PETA set to 'bombard' Hot Dog Eating Contest spectators, encourage them to go vegan

Two years ago, Joey Chestnut was interrupted by a protester who he put in a headlock — and then he still managed to eat 63 hot dogs and buns at the Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest.

Chestnut will not be at this year's event (which takes place on Thursday), but activists will be.

PETA, the People for Ethical Treatment of Animals, announced that they will "bombard the competition's spectators" with a truck that will encourage the attendees to go vegan.

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The organization says it is a "life-size, hyperrealistic pig transport truck" that is donned with images of pigs in cages that are being sent to be slaughtered. The truck is named "Hell on Wheels."

"Behind every hot dog is a once-living, sensitive individual who was crammed onto a truck for a terrifying, miserable journey to their death," Tracy Reiman, PETA's executive vice president, said in a statement to Fox News Digital. "PETA’s ‘Hell on Wheels’ truck is an appeal to anyone who eats pigs, cows, or other animals to remember that the meat industry is cruel to them and the only kind meal is a vegan one."

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The truck will be posted outside the competition at 11 a.m. ET, an hour before the competition begins.

The organization also ripped the "shameful" National Dog Shot and the use of live mascots for sports teams, most recently with the Cleveland Browns after their mascot, a bullmastiff named Swagger Jr., died at the age of 5.

Chestnut was barred from this year's competition after he partnered with a Nathan's rival. Major League Eating said they would lift the ban if the partnership ended, which never occurred.

Thus, it will be the first time since 2015, and just the second time since 2007, that there will be someone not named Joey Chestnut has the champion. Chestnut lost the competition in 2015 to Matt Stone.

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