1 Million Drowned Calves Prompt ‘Stop Eating Meat’ Ad in Kansas City

Billboard Urges Cow-Eaters to Take Responsibility for Preventable Deaths

For Immediate Release:
April 1, 2019

Contact:
Audrey Shircliff 202-483-7382

Kansas City, Mo. – In response to reports that approximately 1 million calves were killed in the flooding across the Midwest—many of whose dead bodies washed up along the riverbanks—PETA is planning to place a billboard in Kansas City featuring a photograph of a cow stranded in deep water alongside the words “Stop Eating Meat! They Die for Your Cruel and Dirty Habit.”

“Every hamburger or steak dinner supports an industry that has repeatedly allowed scores of sensitive animals to suffer and die in natural disasters,” says PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman. “PETA’s billboard will challenge passersby to take personal responsibility for the painful deaths of these gentle calves by keeping cows and all other animals off their plates.”

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to eat”—opposes speciesism, which is the human-supremacist viewpoint that animals are commodities. The group points out that, had these calves survived the flooding, they would have eventually faced a terrifying trip to the slaughterhouse. There, workers would have shot them in the head with a captive-bolt gun, hung them up by one leg, and cut their throat—likely while they were still conscious and able to feel pain.

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

PETA also plans to place the billboard in St. Louis as well as Fargo, North Dakota, and Sioux Falls, South Dakota. For more information, please visit PETA.org.

For Media: Contact PETA's
Media Response Team.

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 Ingrid E. Newkirk

“Almost all of us grew up eating meat, wearing leather, and going to circuses and zoos. We never considered the impact of these actions on the animals involved. For whatever reason, you are now asking the question: Why should animals have rights?” READ MORE

— Ingrid E. Newkirk, PETA President and co-author of Animalkind