PETA Targets Maine "I Scream"

The group wanting you to ditch as food anything anything that crawls (lobster) is now going after anything that walks (ice-cream lovers).

PETA’s famous - or infamous - vegan “I Scream” truck was most recently rolling into Bar Harbor and Portland, hot off the uproar it recently caused in New York City.

The truck's presence there led to violent confrontations with other street vendors, but of course that's PETA’s brand: attracting attention at almost any cost.

PETA claims other street vendors tried to block its vehicle, allegedly running over a PETA staff-member’s foot and reportedly shoving people lined up for its vegan ice cream.

The "I Scream" truck is the most recent use of PETA's "scream" theme to protest dairy and animal cruelty.

“The provocative vehicle will screech to a halt outside Jordan Pond Ice Cream & Fudge in Bar Harbor, encouraging everyone around to scream their heads off for free vegan ice cream,” Alex Payne, a spokesman for the People For The Ethical Treatment of Animals, said.

The “I Scream” truck’s tour is part of a campaign in which thousands of dairy-free samples are being handed out nationwide as PETA urges ice-cream shops to carry the “kind-to-cows” and lactose-free treats.

“Ever-more people are ditching dairy out of concern for the animals, the planet, their own arteries (or dad’s or gramp’s),” PETA President Tracy Reiman said, apparently forgetting to be gender inclusive.

The organization is also targeting a captive audience - ice-cream addicts who are lactose intolerant.

“Vegan ice cream is the kind treat because a cow’s milk is made for her calf, not for us,” Reiman said. “PETA is getting loud to encourage everyone to choose delectable dairy-free desserts and leave animals in peace.”

The I Scream campaign, which also uses posters that parody artist Edvard Munch's “The Scream,” is aimed at exposing the practice of dehorning calves.

Before it was Maine ice cream in PETA’s crosshairs it was Maine lobster.

Earlier this summer the PETA group was in Rockland, where it filed a lawsuit trying to stop the Maine Seafood Festival.

It also put on a demonstration in which a “chef” dragged a struggling, screaming human “lobster” to a giant, steaming pot to be scalded alive.