Local Man Wins ‘Outstanding PETA Activist’ Award
Leonardo Anguiano Honored for Tackling Animal Homelessness, Canada Goose, and Brooklyn’s Meat-Centric Cuisine
For Immediate Release:
December 18, 2019
Contact:
Megan Wiltsie 202-483-7382
Leonardo Anguiano—a self-described “typical dude” from Brooklyn who once had aspirations to compete in the Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest but is now vegan—has been named one of 2019’s Outstanding PETA Activists, a select group of top animal rights advocates across the country.
Anguiano went vegan five years ago after watching the documentary Earthlings, and as he says, “a lot has changed” since his meat-eating days—and he’s a “better man for it.” In the past year alone, he organized dozens of protests against AAA Northeast, effectively pushing it to stop selling tickets to SeaWorld, and protested outside Pfizer’s headquarters as part of PETA’s successful campaign to get the company to end its use of the debunked forced swim test on mice and rats. He’s currently campaigning to urge Canada Goose to scrap its fur-and-feather jackets—and during his downtime, he’s likely to be found securing homes for animals at his local shelter or engaging with others to spread the pro-vegan message. “There is a place in animal rights for everyone,” he says. “We need to commit ourselves to … [having] the difficult conversations.”
“Leonardo Anguiano is changing hearts and minds in Brooklyn and beyond through his tireless animal activism,” says PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman. “From the coyotes who are killed for the fur trim on Canada Goose coats to the orcas who are abused at SeaWorld, animals have a fierce defender in Anguiano, and PETA is honoring him for making the world a more humane place.”
Each Outstanding PETA Activist award winner will receive an award plaque.
PETA’s motto is, “Animals are not ours to experiment on, eat, wear, use for entertainment, or abuse in any other way,” and the group opposes speciesism, a human-supremacist worldview. For more information, please visit PETA.org.
