Animal welfare charities have condemned the organisers of Latitude Festival after they dyed a flock of sheep bright pink.
The music and arts festival, which was held in Henham Park, Suffolk over the weekend (18th - 21st July) shared a short clip on Twitter showing the fluorescent livestock wandering the campsite, which angered many social media users.
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And in response to the clip, PETA UK has blasted the festival - which was headlined by George Ezra, Lana Del Ray and Stereophonics - for dyeing the farm animals.
The charity wrote: "In 2019, only ignorant or cruel people still use animals as living toys, props, and photo ops. We've learned enough about animals to know to respect and admire them for their ability to live in a world we're fast destroying.
"This thoughtless, attention-grabbing stunt by @LatitudeFest put sheep at serious risk of getting dye in their eyes and swallowing the solution as they were dip-dyed which involves being completely submerged in liquid, their heads likely held down with a crook so that the dye would cover their entire body."
They added: "And the abuse didn't stop there. These gentle prey animals are easily stressed and would have been terrified of the loud music and rowdy, drunk festivalgoers."
Following suit, the RSPCA told the Telegraph that they plan on contacting the festival to discuss the incident.
A spokesperson told the publication: "We want all animals treated with kindness and respect and would discourage people from painting or dyeing animals for novelty purposes."
However, Latitude, which was named best family festival at last year's UK Festival awards, has defended the stunt in light of the statements given by the animal welfare charities.
They told the Guardian that the animals had been: "dip-dyed using natural, water-based dye which they are used to as part of their normal farm life for insecticides and parasites like itch-mite, blow-flies, ticks and lice".
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Pretty 52 have contacted Latitude for comment.
This isn't the first time the festival have dyed the sheep to publicise the event. The festival even sells merchandise; including mugs, T-shirts, teddy bears and badges, inspired by the flourescent farm animals.
Featured Image Credit: PATopics: RSPCA, Life News, News
