PETA Is Beefing With Dallas Area's Peppa Pig Theme Park

British cartoon character Peppa Pig has found herself in hot water this week. Not too hot, though. That wouldn’t be ethical.

The organization People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals sent a letter to the CEOs of both Hasbro and Merlin Entertainments condemning them for the decision to serve meat and dairy products at the upcoming Peppa Pig Theme Park in North Richland Hills, scheduled to open later this year.

The letter, penned by PETA senior director Danielle Katz, begins with words of gratitude to the long-running Peppa Pig cartoon for “showing the world that pigs aren’t sources of bacon but individuals with emotions and unique personalities” before ranting about the perceived hypocrisy of selling meat and dairy products in the park.

“You clearly recognize the irony of selling pig meat,” Katz writes, referring to the absence of pork products at the existing Peppa Pig Theme Park in Florida. “So why sell products made from other exploited animals like Carol Cow or Mrs. Cow?”

Katz then claims that the choice to serve meat at the theme park’s main restaurant, Miss Rabbit’s Diner, is not only against PETA’s moral code, but would be out of character for the Peppa Pig character whose name the restaurant bears.

“Surely, Miss Rabbit would never butcher her chicken friends to serve nuggets or take a mama cow’s milk — meant for her babies — to make cheese pizza,” she writes.

We will concede that we also can’t picture any sort of “butchering” happening on Peppa Pig, which is made for and primarily watched by preschoolers.

Katz points out the success and popularity of vegan food, citing a Bloomberg Intelligence study that projects the industry will make $162 billion in the next decade.

She also asserts that a strictly vegan menu at Peppa Pig Theme Park would be better for the health of visitors, claiming that dairy, meat and eggs have been linked to a litany of health problems such as cancer, diabetes and heart disease.

She doesn’t cite any sources that would back up that particular assertion, but we’re sure the recipients of the letter, who are in the final stages of building a theme park, have all the time in the world to Google it.

The letter ends with a plea to “respect Peppa and her pals” and an offer to assist with developing a vegan menu for the park.

This is not the first time PETA has invoked Peppa Pig to support its cause. In addition to calling for pork-free menus at Peppa Pig amusement parks and stage shows worldwide, the organization posted a YouTube short last year called “What if Peppa Pig Was an Animal Activist.” In the video, PETA hacked a voice box in a Peppa plush toy to say things such as, “I don’t want to be killed in a gas chamber like my friends. I can still hear their screams,” before planting it in the toy section of a Target.
This is the same organization claiming that kids would be “horrified” to be served chicken nuggets at a theme park. Maybe PETA needs to start leaving kids out of its campaigns.

The Peppa Pig Theme Park in North Richland Hills is the latest of many Peppa parks worldwide, including those in Florida and Germany and a “Peppa Pig Resort” in China.

The new park comes on the heels of an indoor play area called Peppa Pig’s World of Play in Grapevine, about 20 minutes away from North Richland Hills. Clearly, the demand for all things Peppa Pig in Tarrant County is unbridled.

Also in the works is a new Universal Studios resort in Frisco called Universal Kids Resort, scheduled to open in 2026. Like Peppa Pig Theme Park, it is primarily geared toward very young children. Unlike Peppa Pig Theme Park, specifics of the land’s theming (and, by extension, its menu) are still being kept under wraps.

That means PETA doesn’t have enough ammunition to say something fucked up and traumatizing about it. Yet.