 When 500 "cows" roam the streets of New York City, and 300 "pigs" are rooting around in Cincinnati, you can count on PETA to be there!
New York and Cincinnati will host citywide public art displays this spring and summer, with hundreds of individually decorated, life-size fiberglass animals ("cows" in CowParade New York and "pigs" in Cincinnati’s Big Pig Gig) gracing city parks and sidewalks. In each city, two PETA-sponsored sculptures will invite viewers to think differently about the animals who so often end up as burgers, belts, and chops.
One of PETA’s "cows" will be decorated entirely in hip faux leather boots, pleather jackets, suedette pants, and plastic belts, showing how easy it is to find cruelty-free clothing. The other "cow" and two "pigs" will be decorated with facts about the health and environmental consequences and the ethical problems with eating cows and pigs, as well as celebrity sayings, including a kind quote from James Cromwell, all showing respect for the animals whose lives are filled with torment and end in violent slaughter so that humans can satisfy their taste buds.
PETA hopes that the sculptures, designed by the award-winning British designers Lawrence & Beavan, will "moo-ve" consumers to examine the animal suffering in the meat and leather trades. PETA recently launched its new "Shed Your Skin" Campaign, unveiling the results of a shocking investigation into the international trade in leather made from "sacred" Indian cows—click here for more info, or click here to learn more about how animals suffer for burgers and bacon.
New York’s "cows" debut June 29 (click on the picture to see a larger version of the image).
Cincinnati’s "pigs" have hit the streets. Two of PETA’s designs appear below (click on the picture to see a gallery of images).
Want to get a closer look at all that text on PETA's pig? Below are all the factoids, quotes, and sayings from the sculpture, in an easy-to-read format:
Pigs are friends, not food.
"Animals are my friends, and I don’t eat my friends." —George Bernard Shaw
"We are the choicest ones."… We shall enter magnificent cities. … No more the cruel knife. … Let our tushes growwww …" from The Hog Book, by William Hedgepeth.
Please don’t eat my people.
Please don’t eat me.
Once dehaired, they are hooked onto the disassembly line, to be parceled into the slabs of meat we recognize as "pork." Please don’t eat pigs.
"Dear God, Protect and bless all living things. Keep them from evil and let them sleep in peace." —Albert Schweitzer
"Pigs are social intelligent animals, each one an individual—from friends of choice to food preferences. They are herd animals often exploring in curiosity during the day and sleeping in a ‘pig pile’ side by side at night."—from Pig’s Peace Sanctuary
"We don’t need to eat anyone who would run, swim, or fly away if he could." —James Cromwell
"Let loose the hogs of peace upon the world to go and do their good works!" —from The Hog Book
"DEDICATED … to the millions of porkers who’ve gone to their final resting sites inside us and to the ghosts of still billions more pigs who’ve long since passed away down the throat of time. I’d like to call them all by name, but the list is long and I cannot remember." —by William Hedgepeth in The Hog Book
100 million per year
273,972 per day
11,415 per hour
180 per minute
3 per second …
but one at a time.
Please don’t eat pigs.
"No man should be allowed to be president who does not understand hogs or hasn’t been around a manure pile." —Harry S Truman
"Dogs look up to you, cats look down on you, and pigs think you’re their equal." —from The Hog Book.
"No one assumes the pig wants to die. It would avoid slaughter if it could. It feels the desire to live and the pain of its sorrow just as humans do; the only difference is that it cannot say so in words. The crying of the pigs being slaughtered is horrible. People report that they sound like human screams. The pigs are communicating. They are speaking of their terrible fear." —from When Elephants Weep by Jeffrey Masson and Susan McCarthy
"Real-life "Babes" see no sun in their limited lives, with no hay to lie on, no mud to roll in. The sows live in tiny cages, so narrow they can’t even turn around. They live over metal grates, and their waste is pushed through slats beneath them and flushed into huge pits." —Morley Safer, 60 Minutes, Sep. 19, 1997
Go Vegetarian!
www.GoVeg.com
Please don’t eat Babe for breakfast.
Help all the "Babes" – stop eating animals today.
I don’t want to be a wiener!
Pigs are friendly and smart, and we love life.
Please don’t kill me.
www.peta-online.org
Go vegetarian – for life!
Pigs feel pain.
Pigs are smart and friendly animals.
"Pig flesh is loaded with fat and cholesterol.
4 oz. of pork contains more than 100 mg of cholesterol!" —from "Doctor in the House," PETA News, Fall 1993
"Pigs may not be as cuddly as kittens or puppies, but they suffer just as much." —James Cromwell
Pork bellies make pot bellies.
"Dumping pork from your diet will improve your health." -Dr. Neal Barnard
Ham is a scam! Don’t eat pigs.
Be pro-pig. Go veg.
 I met a pig named Lucy once. She was black and white and very clean, not being confined to a pen. She was about one-third grown. Having her tummy scratched put her in ecstasy. She would roll over, her little corkscrew tail wiggling with happiness. As you rubbed her stomach, her eyes would close in bliss and her tail would stop wiggling while she savored every second of the scratching by staying motionless, as dogs often do.
As soon as you’d lift your hand, the corkscrew resumed wiggling and the bright little eyes opened and looked right into yours, clearly saying, "Isn’t this fun?"
I wish everyone could meet a pig. Pigs are so sensitive and friendly and intelligent that humans have gone to incredible lengths to distance themselves from them. —from Carla Bennett’s "The Joy and Sorrow of Pigs," PETA News, Fall 1993.
"If you were to peek inside (a pig factory), you’d see row upon row upon row upon row of pigs, each standing alone in his narrow steel stall, each facing in exactly the same direction, like cars in a parking lot. … I have looked into their eyes and I can tell you it’s a terrifying sight. These sensitive, tortured creatures have been literally driven mad." —from Diet for a New America, by John Robbins.
Lincoln said, "That pig was my companion. I played with him, I taught him tricks. We used to play ‘hide and go seek.’ I can see his little face now peeping around the corner of the house to see whether I was coming after him. After a while he got too heavy for me to carry him around, and then he followed me everywhere—to the barn, the plowed ground, the woods. Many a day I have spent in the woods brushing the leaves away and helping him to find the acorns and nuts. Sometimes he would take a lazy spell and rub against my legs, and stop in front of me, and lie down before me, and say in a language which I understood: ‘Abe, why don’t you carry me like you used to do?’
"There was talk about the house of the hog being fat enough to kill. At the table, I heard father say he was going to kill the hog the next day. My heart got as heavy as lead.
"The next morning … I slipped out and took my pet with me to the forest. When father found out … he yelled as loud as he could, ‘You, Abe, you, Abe, fetch back that hog!’… The louder he called, the farther and faster we went, till we were out of hearing of the voice. We stayed in the woods till night.
"On returning, I was severely scolded. After a restless night, I arose early and went to get my pig for another day’s hiding but found that father had arisen before me and fastened my pet in the pen. I knew then all hope was gone. I did not eat any breakfast, but started for the woods. I had not gone far when I heard the pig squeal, and knowing what it meant, I ran as fast as I could to get away from the sound.
"Being quite hungry, at noon I started for home. Reaching the edge of the clearing, I saw the hog, dressed, hanging from a pole … and I began to blubber. I could not stand it, and went back into the woods again, where I found some nuts that stayed my appetite till night, when I returned home. They never could get me to take a bit of the meat … it made me sad and sick to even look at it.
"The next morning I … saw the red place on the ground where the throat had been cut with the knife and, taking a chip, I scraped the blood and the hair that had been scattered, into a pile, and burned it up. Then I found some soft dirt, which I carried in the folds of my tow shirt, and scattered it over the ground to cover up every trace of the killing of my pet.
"The dirt did not do its work very well, for to this day ... my heart goes back to that pet pig …" —Abraham Lincoln
Ninety percent of all pigs are closely confined at some point in their lives, and 70 percent are kept constantly confined. —from Animal Factories
In Houston, Texas, Priscilla the pig saved an 11-year-old, mentally impaired boy from drowning. Priscilla bravely swam to the struggling youngster, offered her leash to him, and towed him back to shore. For her heroics, Priscilla was honored with "Priscilla the Pig Day" in Houston and became the first pig ever inducted into the Texas Pet Hall of Fame.
In Chico, Calif, Spammy the pig saved her own life and the life of her best friend, Spot the calf. When a fire broke out in their barn, Spammy used her backside to punch a hole in the barn wall, which she and Spot used to escape the blaze. When she emerged from the burning barn, she had scratch marks, burn blisters, and soot marks on her body. Spammy’s caretaker said of the brave pig, "Oh, she’s a very special pig."
I’m someone, not sausage!
"Fakin’ Bacon and faux sausage taste great and are wonderful alternatives to pork!"
—Paul McCartney
During their pregnancies, sows are confined in stalls that do not permit them to turn around or walk to and fro. —from Animal Liberation, by Peter Singer
"After their confinement during their pregnancy, sows are often immobilized from the time they give birth until the piglets are weaned. They are never allowed to nuzzle or clean their young." —from Animal Liberation, by Peter Singer
"Pigs in modern factory farms have nothing to do but eat, sleep, stand up, and lie down. Usually they have no straw or other bedding material, because this complicates the task of cleaning. Pigs kept this way … will be bored and unhappy." —from Animal Liberation, by Peter Singer
One British farmer wrote to Farmer’s Weekly describing how he had housed pigs in a derelict farmhouse and found that they played all around the building, chasing each other up and down the stairs. He concluded from this observation, "Like human beings, pigs dislike monotony and boredom." —from Animal Liberation, by Peter Singer.
"An ordinary citizen who kept dogs in conditions similar to that of factory-farmed pigs would risk prosecution for cruelty." —from Animal Liberation, by Peter Singer
 "Due to intensive confinement, for at least 10 months per year, pregnant and nursing sows are unable to walk around." —from Animal Liberation, by Peter Singer
The American Dietetic Association notes that vegetarianism reduces the risk of many chronic degenerative diseases and conditions, including obesity, coronary artery disease, hypertension, diabetes, and many types of cancer.
"Vegans have one-tenth the heart disease rate of meat-eaters." —from Diet for a New America, by John Robbins
"In 1996, U.S. factory farms produced 1.4 billion tons of animal waste—130 times more than humans did." —from "Lakes of Animal Waste Pose Environmental Risk," USA Today, Dec. 30, 1997
According to the Environmental Protection Agency, factory farming pollutes U.S. waterways more than all industrial sources combined.
Think you can be a meat-eating environmentalist? Think again!
|
