Decimated Caspian Sea Nets President Putin a Vegan Caviar Present From PETA

PETA Encourages President to Protect Animals, the Environment and Citizens’ Health by Promoting Plant-Based Delicacies

For Immediate Release:
December 31, 2014

Contact:
Alexis Sadoti 202-483-7382

Prompted by reports that the decimated Caspian Sea has led Russia to turn to Vietnamese aquaculture farms to satisfy its citizens’ hunger for caviar, PETA is rushing a case of mouth-watering vegan Cavi-Art to Russian President Vladimir Putin as well as a note pointing out that as a historic exporter of caviar, Russia could bolster its faltering economy and protect depleted sturgeon populations by producing plant-based – and therefore sustainable – versions of the delicacy.

“PETA is encouraging Putin to set Russia on the path to a more secure environment and economy and improved human health in 2015”, says PETA President Ingrid E Newkirk. “With so many healthy and delicious vegan delicacies to choose from, it’s the perfect time to celebrate with fish-friendly food.”

Decimated by over-fishing, sturgeon populations in the Caspian Sea – the natural home of these sensitive, intelligent fish – have dipped dangerously low, prompting some caviar producers in Russia and around the world to switch to industrialised aquaculture farms, which are often filthy, enclosures in which fish are condemned to swimming through their own waste and can suffer from rampant parasites and diseases. Female sturgeon, who feel pain and fear as all animals do, are often cut open while they are still alive so that the eggs can be ripped from their ovaries.

PETA, whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to eat, … use for entertainment, or abuse in any other way”, is also calling on Putin to prohibit the capture of orcas in Russian waters and work with marine-mammal experts to rehabilitate and release the orcas caught and held captive in recent years.

For more information, please visit PETA.org.