PETA Applies for Memorial Brick for 23 Mother Cows Killed in Crash

Group Aims to Shine Spotlight on Suffering of Animals in the Dairy Industry

For Immediate Release:
July 3, 2013

Contact:
Shakira Croce 202-483-7382

Wilmington, Del. — PETA has sent a letter to James Westhoff, Memorial Garden program coordinator for the Delaware Department of Transportation, urging him to allow PETA to place a memorial brick in the Delaware Highway Memorial Garden in Smyrna to commemorate the deaths of 23 mother cows after the June 15 crash of a transport truck in New Castle. Many of the cows, who were slated to be shipped to Jordan, died as a result of being impaled with metal while others were so badly injured that they had to be destroyed. The brick would read, “In Memory of 23 Mother Cows: Go Vegan. 2013.” A link showing what the brick would look like can be found here.

“PETA’s memorial brick will remind people about the suffering that these mother cows—and all other animals raised and killed for meat and milk—experience on factory farms and then in death, by either accident or design,” says PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman, herself a mother. “The best way to show that you care about cows is to avoid eating or wearing them. Turn to vegan milks and cheese and faux leather.”

PETA’s letter to Mr. Westhoff can be read below. For more information, please visit PETA.org.

July 3, 2013

James Westhoff
Memorial Garden Program Coordinator
Delaware Department of Transportation

Via e-mail: [email protected] 

Dear Mr. Westhoff,

I am writing today to apply for a brick at the Delaware Highway Memorial Garden as a tribute to the 23 mother cows and their unborn calves who were killed or later euthanized after a tractor-trailer carrying them overturned in New Castle, Delaware, off of I-495 on June 15.

The brick text would read, “In Memory of 23 Mother Cows: Go Vegan. 2013.” It’s a big enough tragedy that mother cows end up on dairy farms, where they are repeatedly impregnated, only to have their male calves traumatically taken away to become veal. They would have been scared on the journey, only to die painfully, even though eating cheese and drinking their milk is not necessary. We hope this brick will let people know that the best way to prevent crashes such as this one is to go vegan so that cows don’t have to make the trip to a dairy farm in the first place. It will also serve as a reminder to tractor-trailer drivers of their responsibility to the thousands of animals they haul every year. In this crash, the driver was cited for inattentive driving.

Attached, you’ll find the Personalized Brick Order Form, and a link to what the brick would look like can be found here. Thank you for your consideration.

Sincerely,

Danielle Katz
Manager
PETA