Would You Barbecue Your Dog?

Would you get out your grill and start barbecuing a slab of dog ribs? Hope not! That’s the point that PETA’s “pigs” made at Charlotte’s BBQ & Blues Festival—that every slab of meat comes from a thinking, feeling individual who was slaughtered in ways that would be illegal if the victims were dogs.

Pigs and dogs share many personality traits. Like dogs, pigs are highly social, intelligent, and playful, and they like to be surrounded by their “pack”—their family. Pigs dream the way that dogs do, and they also respond to their names. They can learn to sit when asked, and they love playing with a ball.

But pigs raised for food have no life at all. They are confined for their entire lives in crowded, filthy, warehouse-like barns until they are shipped to slaughter, where many are still alive and screaming as they are immersed in scalding-hot water to remove their hair.

Pigs deserve compassion. Take PETA’s Pledge to Be Vegan for 30 Days to help end the abuse.