From Market Bar-B-Que to Pig Empathy Museum? PETA Proposes Pro-Pig Pop-Up
For Immediate Release:
September 18, 2025
Contact:
Nicole Perreira 202-483-7382
Following the news that Market Bar-B-Que is closing, PETA today sent a letter to the broker handling the restaurant’s sale with a pigture perfect proposal: to explore leasing the property and turning it into the world’s first Pig Empathy Museum. The attraction would feature interactive exhibits and fun ways to learn about pigs’ intelligence, sociability, and unique personalities—and the museum’s “Pig-Out Café” would have people digging into pig-free ham sandwiches and vegan ribs. PETA points out that the museum would also create jobs for some of the market’s displaced workers and attract visitors from all over the country.
“Pigs dream, enjoy music, and show empathy for other pigs who are happy or distressed, so why not have a museum that spreads empathy towards them?” says PETA President Tracy Reiman. “With PETA at the helm, the new Market Bar-B-Que would help people see pigs as individuals, show how delicious vegan food can be, and pay tribute to the millions of pigs killed for food every year.”
PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to eat”—points out that Every Animal Is Someone and offers free Empathy Kits for people who need a lesson in kindness and free Vegan Starter Kits for anyone considering making the switch. For more information, please visit PETA.org or follow PETA on X, Facebook, or Instagram.
PETA’s letter to the broker follows.
September 18, 2025
Rick Guntzel
Associate Broker
HSC Business Brokers
Dear Mr. Guntzel:
Greetings! I’m writing on behalf of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals—PETA entities have more than 10.4 million members and supporters globally, including over 78,000 in Minnesota—in response to reports that Market Bar-B-Que will be closing its doors. We’re potentially interested in leasing your facility to convert it into an empathy museum where people could learn about the intelligence and sociability of pigs and appreciate them as individuals deserving of understanding and respect. It could also create jobs for some displaced workers and increase tourism in the area. Allow me to elaborate.
On any given day in the U.S., more than 75 million pigs are living in misery on factory farms, and 124 million of these animals are killed for food each year. Even on farms that label themselves “humane,” we know firsthand—and have the video evidence to prove it—that pigs are mutilated (castrated, ear-punched, de-fanged, de-tailed) without painkillers. In addition, the mothers are artificially inseminated, robbed of their offspring, and shipped in the freezing cold or sweltering heat down the highway to watch other animals be killed in front of them, before enduring the same fate.
Barbecue restaurants encourage people to see pigs as menu items rather than as the intelligent, empathetic individuals they truly are. Studies show that pigs dream, decorate their spaces, play games, and enjoy listening to music and sleeping nose to nose. Pigs are clean and empathetic and have been observed bringing food to their disabled siblings. Our Pig Empathy Museum would feature interactive exhibits; stories of rescued pigs; fun ways to learn about these clever, playful animals; and a vegan café featuring delicious plant-based foods, such as pig-free ham sandwiches and vegan ribs. To ensure that visitors can ponder the
violence involved in putting animal flesh into packages and then on plates, we’d also consider adding some meat grinders, bone saws, and other items used in meat production.
PETA’s temporary pop-up pig empathy museum would remind visitors that in the 21st century, when the food industry is producing superior vegan options that are delicious and healthy and the demand for vegan meats is ever rising, there is absolutely no justification for continuing to kill and eat animals.
Thank you for your consideration. We look forward to hearing from you about the possibility of this project.
Very truly yours,
Ingrid Newkirk
Founder
