PETA Asks Jell-O Museum to Add Honest Memorial for Animals Killed for Gelatin

For Immediate Release:
April 29, 2026

Contact:
Nicole Perreira 202-483-7382

Ahead of the season opening of the Jell-O Gallery Museum, PETA sent a letter today to LeRoy Historical Society Curator Tyler Angora, asking him to shake things up by adding a 5-foot-tall tombstone to the museum as a memorial to the pigs, cows, and other animals whose skin, bones, and connective tissues were used to make the gelatin in Jell-O. If the museum agrees, PETA has offered to sweeten the deal with a giveaway of Jell-O’s own delicious, gelatin-free vegan puddings at a local school or charity.

“Once you know that gelatin is made up of the ground-up skin and bones of pigs and cows who suffered greatly before being killed—it’s hard to swallow,” says PETA Founder Ingrid Newkirk. “PETA is encouraging the Jell‑O Museum to break the mold by paying tribute to its hidden victims and reminds visitors that lots of treats, including Jell-O’s own pistachio, chocolate, and vanilla pudding mixes, don’t require animal suffering.”

PETA points out that pigs are soothed by music, and cows mourn when a loved one dies or when they’re separated from each other. Yet in the meat industry, they’re crammed into filthy sheds or kept on crowded feedlots and subjected to tail docking, castration, and other mutilations with no pain relief. Eventually, they’re forced onto transport trucks for a terrifying journey to a slaughterhouse, where workers slit their throats—often while they’re still conscious.

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to eat”—points out that when it comes to the ability to feel pain, hunger, and thirst, a pig is a dog is a boy. For more information, please visit PETA.org or follow PETA on X, Facebook, or Instagram.

PETA’s letter to Angora follows.

April 29, 2026

Tyler Angora

Curator

LeRoy Historical Society

Dear Mr. Angora:

I’m writing on behalf of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals—PETA entities have more than 10.4 million members and supporters globally, including over 386,000 in New York, with a request that may initially be hard to swallow but for which I ask you to please hear me out: Would you add a memorial exhibit, such as a 5-foot tombstone, to the Jell-O Gallery Museum as a tribute to the animals whose skin, bones, and connective tissues were used to make the gelatin in Jello-O? The memorial would not only be respectful of the animals but also demonstrate respect for Jell-O’s vegan customers who want to put an end to gelatin’s use. If you agree, we’d be happy to publicly applaud the museum’s honesty and do a Jell-O vegan pudding giveaway to a local school or charity to show how tasty these varieties are.

Apart from the Jell-O pudding mixes that are vegan (and even offer instructions about using plant milks), Jell-O isn’t “yum for everyone”—especially the animals who were complex individuals and didn’t deserve to be killed for it. Pigs are extremely intelligent, social animals who can use tools, learn their names, and love playing, and cows have best friends, are smart and observant, are good mothers, enjoy classical music and playing, and have distinct personalities. Yet in the meat and leather industries, of which gelatin is a coproduct, they are forced to spend their lives in filth and intensive confinement and are even denied fresh air and everything else that’s natural and important to them, before enduring a frightening journey to a painful death.

Our memorial would be inclusive of and resonate with the ever-increasing number of consumers who avoid animal-derived products for ethical, religious, cultural, environmental, or health-related reasons. As you may know, demand for vegan food is at an all-time high—driven especially by Millennials and Gen Zers, who are increasingly conscious about their food choices. The global vegan gelatin market was valued at an estimated $3.35 billion in 2025 and is predicted to grow to nearly $6 billion by 2035.

We hope you’ll agree that our tombstone would be a timely addition to the museum, one that marks who lies beneath the wiggle and reminds visitors that truly fun desserts are kind to everyone. Thank you for your consideration. We look forward to hearing from you.

Very truly yours,

Ingrid Newkirk

Founder