National animal-welfare group PETA is abandoning its idea to turn serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer's childhood home in northeast Ohio into a vegan restaurant.
“We regret that we won't be able to move forward with this project, even though it was met with some enthusiasm as well as some derisive comments,” said Moira Colley, media officer with People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, in an email on Tuesday.
Last week, the organization proposed that the home be turned into a vegan restaurant called Eat For Life: Home Cooking. Ingrid E. Newkirk, PETA's president, sent a letter dated Friday to the real estate agent who listed the Bath Township house for sale.
In the letter, she asked about the listing and proposed making the suburban Akron home a vegan restaurant “to respond to the past with something positive.”
Real estate agent Richard Lubinski said that he isn't surprised that PETA dropped the proposal.
“I had to take it seriously,” he said, out of “fiduciary duty to my client.” But he said, “with PETA's history of these stunts ... it doesn't take a rocket scientist to put two-and-two together” to determine the suggestion was a publicity stunt.
Lubinski noted that in 2012, PETA said it wanted to turn the Florida home of O.J. Simpson into a “Meat is Murder Museum.” The home was in foreclosure, and PETA asked the bank if it would donate or sell the home to the group.
