Holiday Ad Makes It Clear That Pigs Are No Different From Dogs When It Comes to Feeling Fear and Pain
For
Immediate Release:
December 8,
2011
Contact:
David Perle 202-483-7382
Halifax, Nova Scotia — How would children feel if Fido and Fluffy were honey-baked and served for dinner? That's what PETA is asking this holiday season with a new billboard that shows an animal who's a cross between a dog and a pig. The billboard reads, "Kids: If You Wouldn't Eat Your Dog, Why Eat a Pig? Go Vegan for the Holidays." The group plans to run the billboard in Halifax in the hope that it will spark a dialogue between kids and their parents about the nearly 30 million pigs—and millions of other animals—who are killed and eaten in Canada every year.
"Pigs are as smart and sensitive as the family dog, yet we treat them like nothing more than meat machines," says PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman. "We are asking kids—and their parents—not to eat pigs and other animals and to stay true to the spirit of the holiday season by choosing humane and delicious vegan fare instead."
On today's factory farms, sows are squeezed into narrow metal stalls barely larger than their own bodies, in which they are unable to turn around, nuzzle their piglets, or do anything that they would do naturally. Pigs are drugged and bred to grow so large that they often become crippled under their own weight. Their tails are chopped off, their teeth are cut, and male pigs are castrated—all without painkillers. Eventually, they are crammed into transport trucks for a terrifying journey to the slaughterhouse.
For more information, please visit PETA's blog.