Will Chicken Curling Contest Use Vegan Roasts Instead?

PETA Says That It Will Help Event Organizers Skip Using Chickens’ Bodies in Favor of Animal-Friendly Fun That Everyone Can Enjoy

For Immediate Release:
March 12, 2018

Contact:
Megan Wiltsie 202-483-7382

As the Cheyenne Ice and Events Center prepares for its annual Chicken Curling Tournament, PETA sent a letter this morning offering to provide frozen vegan roasts to use instead of frozen birds’ bodies in the event. “Vegan” is a buzzword in food circles for three good reasons: Eating vegan reduces one’s harmful impact on the environment, it promotes good health, and—the most important reason to PETA—it helps end cruelty to chickens and other animals used for food.

“Chickens feel pain and fear just as dogs, cats, and humans do, yet they’re raised in crowded sheds, mutilated without painkillers, transported in all weather extremes, and killed by the billions in terrifying slaughterhouses,” says PETA President Ingrid Newkirk. “Such suffering has no place in a fun family event, and PETA is eager to help Cheyenne’s curling tournament organizers come-around to the idea of using frozen vegan roasts that no one had to die for.”

For more information, please visit PETA.org.

PETA’s letter to City of Cheyenne Director of Recreation Kari Kivisto follows.

March 12, 2018

Taylor Bassett
Programming Coordinator
City of Cheyenne Ice & Events Center

Via e-mail: [email protected]

Dear Ms. Bassett,

I’m writing on behalf of PETA and our more than 6.5 million members and supporters worldwide—including quite a few across Wyoming—with an offer that I hope will sweep you off your feet: We’ll provide all the frozen vegan roasts that you need, free of charge, if you’ll agree to skip using real chicken bodies in your annual curling tournament. Doing so would create an animal-friendly event that rocks.

It’s time to consider (even if it makes us uncomfortable) who animals are, what makes them tick, and how they feel. Chickens are intelligent, sensitive animals who feel pain and empathy and form strong bonds with one another. Studies show that they can anticipate future events, communicate with their chicks while they’re still inside the shell—so that they recognize their mother’s call when they hatch—will go to great lengths to find a secure nest, and have distinct personalities. Even baby chicks can count and perform basic addition and subtraction.

In the meat industry, these cognitively, emotionally, and socially complex animals are raised in crowded, filthy sheds, and they’re subjected to extreme crowding, routine mutilations without pain relief, a terrifying trip to the slaughterhouse, and a violent and painful death. I hope you’ll agree that no one—regardless of species—should suffer or die for human amusement, such as a curling tournament, the very existence of which puts paid to any idea of the kindly farmer who cares about his flock.

We believe that you have a great opportunity to takeout cruelty and come-around to compassion with a unique, fun, and animal-friendly event that everyone can enjoy, and we’re happy to help. We’re counting on you to hurry hard to accept our offer.

Very truly yours,

Ingrid E. Newkirk

President