‘Grim Reaper’ to Haunt Sherman Slaughterhouse
As the Novel Coronavirus Infects Thousands of Workers Nationwide, PETA Calls for Tyson, Other Slaughterhouses to Shut Down
For Immediate Release:
June 5, 2020
Contact:
David Perle 202-483-7382
On Saturday, a “Grim Reaper” holding a scythe with the message “Slaughterhouses Kill Animals and Workers” will lead a protest outside the Tyson slaughterhouse in Sherman, which is showing no mercy for animals or workers by remaining open even though more than 320 employees have tested positive for COVID-19, one of whom died.
When: Saturday, June 6, 11:30 a.m.
Where: 4700 U.S.-75 (next to the staff parking lot), Sherman
“Filthy, wet, blood- and offal-soaked slaughterhouses are breeding grounds for diseases that can jump from animals to humans—and they’re the least safe workplaces in the world,” says PETA President Ingrid Newkirk. “As COVID-19 spreads like wildfire from worker to worker, PETA is calling for slaughterhouses to shut down and stay closed, for everyone’s protection.”
The novel coronavirus originated in a Chinese “wet market,” where live and dead animals are sold for human consumption; swine flu began on a U.S. factory farm; and other influenza viruses have been traced to chickens. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warns that approximately 75% of recently emerged infectious diseases affecting humans originated in other animals.
PETA sent Tyson a letter in April offering to help with the cost of retraining its employees to produce exclusively vegan meat.
PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to eat”—opposes speciesism, which is a human-supremacist worldview. For more information, please visit PETA.org.
