PETA's Sexy 'Lettuce Ladies' Bring Vegetarian Message To Auckland

Beauties Ask People to 'Save the Planet' by Choosing a Plant-Based Diet

Auckland – Wearing outfits made of real lettuce leaves and holding signs that read, "Save the Planet. Go Vegetarian", three Lettuce Ladies from People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) Asia-Pacific will greet passersby downtown tomorrow. PETA's point? Switching to a vegetarian diet is the most effective thing that anyone can do to fight climate change and reduce environmental destruction.

Date: Thursday, June 11
Time: 12 noon sharp
Place: Outside Whitcoulls, on the corner of Victoria and Queen Street, Auckland CBD

Why are PETA's Lettuce Ladies dressing in vegetables? The group wants to bring a serious issue to the public's attention in a light-hearted way. Besides causing the daily suffering of billions of animals raised and killed for food, consumption of meat and other animal products is the number one cause of climate change and a major contributor to resource depletion, pollution and even world hunger.

In a report titled Livestock's Long Shadow: Environmental Issues and Options, the UN concluded that raising animals for food generates more greenhouse-gas emissions than all the cars, trucks, SUVs, planes and boats in the world combined. The report goes on to say that meat is "one of the top two or three most significant contributors to the most serious environmental problems, at every scale from local to global". Also, feeding, transporting and slaughtering farmed animals and packaging, transporting and storing their flesh wastes enormous amounts of energy.

Cows, pigs, chickens and other animals raised for their flesh are dehorned and debeaked and have their teeth, tails and testicles cut off – all without any painkillers. They are kept in extremely crowded, filthy enclosures and are denied everything that is natural and important to them. At the slaughterhouse, animals are routinely hung upside down, have their throats cut and are skinned and scalded to death while still conscious.

"Meat production has a devastating impact on the environment", says PETA Lettuce Lady Fawn Porter. "With so many delicious alternatives to meat now available, it's easier than ever to enjoy great food while saving animals and the planet."

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