PETA Founder to Bring ‘Hell on Wheels’ to Chicago—Former Meatpacking Capital—on 75th Birthday

For Immediate Release:
June 10, 2024

Contact:
Maddy Missett 202-483-7382

On Tuesday, PETA founder and President Ingrid Newkirk will celebrate her 75^th birthday as only she would: by driving through Chicago—once home to America’s largest stockyards—in “Hell on Wheels,” PETA’s life-size pig transport truck covered with images of real pigs crammed into crates on their way to slaughter. The vexatious vehicle will blast actual recorded sounds of the animals’ panicked screams outside The Wiener’s Circle—but the wurst is yet to come for the city’s meat-centric eateries, as Newkirk will cap off the afternoon by giving away delicious vegan Chicago-style hot dogs from Portillo’s along the Magnificent Mile.

Where:           Outside The Wiener’s Circle, 2622 N. Clark St., Chicago

When:             Tuesday, June 11, 12 noon

Vegan hot dogs will be handed out at the intersection of N. Michigan Avenue and E. Ohio Street at 3 p.m.

“Chicago was once dubbed ‘the hog butcher for the world,’ but times have changed, as more people come to see pigs and all other animals as the thinking, feeling individuals they are,” says Newkirk. “While the old stockyards are long gone, PETA is still going strong and encouraging Chicagoans and people everywhere else to leave animals off their plates.”

Why: At slaughterhouses, workers shoot pigs in the head with a captive-bolt gun, hang them up by one leg, and cut their throat—often while they’re still conscious. 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.