Deadly Pig Truck Crash Prompts PETA Highway Memorial Urging Empathy in Monroe County

For Immediate Release:
September 17, 2024

Contact:
Sara Groves 202-483-7382

To memorialize the nine pigs who were killed when the truck carrying them collided with another vehicle and overturned on State Road 37 last week, PETA plans to place a billboard in their honor near the crash site pointing out who’s responsible for their deaths: everyone who isn’t already vegan.

“Pigs died in agony and terror in this crash, and the survivors were hauled off, presumably for workers to slit their throats and carve up their bodies for meat,” says PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman. “PETA urges everyone to please go vegan to help keep pigs out of trucks and slaughterhouses in the first place.”

In 2024 alone, there have been at least 34 documented animal-transport truck accidents. PETA points out that pigs are playful, intelligent, friendly animals who are soothed by music, love playing ball, sleep in “pig piles,” and even enjoy getting massages. In the meat industry, workers chop off piglets’ tails, clip their teeth with pliers, and castrate the males. Each person who goes vegan spares nearly 200 animals every year; reduces their own risk of suffering from cancer, heart disease, strokes, diabetes, and obesity; and dramatically shrinks their carbon footprint. PETA’s free vegan starter kit can help those looking to make the switch.

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to eat”—points out that Every Animal Is Someone and offers free Empathy Kits for people who need a lesson in kindness. For more information, please visit PETA.org or follow the group on X, Facebook, or Instagram.