PETA’s Holiday Billboard to Ask Des Moines Kids, ‘Would You Eat Your Dog?’

Ad Near School Will Promote Compassion for Pigs

For Immediate Release:
December 4, 2013

Contact:
Allison Lakomski 202-483-7382

A PETA billboard that depicts an animal who’s a cross between a dog and a pig and reads, “If You Wouldn’t Eat Your Dog, Why Eat a Pig? Go Vegan for the Holidays,” could soon make Des Moines its new home. The group is currently negotiating with outdoor advertisers to display the ad, because Iowa is the nation’s largest pork-producing state. PETA plans to run the billboard near a school in Des Moines in the hope that it will spark a dialog between kids and their parents.

“Kids love animals, and if they thought about how pigs feel pain and fear just as dogs and cats do, they’d trade in their ham or pork chops for a savory slice of vegan roast in a heartbeat,” says PETA Campaign Manager Katie Arth. “This holiday season, families can give all animals something to be thankful for by sticking to humane, delicious vegan meals.”

Given the opportunity and training, pigs can play computer games, turn on lights and heat in a barn, and perform many other sophisticated tasks. Inquisitive and pleasant-natured, pigs can be loyal, playful, and protective companions—but on factory farms, sows are squeezed into narrow metal stalls barely larger than their own bodies and kept almost constantly pregnant or nursing. Pigs’ tails are chopped off, and their teeth are cut with pliers, and males are castrated—all without any painkillers. At slaughterhouses, they are hung upside down and bled to death, often while still conscious.

Going vegan benefits human health and the environment, too. According to the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, vegetarians are less prone to heart disease, diabetes, obesity, and cancer than meat-eaters are. In addition, raising animals for food is a leading cause of water consumption and pollution, land degradation, and greenhouse-gas emissions.

For more information, please visit PETA.org.