Let Orthodox Easter Be a Celebration of All Motherhood, PETA Pleads

For Immediate Release:
April 11, 2022

Contact:
Megan Wiltsie 202-483-7382

Because Iowa is one of the country’s top lamb producers—and as the city is home to the Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church, the oldest and largest Greek Orthodox church in the state—PETA is placing a message on local buses featuring a mother sheep nuzzling her lamb and a plea to recognize her love for her baby and go vegan ahead of Orthodox Easter on April 24.

“Orthodox Easter is a time of compassion and remembrance, and how wonderful if we extend that consideration to mother sheep and their bond with their babies,” says PETA Vice President Dan Paden. “PETA encourages everyone to recognize other animals as good-natured individuals who deserve our mercy.”

Lambs slaughtered for food are confined to filthy, crowded feedlots. Within weeks of birth, their ears are hole-punched, their tails are chopped off, and the males are castrated—all without pain relief. At slaughterhouses, the young, gentle animals are slashed across the throat, often while they’re still conscious. None of this should be part of Orthodox Easter.

With the abundance of animal-free roasts available, celebrating Orthodox Easter with kindness has never been easier. PETA’s Christian outreach division, LAMBS—which stands for “least among my brothers and sisters” from Matthew 25:40—offers a guide to celebrating a vegan holiday.

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to eat”—opposes speciesism, a human-supremacist worldview. For more information, please visit PETA.org or follow the group on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram.