PETA President Bequeaths a Piece of Her Heart to Elon Musk in New Will

Jan 05, 2024

For Immediate Release:June 5, 2023

Contact:David Perle 202-483-7382

Norfolk, Va. – A piece of her heart to Elon Musk, her intestines to Salt Bae, and part of her spine to Donald Trump Jr.: These are among the bequests in PETA President Ingrid Newkirk's newly updated last will and testament to ensure that she continues drawing attention to animal abuse and exploitation even after her death.

Newkirk's original will was drafted 20 years ago after a flying scare, and because PETA has won so many victories for animals since then, it needed an overhaul. For instance, Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus, to which she had left her pointer finger to serve as the "Greatest Accusation on Earth," stopped using animals and will now receive a thumbs-up in thanks for leaving animal acts behind.

Newkirk's updated will, filed with her attorney executor, includes the following bequests (see the full list here):

"On his deathbed, they asked Bob Hope where he wanted to be buried and he replied, ‘Surprise me,’" says Newkirk. "In my case, when I die, I will hope to keep right on surprising those who harm animals, provoking conversations about speciesism, and campaigning against animal abuse."

Other directions from her original will remain, including frying up her flesh (with onions) for a human barbecue and sawing off her other foot for an umbrella stand, like the elephant-foot ones she saw when growing up in India. Also included are burying another piece of her heart at Germany's Hockenheim racetrack—as Newkirk is a lifelong Formula 1 fan—and sending Bruno and Rupert, the teddy bears she's had since she was a baby, to an orphanage in India.