PETA has its own Super Bowl spot, featuring animated animals taking a knee to protest injustice, but the Colin Kaepernick vibes were too strong to get network approval ... at least that's what PETA thinks.
The animal rights org tells TMZ ... it wanted to make a commercial calling for an end to speciesism ... to "challenge people to expand their concept of injustice to include humans' injustice against other species."
Translation: hey, homo sapiens, quit killing other species.
PETA says the ad agency it hired nailed it with a Kaepernick-inspired theme that features a hummed version of the Star Spangled Banner over images of animals taking a knee.