Comedian Ricky Gervais has been named PETA's Person of the Year 2013 for his 'animal friendly' approach to social media.

His tweets about animals in 2013 have netted 65,000 favourites and 92,000 retweets, and have ranged from comments on the homeless dog crisis to PETA's cruelty free cosmetics campaign. PETA Managing Director Ingrid E Newkirk says 'He finds humour in most things, but cruelty to animals isn't one of them', as Gervais commented 'Animals are not here for us to do as we please with. We are not their superiors, we are their equals. We are their family. Be kind to them.'