Animal rights campaigners have demanded that the World Black Pudding Throwing Championships switch to vegan alternatives, arguing it is wrong for the blood and fat of pigs to be hurled at a target for entertainment.
The annual competition is held in Ramsbottom, Lancashire, where competitors throw black puddings in an attempt to knock traditional Yorkshire puddings off a 20-foot-high plinth. The event is said to have been inspired by a battle fought near the village of Stubbins in 1455 during the War of the Roses.
In a letter to event organisers, Peta wrote that pigs were the ones getting hurt. “It’s all fun and games until someone gets hurt,” the organisation wrote. “In the case of the World Black Pudding Throwing Championships, someone does indeed get hurt: pigs.” The group also offered to pay for cruelty-free replacements for both the black puddings thrown and the Yorkshire puddings used as targets.
Paul Jenkins, who organises the event, said vegan alternatives were already available to competitors, though their use would not be made compulsory. He said participants who chose them were more than welcome to do so. Describing the contest, Jenkins said it was on the same level as cheese-rolling.
Welsh mackerel festival also targeted
Peta has made a similar approach to a small coastal town in Wales. The organisation wrote to the Aberaeron Yacht Club, which organises an annual mackerel festival in the Ceredigion town, asking it to replace its giant papier-mache mackerel with a giant papier-mache cabbage. Peta included an AI-generated image of the proposed substitute in its letter.
Peta vice-president of vegan projects Dawn Carr said celebrating plant produce rather than fish slaughter would be more in line with the compassion Wales is known for. Carr also said fish value their lives and deserve respect and freedom.
A man at the yacht club rejected the proposal, noting that the festival does not involve a real fish. He said the event was simply a bit of fun that brings the village together, and questioned whether Peta had bigger targets to focus on than a small Welsh harbour town.
