Photos: PETA ‘Chicken’ Crosses the Road – to Ask Sunak for a Meat Tax!

Photos: PETA ‘Chicken’ Crosses the Road – to Ask Sunak for a Meat Tax!

London – Today, a PETA “chicken” crashed Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak’s Downing Street photocall to demand a meat tax in the next budget – all while sporting a red briefcase rivalling the chancellor’s.

Only minutes after arriving for the socially distanced action – that aimed to remind the Chancellor that meat markets and the desire for meat is what caused the COVID-19 pandemic in the first place – PETA’s “chicken” was threatened with a fine and urged to move on.

The action followed PETA’s previous calls for a meat tax, including a letter to Sunak sent last year. The group notes that a meat tax would ease pressure on the NHS, minimise the economic fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic, and help combat the climate crisis.

“The new budget gives Sunak the perfect opportunity to pass an eco-friendly meat tax and really turn that briefcase green,” says PETA Senior Campaigns Manager Kate Werner. “PETA’s socially distanced demonstration should remind the chancellor and the public that the way we eat affects animals, the planet, and our health. Meat markets and the desire for meat caused this pandemic, and another one may well follow if we don’t heed this warning.”

As documented by PETA, birds killed for their flesh are crammed by the tens of thousands into filthy sheds, and many are scalded to death in defeathering tanks. Each person who goes vegan saves nearly 200 animals every year, dramatically shrinks their carbon footprint, lowers their risk of chronic illness, and helps prevent future pandemics. SARS, swine flu, bird flu, and COVID-19 all stemmed from confining and killing animals for food.

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

Contact:

Jennifer White +44 (0) 20 7837 6327; [email protected]

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