‘Face It!’ PETA’s Media Blitz Tells a Tale on Cheese Trail, Conveying That Cows Suffer for Dairy
For Immediate Release:
June 11, 2024
Contact:
Reed Bolonyi 202-483-7382
PETA is telling the dairy industry to take a hike in protest of its declaration of June as National Dairy Month. The group has posted an array of sky-high messages along the Pennsylvania Cheese Guild cheese trail giving patrons and purveyors food for thought about the suffering behind every wheel of brie or cut of Camembert and it urges everyone to try vegan cheeses, which are a big step up.
“Every animal is someone—not something—yet mother cows’ beloved calves are taken from them and their bodies are repeatedly ravaged, simply so humans can eat dairy cheese,” says PETA President Ingrid Newkirk. “The cheese trail is a path of pain, and PETA is pointing out not only its cruelty but also how easy it is to choose creamy vegan cheeses that leave cows in peace.”
In the dairy industry, calves are torn away from their mothers, often within a day of birth, so that the milk meant to nourish them can be sold to humans as cheese, yogurt, and creamer. PETA’s investigations have found dairy workers electroshocking cows in the face, hitting them with poles, and otherwise abusing them. Once the mother cows’ bodies wear out from repeated pregnancies, they’re prodded down the ramp to slaughter.
PETA’s billboard is located on I-81, minutes from Central Wedge Cheese Shop, which sells cheese from multiple creameries on the cheese trail. (See the Google Maps link here.) The group also has ads elsewhere in Pennsylvania, at 3610 William Flinn Hwy. in Allison Park and 3537 U.S. Route 30 in Latrobe, as well as near 3495 U.S. Hwy. 1. in Princeton, New Jersey.
PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to eat”—points out that Every Animal Is Someone and offers free Empathy Kitsfor people who need a lesson in kindness. The group also offers a free vegan starter kit. For more information, please visit PETA.org or follow the group on X, Facebook, or Instagram.
