By Lea Radick and Ashley Sears

ST. PAUL - Take a walk through downtown St. Paul, Minnesota, while the Republican National Convention is in town and you can expect to see roving bands of policemen with riot gear, keeping the peace.

What you might not expect to see is a dozen or so police posing with two fuzzy pink pigs.

The police and the pork were all smiles for a camera-wielding crowd Wednesday morning - the third day of the GOP convention - after one of the passing cops suggested they pose with the pigs for a photo.

No, the fuzzy pink pigs were not real, but were two people in costumes, campaigning for the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, or PETA, a nonprofit organization that advocates for animal rights. The PETA pigs held signs that read “Cut the Pork: Tax Meat!”

“PETA’s pigs are at the (Republican National Convention) to let people know about PETA’s tax meat campaign,” said Ashley Byrne, PETA campaign coordinator and spokeswoman for the pigs.

PETA is calling on Congress to impose an excise or “sin” tax on meat and is encouraging Americans to curb their meat consumption. The excise tax currently applies to products like alcohol and cigarettes.

PETA’s pigs have been popular at both the Democratic convention in Denver last week and this week’s Republican convention.

“We seriously just got a great reaction from everyone from police to the delegates to people protesting,” she said.

“Everybody loved the pigs.”

Photo credit REUTERS/Ashley Sears  PETA pigs Manuel Burgel (left) and Jessi Chang pose with policemen in downtown St. Paul, on Sept. 3, 2008

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