Deadly Salmon Truck Crash Prompts PETA Memorial Urging Empathy for Fish

For Immediate Release:
April 8, 2024

Contact:
Nicole Perreira 202-483-7382

La Grande, Ore. –

To memorialize the more than 25,000 young salmon who were killed when a tanker truck overturned near Lookingglass Creek on March 29, PETA plans to place a sky-high message near the site reminding everyone that the crash victims were thinking, feeling individuals who didn’t want to die.

“The fish who were killed in this crash felt the same terror and agony that any dog, cat, or human would feel if they were suffocated or crushed to death,” says PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman. “PETA urges everyone to have empathy for salmon and other fish and to go vegan.”

Fish feel pain, have long memories, share knowledge, and have cultural traditions. Some woo potential partners by creating intricate works of art in the sand on the ocean floor, yet more fish are killed for food each year than all other animals combined. They’re impaled, crushed, suffocated, or cut open and gutted—often while they’re still conscious. Each person who goes vegan spares nearly 200 animals every year, dramatically shrinks their carbon footprint, and avoids ingesting the many toxic chemicals found in the flesh of fish, including mercury, lead, and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs). 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.