PETA Memorial Honors Chickens Killed in Wreck, Encourages People to Keep Animals off the Road by Going Vegan
For Immediate Release:
July 16, 2019
Contact:
Megan Wiltsie 202-483-7382
Stark County, Ohio – In memory of the chickens who died after a tractor-trailer carrying them overturned on U.S. Route 30 near Pigeon Run Avenue S.W. on June 14, PETA has placed a billboard nearby showing a chicken’s face next to the words “I’m ME, Not MEAT. See the Individual. Go Vegan.”
Video footage shot by local group Cleveland Animal Save on the day of the accident shows cleanup crews tossing both living and dead birds into a dumpster on the side of the road. The group was able to rescue one chicken from the crash, whom they named Pidge.
“If this message of compassion inspires just one driver to go vegan, all the birds who weren’t as lucky as Pidge won’t have died in vain,” says PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman. “PETA’s billboard pays tribute to these sensitive animals and encourages motorists to help prevent tragedies like this by keeping all animals off their plates.”
PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to eat”—opposes speciesism, which is the human-supremacist view that other species are nothing more than commodities. Chickens killed for their flesh are crammed by the tens of thousands into filthy sheds and bred to grow such unnaturally large upper bodies that their legs often become crippled under the weight. At the slaughterhouse, their throats are cut—often while they’re still conscious—and many are scalded to death in defeathering tanks. Every person who goes vegan saves the lives of nearly 200 animals each year.
In 2018 alone, there were more than 90 accidents involving trucks used to transport chickens, pigs, turkeys, and cows in the U.S. In 2019, PETA has already noted 56 crashes involving trucks carrying animals used for food.
The billboard is located at 17689 Lincoln Way E., near the intersection with Old Lincoln Way, in Stark County.
For more information, please visit PETA.org.
