The option to throw vegan alternatives is already available for participants
Peta has written to the organisers of the World Black Pudding Throwing Championships, insisting the contest switch entirely to vegan alternatives.
The animal rights organisation has also volunteered to cover the cost of replacing both the blood sausages and Yorkshire puddings used in the competition with cruelty-free substitutes.
In their letter, the campaigners argued: "It's all fun and games until someone gets hurt. In the case of the World Black Pudding Throwing Championships, someone does indeed get hurt: pigs."
The annual event, held in the Bury village Ramsbottom, sees competitors hurl black puddings at Yorkshire puddings perched on a ledge.
Its origins are thought to trace back over 500 years to the Wars of the Roses, when rival soldiers allegedly lobbed food at one another after exhausting their ammunition.
Paul Jenkins, one of the event's organisers, told The Telegraph that competitors can already opt to throw vegan versions of the puddings if they wish.
He characterised the championships as "a quintessential British event", placing it on a par with cheese-rolling as a beloved national tradition.
However, Mr Jenkins made clear that the organisers have no intention of making plant-based puddings compulsory.
He said: "If people want to throw our vegan alternatives, they are more than welcome to."
Peta has also set its sights on the mackerel festival in the Welsh coastal village of Aberaeron, where each year hundreds of visitors gather to mark the close of the fishing season.
The celebration traditionally culminates with locals parading an oversized papier-mâché mackerel through the streets in a mock funeral before setting it alight on the beach — a ritual some believe guarantees a bountiful catch the following year.
In a letter to the Aberaeron Yacht Club, which runs the festival, the group proposed swapping the fish effigy for a papier-mâché cabbage, even enclosing an AI-generated image of what such a model might look like.
Dawn Carr, the organisation's vice-president of vegan projects, wrote: "Celebrating life-giving plant produce rather than fish slaughter would be more in line with the compassion and warmth Wales is known for."
She added: "Fish value their lives and deserve respect and freedom."
A representative of the Aberaeron Yacht Club was dismissive of the suggestion, pointing out the obvious flaw in Peta's logic.
"It's not even real mackerel we're burning!" he told The Telegraph.
He went on to question why the animal rights group would focus its energies on such a small target.
He said: "What about being cruel to cabbages? It seems a strange thing to focus on. It's just a bit of fun, and an excuse, really, to drink some beer. It brings the village together."
The organiser suggested Peta ought to direct its campaigning efforts elsewhere.
"They should have bigger, more relevant targets, you'd think, than a small little Welsh harbour town," he added.
