Avian Flu Outbreak Prompts Protesters in Hazmat Suits to Call for Vegan Foods
PETA Will Point to Filthy Farms as Contributors to Spread of Disease
For Immediate Release:
March 7, 2017
Contact:
Brooke Rossi 202-483-7382
What: In the wake of a new avian flu outbreak at a chicken farm in Lincoln County, PETA members in hazmat suits will converge on Fayetteville on Tuesday with a powerful message: Diseases such as avian flu can spread like wildfire in the cramped sheds where the majority of chickens raised for meat are confined. The demonstrators, bearing signs proclaiming, “Meat Is a Biohazard: Go Vegan,” will hand out free emergency vegan starter kits while urging shoppers to put a stopper on the virus by dropping meat from their diets.
When: Tuesday, March 7, 12 noon
Where: The intersection of Main Avenue S. and Market Street E., Fayetteville
“Diseases run rampant when animals are confined to filthy, enclosed spaces, which these repeated avian flu outbreaks prove,” says PETA President Ingrid Newkirk. “For the health and well-being of both humans and animals, PETA is calling on consumers to give meat the boot—by choosing healthy, delicious vegan foods.”
Tennessee’s outbreak comes on the heels of massive outbreaks in Europe and Asia that have wiped out tens of millions of chickens and other birds. Last year, an outbreak of bird flu in Indiana prompted officials to order the deaths of more than 400,000 chickens and turkeys. In 2015, an avian influenza epidemic swept across the Midwest, bringing the egg industry to its knees and resulting in the deaths of more than 50 million birds—making it the worst animal-disease outbreak in U.S. history.
PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to eat”—offers a wide variety of delicious and healthy vegan recipes on its website. Plant-based meals can also help the environment, as raising animals for food is a leading cause of water pollution, land degradation, and the greenhouse-gas emissions that cause climate change.
For more information, please visit PETA.org.
