Naked PETA Supporters Urge Olympians to “Go for the Gold: Go Vegan”

Immediate Release:
26 July 2012

Contact:
Ben Williamson +44 (0)7525 411 733; [email protected]

London – Covered only in gold bodypaint and with large medals that read, “Go for the Gold: Go Vegan”, three PETA members stood on ceremony in front of the Olympic rings on Tower Bridge on Thursday. Their point? That throwing meat, eggs and dairy products out of your diet is the best thing that you can do for your health – whether you’re a top-rung Olympian or a couch potato. PETA points out that a number of athletes – including nine-time Olympic gold medallist Carl Lewis and Britian’s own Fiona Oakes, who ran 151 miles across the Sahara Desert in the world’s toughest foot race – have turned to a vegan or vegetarian diet to maximise their performance.

“Everyone who goes vegan is a winner, whether they’re competing for the gold or just trying to safeguard their health”, says PETA Senior Programmes Manager Yvonne Taylor. “Anyone can be a hero for the hundreds of millions of animals raised and killed in intensive farming units in the UK every year, who are never afforded the opportunity to do basic things such as run, jump and swim.”

Just like us, other animals are highly social, form strong bonds with their friends and families and mourn when they lose a loved one. They can experience joy, love, pain and fear. Yet on factory farms, pigs, chickens and other animals are crowded together in their own waste, and many are driven insane. Most never see sunlight or breathe fresh air. When they are still very young, they are loaded onto lorries bound for the abattoir, where they ride a conveyor belt to the person or machine with the knife. Many are still conscious and terrified when they face the final incision.

For more information, please visit PETA.org.uk.

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