PETA has a message for Mardi Gras revelers in the city known for its meaty po-boy sandwiches: Geaux vegan this Fat Tuesday and beyond. Located just a few feet from several meat-centric eateries, the group’s new appeal reminds everyone that cows are intelligent, self-aware individuals who can feel love, joy, and fear and deserve to live.

Credit: PETA

“Every meat-filled po-boy comes from a thinking, feeling animal who didn’t want to die and will clog your arteries faster than you can say, ‘Laissez les bons temps rouler,’” says PETA President Ingrid Newkirk. “PETA is encouraging Louisianans and people everywhere to let the good times roll for everyone by leaving animals off their plates.”

Billions of cows, chickens, and other animals used for food are subjected to extreme crowding, routine mutilations without pain relief, a terrifying trip to the slaughterhouse, and a violent, painful death. Farmed fish spend their entire lives in cramped, filthy enclosures, and many suffer from parasitic infections, diseases, and debilitating injuries. Each person who goes vegan saves nearly 200 animals each year—and slashes their risk of suffering from heart disease, cancer, diabetes, and strokes.

People who are looking to feed their po-boy cravings can tuck into the many delicious vegan varieties at NOLA restaurants, including Kindred, 2 Phat Vegans, Vegan Snack Shack, and Killer Poboys. PETA’s free vegan starter kit is filled with helpful tips, recipes, and more to help everyone keep animals out of their (as the song says) “jambalaya, ‘crawfish’ pie, and filé gumbo.”

 PETA’s billboard is located at 1100 Poydras St., within half a mile of restaurants serving meat-based po-boys, including Walk-On’s Sports Bistreaux, Daisy Mae’s Southern Fried Chicken & Breakfast, and Mike Serio’s Po-boys.

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to eat”—points out that Every Animal Is Someone and offers free Empathy Kits for people who need a lesson in kindness. For more information, please visit PETA.org or follow the group on X (formerly Twitter), Facebook, or Instagram.