The late Bea Arthur was, among other things, a comedic genius, feminist icon, and beloved American actress of stage and screen. But widely overlooked in the recent coverage of her passing is the fact that she was a active advocate for animal rights. She campaigned against the force-feeding of ducks in the foie gras trade, even accompanying the president of PETA to London, where she demanded that Harrod's discontinue their peddling pâté.

Additionally, she protested against the fur trade, campaigned against animal experimentation, and even supported a boycott of KFC for their mistreatment of chickens. In fact, she even made an appearance on Judge Judy as the witness to another animal activist testifying against an abusive animal trainer. Not surprisingly, PETA eventually made her an honorary director, only after rewarding her with several Humanitarian Awards.

In her final years, Arthur was the target of some nasty (and we mean nasty) insults at Comedy Central roasts, and her most recent [hilarious] appearance at the Pamela Andersen edition only occurred on Arthur's condition that the network make a donation to PETA, which they did. And if volunteering oneself to be the object of dick jokes for the sake of saving animals isn't dedication, then we don't know what is.

Bea Arthur, however, didn't act alone. Her fellow Golden Girls, Rue McClanahan and Betty White, have, too, long pushed the cause, working with various organizations to protect our furry friends.

[Warning: some of these videos may be difficult to watch.]




[via PETA]