provided a vegan-diet ad goes upBALTIMORE — People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals is offering to help keep Baltimore’s city-owned Edgar Allan Poe House open, provided the group is allowed to display an ad promoting a vegan diet.
In a letter sent Monday to house curator Jeff Jerome, PETA officials offered to “help a little bit” in the effort to keep the house open. In return for that help, PETA proposes, the house would display a sign featuring a man clutching at his chest; the accompanying message would read, “The Tell-Tale Heart of a Meat-Eater. Don’t be Haunted by Bad Health: Go Vegan. PETA.”
City budget officials have told the city’s Committee for Historic & Architectural Preservation, which runs the museum, that a plan must be in place by July 2012 to run it without city funds. The museum’s $85,000 operating cost was slashed from the city budget last year.
PETA said this is the first time the group has made such an approach to a museum, although it has placed similar ads on public spaces before, including trucks, trash cans and playground equipment. The Baltimore Sun
