A VEGAN activist raised £1,000 in just a week to put up the latest in a series of billboards promoting the cause.

Hard-hitting posters on Middlesbrough’s Portrack Lane and the A19 are catching the eye of motorists with their pro-vegan messages.

One sports an image of a child with a sheep and asks ‘at what point did we stop loving them and start eating them?’.

Another says ‘Heart disease is the greatest killer of our time. A plant based diet reduces that risk dramatically. What are you waiting for?’.

The billboards, which will be in place until November 22, are the brainchild of Middlesbrough man Tony Galuidi, who used crowdfunding to cover the costs of encouraging the public to cut down on their meat and dairy intake.

In July, he caused a stir by erecting his first billboard on the town’s busy Marton Road.

Mr Galuidi said that the poster had attracted some negativity but that it did not deter him from putting up more.

He said: “Some people were very antagonising and quite insulting but it got a conversation going which is the important thing.”

Mr Galuidi, who has been vegan for 34 years, explained that his main reason for giving up meat and dairy was his love for animals. He said: “I left the army and then just said right I’m stopping eating animals. I stopped overnight and I never looked back.”

The veteran vegan said he had no intention of forcing others to follow in his footsteps but said: “Every contribution is a positive – even if I can just help one in a hundred people stop eating meat, that helps.”

The billboards were erected in the hope of driving more conversation about veganism and the environment and Mr Galuidi will build on that by holding an event on November 25.

He believes more people should be aware of research that suggests global greenhouse gas emissions could drop by a third if the world went vegan.

Earthbeat Winterfest, the latest in a series of ‘VegFest’ events, will take place at Saltburn’s Earthbeat Centre from 10am until 5pm and will feature a range of vegan stalls, activities and food.

Mr Galuidi said: “The point is to show people how easy it is to adapt a plant based diet and how everything you normally eat can be substituted for something vegan.”