People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) has written to LEGO urging the toy company to rebrand a new farm set as a ‘sanctuary’.
Several LEGO City farm sets are due to be released this week in Europe including a chicken coop and vegetable delivery truck.
The new collection also features a toy farm complete with farmers, a barn, tractor and greenhouse with vegetables.
The animals in the set include a cow, calf, sheep (which has a removable fleece), lamb, pig and piglets.
However, PETA claims that the toy set is a “a false and misleading depiction of animal agriculture”.
In a letter to LEGO CEO, Niels Christiansen, the animal rights organisation called for the set to be rebranded as a “sanctuary” where it said that “animals are free to live out their lives in peace”.
PETA claimed that “the reality for farmed animals is a far cry from LEGO’s peaceful, happy scene”.
“This rebrand would help children recognise that animals are sentient beings who feel joy, pain, love, and grief and should be cared for, not treated as edible commodities to be used and abused,” it said.
“Children should be brought up to be compassionate and not ignorant about animal suffering.
“By rebranding the farm as a sanctuary, LEGO would send a positive message about our relationship with other animals and allow children to imagine a world in which everyone is cared for and slaughter and forced confinement are a thing of the past,” PETA said.
The organisation also noted that children are growing up in a “climate catastrophe” which it claimed can be mitigated by “a global switch to vegan eating”.
