Remember when that liquor store in Greenpoint put chicks and bunnies in the window display in celebration of (a drunken, drunken) Easter? That was a bad idea. And now Farm Sanctuary wants you to resist the urge to do something similar, like say, buy some bunnies and ducklings and chicks as gifts this season just because you can. Or just because "the animated movie Hop, featuring an adorable bunny as the main character, is packing movie theaters nationwide" (though we're pretty sure Russell Brand isn't going to help move bunnies). more ›

Last month Raymond Lopez of the Bronx, who has taken to tending to a growing community of chickens in the borough, said the animals needed a more fitting home. Now the Daily News reports that volunteers helped capture the wild chickens near West 169th Street, on a mission to relocate the birds. more ›

It's a Thanksgiving miracle! A wild turkey hailing from Staten Island found her way to the New Jersey Turnpike, where for days she's been dodging vehicles and worrying toll booth attendants. more ›

Did you know Frankenstein was a vegan? (Well, he was rather pale.) In Mary Shelley’s classic Gothic horror novel, the man made monster says, “I do not destroy the lamb and kid to glut my appetite; acorns and berries afford my sufficient nourishment." What a compassionate guy! more ›

Yet another wandering goat has been found in Pelham Bay Park, near the junction of I-95 South and the Hutchinson River Parkway in the Bronx. The white male goat, seen here, is estimated to be approximately two years old and suffering from what appears to be an advanced upper respiratory infection. His ears are also mutilated, according to Farm Sanctuary, which has agreed to receive the goat at their upstate farm. more ›

Yesterday the Farm Sanctuary aided in the rescue of a chicken that would have otherwise been part of the sacrificial slaughter during the Jewish ritual of kaparot. They tell us the chicken was saved in Crown Heights, and later named Chesed, meaning mercy or loving-kindness in Hebrew. He joined the over 200 other NYC chickens the organization has rescued from this ritual over the past three years. more ›

With Yom Kippur coming up this Monday, South Williamsburg will be the stage for many a sacrificial chicken slaughter on Sunday. The Jewish ritual known as kapparot raises eyebrows each year, and now Dr. Allan Kornberg, Executive Director for Farm Sanctuary, has released a statement. more ›

Oh baby! Last night this cute little lamb was born on a transport truck on the way to a Bronx slaughterhouse. Luckily, a good samaritan and Farm Sanctuary swooped in and saved him, eventually bringing the little guy to their shelter in Watkins Glen, NY. Sadly, the mother didn't have such luck, and went to slaughter with the rest on board the truck.

"The minutes old lamb was discovered by a Good Samaritan who was shopping at an Italian market just a few doors down from the slaughterhouse when the truck arrived. Wanting to get a closer look at the sheep as they were unloaded, the woman walked over to the truck and was shocked to discover a newborn lamb among the herd, as well as a less fortunate lamb who had been trampled to death during transport. more ›

The folks at the Farm Sanctuary tell us three young ducks were just saved from some bullies in Boro Park, Brooklyn (where they were "mercilessly being taunted and abused of a group of children"). They report back from the scene more ›

Albie the goat recently lost his leg to amputation, but an animal rights advocate who lost her own leg to illness is doing her best to ease the transition for a goat found in Brooklyn's Prospect Park. Albie was found in the park, after he probably escaped a Brooklyn slaughterhouse. more ›

In a desperate bid for freedom and to avoid a date with a butcher's knife, a goat made a break for it in the Bronx. The 25 pound pygmy goat was spotted yesterday afternoon on 141st St. near St. Ann Ave. in the Mott Haven section of the Bronx and police quickly captured it. A worker with Animal Care & Control believes that the animal probably escaped from a neighborhood slaughterhouse. more ›

READING: We originally thought this was going down yesterday, but you still have a chance to see it! Not in a million years would we have thought we'd be listing a reading by former Guns n' Roses guitarist, Slash. But it turns out old rockers love to dish on their sordid lives, and this mysterious musician is no different. Tonight he'll read from his book, called Slash, which apparently "redefines sex, drugs, and rock 'n' roll." more ›

We really love the story of the brown and white Hereford cow found wandering around Briarwood in Queens, so we're especially happy to learn that she headed upstate to the Farm Sanctuary. The AP reports that the cow has been renamed "Maxine" ("after artist Peter Max and his wife, Mary, who brought another animal to the shelter in 2002") and that she probably ran away from a live market, as there was a tag in her ear. more ›

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Something we did not realized happened on Sunday: Governor Eliot Spitzer attended a Nascar race in Watkins Glen, NY (the only NY State town that has a Nascar track, same town where the Farm Sanctuary is located) and was called "the best Jewish Nascar fan" by cable executive and race car driver Leo Hindery. The NY Times explains that his brother-in-law is an engineer at Hendrick Motorsports and that Hendrick driver Jeff Gordon is Spitzer's favorite. more ›

Slaughterhouses may have mostly disappeared from New York City's municipal landscape, but they still exist. They tend to only be noticed when one of their stock escapes imminent death via a bolt for freedom. Unfortunately, the city's streets are barely more hospitable to a farm animal on the loose, once it has escaped the inevitable doom of the urban abattoir. Last month we posted a story about a little lamb (whose fleece was about as white as dirty city snow) that was wandering around the Bronx. After a chase-and-be-chased incident, a man named Julio Rivera managed to corral the lamb into a parking lot, where responding police officers took turns capturing camera phone pics with the animal. more ›

• Another follow-up to last week's animal news: The Mayor's Alliance for NYC's Animals chauffeured the little lamb found wandering in the Bronx up to Farm Sanctuary in Watkins Glen . And lamb, named Lucky Lady, wasn't the only lucky one headed up there: Six chickens found in Brooklyn were also along for the trip.

April 5: Italian Festa to celebrate the paperback publication of George deStefano's An Offer We Can't Refuse: The Mafia in the Mind of America. A reading and signing, followed by a Sicilian wine tasting, with antipasti served. Free. Hunters Point Wines and Spirits, 47-07 Vernon Boulevard, Long Island City, Queens. more ›

High profile chef Wolfgang Puck has taken foie gras off his menus. Farm Sanctuary, a organization dedicated to the protection of farm animals, had targetted Puck for an aggressive campaign beginning in 2004, and engaged him and his companies in conversation last summer along with the Humane Society of the United States. Puck's changes aren't limited to foie, but extend to more animal-friendly food practices across the board. According to the New York Times:

He has directed his three companies, which together fed more than 10 million people in 2006, to buy eggs only from chickens not confined to small cages. Veal and pork will come from farms where animals are not confined in crates, and poultry meat will be bought from farmers using animal welfare standards higher than those put forth by the nation’s largest chicken and turkey producers. Mr. Puck has also vowed to use only seafood whose harvest does not endanger the environment or deplete stocks.