Animal-rights protest scrapped after dust-up over ‘greased pig’

Associated Press

NEWPORT, N.H.

An international animal- advocacy group launched a protest against a New Hampshire winter carnival event billed as a “Greased Pig on Ice,” but withdrew it after learning there’s no pig in the act – just a man on skates in a pig costume with dollar bills tied to his tail.

Steve Smith, an organizer of the 100th Newport Winter Carnival, said People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, or PETA, launched its alert last week despite his reassurances that no pigs would be harmed during today’s event. Smith said he received about 100 emails from concerned animal lovers.

PETA spokeswoman Daphna Nachminovitch said Smith did not clarify what the event would entail. She said the updated information is excellent news for the pigs.

Smith said Thursday that he assured a PETA investigator in a Feb. 5 email that no animals would be harmed during the event. The group never challenged or questioned him about it before writing a detailed email alert, he said. It talked about “subjecting these highly sensitive animals to such a chaotic and violent ordeal rife with screaming participants.” It also mentioned capturing the pigs and stuffing them into barrels.

“How can they know what we’re doing if they never even bothered to ask what we’re doing?” Smith said. “If they just asked, ‘What are your plans?’ I would have told them.”

Smith, also general manager of WCNL radio in Newport, said the carnival featured greased-pig events in the 1930s and continued off and on until the 1980s.