Fish’s Christmas Eve Plea: ‘I’m ME, Not MEAT’

PETA Billboard Urges Everyone to Celebrate the Feast of the Seven Vegan Fishes This Year

For Immediate Release:
December 6, 2018

Contact:
Audrey Shircliff 202-483-7382

In advance of Christmas Eve and the Italian-American tradition of the Feast of the Seven Fishes, PETA has placed a billboard in the heavily Italian-American communities of Roseto, Pennsylvania, and Williamstown and Stafford Township, New Jersey, that show a swimming fish next to the words “I’m ME, Not MEAT. See the Individual. Go Vegan.”

The billboards will run through the month of December in the following locations:

• The intersection of Roseto Avenue and North Street in Roseto, the first all-Italian borough in the U.S., where many residents are descendants of inhabitants of Roseto Valfortore in Italy
• On N. Black Horse Pike at Cross Keys Bypass Road in Williamstown, where 26 percent of residents are of Italian ancestry
• On E. Bay Avenue, near Marsha Drive, in Stafford Township in Ocean County, where 25.9 percent of residents are of Italian ancestry

“Just like humans, fish feel pain and fear and value their own lives—and they deserve our compassion,” says PETA Vice President Colleen O’Brien. “PETA’s billboards encourage everyone to celebrate the holidays with delicious vegan meals that offer some peace on Earth to sensitive fish.”

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to eat”—notes that more fish are killed for food each year than all other animals combined, yet they have no legal protection from abuse. Fish slowly suffocate or are crushed to death when they’re dragged from the oceans in huge nets, and the throats and stomachs of those who survive are cut open on the decks of fishing boats.

Going vegan spares other animals suffering, too: In today’s meat and dairy industries, chickens’ throats are cut while they’re still conscious, piglets are castrated without painkillers, and mother cows are separated from their beloved babies shortly after birth. Vegans are also less prone to suffering from heart disease, obesity, cancer, and diabetes than meat-eaters are.

PETA offers a free vegan starter kit full of recipes, tips, and more and has compiled a roundup of America’s Top 10 Vegan Seafood Dishes. For more information, please visit PETA.org.