The fated calf

By FLORIDIAN EDITORS

© St. Petersburg Times, published August 8, 2000

From a press release posted July 26 on www.peta.org, the Web site of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. CowParade NYC 2000, a public art display of cow figures, continues through Labor Day.

NEW YORK -- PETA's attempt to get its fiberglass cow out of a warehouse and onto the street before the end of CowParade NYC 2000 was stymied late yesterday when a judge refused to grant a preliminary injunction that would force parade organizers to release the bovine prisoner.

Last month, PETA filed a lawsuit against New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation and the organizers of CowParade NYC 2000 after the charity's fiberglass cow was banned from the event. PETA's suit alleges that the rejection of the anti-meat design constitutes a violation of PETA's First Amendment rights, as well as a breach in contract for the almost $10,000 cow.

PETA's submission, deemed too offensive, is designed like a butcher shop's poster cow, each section of its body containing a fact about how cows are killed for food and how eating them is linked to killer diseases like cancer, heart attacks and even impotence.

"If the public feels uncomfortable reading about cows' being castrated and dehorned without anesthesia, they should go vegetarian," says PETA President Ingrid Newkirk. "Instead of banning PETA's cow, they should prohibit hamburgers from entering the city limits."

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