‘Grim Reapers’ to Haunt Maple Lodge Farms Slaughterhouse
As the Novel Coronavirus Infects Thousands of Workers Nationwide, PETA Calls for Slaughterhouses to Shut Down
For Immediate Release:
May 27, 2020
Contact:
Brooke Rossi 202-483-7382
Two “Grim Reapers” holding scythes with the message “Slaughterhouses Kill Animals and Workers” will lead a protest on Thursday outside the Maple Lodge Farms slaughterhouse—which is showing no mercy for animals or workers by remaining open despite 25 employees having tested positive for COVID-19, one of whom died.
When: Thursday, May 28, 12 noon
Where: At the intersection of Winston Churchill Blvd. and Steeles Ave. W., Brampton
“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 like wildfire from worker to worker, PETA is calling for slaughterhouses to shut down, for everyone’s protection.”
The novel coronavirus originated in a Chinese “wet market,” where live and dead animals are sold for human consumption; swine flu began on a U.S. factory farm; and other influenza viruses have been traced to chickens. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warns that approximately 75% of recently emerged infectious diseases affecting humans originated in other animals.
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.