PETA has issues with a popular New Year’s Eve celebration in Pennsylvania.
The animal rights group is urging the City of Lebanon end its traditional Lebanon bologna drop to ring in the New Year.
Lebanon attaches a chub of Lebanon bologna to a disco ball and drops it from the sky as onlookers count down the final seconds of the year.
This year’s bologna is donated by Seltzer’s Smokehouse Meats, makers of a wildly popular Lebanon bologna and, frankly, The Canary’s favorite.
But Seltzer’s isn’t a favorite of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) and the organization is definitely not a fan of Lebanon’s unique tradition.
Tracy Reiman, executive vice president of PETA, fired off a letter today to Lebanon Mayor Sherry Capello demanding the city drop its bologna drop celebration. PETA is offering a vegan alternative to Lebanon bologna to drop instead.
“The clock is ticking down on Lebanon’s tone-deaf old habit of dangling slaughtered cow parts from a disco ball,” says PETA President Ingrid Newkirk in a release issued Dec. 27. “PETA urges the city to ring in 2024 with a tasty alternative that everyone can feel good about—one that will be positive for animals, the planet, and the health of those who eat it.”
PETA says cows are “gentle, curious, and clever animals who don’t want to be ground up into bologna to be used as a prop in a festival” in urging Lebanon to find an alternative.
In her letter, Reiman calls the Lebanon Bologna Drop an “ugly tradition of using the dead body parts of gentle cows for a New Year’s stunt.”
Aside from describing what PETA sees as the slaughterhouse process, Reiman also described raising animals for food as “Raising animals to eat is now recognized as “an environmental calamity, as it requires colossal amounts of land, food, energy, and water. And processed meats, like bologna, are bad for animals, the planet, and our arteries—as well as a known carcinogen implicated in the risk of developing cancer.”
Here is the full text of the letter from PETA to Lebanon Mayor Sherry Capello …
December 27, 2023
The Honorable Sherry Capello
Mayor of LebanonDear Mayor Capello:
Greetings! I’m writing on behalf of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals—PETA entities have more than 9 million members and supporters globally, and PETA U.S. is the largest animal rights organization in the world. It has come to our attention that Lebanon is planning to host the Lebanon Bologna Drop this year. We would like to offer vegan bologna free of charge if the city ends the ugly tradition of using the dead body parts of gentle cows for a New Year’s stunt that is frankly a load of bologna. Will you please celebrate the new year by upgrading to vegan bologna for the upcoming Bologna Drop?Cows are gentle, curious, and clever animals, and they don’t want to be ground up into bologna. To become the sausages dangling from a disco ball, these sensitive beings are shipped to feces-filled feedlots, where they’re crammed together by the thousands in all weather extremes. They’re then packed onto trucks for a frightening journey to a slaughterhouse, where they face a cruel and painful death. Many government slaughterhouse inspectors refuse to eat meat after witnessing these awful, filthy conditions.
Raising animals to eat is now recognized as an environmental calamity, as it requires colossal amounts of land, food, energy, and water. And processed meats, like bologna, are bad for animals, the planet, and our arteries—as well as a known carcinogen implicated in the risk of developing cancer. And since eating vegan foods reduces deforestation and loss of biodiversity, vegan bologna is the sustainable star that the Lebanon Bologna Drop deserves.
We hope you’ll accept our offer to have two vegan bolognas descend on the disco ball this New Year’s Eve. Thank you for your time and consideration. May your celebration be filled with joy, compassion, and a touch of mirror-ball magic.
We eagerly await your response.
Sincerely,Tracy Reiman
Executive Vice President
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