‘Grim Reapers’ to Haunt Cargill Slaughterhouse

As the Novel Coronavirus Infects Thousands of Workers Nationwide, PETA Says Slaughterhouses Should Shut Down

For Immediate Release:
May 13, 2020

Contact:
Brooke Rossi 202-483-7382

“Grim Reapers” holding scythes with the message “Slaughterhouses Kill Animals and Workers” on them will be outside the High River Cargill slaughterhouse—which is showing no mercy for animals or workers by reopening, even though nearly 900 employees (nearly 25% of Alberta’s confirmed cases) have tested positive for the novel coronavirus—on Thursday.

When:    Thursday, May 14, 12 noon

Where:    At the intersection of Alberta Highway 2A and Township Road 194, High River

“Filthy, wet, blood- and offal-soaked slaughterhouses are breeding grounds for deadly 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 from worker to worker, PETA wants slaughterhouses to save lives by reinventing themselves to produce only vegan meats.” Cargill already produces plant-based patties and ground vegan meats at other plants that it operates.

The novel coronavirus is believed to have originated in a Chinese “wet market,” where live and dead animals were 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, and other pandemics are predicted to be inevitable.

Last month, PETA sent Cargill a letter 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.