View commercial: youtu.be/9nFo0hkZjCA

Download commercial and images, free for unlimited use: bit.ly/AntiochLambCommercial

Yellow Springs, OH (October 15, 2019) — In Defense of Animals is broadcasting a television commercial on ABC and Fox through October, urging Antioch College to release nine lambs to sanctuary instead of slaughtering them. The TV-plea to spare the lambs was produced in honor of Jason Seth Houten, an Antioch College alum who cared deeply for animals and was killed in a car crash at the age of 23. Currently, the school is using the lambs to control grass in a solar panel field and plans to serve them to students at its cafeteria this Summer.

“I have never found a way to honor my son's memory.” Said Barbara Pearl, Houten’s mother. “When a mother loses a child, it’s catastrophic. The grief is unbearable. When you lose your child, you lose your future as you never imagined. I asked Antioch College to spare the lives of these innocent beings, as a way to honor my son, Jason's life.”

Despite multiple sanctuaries offering to take in and care for the lambs free of charge, Antioch College has so far refused, mockingly responding to Pearl’s plea by demanding a $1 million ransom for the lambs, which it said would be used to fund more animal killing.

“Slaughtering these lambs would be a dark stain on Antioch College’s reputation and it should do the right thing by releasing the animals to sanctuary,” said Marilyn Kroplick, M.D., President. of In Defense of Animals. “Antioch College claims to be committed to food transparency. If the school is truly interested in educating its students it should show them how lambs and sheep meet a terrifying, bloody death in slaughterhouses. Exposure to this gruesome reality is important since both locally raised and factory farmed animals often end up at the same slaughterhouse.”

Matthew Hamity, In Defense of Animals Campaigns Director said, “We urge Antioch College to be fully transparent with its students by exposing them to the entire ‘farm to table’ process. Please ask yourself if you’re comfortable supporting this needless violence, regardless of where farmed animals are raised.”

The television commercials will run for two weeks from October 14 to October 27. View the commercial here. 

Contacts:

Fleur Dawes, fleur@idausa.org, (415) 879-6879

Barbara Pearl, pearlhope2018@gmail.com, (215) 840-1190

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In Defense of Animals is an international animal protection organization with over 250,000 supporters and a 30-year history of fighting for animals, people and the environment through education, campaigns and hands-on rescue facilities in India, South Korea, and rural Mississippi. www.idausa.org

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