DATE: Wednesday, August 20, 1997            TAG: 9708200023

SECTION: DAILY BREAK             PAGE: E1   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: LARRY BONKO

                                            LENGTH:  113 lines

PETA HAS WON THE SUPPORT OF MANY STARS IN HOLLYWOOD BUT NOT THE PETA IT WANTS

WOULDN'T IT be great, they were saying at the Norfolk headquarters of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, if Peta Wilson of the hot new TV series ``La Femme Nikita'' actively supported their cause?

Peta for PETA.

How cool is that?

Peta for PETA.

Picture it on a thousand bumper stickers.

I doubt if ``Peta for PETA'' will ever come to pass, judging by an interview I did with Wilson in Hollywood not long ago.

``It's a great organization,'' she said of PETA. ``But I'd be a hypocrite if I spoke on its behalf. I like a good lamb chop now and then.''

This actress with hair the color of straw and long, long limbs was born and raised in Australia. ``I grew up eating steak and eggs for breakfast,'' she said.

It's a meal she still fancies.

While the chances are slim you'll see the cool young star of ``La Femme Nikita'' in a PETA video wearing a ``Meat Stinks'' T-shirt while pushing for animal lib, there are other TV personalities who can't wait to campaign before the cameras.

They do it for free, says PETA.

They volunteer.

The latest big names on TV to join PETA's save-the-animals movement are Bill Maher of ``Politically Incorrect'' and Ellen DeGeneres of ``Ellen.'' Plus that pouty Lisa Rinna of ``Melrose Place,'' who is on the cover of PETA's ``Shopping Guide for Caring Consumers.''

Rinna's message: ``When I go shopping, all that should suffer is my bank account.''

She's anti-fur and against cosmetics companies that test their products on animals. Maher, DeGeneres and Rinna in the summer of 1997 join a big family of TV personalities who have supported PETA.

They include Mary Tyler Moore, Bea Arthur, Ed Asner, Candice Bergen, Josie Bissett, Sara Gilbert, Jennie Garth, Ricki Lake - she was busted in a raid on a fur designer's office - Rue McClanahan, Brooke Shields, Courtney Thorne-Smith and Lindsay Wagner.

It surprises me that Maher, an irreverent, at times profane, I-make-fun-of-everybody type of guy would care whether minks gave up their lives so that Park Avenue matrons could be wrapped in fur. I mean, he doesn't strike me as the sensitive type.

But there is Maher in PETA's latest print and TV campaign, standing shoulder to shoulder with DeGeneres as they ambush a woman who's wearing mink.

Maher: ``She's turning stomachs instead of heads with that coat.''

DeGeneres: ``She'll be upset when she finds out God's a giant mink.''

How noble of Maher.

I didn't think he had it in him. ``If if sounds strange coming from this politically incorrect pundit, it shouldn't,'' Maher said in a commentary for PETA. ``Critics of fur aren't worried about being hip. I say leave the mink coat on the mink. To each his own skin.''

When PETA moved its headquarters to waterfront offices on Front Street in downtown Norfolk, it brought to this area more than spies who allegedly stake out animal labs. And workers who keep tabs on the abuses of circus animals and egg-laying hens while tending to stray dogs and cats in their Norfolk offices.

PETA in Norfolk established a stairway to the stars.

There's no telling who'll be next to call from Hollywood to ask Joey Penello, media relations representative, if he needs help getting out PETA's message.

``They're really dedicated,'' Penello said of PETA's celebrity supporters.

William Shatner's agent faxed to say his client would be pleased to do a TV spot about caring for animals in time of floods, fires or earthquakes. ``Never leave them helplessly chained or caged,'' says Capt. Kirk.

Elizabeth Berkley of ``Saved by the Bell'' heard about Norfolk's Fat City reputation - that the Coalition for Excess Weight Risk Reduction picked Norfolk the second fattest city in the country. Blame it on, ugh, hamburger, she suggested.

Pushing for vegetarianism, Berkley draped herself in collard greens that cost $600 and sent Norfolk residents this message on a postcard:

``Please keep your city off next year's fat list by beefing up on vegetarian selections.''

Her ``lettuce-be-lean'' recipe hot line number is (757) 622-PETA, ext. 316.

That hunky Fabio from the I-can't-believe-it's-butter commercials has joined the war against fur. He's urging people to donate their furs to PETA for anti-fur fashion shows and displays, and to be used as bedding for injured wildlife.

``The reaction to Fabio has been great,'' said Penello.

Fabio says to call (888) FUR-AWAY.

There are times when the celebrities call PETA, asking to donate time and money, and there are times when PETA calls VIPs to ask for their help.

``We'll read about a movie or TV star being a vegetarian, and then we'll contact that star to see if he or she is interested in helping in our campaigns,'' said Penello. ``The celebrities get involved in various ways.''

Some ways are subtle. When Gilbert played Roseanne's rebellious daughter, Darlene, on the ABC sitcom about the Connors family, she asked the writers to slip in dialogue about vegetarianism. Remember how Darlene revolted when Roseanne and Jackie opened a ``loose meat'' diner?

No telling who'll be next to call Penello from Hollywood, volunteering to pose nude in a campaign to get everyone out of fur or bragging about making friends with chickens, as did Garth of ``Beverly Hills 90210.''

Alicia Silverstone isn't clueless about animal rights. She filmed a TV spot for PETA urging students in biology classes to refuse to dissect frogs, cats, pigs, even worms. ``There is a humane alternative to dissection,'' the Batgirl says in her PETA spot.

Silverstone said she refused to dissect frogs in her high school biology class. The teacher gave her an F. She's a hero to all who work for PETA in Norfolk, where the phones ring and ring.

Could the next caller be Peta Wilson, dialing PETA to say she's seen the error of her ways and is giving up steak for breakfast?

Peta for PETA. That would be so cool. ILLUSTRATION: Color photo

Bill Maher

Photo

USA NETWORK

Peta Wilson, star of ``La Femme Nikita,'' still likes to eat meat.

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