Put Down the Wings! Buckeyes Get an Eyeful From PETA’s ‘Chickens’ in Urgent Campus Pleas 

For Immediate Release:
October 7, 2026

Contact:
Alex Payne 202-483-7382

The Buckeyes are back in action, and PETA has a new play for the entire Ohio State University community: “Save a Life: Put Down the Wings!” The lifesaving messages appear on 14 campus kiosk screens—just a short walk from several chicken-serving eateries, including BBQ Chicken Columbus and Raising Cane’s—and call on passersby to leave chickens off the menu on game day and every day, and give tasty vegan chicken a try.

“Behind every chicken sandwich or plate of wings was a thinking, feeling being who suffered a violent death just to become someone’s game-day snack,” says PETA President Tracy Reiman. “PETA is calling on Buckeyes to tackle cruelty by choosing vegan wings and sandwiches that let birds live in peace.”

PETA’s campus blitz follows its headline-grabbing “chicken war” that included a vegan chicken giveaway outside the 11th Avenue Raising Cane’s just last month.

Chickens are social learners who watch and emulate one another. They form strong bonds, dream, and worry about the future, just as humans do—but in the meat industry, chickens are confined by the tens of thousands to severely crowded, filthy sheds and bred to grow such unnaturally large upper bodies that their legs often become crippled under the weight. At slaughterhouses, mechanized blades slit their throats—often while they’re still conscious—and many are scalded to death in de-feathering tanks.

Each person who goes vegan spares nearly 200 animals every year, dramatically reduces their food-related carbon footprint, and slashes their risk of cancer, heart disease, stroke, diabetes, and obesity. PETA’s free vegan starter kit is filled with tips to help anyone thinking of making the switch. Buckeyes can score big with a growing selection of store-bought vegan wings, or make their own at home with these mouthwatering recipes.

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to eat or abuse in any other way”—points out that when it comes to the ability to feel pain, hunger, and fear, a chicken is a dog is a boy. For more information, please visit PETA.org or follow PETA on X, Facebook, or Instagram.