Toymaker Playmobil Asked to Launch ‘My First Abattoir’
As Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison proposes funding farm visits for schoolchildren, animal advocates have asked toymaker Playmobil to create a “My First Abattoir” play set, which would show children the way animals are actually treated in the meat and dairy industries.
PETA UK first wrote to the company in April to ask it to remove the misleadingly happy-looking animal figures from its “Large Farm” toy set. After receiving no word of reply, the group got back in touch with Playmobil to propose the “My First Abattoir” concept.
Because cows used for dairy are sent to slaughter once they no longer produce enough milk to be profitable to farmers, the proposed “My First Abattoir” toy includes two cow figures who have been hung upside down and their throats slit. And since male calves are considered useless by the dairy industry, the set depicts a calf who has been dumped in a wheelbarrow for disposal.
The Australian dairy industry kills almost half a million calves every year so that their mothers’ milk can be sold to humans. Many are sent to the abattoir when they’re just 5 days old, and others areshot or bashed in the head with a hammerso that farmers don’t have to spend money on transporting them.
If Playmobil is going to offer toys representing businesses that exploit animals for food, it should at the very least not misrepresent the conditions in which those animals live and die. We must all stop lying to children about the horror and cruelty behind every glass of cows’ milk and every beef burger.
It’s so easy to ditch animal-derived foods in favour of vegan options that are tasty and cause no harm to animals. Download PETA’s free vegan starter kit to make the switch now!
