New PETA Ad Features Slaughter-Bound Pig Asking, ‘Why Hast Thou Forsaken Me?’
For Immediate Release:
28 March 2013
Contact:
Ben Williamson +44 (0) 20 7837 6327, ext 229; [email protected]
London – Visitors to the Church Times website will be getting food for thought just in time for Easter. That’s because PETA has placed a banner advert at the masthead that shows a young pig peering through the window of a livestock-transport lorry bound for the abattoir next to the caption “Why Hast Thou Forsaken Me? For Christ’s Sake, Go Vegan”. PETA’s point? That Jesus asked his followers to have mercy for the meekest among us. And no species on Earth are in need of that mercy more than the pigs, chickens, cows and other animals who are routinely abused on factory farms and sent to a painful and terrifying death in order to feed humans.
“Today’s factory farms are a living hell for pigs, chickens and other animals”, says PETA Associate Director Mimi Bekhechi. “Jesus would be appalled to witness the meat, egg and dairy industries’ harmful effects on animals, human health and the Earth. Easter is about rebirth, so it’s the perfect time to go vegan.”
Pigs, who are as sociable and intelligent as dogs, are abused in ways that would be illegal if dogs or cats were the victims. Chickens are crammed into filthy, windowless sheds by the thousands and denied everything that’s natural and important to them.
Pigs, chickens and cows aren’t the only ones who suffer. The consumption of meat, eggs and dairy products has been linked to heart disease, strokes, diabetes, obesity and cancer. Also, according to the United Nations, the meat industry is “one of the top two or three most significant contributors to the most serious environmental problems, at every scale from local to global”, and the UN has concluded that a global shift towards a vegan diet is vital to save the world from hunger, fuel poverty and the worst impacts of climate change.
Anyone interested in trying out delicious, kitchen-tested vegan recipes can visit PETA’s website and request a free vegetarian/vegan starter kit.
For more information, please visit PETA.org.uk.