Protesters in Hazmat Suits to Urge Beachgoers to Go Vegan
As Florida COVID-19 Cases Skyrocket, PETA Will Encourage People to Move Away From Meat—for Everyone’s Sake
For Immediate Release:
July 15, 2020
Contact:
Nicole Meyer 202-483-7382
Dressed in hazmat suits and wielding signs proclaiming, “Prevent Pandemics: Go Vegan,” a group of PETA supporters will descend on Fort Lauderdale Beach in Broward County, which has over 32,000 confirmed cases of COVID-19.
When: Thursday, July 16, 12 noon
Where: At the intersection of E. Las Olas and S. Fort Lauderdale Beach boulevards, Fort Lauderdale
PETA notes that confining and killing animals for food has been linked to SARS, swine flu, bird flu, and COVID-19—and a new strain of swine flu with “pandemic potential” is now spreading from pigs to humans in China. The meat industry has allowed slaughterhouse workers to face a nearly unchecked spread of the novel coronavirus. Less than half of slaughterhouses report offering testing to their employees, and more than 35,000 cases among workers have been recorded—a rate that’s nine times higher than the overall U.S. infection rate.
“Every bite of meat supports an industry that slits animals’ throats, lets workers get sick, and breeds killer diseases,” says PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman. “As the pandemic hits Florida hard, PETA is urging people to embrace delicious and healthy vegan foods, for everyone’s sake.”
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.
