PETA’s Pesky ‘Pig Truck’ to Haunt Honey Baked Ham Stores with Animals’ Cries Ahead of Easter

For Immediate Release:
April 10, 2025

Contact:
Sara Groves 202-483-7382

Would-be Honey Baked Ham customers might give ham the heave-ho in favor of vegan options this Easter, as “Hell on Wheels”—PETA’s hyper-realistic pig transport truck that looks as if it contains real pigs on their way to slaughter—will roll up to its stores around the country to give shoppers a harrowing reminder of the suffering behind every glazed ham centerpiece.

The vehicle recently kicked off its multistate tour by causing a ruckus outside Honey Baked headquarters in Alpharetta, Georgia—and has now set off to bombard shoppers outside the chain’s stores and meaty eateries in Georgia, South Carolina, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas with actual recorded sounds of the pigs’ panicked screams, along with a subliminal message every 10 seconds suggesting that people go vegan.

PETA notes that with a plethora of delicious vegan roasts—including Tofurky’s Ham-Style Roast with Amber Glaze and Vegetarian Plus’s Ham Roll with Apricot Plum Glaze—available in stores and online, cruelty and death have no place on holiday tables.

Credit: PETA

“Easter is a celebration of renewed life, yet, in the meat industry, frightened pigs are crammed into filthy warehouses, their ears, tails and testes are cut off, and they are hung upside down and slaughtered for an Easter ham,” says PETA Senior Vice President Colleen O’Brien “PETA’s ‘Hell on Wheels’ truck is a strong appeal to shoppers to think of the once-living individual behind every holiday ham and start their life-enhancing vegan celebration from this Easter on.”

Like humans, pigs dream when they sleep, enjoy listening to music, and show empathy for others who are happy or distressed. Yet in the meat industry, workers chop off piglets’ tails, clip their teeth with pliers, and castrate the males—all without pain relief. When the time comes for slaughter, they’re crammed onto trucks and hauled through all weather extremes without food, water, or rest—with more than 1 million pigs dying each year during transport alone.

Each person who goes vegan spares nearly 200 animals every year and reduces their own risk of suffering from cancer, heart disease, strokes, diabetes, and obesity. PETA offers a guide to tasty meat-free holiday roasts and a free vegan starter kit filled with recipes and tips that can help anyone 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 PETA on X, Facebook, or Instagram.