February 19, 2020 11:30 a.m.
In response to a steer being shot in the parking lot of Roseburg High School on February 13th, People for Ethical Treatment of Animals, plans to place a billboard in the area urging anyone appalled by what the group called “an act of violence”, to stand up for all cows by going vegan.
PETA Executive Vice-President Tracy Reiman said “this cow’s desperate bid for freedom is a reminder that all animals are individuals who value their lives and don’t deserve to die from a bullet or the slaughterhouse knife”. Reiman said the billboard will “encourage people to help prevent future suffering by keeping cows and all other animals off their plates”.
According to a report from Roseburg Police, the incident took place just before 6:00 a.m. Sergeant Jeff Eichenbusch said the black angus steer got out of a trailer as it was near the Harvard Avenue exit of Interstate Five. The owner told officers he was trying to find the animal and keep it from getting on the freeway, and believed it would need to be put down. Eichenbusch told News Radio 1240 KQEN that “there was an extreme risk to the community based on the fact the steer was all black, this was during hours of darkness and it was approaching the Interstate”. He said the decision to put the animal down was reached by its owner, but RPD supported the decision based on the potential risk to human life if the steer made it onto the freeway. Eichenbusch said the steer was on the freeway off ramp headed to Harvard, when it got out of the trailer.
Eichenbusch said the animal made its way to the school parking lot where it was put down. The owner of the steer was able to remove it and load it back into his trailer after it was shot. The incident occurred before anyone was on the school campus.
The release said PETA, whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to eat” – opposes speciesism, which it said is a “human-supremacist worldview that fosters violence towards other animals”.