Will Playmobil Launch ‘My First Slaughterhouse’ Toy Set?

PETA U.K. Calls On Brand to Show Kids the Truth About the Way Animals Are Killed for Food

For Immediate Release:
May 8, 2019

Contact:
Moira Colley 202-483-7382

PETA U.K. is calling on toy producer Playmobil to remove the misleadingly happy-looking animal figures from its “Large Farm” toy set—which misrepresent the reality of life for farmed animals, who endure suffering and violence—and instead release a “My First Slaughterhouse” set that would show children the way cows are actually treated in the dairy industry.

Because cows used for dairy are sent for slaughter once they no longer produce enough milk to be profitable to farmers, the toy proposed by PETA U.K. would include two cow figures who have been hung upside down and whose throats have been slit. And because male calves are considered useless to the dairy industry, the set depicts a calf who has been dumped in a wheelbarrow for disposal.

“If Playmobil is going to offer toys representing businesses that exploit animals for food, it should at the very least not misrepresent the conditions in which they live and die,” says PETA U.K. Director Elisa Allen. “PETA U.K. is calling on the company to stop lying to children about the horror and cruelty behind every glass of cow’s milk and every beef burger.”

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to eat”—opposes speciesism, which is a human-supremacist worldview. The group notes that each year, the food industry is responsible for the daily suffering and terrifying deaths of billions of animals—who are capable of experiencing joy, pain, fear, love, and grief and value their lives, just as humans do. In today’s meat, egg, and dairy industries, cows are forcibly separated from their beloved calves, chickens’ throats are slit while the birds are still conscious, and piglets may be castrated and their tails cut off without painkillers.

PETA’s free vegan starter kit is available here. For more information, please visit PETA.org.