PETA Is Determined to Change Everyone Else’s

Once upon a time, Jen O’Connor’s friend left town and asked Jen to care for her rescued chickens. Jen knew nothing about chickens but agreed and became fascinated with the birds’ personalities. Some were bold and bossy, some shy – and one, Hailey, never stopped pecking at Jen’s polka dot socks.

One evening, after putting the birds to bed inside the barn, Jen did a load of laundry and hung it out to dry. The next morning, the socks had vanished. When she finally found them, she was stunned: Hailey had not just absconded with them, she had laid an egg and carefully wrapped the socks around it. She looked up with a pleading expression. Jen decided Hailey should have the socks. Jen (now a PETA Foundation staffer) also stopped eating chicken and eggs, no longer able to disassociate the wings and legs on her plate from Hailey and the other hens.

Chickens are certainly individuals and inarguably the most abused birds on the planet – killed by the billions simply to satisfy some human whim for their flesh, feathers, and eggs – and since Day One, PETA has campaigned vigorously to make the point that birds’ body parts belong only to them.

In 1980, we held the first-ever US protest against chicken slaughter, at Arrow Live Poultry in Washington, DC; that place shut down. We secured the first criminal charges filed against a factory farmer for cruelty to chickens, for allowing tens of thousands of birds to starve to death, and publicly exposed the “free-range” lie. In 2014, we launched our empathy-building virtual-reality experience I, Chicken on more than 150 university campuses, and this year, with egg prices soaring, our “Tommy Tofu” mascot has been out and about giving away free vegan “egg” salad sandwiches to encourage people to battle bird flu by eating vegan. Our legal work, ads and videos, exposés, and protests have opened eyes and helped keep wings on their rightful owners.

Jen’s story shows that you never know what will wake someone up to who animals are – which is why PETA will keep doing whatever it takes. Please join us.