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A billboard in Baltimore, supported by the group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, draws a comparison between the president's son-in-law and a rat, playing off President Donald Trump's recent comments in which he called the Maryland city a "rat and rodent infested mess."
The billboard went up Monday near City Hall, the city's central police district office and other municipal buildings.
It shows a cartoon of Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner, who is an owner of rodent-infested apartment buildings in the Baltimore area.
On the billboard, Kushner is called a "rich pest" as he sits on a pile of money on the billboard; across from him is a cartoon rat holding a piece of cheese. The billboard calls it "poor guy just trying to survive."
In late July, Trump sent tweets disparaging Baltimore, calling it a "disgusting" place "no human" would want to live.
Kushner owns more than a dozen apartment buildings that were cited for more than 200 code violations in 2017. The problems included reports of maggots, mold and mice invasions. One private investigator who looked into Kushner's properties called the managers "slumlords."
In a statement, PETA's president, Ingrid Newkirk, said the group's billboards show that "smart, social, resourceful rats who are just trying to eke out an existence suffer when entitled landlords neglect humane rodent-control measures."
PETA said rats in a way are like humans. The group said in its statement that "rat mothers are excellent, protective caregivers who sing to their babies and that rats giggle when tickled and can feel as much pain as any other mammal, including humans."
It gave several tips for humane rodent control, including abandoning poison and using "ingestible birth control" to deal with rats and having landlords use "sturdy, well-sealed containers that rats can't chew through for all food waste and other garbage."
It isn't the first time PETA has weighed in with billboards in Baltimore.
Last summer, it got plenty of criticism when it supported putting up ones urging Marylanders not to eat crabs. Given that Maryland is well-known for its crabs cooked with Old Bay seasoning, that got people's attention on social media.
One of the billboards said, "I'm ME, Not MEAT," alongside a picture of a crab. It continued, "See the Individual. Go Vegan," with PETA's logo in the corner.
On Twitter, a message from @iSingForTheKing read, "Y'all trippin' ..." Another Twitter user, @LaurenMcIntyre, wrote "Bushel of crabs with Old Bay, some cold Natty Boh's! Let's get to pickin! These people @peta don't know what they just did!"
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