EO Copy 2

Emitting the Smell of Rotting Flesh, Mooresville Billboard Could Drive Passersby to Try Tofu

For Immediate Release:
June 10, 2010

Contact:
Michael Lyubinsky 757-622-7382 

Mooresville, N.C. -- In light of news that a Mooresville supermarket put up a billboard that shows a large piece of meat and spews a charcoal and black-pepper scent, PETA will be running its own billboard--one that shows a skinned cow's head on a slaughter hook and emanates the smells of rotting flesh, urine, feces, and blood. PETA's billboard will read, "Meat Stinks: Go Vegan. PETA." The group says that it has the studies and stats to show that meat stinks for animals, human health, and the environment. 

"If commuters got a whiff of a slaughterhouse--including the stench of gallons of blood and offal and the smells of terrified animals who have lost bladder and bowel control--then, like many slaughterhouse inspectors, they'd go vegan," says PETA President Ingrid E. Newkirk. "You can dice it and slice it and broil it or boil it, but the real scent that meat gives off is the smell of decomposing flesh."

Chickens, fish, cows, and pigs feel pain and fear just as do the animals we share our homes with, yet they are abused in ways that would be illegal if dogs and cats were the victims. In today's industrialized meat and dairy industries, chickens and turkeys have their throats cut while they're still conscious, piglets have their tails and testicles cut off without being given any painkillers, fish are suffocated or cut open while they're still alive on the decks of fishing boats, and calves are taken away from their mothers within hours of birth.

The consumption of meat and other animal-derived products has been linked to heart disease, strokes, obesity, diabetes, and cancer--not to mention other health hazards, including E. coli, salmonella, and listeria. A major United Nations report determined that raising animals for food is a leading cause of greenhouse-gas emissions, land degradation, water shortages, pollution, and biodiversity loss.

For more information, please visit PETA.com.