Land Whales Deserve Compassion, Says PETA in Kings Highway ‘Go Vegan!’ Appeal

For Immediate Release:
August 29, 2023

Contact:
Sara Groves 202-483-7382

Ahead of peak whale-watching season and in the heart of Restaurant Row, PETA has placed a sky-high appeal that asks why so many people accept the separation of cows from their calves on dairy factory farms but would be outraged if this happened to whales and their calves, even though the two mammals are the same in all the ways that matter. Both nurse their young, bond tightly with their calves, interact in socially complex ways, and mourn when they’re separated from those they love.

Instead of being allowed to explore, play, and be with their families, cows in the dairy industry are torn away from their mothers within a day of birth so that the milk meant to nourish them can be stolen and sold in supermarkets. It’s standard industry practice to forcibly inseminate cows—workers insert an arm into the animals’ rectum and a metal rod to deliver semen into their vagina—and both cow and calf are sent to slaughter once their bodies wear out.

“A cow produces milk for her calf, just as a whale does for her calf and a human does for her baby,” says PETA President Ingrid Newkirk. “PETA reminds everyone how easy it is to show compassion and understanding by choosing milks made from soy, oats, almonds, or other plants.”

In addition to breaking up families and causing mother cows to grieve, crying out for days, the dairy industry is a major contributor to the climate catastrophe. In the U.S., emissions from cows are the primary source of the greenhouse gas methane, which is 80 times more potent than carbon dioxide in warming the atmosphere.

The billboard is located near 9597 N. Kings Hwy. in Myrtle Beach, on the way to Kroger (500 feet away) and near a number of eateries. This ad is also running in Atlanta; Atlantic City, New Jersey; Baltimore; Boston; and New Bedford, Massachusetts.

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to eat or abuse in any way”—opposes speciesism, a human-supremacist worldview, and offers a free vegan starter kit on its website. For more information, please visit PETA.org, listen to The PETA Podcast, or follow the group on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram.