PETA Requests Roadside Memorial After Second Deadly Livestock-Truck Crash in Ontario

Group Hopes to Save Lives by Encouraging Drivers to Travel Safely and Choose Vegan Meals

For Immediate Release:
October 6, 2016

Contact:
Megan Wiltsie 202-483-7382

Today, following Wednesday morning’s accident in which a truck carrying pigs to slaughter overturned in Burlington—causing immense suffering and killing 42 already terrified pigs—PETA sent a letter to the city’s director of transportation asking for approval to erect a 5-foot-tall tombstone memorial at the scene. The accident, which occurred outside a Fearmans Pork slaughterhouse, comes after two cows were euthanized as a result of injuries they sustained in another truck crash in Ontario just this past August.

The tribute (image here) would feature an image of a pig next to these words: “In memory of the pigs who suffered and died at this spot and all who have died beyond these gates. Try vegan.” It would remind all drivers, including those with animals on board, to slow down and travel safely—while also pointing out that everyone can prevent slaughter trucks from traveling the highway by choosing vegan meals.

“Over a short span—and for nothing more than some bacon and burgers—multiple crashes in the same province have left animals mangled and suffering on an already terrifying trip to the slaughterhouse,” says PETA President Ingrid Newkirk. “PETA’s roadside memorial can prevent further tragedies, including human ones, by reminding people to drive with care and give a thought to animals by no longer eating them.”

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to eat”—notes that before pigs are loaded onto trucks bound for slaughterhouses, they suffer immensely on industrialized meat farms. Sows are squeezed into narrow metal stalls barely larger than their bodies and kept almost constantly pregnant or nursing. Pigs’ tails are chopped off, their teeth are cut with pliers, and males are castrated—all without any painkillers. At slaughterhouses, they are hung upside down and bled to death, often while still conscious.

PETA’s letter to the city of Burlington’s director of transportation is available upon request. For more information, please visit PETA.org.