‘Eat a Chicken and the Penguin Gets It’: PETA’s Avian Flu Alert Lands at Local Wing Joints

For Immediate Release:
February 6, 2024

Contact:
Sara Groves 202-483-7382

Those flocking to local Country Wings restaurants and other chicken-centric eateries this month might get cold feet, courtesy of two sky-high PETA messages that offer grim reminders about the deadly pathogens pumped out of crowded chicken and egg farms—ideal breeding grounds for deadly diseases such as avian flu, which has ripped through bird colonies around the world, killing thousands of penguins in Chile, and, for the first time, has spread to and killed vulnerable Antarctic penguins.

“When you buy products from the meat and egg industries’ factory farms, you kill not only chickens but also wildlife, who fall victim to the deadly diseases that these filthy places incubate,” says PETA President Ingrid Newkirk. “PETA urges everyone to stop supporting these petri dishes for diseases by going vegan—and we have tips, recipes, and more to help.”

Chickens raised for their flesh and eggs are crammed into filthy, severely crowded cages or giant windowless sheds, creating optimal conditions for the spread and mutation of diseases, including avian flu, a highly infectious strain of which reached the Antarctic region for the first known time in late 2023. Within several months, hundreds of elephant seals as well as fur seals, kelp gulls, brown skuas, and Antarctic terns were found dead. Since then, the virus has killed two gentoo penguins and is suspected to have killed a king penguin. Researchers have warned about the virus’s potentially devastating impact on fragile Antarctic wildlife. As the virus has spread to the far corners of the world, a broad array of birds and mammals have been killed, including thousands of elephant seals in Argentina and a polar bear in Alaska.

The billboards are located near Country Wings restaurants at 6959 Macon Rd. and 3754 Victory Dr. They will also appear at two locations in Montgomery, Alabama.

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 (formerly Twitter), Facebook, or Instagram.