He’s gone from Middle-Earth, playing Merry in the Lord of the Rings trilogy, to the middle of nowhere, playing Charlie Pace on ABC’s hit drama Lost, and now actor Dominic Monaghan is appearing in a new wildlife ad for PETA. In the ad, Dominic encourages everyone to “Share the World,” saying, “Your actions can and do have an impact on the natural environment around you. Please consider a humane solution to wildlife issues in your community or in your own back yard.”

Helping Animals

Dominic Monaghan, star of the hit ABC series Lost, knows that you don’t have to be marooned on a tropical island to encounter wildlife. That’s why Monaghan jumped at the chance to kick off PETA’s latest wildlife campaign with a brand-new print ad shot at a California wildlife rehabilitation center. In the ad, Monaghan is pictured with a raccoon next to the tagline “Share the World”?a plea to peacefully coexist with wildlife.

In an exclusive interview on HelpingAnimals.com, Monaghan tells PETA about everything from what to anticipate this season on Lost to his thoughts on how wild animals like raccoons, squirrels, and opossums suffer from human encroachment.

“The more you get into [nature], the more you realize that it gives you back what you put into it … it’s very rewarding,” says Monaghan, who loves to go surfing and considers himself to be a bit of an expert on trees, plants, insects, and reptiles. “I have learned some of the greatest lessons in life from watching animals, from watching animals just simplistically go work out their problems.”

Every year, animals facing shrinking habitats are poisoned, trapped, shot, or beaten to death as “pests.” In addition to being horrendously cruel, America’s war on wildlife is ineffective: More animals simply move in to replace those who have left. Now PETA?with a little help from Monaghan?is offering humane and effective methods for dealing with human-wildlife conflicts at HelpingAnimals.com.

Peta Media Center

This season’s Others story line is creating a new population boom on Lost.

In tonight’s episode (ABC, 9 ET/PT), the series finally reconnects with established characters Locke (Terry O’Quinn), Charlie (Dominic Monaghan), Claire (Emilie de Ravin), Eko (Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje), Hurley (Jorge Garcia) and Desmond (Henry Ian Cusick), absent since May’s cliffhanger.

“We feel like Jay Leno, who has a garage full of fancy cars and can only drive one every day,” says executive producer Carlton Cuse. “We have a garage full of fancy, wonderful actors, and we just don’t have as much time to drive each one as much as we want to.”

The season’s first two episodes focused on The Others, including Ben (Michael Emerson) and newcomer Juliet (Elizabeth Mitchell), and the crash survivors caught by or chasing them.

“The show demands we introduce new characters on a regular basis, and the new toy is always the one that’s very engaging to the audience,” executive producer Damon Lindelof explains.

“This year so far, the story that’s captivated us has been the captivity story,” Cuse says.

But even cast members who are the season’s early focus have concerns about overpopulation.

“I think The Others are going to take a lot of our time away,” says Yunjin Kim, who plays Sun and was left out of a lot of last year’s action, which focused on survivors from the plane’s tail section. “But we need new blood to get things going. That’s how Lost goes.”

Says Matthew Fox, who plays Jack, held captive by The Others: “There were characters last year that people felt weren’t developed enough. Now, all of a sudden we find ourselves into The Others with new people introduced there.”

The producers promise that all will get their due ? and that more characters will be introduced and others will return.

But is tracking the vast cast contributing to a viewership slide? (Last week’s episode drew 16.9 million viewers, compared with 21.7 million for the same week last year.) Cuse says no and attributes the dip instead to the plot’s complexities.

“Lost has a whole history behind it,” he says, “and some casual viewers think it’s daunting to come watch the show if you haven’t been. We tried to design the show this year to make the basic concept pretty simple: our characters vs. The Others.”

USA Today

‘Lost’ star Dominic Monaghan has slammed fellow actors for complaining to the media about their wages, by saying that they should leave matters relating to money to their agents.

The 29-year-old ‘Lord Of The Rings’ actor says that he is never amused by the idea of an actor talking about his money, as he believes that it should be done through a right channel.

“I don’t think it’s a good idea for actors to speak out of turn about money. I think they should let their agents do that because it just muddies the whole issue,” Contactmusic quoted him as saying.

“Then you have people getting upset that someone spoke instead of doing it through the right channels,” he said.

Monaghan insists that when the deals were on for ‘Lost’, he had let his agent fight battles over money matters on his behalf.

“There are 14 actors on Lost so it would just cost more money. I let my agent fight my battles in.”

Contact Music | Loat Media | Daily India

Lost stars Dominic Monaghan and Evangeline Lilly are planning to marry next summer.

The couple, who met on the set of the show, announced their engagement earlier in the year. Monaghan is desperate to start a family with Lilly, and recently admitted: “I’ve been broody since, like, 11! I love kids. I love being around wild animals or babies because it’s a pure interaction there. They’re all about the moment. So I love being around babies. It’s fun.”

A source close to the couple said: “They decided the time was right and they are very much in love. It will be a summer wedding.”

Digital Spy