Pig’s Poignant Holiday Reminder: ‘I’m ME, Not MEAT’
New Billboard Urges People to Opt for Animal-Free Holiday Feasts
For Immediate Release:
December 5, 2018
Contact:
Megan Wiltsie 202-483-7382
With the holiday season in full swing—and because Illinois is one of the top pig-producing states in the nation—PETA has placed a billboard in Springfield showing a pig’s face next to the words “I’m ME, Not MEAT. See the Individual. Go Vegan.“
The billboard is located at 2422 S. MacArthur Blvd., near several meat-heavy restaurants and the Illinois Pork Producers Association, facing south. It will be in place for a month.
“We hope this billboard will inspire people to consider who pigs really are—and that’s intelligent, playful animals who want to live and don’t deserve to be killed for a fleeting taste of flesh,” says PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman. “PETA urges all kind souls to keep pigs off their plates and explore hearty and delicious vegan dishes this holiday season and all year round.”
PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to eat”—notes that 115 million pigs are killed for food in the U.S. every year. In today’s meat industry, mother pigs are squeezed into narrow metal stalls barely larger than their bodies and kept almost constantly pregnant or nursing. Pigs’ tails are chopped off, their teeth are cut with pliers, and males are castrated—all without any painkillers. At the slaughterhouse, they’re hung upside down (often while still conscious) and bled to death.
PETA offers a free vegan starter kit (available here) full of recipes, tips, and more. For more information, please visit PETA.org.
