Surprise! PETA’s Pig Billboard Rises Near Pork Producer

For Immediate Release:
February 2, 2021

Contact:
Megan Wiltsie 202-483-7382

La Grange, N.C. –

Just in time for Valentine’s Day, PETA has organized a sweet surprise across a state known for its pig slaughterhouses: giant pro-vegan billboards featuring a pig who urges viewers to have a heart for animals and go vegan—and one of the ads just went up outside Maxwell Foods, LLC, one of the largest pork producers in Lenoir County.

“PETA is asking everyone to show some love to pigs and other animals this Valentine’s Day by leaving them off the table,” says PETA President Ingrid Newkirk. “When it comes to feeling pain and fear and valuing their lives, a pig is no different from a human being—and no less deserving of compassion.”

In today’s meat industry, mother pigs are squeezed into narrow metal stalls barely larger than their bodies and kept almost constantly pregnant or nursing. Pigs’ tails are chopped off, their teeth are cut with pliers, and males are castrated—all without any pain relief. At the slaughterhouse, they’re hung upside down—sometimes while still conscious—and bled to death.

Each person who goes vegan saves nearly 200 animals every year; reduces their risk of suffering from cancer, heart disease, strokes, diabetes, and obesity; dramatically shrinks their carbon footprint; and helps prevent future pandemics. SARS, swine flu, bird flu, and COVID-19 all stemmed from confining and killing animals for food.

PETA’s billboards appear at the following locations:

On I-95 S., across from the Carolina outlet mall, just before Exit 95 in Smithfield
On U.S. 70 E., about 2 miles east of Route 70/70A in Princeton
On Route 701, just south of Wilson Road (S.R. 1741) or about 6 miles from the 701 Bypass in Keener
On U.S. 70 Business before N. Beston Road in La Grange, near Maxwell Foods

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 or follow the group on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram.