirk. I just REALLY wanted to share this with my friends and other readers. Please let me know and I'll take it down my blog if necessary.

There's a lot to celebrate about the Summer Olympics in China: The many nations of the world put politics aside and come together in peace so that the greatest human athletes on Earth can compete.

But there's an ugly side for animals living in the Olympic host country, a side that you won't see in this week's nonstop coverage: the Chinese fur industry's horrific abuse of animals. By making an urgent donation today to support our work, you can help us draw the world's attention to the cruelty of the Chinese fur industry and keep people from unwittingly supporting it.

An estimated 2 million cats and hundreds of thousands of dogs are tortured and slaughtered for their fur in China every year. PETA's undercover video footage shows terrified animals crouched in tiny cages that are crammed so full of animals—both dead and alive—that the animals are unable to move. Some of the dogs and cats shown in the footage were still wearing the collars that their former families put on them. Animals are often hung upside-down by their legs or tails, and their skin is ripped off their bodies as they writhe and struggle.

China's fur industry unrepentantly continues to torture and kill animals for their skins.

China is one of the world's largest suppliers of animal fur. More than 95 percent of China's finished fur garments are exported for sale overseas, and many of them go to North America. Dog and cat fur is often intentionally mislabeled as "Asian jackal" or "rabbit" fur.

With so much attention focused on China right now, this is the time to demand an end to the Chinese fur industry's terrible torture of animals. Please help us stand in the way of the fur industry by making a generous donation online to support PETA's worldwide anti-fur campaign. Your gift will allow us to keep working hard to end the horrors of the fur industry in China and around the world. Please help us stop the slaughter of animals for fashion!

We know that the fight against the fur trade is one that we can win for animals if we push hard enough, long enough, and vigorously enough. PETA's efforts to expose the true cost of every piece of fur has already helped convince some of the world's leading designers and retailers—including Calvin Klein, Tommy Hilfiger, Polo Ralph Lauren, and Ann Taylor—to adopt permanent fur-free policies. With your help, we can work to ensure that animals, including dogs and cats who are treated like trash by the Chinese fur industry, don't suffer for their fur.

Don't let this important moment pass without doing all that you can to help cats and dogs and other tortured animals in China. Make your gift now.

Thank you for supporting our work to end senseless cruelty.

Kind regards,

Ingrid E. Newkirk President