Group Wants Residents to Extend Their Compassion to All Animals
For Immediate Release:
June 28, 2012
Contact:
Kaitlynn Kelly 202-483-7382
Waco, Texas -- A PETA billboard that depicts an animal who's a cross between a dog and a pig and reads, "If You Wouldn't Eat Your Dog, Why Eat a Pig? Go Vegan," could soon make Waco its new home. The group is negotiating with outdoor advertisers to display the ad after news reports that a Waco man has been arrested for allegedly beating and strangling a dog to death and eating the animal. PETA's point? That just like dogs, pigs and other animals raised for food feel pain and fear and suffer immensely when they are kept in intensive confinement on factory farms and have their throats slit in slaughterhouses.
"It's heartbreaking to think of what this defenseless dog went through—the pain and fear are almost unimaginable," says PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman. "Unfortunately, there are some acts of cruelty that we can do nothing about, but there are others that we can prevent—and PETA hopes that this tragic incident will inspire Waco residents to think about the animals we can spare from violence simply by going vegan."
Given the opportunity and training, pigs can play computer games about as well as college students, turn on lights and heat in a barn, and perform many other sophisticated activities. Inquisitive and pleasant-natured, pigs can be loyal, playful, and protective companions—but on factory farms, sows are squeezed into narrow metal stalls barely larger than their own bodies and kept constantly pregnant or nursing. Pigs' tails are chopped off, and their teeth are cut with pliers, and males are castrated—all without any painkillers. At slaughterhouses, they are hung upside down and bled to death while still conscious.
Going vegetarian gives animals a break—and it helps human health and the environment, too. According to the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, vegetarians are less prone to heart disease, diabetes, obesity, and cancer than meat-eaters are. In addition, raising animals for food is a leading cause of water consumption and pollution, land degradation, and greenhouse-gas emissions.
For more information, please visit PETA.org.
