People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) has forcefully come out against grocery stores with ties to companies that allegedly use monkey slaves to make coconut milk, and last Wednesday, Feb. 28, the organization set its sights on a Blue Pearl Veterinary clinic on Busch Boulevard in Tampa.
The clinic has more than 100 locations across the U.S., but PETA says that Blue Pearl-owned clinics get blood from The Veterinarians’ Blood Bank. PETA says that a recent inspection by the Indiana State Board of Animal Health supports its claim that the blood bank treats its captive animals “as living blood bags and exploits them until they take their last breath.”
Some protesters even carried bags of prop blood and spilled it at the clinic’s front door.
In a press release, PETA demanded that Blue Pearl “implement a policy against obtaining blood from captive animals.”
A spokesperson for Blue Pearl told Creative Loafing Tampa Bay the company's priority is the health and welfare of animals and that the company believes "no animal should suffer for the health of another."
"We are committed to using blood products that meet the best medical and ethical standards. Unfortunately, there is a severe shortage of life-saving animal blood products in the U.S. today. Outside of critical cases, and only when other sources are not available, we paused purchasing blood products from TVBB until third-party investigations are complete," the spokesperson added. "We are working alongside veterinary partners to make community blood banks the long-term solution."
UPDATED 03/04/23 3:02 p.m. Updated with comment from Blue Pearl spokespeople.
