Mastic Bull-Inspired PETA Ad Will Go Up Soon On Long Island Road

BROOKHAVEN, NY — The wayward bovine once known as the Mastic Bull-inspired many with his break for freedom from a Manorville slaughterhouse this summer.

The animal, who eluded his patient rescuers, was on the lam for nearly two months before he was captured last month and taken to his new home at Skylands Animal Sanctuary and Rescue in New Jersey where there are other animals rescued from the butcher block. Since determined to be a steer, the elusive animal has also been renamed "Hannibal."

And now, to inspire others, a local rescue group, Long Island Orchestrating for Nature, has banded together with People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals on a giant billboard to highlight other bovines facing slaughter and to encourage people to remove them from their plates.

The sign features a bovine in front of blue skies with the phrase, “I’m me, not meat. Help save others from slaughter. Go Vegan.”

It will be placed at the intersection of Montauk Highway and South Country Road in Brookhaven, just west of the Brookhaven Fire Department’s headquarters, on Monday and it will stay up for about one month.

LION’s John DiLeonardo, who advocated for saving the steer, said PETA, which is the largest in the world, heard about the efforts to save Hannibal and asked how they could help, and the two groups came up with the idea of “getting the message out to the masses.”

Two hundred animals just like the former Mastic Bull could be saved every year, “simply” by people going vegan, according to DiLeonardo.

PETA arranged the design reached out and got a contract for which LION is grateful, he said.

“A lot of people were asking us throughout the rescue you how they can help, and we kept reiterating that the best way you can help animals like ‘Barney’ is to go vegan,” he added.

MORE FROM PATCH:

• Escaped Bull Still On The Loose In Mastic
• A Plan To Lure 'Mastic Bull' Out Of Nature Preserve
• Mastic Bull Rescuer: It's A Waiting Game
• Over $2,400 Raised For Barney, the Mastic Bull
• Mastic Bull Inspires PETA To Place A Billboard Nearby
• As Henri Creeps In Rescuers Worry About Barney
• No Bull: Hannibal The Steer Is Enjoying Life After Long Island