PETA Protesters Arrested at COP28 Over Warning to Flesh Peddlers Infiltrating Conference

Dubai – Two PETA protesters were taken away by police at the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP28) today. One of the PETA supporters – who were demonstrating in response to plans to present meat as “sustainable” at the event – was nearly nude, body-painted as a cow, while another was dressed as a butcher. The action urged world leaders attending the conference to avert the worst effects of the climate catastrophe by acknowledging the cow in the room: animal agriculture, which is a leading cause of global warming. Carrying a sign with the message “Beware the Butchers! They’re Killing the Planet, Us, and You, Too”, the activists called on the attendees to promote vegan living.

Images and video are available here.

“If world leaders acknowledged that animal agriculture is killing the planet, we would have a better chance of halting the climate catastrophe and spare countless animals,” says PETA Vice President for UK, Europe, and Australia Mimi Bekhechi. “PETA is reminding everyone who cares about the environment to ditch meat and choose vegan foods.”

According to the United Nations, about a third of all human-caused greenhouse gas emissions is linked to food production and the largest percentage of these gases comes from the meat and dairy industries. Growing vegan foods – such as fruits and vegetables, whole grains, beans, peas, nuts, and lentils – requires less energy, land, and water. In addition, animals exploited in the meat trade commonly endure factory farming with extreme confinement, risk of diseases, and painful mutilations before being taken on a gruelling journey to the abattoir and violently killed, sometimes by having their throats cut while still conscious.

PETA – whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to eat” and which opposes speciesism, a human-supremacist worldview – offers a free vegan starter kit to help anyone looking to make the switch. For more information, please visit PETA.org.uk or follow the group on Facebook, X (formerly Twitter), TikTok, or Instagram.

Contact:

Sascha Camilli  +44 20 7923 6244; [email protected]

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