Tarboro Native Heads to Court for Protesting SeaWorld at Rose Parade

For Immediate Release:
January 30, 2014

Contact:
Sophia Charchuk 202-483-7382

When SeaWorld’s float hit the Rose Parade on January 1, it was met by a group of PETA supporters—including Tarboro, N.C., native Meggan Anderson—who sat down in front of it in a peaceful protest against SeaWorld’s abuse of orcas. The protesters, holding posters that read, “Boycott SeaWorld,” and wearing “SeaWorld Hurts Orcas” T-shirts, were dragged from the parade route and arrested, and Anderson will head to court in Pasadena, Calif., on February 3.

Meggan Anderson grew up in Tarboro, N.C., where many of her family members still reside. After graduating early from Tarboro High School at 17, she moved to Southern California, where she’s an actor and a model.

Anderson’s passion for speaking up for animals has taken her around the world. In Dallas, she ended up in handcuffs while dressed as a shackled and beaten elephant to protest the abuse of animals in the Ringling Bros. circus, and she was arrested in Moscow while undressing during Fashion Week to protest fur. She has dressed as a bikini-clad “Lettuce Lady” to promote a vegan diet and crashed the stage at a fur showcase at Bloomingdale’s.

Anderson has been an active volunteer for animal shelters and sanctuaries—and, of course, for PETA. As someone who struggled with a severe speech impediment for 10 years, Anderson says she knows exactly what it feels like to need help and not be heard—just like the animals who suffer on factory farms, in circuses, and elsewhere.

Anderson, 29, lives in Los Angeles.