Bacon-Scented Scratch-Offs Prompt Pro-Piglet Billboard From PETA
Appeal to Lotto Players: ‘Don’t Go Breaking My Heart’ This Valentine’s Day
For Immediate Release:
January 23, 2015
Contact:
Alexis Sadoti 202-483-7382
New Hampshire’s bacon-scented “I Heart Bacon” scratch-off lottery tickets—and accompanying bacon giveaways—have prompted PETA to appeal for those who have lost life’s lottery, via a billboard that shows a lovable pig’s face next to the words “Don’t Go Breaking My Heart. Please, Go Vegan!” More than 110 million smart and social pigs are slaughtered for bacon and other bits of their flesh every year in the U.S. PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to eat”—plans to run the heart-covered billboard near the New Hampshire Lottery Commission’s headquarters in time for Valentine’s Day, with the aim of inspiring compassion for pigs.
“Every piece of bacon means that a lovable, inquisitive pig endured the pain and terror of being killed for a quick bite,” says PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman. “PETA encourages everyone to have a heart for animals and choose vegan meals—for Valentine’s Day and every day.”
Given the opportunity and training, pigs can play computer games and perform many other sophisticated tasks. Inquisitive and pleasant-natured, pigs can be loyal, playful, and protective companions—but on farms, sows are often squeezed into narrow metal stalls barely larger than their own bodies and kept almost constantly pregnant or nursing. Pigs’ tails are chopped off, their teeth are clipped with pliers, and males are castrated—often without any painkillers. At slaughterhouses, they’re hung upside down and bled to death, often while still conscious.
Going vegan benefits human health and the environment, too. According to the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, vegetarians are less prone to developing 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.
