Deadly Barn Blaze at Oakdell Egg Farms Prompts PETA Memorial for Hens

For Immediate Release:
April 25, 2024

Contact:
Nicole Perreira 202-483-7382

In honor of the 120,000 hens who burned to death when a massive fire broke out at Oakdell Egg Farms on Tuesday, PETA plans to place a sky-high memorial in the area pointing out who’s responsible for their deaths: everyone who still buys eggs.

“Every hen who died in this fire was a thinking, feeling individual who endured a life of misery as she was crammed into a filthy warehouse with tens of thousands of other birds and treated as nothing more than a disposable machine,” says PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman. “PETA urges everyone to spare sensitive birds agonizing deaths in burning barns or terrifying slaughterhouses by going vegan.”

Hens used for egg production are confined to cramped barns where they don’t even have enough room to spread their wings. When hens’ bodies wear out and they’re no longer considered profitable, egg producers stuff them into metal boxes and crudely gas them with carbon dioxide, which is terrifying and painful—or send them to slaughterhouses, where workers cut their throats, often while they’re still conscious, and scald many to death in defeathering tanks.

Each person who goes vegan spares nearly 200 animals every year; reduces their own risk of suffering from cancer, heart disease, strokes, diabetes, and obesity; and dramatically shrinks their carbon footprint. PETA’s free vegan starter kit can help those 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 the group on X, Facebook, or Instagram.