After learning that Lebanon plans to host the Lebanon Bologna Drop, PETA fired off a letter today to Mayor Sherry Capello pointing out that 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 and is offering to supply free vegan bologna for the city to use 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. “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—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to eat”—opposes speciesism, a human-supremacist worldview. For more information, please visit PETA.org, listen to The PETA Podcast, or follow the group on X (formerly Twitter), Facebook, or Instagram.

PETA’s letter to Capello follows.

December 27, 2023

The Honorable Sherry Capello
Mayor of Lebanon

Dear 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