Peta

Rodeo-style live bull riding is set to resume next month at an Anne Arundel County bar, despite an appeal from a national animal rights organization to end the "gratuitous, cruel activity." "We're just a local business trying to run an event," Cancun Cantina owner Tony Toskov said. People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, based in Norfolk, Va., threatened yesterday to demonstrate against the attraction, which has been staged in a sand pit behind the Hanover bar for the past four years.

People flock to Pimlico Race Course on the third Saturday in May for the excitement, for a good party or for a stiff Black-Eyed Susan. The bill of fare, though, hasn't been high on the list of attractions since the Coolidge administration. The Maryland Jockey Club is looking to have the food at this year's race make the kind of lasting impression fans haven't seen since 1997, when Silver Charm, Free House and Captain Bodgit were separated at the finish by less than three feet.

Sticky Rice , with four locations including Aliceanna Street in Baltimore, has been named by PETA as one of the top 10 restaurants for vegan sushi, taking the No. 8 spot. PETA was impressed with Stick Rice for offering two types of tofu-based sushi as well as a dozen sushi dishes featuring vegetables, running the gamut, PETA said, from the Dirty South (vegan tempura fried sweet potato and sesame seeds) to the Hot Hippy (spicy marinated tofu, scallions, peanuts, cucumbers, and carrots)

Sticky Rice , with four locations including Aliceanna Street in Baltimore, has been named by PETA as one of the top 10 restaurants for vegan sushi, taking the No. 8 spot. PETA was impressed with Stick Rice for offering two types of tofu-based sushi as well as a dozen sushi dishes featuring vegetables, running the gamut, PETA said, from the Dirty South (vegan tempura fried sweet potato and sesame seeds) to the Hot Hippy (spicy marinated tofu, scallions, peanuts, cucumbers, and carrots)

PETA wants to take a Baltimore City councilman up on his budget-balancing idea to put ads on fire trucks. And the ad the group has in mind could start some fires all by itself. The group, known for its attention-getting tactics, sent a letter to City Councilman William "Pete" Welch on Friday, saying that they love his money-making scheme of selling ads on city fire trucks.  "In light of the recent bill you proposed that would allow advertisements to be placed on the city's fire engines to ease financial trouble, we would like to be the first to offer you a revenue-raising ad that will get hearts racing while preventing heart attacks," PETA wrote.

"When entertaining, it is always best to have an elephant," said Phineas T. Barnum. I watched the unloading of the animals the other night by the Ringling Brothers Circus in back of the B.&O. Railroad Museum. The elephants all seemed well fed and quite happy. The horses are quite magnificent, and all of the handlers seemed very proud and professional. There was no sign of abuse of any kind, and you could tell that the handlers loved their animals. Perhaps the PETA people should attend the circus like me and have a good time.

Please allow me to clarify People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals' position on pit bulls in light of Sal Grifasi's letter to the editor ("When pit bulls have more rights than humans," June 12). PETA supports measures that protect both pit bulls and humans, including bans on breeding or acquiring new pit bulls (provided that such laws grandfather-in registered, well-cared for, spayed and neutereddogs) and strict regulations on the keeping of pit bulls. Such laws would only have a serious impact on people who are exploiting pit bulls.

The animal activist group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals alleges that the Baltimore Animal Rescue and Care Shelter allowed a mortally injured cat to sit for up to seven hours before euthanizing it — a charge the shelter denies. In letters to BARCS leaders and to city officials, PETA also describes conditions at the shelter as "overcrowded and unhealthy. " The situation regarding the cat stems from a complaint made by a Hamilton man who witnessed a dog maul a cat Aug. 8. Joe Lombardo called animal control to pick up the cat, which was not his, and an officer told him to call BARCS the next morning to follow up. "When he followed up the next day, he was told that the severely injured cat was left without treatment or euthanasia for more than 7 hours, and was not put out of his or her misery until 8:30 am," wrote Teresa Chagrin, a specialist with PETA's cruelty investigations department, in a letter to the director of BARCS.

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals is offering to help keep Baltimore's city-owned Edgar Allan Poe House open, provided the group is allowed to display an ad promoting a vegan diet. In a letter sent Monday to Poe House curator Jeff Jerome, PETA officials offered to "help a little bit" in the effort to keep the financially strapped Poe House open. In return for that help, PETA proposes, the house would display a sign featuring a man clutching at his chest; the accompanying message would read, "The Tell-Tale Heart of a Meat-Eater.

PETA isn't a bother most of the time. The animal rights group's efforts are often annoying, sometimes laughable, but rarely craven and vile. Until recently. My first inclination was to ignore the latest outrageous stunt by the Virginia-based People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals rather than give it any ink. I held my tongue several years ago when it implored The Sun to stop covering fishing. I didn't comment when PETA asked the Boy Scouts to stop giving out fishing merit badges.

A 5-year-old from Lutherville, a tot who campaigns for animal rights and says animals are friends not food, is vying for the title of PETA's Cutest Vegan Kid. Maya Parker-Rollins, who's been vegan her whole short life, is competing to be the girl winner against four other cuties. There will be a boy and a girl winner who will appear in a PETA ad. She's up against some stiff competition. There's the 14-month-old Ramona from Ohio who loves potatoes and tofu. Another 5-year-old, Ciera, who's got carrot-red hair and poses in her contest shot with a pet mouse (that looks more like a pet rat)

Tonight's an abbreviated show due to the presidential debate. Four couples will do their individual routines, and the other four couples will dance their group routine. Tomorrow, they switch. It's "Guilty Pleasures" night -- which, don't get me started. You like what you like and that's ok. Unless it's illegal. In which case, darn tootin' you should feel guilty. Tom tells us the freestyle team dance has already claimed one victim; the camera pans to to Melissa and Tony. (Psst, I read online that she was taken to the hospital with a head injury over the weekend.)

More than 200 rabbits were seized from a Calvert County rescue because of poor living conditions, police said Thursday. A veterinarian, accompanying the Calvert County Sheriff's Office, determined that 43 rabbits were healthy enough to stay at the Bunny Magic Rabbit Rescue and Wildlife Rehabilitation in the 1300 block of Tongue Cove Lane in Lusby, police said. The veterinarian examined the rabbits and determined that 222 needed further medical care. A woman who answered the phone at the rescue Thursday said she had no comment.

Tom opens calling it the "hardest fought season ever. " I'm not sure about that, but I will say that this is one with a lot of strong competitors, few loathsome personalities, and a satisfying final three. It starts with the pro dancers (the "real" pro dancers, not just the troupe) dancing to a song I would probably know if I were 20 years younger, but I'm not and the only 16-year-old in this house is a cat. At the end of the song, we get the pros walking the floor with their celebrity partners.

It is irresponsible to claim, as the letter writer from Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM) does, that eating meat is equivalent to smoking cigarettes ("Unhealthful foods kill more Americans every year than tobacco," May 13). In moderation, eating meat is perfectly fine. Studies of the supposed link between meat and cancer regularly find statistically weak or no associations. That's nowhere approaching the level of risk from cigarettes on lung cancer, which range upward of 20-fold.

The judges pick an encore, but given the way the stage is set up, it's clear the audience knows what the routine will be. Judging from the screams, it must be William -- and it is. The white pants of infinite tightness are BACK, baby. This is not the same routine that got a 30 last night -- William's pants are whole-assing it, but he's only half-assing this dance. Footage from last night -- the judges seem very disappointed for Katherine that she had the injury that caused the flub at the end of the routine.

Bowing to pressure from a national animals rights organization, the owner of an Anne Arundel County bar said last night that he is ending its rodeo-style bull riding in favor of "tropical ambiance." "I hate to give in," said Cancun Cantina owner Tony Toskov, "but it's in my best interest to call it quits for the summer. Besides, I just planted 150 palm trees where the bull riding was and I'm not prepared to dig them up." Toskov's decision came a day after People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals stepped up its campaign against the return of bull riding at his Hanover nightclub.

BOVINOCIDE. That's what the folks at PETA, the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, would have you believe Officer Ian Cameron of the Baltimore Police Department committed April 18. You may have heard the story by now. It ran on WJZ earlier this week and in Dan Rodricks' column yesterday. About 9:30 a.m. on the day in question, a steer escaped from a slaughterhouse on Pennsylvania Avenue in West Baltimore. Perspicacious critter must have known what was afoot. He roamed the nearby area until he ran into a dead end in an alley behind the 1900 block of Herbert St. Officers from the police emergency unit and a SWAT team were dispatched to the scene.

PETA wants to take a Baltimore City councilman up on his budget-balancing idea to put ads on fire trucks. And the ad the group has in mind could start some fires all by itself. The group, known for its attention-getting tactics, sent a letter to City Councilman William "Pete" Welch on Friday, saying that they love his money-making scheme of selling ads on city fire trucks.  "In light of the recent bill you proposed that would allow advertisements to be placed on the city's fire engines to ease financial trouble, we would like to be the first to offer you a revenue-raising ad that will get hearts racing while preventing heart attacks," PETA wrote.