Would You Barbecue Someone You Knew?

Ingrid E Newkirk put herself in the place of animals who are killed for meat today – literally. During her visit to Mumbai, the PETA founder lay atop a charcoal grill to remind the world that all animals are made of flesh, bone and blood, just as humans are.

Eating meat entails consuming the corpse of an animal who was once an individual with feelings and a member of a family. All animals raised for food have distinct personalities: chickens pass on culture to their chicks and have complex social hierarchies; cows develop friendships and choose leaders based on intelligence, self-confidence and social skills; and pigs are smarter than dogs, are known to dream and recognise their own names and also enjoy listening to music!

Ingrid, who is always fearless when it comes to helping animals, explains why she decided to put herself on the menu during her visit to PETA India:

Whether a fish, a chicken or a human – a corpse is a corpse, and we are all flesh and blood, with hearts and eyes and feelings. If people are revolted by a “human barbecue”, they should surely also lose their appetite at the thought of eating any corpse. When you smell flesh cooking, you can’t tell the difference. Animals may not look exactly like we do, but they certainly share our ability to feel joy, love, pain and suffering and to fear someone with a knife. Each of us can stop needless violence and live up to our belief that we are decent, kind people, simply by choosing vegan food when we eat.

Ingrid’s gutsy stunt is part of a series of memorable demonstrations that PETA and its affiliates are coordinating for World Vegan Month in November. At the same time, thousands of compassionate people are celebrating World Vegan Month more, ahem, discreetly, by embarking on a plant-based diet for 30 days. Join them here: PETAUK.org/pledge