An animal-welfare organisation wants to turn serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer's childhood home into a vegan restaurant.
Ingrid E Newkirk, president of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), has sent a letter to the realty agent who has listed the house in Bath Township, Ohio, for sale.
In the letter, she asked about the listing and proposed making the house a vegan restaurant "to respond to the past with something positive."
Newkirk likened the way animals are slaughtered, processed and consumed to the way Dahmer treated his victims.
"We are always looking for ways to draw attention to the violence inherent in the production of meat, eggs, and milk - which involve processes that would shock all but the most hard-hearted person," Newkirk wrote in the letter to Richard Lubinski of Stouffer Realty.
"Dahmer's old house gives us a way to evoke sympathy for these victims and to suggest that a life-affirming diet can change everything."
The plan's feasibility, however, is questionable. The three-bedroom house at Bath Road - the site of Dahmer's first murder - is zoned for single-family residential use.
It's unlikely Bath Township would change the zoning to allow a business such as a restaurant in a residential neighbourhood, said Bill Funk, the township's zoning inspector and administrator.
PETA spokesperson Lindsay Rajt insisted the organisation is serious about the offer.
Rajt said PETA is cautiously optimistic about the plan and has gone so far as to come up with a name, concept and menu items for the restaurant.
It would be called Eat For Life: Home Cooking and would offer entrees for $US10 or less, she said. Menu items would include chipotle barbecue tofu kebabs and vegan creamy chicken casserole, made from mock chicken and dairy-free sour cream.
Lubinski said he wasn't sure whether PETA was serious about the offer or just looking for publicity. But "I'm certainly going to treat it as a serious lead at this point," he said.
The house is where Dahmer killed the first of his 17 victims. In 1978, he killed and dismembered local resident Steven M Hicks in the house and scattered his remains over the property.
