For Immediate Release:
November 23, 2020
Contact:
Megan Wiltsie 202-483-7382
San Antonio – “We Are a Family. Not Footwear or Food.” That’s the appeal from a mother cow and her calf on a new billboard that PETA just posted near a Walmart store and a slew of leather dealers, grocery stores, and fast-food eateries—including Adam’s Leather Shop, Wendy’s, and Bill Miller BBQ—to encourage everyone to exercise empathy and make kind choices when shopping and eating.
“Just like humans, cows are made of flesh and blood; feel pain, joy, and fear; love their babies and mothers; and value their lives,” says PETA President Ingrid Newkirk. “PETA’s message is that we can all show kindness to these gentle animals simply by opting for delicious vegan burgers or stylish vegan boots.”
A PETA video exposé of Brazil’s JBS S.A.—the world’s largest leather processor—revealed that workers branded cows and bulls on the face, electroshocked them, and beat them before killing them for meat and leather. After a lifetime of intense confinement, cows are typically transported to slaughterhouses, where workers slit their throats and even skin and dismember some while they’re still conscious.
In addition to saving the lives of nearly 200 animals every year, each person who goes vegan helps the Earth considerably. Animal agriculture is responsible for nearly a fifth of human-induced greenhouse-gas emissions and is devastating the planet on a global scale. More than 80% of the Amazon rainforest that’s been cleared since 1970 is used for grazing or for growing food for cattle who are ultimately slaughtered for meat.
PETA’s billboard is located at 12019 Perrin Beitel Rd., #101 (near Thousand Oaks Drive).
PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to eat”—opposes speciesism, which is a human-supremacist worldview that fosters violence toward other animals. For more information, please visit PETA.org or follow the group on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram.
