‘Grim Reaper’ to Haunt Local Grocery Store

Amid Pandemic and Slaughterhouse Shutdowns, PETA Will Urge People to Move Away From Meat

For Immediate Release:
June 25, 2020

Contact:
Nicole Meyer 202-483-7382

As the world battles a deadly virus that originated in a meat market—and as slaughterhouses across the country, including the JBS plant in Tolleson, scramble to contain outbreaks of COVID-19 among workers—a PETA “Grim Reaper” will lead supporters and members of Eradicate Speciesism as they descend on a local Fry’s grocery store to remind people that meat kills and to urge them to choose life-sustaining vegan foods instead. They will also offer a hands-free virtual vegan starter kit via a QR code for shoppers.

When:    Friday, June 26, 6 p.m.

Where:    Outside Fry’s, 100 E. Jefferson St. (at the intersection with S. First Street), Phoenix

“The meat industry breeds killer diseases, and filthy, wet, blood- and offal-soaked slaughterhouses are the least safe workplaces in the world,” says PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman. “PETA is asking food shoppers to push their carts right past the meat aisle, for everyone’s sake.”

The novel coronavirus originated in a Chinese “wet market,” where live and dead animals are sold for human consumption; swine flu began on a U.S. factory farm; and other influenza viruses have been traced to chickens. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warns that approximately 75% of recently emerged infectious diseases affecting humans originated in other animals.

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to eat”—opposes speciesism, which is a human-supremacist worldview. For more information, please visit PETA.org.