Animal rights group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) is targeting U.S. quick-service seafood chains Long John Silver’s and Captain D’s in a new billboard campaign.
The billboards, which include the message, “I’m ME, Not MEAT. See the Individual. Go Vegan,” are up in Cincinnati and Dayton, Ohio, where both chains have a presence. PETA said it plans to run the billboard in locations near locations of the chain restaurants in three additional cities, including Columbus, Georgia.
“Just like humans, fish feel pain and fear, have unique personalities, and value their own lives,” PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman said. “PETA’s billboards are reminders that we can spare these sensitive aquatic animals the agony of being suffocated, impaled, crushed, and cut open – simply by choosing vegan meals.”
Long John Silver’s declined to comment on the campaign and Captain D’s did not respond by press time.
More fish are killed for food each year than all other animals combined, yet they have no legal protection from abuse, PETA said in a statement.
“On cramped, filthy fish farms, they suffer from parasitic infections, diseases, and debilitating injuries,” PETA said. “Fish [that] are dragged out of oceans in huge nets (along with unintended victims, such as dolphins, turtles, seals, and other sea animals) slowly suffocate or are crushed to death. The fish who survive that process are often still alive when their throats and stomachs are cut open.”
