Avian Flu Outbreak, Mass Chicken Killings Prompt Nationwide Vegan Push From PETA

Following news that yet another bird flu outbreak is sweeping the nation and that nearly 2 million chickens have been killed in 2024 by Texas-based egg seller Cal-Maine Foods Inc., PETA is hitting cities across the country with a multipronged campaign warning of the dangers of continuing to eat meat, eggs, and dairy from animals confined to filthy, severely crowded sheds or feedlots and encouraging people to take the simple and obvious step of going vegan.

We’re talking with ad companies about placing a stark, sky-high warning near Cal-Maine’s operation in Texas and in major cities across the country, reminding everyone that farms, feedlots, and slaughterhouses are breeding grounds for a host of deadly pathogens that can easily mutate and spread to humans.

On April 4, PETA supporters took action in the Lone Star State by flocking to Klyde Warren Park in Dallas, where they gave away dozens of delicious vegan hard-boiled WunderEggs and dished out free vegan starter kits with tips and recipes for eating vegan.

“Hell on Wheels”—PETA’s life-size, hyper-realistic chicken transport truck covered with images of real chickens crammed into crates on their way to slaughter—is in the midst of a cross-country tour and is currently in Mississippi, near Cal-Maine’s headquarters, bombarding diners with actual recorded sounds of dying birds’ cries along with a subliminal message every 10 seconds suggesting that people go vegan.

In 2023 alone, at least 58 million birds confined on farms were systematically killed to limit the spread of avian flu, often using horrific methods, including the following:

• Ventilation shutdown (VSD), a prolonged and terrifying process in which workers shut off all airflow to the sheds in which the animals are kept, slowly suffocating them
• VSD Plus, which involves adding heat or gas to the air, depriving the animals of oxygen, and raising the temperature to as high as 120 degrees, essentially baking them alive
• Slowly suffocating them with a substance similar to firefighting foam

The majority of serious disease outbreaks in recent years originated in animals before being transmitted to humans, including COVID-19, AIDS, avian flu, swine flu, SARS, MERS, Ebola, and Zika. Strains of avian flu have already spread, decimating wild bird populations around the globe.

Eating meat, eggs, and dairy from deplorable operations in which thousands or even millions of animals are confined amid their own waste not only is disgusting and cruel but also will unquestionably lead to more outbreaks. PETA urges everyone to go vegan now—before it’s too late.

For those looking to keep pathogens off their plates or simply avoid paying skyrocketing egg prices, we offer a roundup of delicious, animal-friendly, and safe vegan egg options as well as a vegan egg replacer guide for home cooks.