PETA calls on Spalding and District Civic Society to install plaque next to new sheep and cow statues

A plaque to commemorate the animals who were ‘exploited’ at the town’s livestock markets should be installed next to new statues, an animal rights organisation says.

PETA (People For The Ethical Treatment of Animals) has written to Spalding and District Civic Society to request a statue to be placed near the new sheep and cattle statues which are being installed in the town.

The civic society received £43,000 from the UK Shared Prosperity Fund to install Lincoln Red cattle statues in New Road and Lincoln Long Wool sheep sculptures in Sheep Market to mark Spalding’s agricultural heritage. These will form part of the MARK-It trail.

A special event is being planned on Saturday, March 15, to unveil the new statues, which have been created by Graeme Mitcheson.

But the animal rights organisation feels that the plaque should be installed to commemerate the cows and sheep ‘who were exploited at the town’s markets and slaughtered for their flesh’.

“Animals aren’t ‘stock’; they are thinking, feeling individuals with unique personalities – just like the residents of Spalding,” writes PETA Vice President of Corporate Projects Dawn Carr.

“With the addition of a small plaque, Graeme Mitcheson’s beautiful sculptures could memorialise the countless animals who were forced through Spalding’s markets to feed our appetite for their flesh.”

PETA argues that sheep and cows suffer pain as a result of being farmed.

We have approached the civic society for comment.

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