PROTESTERS from animal rights group PETA have unfurled a large banner on a historic bridge in Wadebridge with the intention of ‘sending a message’ to Royal Cornwall Show attendees.

The banner was unveiled on Friday (June 5), the second day of the agricultural show, after campaigners were forced to postpone the original Thursday morning display due to inclement weather conditions across Cornwall, which disrupted the timing of the planned demonstration.

The banner contained the statement ‘Farmers love animals to death’ and was displayed on the side of the bridge which faces the vast Camel Viaduct in the distance – with the message of ‘farmers love animals to death’ intended to be seen by show-goers queuing in traffic to attend the three-day show piece agricultural event.

PETA says that the banner unfurling was part of their campaign to discourage the eating of meat, with the campaign group calling on ‘everyone to leave the violence of animal farming behind and embrace plant farming that is kinder to animals, the planet and our health’.

The campaign group were also critical of the practice of transporting animals to the show itself, saying that there was ‘nothing loving’ about transporting animals to the Royal Cornwall Showground and parading them in front of ‘noisy crowds’.

“Behind the fun-loving image of the Royal Cornwall Show is an industry built on exploitation” said PETA vice president Dawn Carr. “PETA’s banner drop presents the uncomfortable truth that you can’t claim to love animals while killing them for their flesh and bodily secretions.

“Animals confined against their will on UK farms endure violent, agonising deaths when they’re just babies. We’re urging the good people of Cornwall leave the heartbreak of farming animals behind and embrace kinder, greener vegan farming that harms no one.”