Update: ‘Stop Eating Meat’ Ads Now Up in Columbia Following Animal Deaths

As Hurricane Season Draws to a Close and After Florence, PETA Billboards Blow Into Town Asking Meat-Eaters to Take Responsibility, Go Vegan, and Save Lives

For Immediate Release:
November 14, 2018

Contact:
Megan Wiltsie 202-483-7382

In response to the deaths of more than 5,500 pigs and 4.1 million chickens and turkeys during Hurricane Florence—all of whom slowly drowned while trapped inside massive sheds—PETA has placed two billboards in Columbia linking the drownings to meat-eaters, who feed the industry and therefore should accept responsibility for the animals’ deaths. The billboards feature a photograph of two pigs swimming for their lives in the storm’s aftermath and proclaim, “Stop Eating Meat! They Die for Your Cruel and Dirty Habit.”

One ad is located on St. Andrews Road just north of Bush River Road, near a meat market and butcher shop as well as several meat-serving restaurants. The other is located on U.S. Route 1 between N. Grampian Hills Road and Dogwood Court, facing south, across from a Waffle House and near an Arby’s and a Burger King (which offers a veggie burger).

“If this message of compassion inspires just one person to leave pigs and chickens off their plate, there will be less support for an industry in which millions of animals die horrifically, whether in a slaughterhouse or during hurricanes and floods,” says PETA President Ingrid Newkirk. “PETA’s billboards urge meat-eaters to change their ways before the next wave of animals die slowly and painfully in a natural disaster.”

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to eat”—notes that, in addition to causing the animals’ preventable deaths, Hurricane Florence floodwaters breached the pork industry’s massive manure lagoons, potentially contaminating the region’s water supplies with tens of millions of gallons of filth.

In addition to sparing the lives of nearly 200 animals each per year, people who go vegan reduce their risk of suffering from heart disease, diabetes, cancer, obesity, and numerous other ailments.

PETA offers free vegan starter kits on its website that are full of recipes, tips, and more. For more information, please visit PETA.org.