Critter Defenders

Naturally, you'd expect such scientific luminaries as JANE GOODALL to champion animal rights. After all, she's studied apes for most of her life. And, if you've read their books, it's not surprising that authors ASTRID LINDGREN and ALICE WALKER would be among those who advocate better treatment for animals.

But did you know about these other celebrities who have a soft spot for our furry friends?

Star of The Exorcist, actress LINDA BLAIR is also possessed with a desire to save animals from exploitation and extinction. She contributes to various charities that educate the public on animal issues, and she even has a hand in Alternet.com, a lifestyle site devoted to cruelty-free products and leather alternatives.

Former Beatle SIR PAUL MCCARTNEY is a well-known vegetarian, converted one day at lunch while watching the family sheep cavort. His late wife, Linda McCartney, was an outspoken advocate of vegetarianism and the author of several cookbooks. In the 1990s she marketed a line of meatless frozen foods.

Other popular recording stars who champion animal rights include electronica wizard MOBY, singer/songwriter CHRISSIE HYNDE of The Pretenders, crooner K.D. LANG and blues rocker MELISSA ETHERIDGE

BOB BARKER, host of the television gameshow The Price is Right, is the founder of the DJ&T Foundation, an organization that funds the spaying and neutering of animals. He has also waged a public campaign to ban elephants from circuses, and in 1988 he quit as the host of the Miss America and Miss Universe pageants when officials insisted on giving a fur coat as a prize.

Former Hollywood couple ALEC BALDWIN and KIM BASINGER are proud members of the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), the Performing Animal Welfare Society (PAWS), and other organizations that work for animal rights. Baldwin especially has become one of the more outspoken celebrity advocates for the animal rights movement, and, as such, is something of a lightning rod for its opponents.

Twins ALEXANDRA PAUL and CAROLINE PAUL both are vegetarians and animal-rights activists. Alexandra Paul was a co-star on the TV show Baywatch; Caroline was one of the first women to join the San Francisco Fire Department. Alexandra's defense of critters extends even to silkworms; for her 2000 wedding, she reportedly chose a wedding dress which contained no silk.

In the 1990s, TV talkshow host and sometime actress RICKI LAKE gave Baldwin a run for his money as the most newsworthy celebrity against animal cruelty. She and her husband were arrested at an anti-fur protest in New York, and Lake did a brief stint in the slammer. Unrepentant, she continues to be an advocate for animal welfare.

Working for animal welfare is no recent fad. Celebrities who have been involved for years in the fight for better conditions for animals include actresses from all over the spectrum, from DORIS DAY and ALICIA SILVERSTONE to BRIGITTE BARDOT and ELLEN DEGENERES, from MARY TYLER MOORE and TIPPI HEDREN to ELVIRA, MISTRESS OF THE DARK.

And in the last decade, even supermodels have made their opinions known, with top models NAOMI CAMPBELL and CHRISTY TURLINGTON coming out publicly against fur.

Another anti-fur celebrity is actress and cyber pin-up PAMELA ANDERSON. The former star of TV's Baywatch was given a 1999 award from the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals for her public outspokenness on animal abuse and the fur industry.

In the movie Babe (1995), actor JAMES CROMWELL played the good Farmer Hoggett, friend and mentor to a sheep herding pig. In real life Cromwell is a friend to all animals, and the narrator of a PETA film urging people to stop eating pigs. He has urged government officials and the public many times to put an end to animal cruelty, and in 2001 he was arrested outside a Wendy's hamburger restaurant while trying to persuade people to boycott the fast-food chain.

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