PETAKids Superstar: Daniel Salazar

Thousands of kids all over the planet are joining PETA’s army of animal rights rebels—and here’s where we give them their props. We know you do it because you care about animals, but who says you can’t flaunt your fab self a little in the process? Tell us how YOU help animals, and you could be our Superstar of the Month! Superstars get featured on this super-duper site, where they instantly become famous and go down in history. Won’t your friends be jealous ...

This month, we’re proud to introduce ... Daniel Salazar of Rancho Cordova, California! When Daniel found out that he and his classmates might be contributing to cruelty to sheep by using wool in their "handwork" class at Golden Valley Charter School, he knew he had to do something. You see, Daniel and his mom were reading their PETA e-news alerts when they found out about a terribly cruel procedure called "mulesing," which takes place on sheep farms in Australia and New Zealand. The farmers restrain the sheep with metal bars and use gardening shears to cut huge chunks of skin and flesh from around their tails—and they don’t even give them any painkillers! The farmers say they do this to prevent flies from laying their eggs in the wrinkly skin, but there are other ways to prevent that without hurting the sheep.

So Daniel leaped into action and created a petition that more than half of the campus had signed by lunchtime! And when the handwork teacher arrived, she found her classroom plastered with posters that Daniel and his classmates had made, with great slogans like "No Mulesing!" "Save the Sheep—Don’t Shave the Sheep!" and "Sheep Are Living Creatures—Treat Them Like It!"

When the teacher wasn’t able to tell Daniel exactly where the wool came from (all the label said was "dyed in Oklahoma"), this compassionate fifth-grader politely refused to knit. The teacher was so proud of Daniel for taking a stand against cruelty to animals that he didn’t get into any trouble and his teacher vowed never to buy wool from Australia or New Zealand again! But our hero didn’t stop there; right now, Daniel and his teacher are working on educating the other schools in the area about mulesing so that they, too, can implement a policy not to buy wool from Australia or New Zealand.

Are you using wool in school projects? If so, find out where it comes from and educate your classmates and teachers about mulesing. You can make a huge difference, just like Daniel did.

Now, how about you? Are you a superstar for animals? Do you know someone who is? It’s OK to brag. Tell us! E-mail PETAKids@peta.org and nominate a Superstar of the Month.