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PETA Petitions Ham Lake Mayor To Change City's Name To Yam Lake

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- Animal rights group PETA is petitioning the mayor of Ham Lake to give the city a more "pig-positive" name.

Ham Lake, which sits north of the Twin Cities off Highway 65, earned its name in 1871. The city was named for the identically monikered nearby body of water, which was called Ham Lake because its shape resembled a ham, according to the city's website.

PETA's letter to Mayor Mike Van Kirk notes that "pigs killed for food spend their lives confined on filthy factory farms and are denied everything that's natural and important to them." It also argues the lake actually looks more like a yam, and so states the city should be renamed Yam Lake.

Yam Lake
(credit: PETA)

"[Yams are] extremely versatile, easy to prepare, and great to eat alone or include in both sweet and savory dishes," the letter reads.

PETA even offered to pay for new city signage and send "delicious candied yams for the whole town."

You can read PETA's full letter here.

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