Group Aims to Help Keep Historic Ferries Above Water While Helping to Save Animals From Being Abused and Killed
For Immediate Release:
July 20, 2011
Contact:
Kristin Richards 202-483-7382
Hartford, Conn. -- After hearing that the historic Rocky Hill-Glastonbury and Chester-Hadlyme ferries are facing closure because of budget cuts, PETA sent a letter to Connecticut Gov. Dannel Malloy and Department of Transportation (DOT) Acting Commissioner James Redeker with a suggestion that could help the DOT and animals on factory farms at the same time: Open the ferry boats to paid advertisements, and PETA will kick off the effort with a pro-vegan ad that reads, "Throw Animals a Lifeline: Go Vegan." In the letter, PETA explains that chickens, turkeys, cows, and pigs feel pain and fear just as humans do—yet on factory farms, they are abused in ways that would warrant felony cruelty-to-animals charges if cats and dogs were the victims.
"Going vegan saves the lives of more than 100 animals a year," says PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman. "Our offer is a win-win situation: It will help Connecticut to continue to operate its historical ferries and encourage everyone to throw a much-needed lifeline to the animals suffering on factory farms, in slaughterhouses, and on the decks of fishing boats."
For more information, please visit PETA.org.
PETA's letter to Gov. Malloy and DOT Commissioner Redeker follows.
July 20, 2011
Dear Governor Malloy and Mr. Redeker,
I am writing on behalf of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) and our more than 2 million members and supporters, including thousands across Connecticut. We are dismayed to hear that the historic Rocky Hill-Glastonbury and Chester-Hadlyme ferries are facing closure because of budget cuts, and we would like to offer a suggestion to help keep them afloat: The Department of Transportation (DOT) could accept paid advertising on the ferries. PETA would be happy to run the first ad, which would read, "Throw Animals a Lifeline: Go Vegan."
In addition to providing some revenue to keep the ferry services above water, our ad would let Connecticut residents and tourists know that they can each save the lives of more than 100 animals every year by simply switching to a healthy vegan diet. Chickens, turkeys, cows, and pigs feel pain and fear just as we do, yet in today's industrialized meat, egg, and dairy industries, they are abused in ways that would warrant felony cruelty-to-animals charges if cats or dogs were the victims. For example, chickens and turkeys have their throats cut while they're still conscious, piglets are castrated without being given any painkillers, fish are suffocated or cut open while they're still alive on the decks of fishing boats, and terrified cows often go through slaughter kicking and screaming as they are skinned and dismembered alive.
We hope our ad will remind rivergoers that, when it comes to joy and suffering, we're all in the same boat. The animals whom humans raise for food value their lives and love their families just as we do. Mother hens, for example, actually cluck to their unborn chicks, who chirp back to their mothers and to one another from within their shells, and some cows have even jumped fences and walked for miles to try to reunite with calves sold away from them at auction.
By running our ferry ad, the DOT can help to bail us out of our health crisis and rescue animals from a sinking ship. Please contact me to discuss the details of this exciting opportunity to keep Connecticut's historic ferries from going under. Thank you for your consideration.
Sincerely,
Tracy Reiman, Executive Vice President