Why do PETA members sometimes throw tofu pies at animal abusers—isn’t that a form of violence?

Vaudeville pie-throwing à la The Three Stooges can hardly be considered violent in this day and age. Nobody gets hurt, and better-natured recipients laugh it off and crack jokes. Confining animals to tiny cages, beating them, starving them, poisoning them, chopping their beaks, tails, and toes off without anesthetics, slitting their throats and ripping their skin off while they are still conscious—now, that’s violent.