Billboard to Pay Tribute to Chickens Killed in Truck Crash

PETA Memorial Will Encourage People to Keep Animals Out of Transport Trucks by Going Vegan

For Immediate Release:
February 13, 2019

Contact:
Audrey Shircliff 202-483-7382

In honor of the chickens who died in Olympia on February 11 when the truck carrying them hit the center barrier on I-5 near the start of Highway 101, PETA plans to place a billboard by the crash site showing a chicken’s face next to the words “I’m ME, Not MEAT. See the Individual. Go Vegan.“

“This crash left countless birds dead or mangled on the highway, and the survivors who couldn’t escape will presumably end up under the slaughterhouse knife,” says PETA Vice President Colleen O’Brien. “PETA’s billboard will remind people that the best way to prevent these tragedies is to help keep smart, sensitive chickens off the road in the first place by going vegan.”

Chickens killed for their flesh are crammed by the tens of thousands into filthy sheds and bred to grow such unnaturally large upper bodies that their legs often become crippled under the weight. In the egg industry, hens are confined to a space no bigger than an iPad and part of their beak is cut off with a hot blade—and without any pain relief—in order to prevent them from pecking each other out of stress and frustration. They’re sent to be slaughtered once their bodies wear out and they’re no longer considered useful for egg production. At the slaughterhouse, their throats are cut, often while they’re still conscious, and many are scalded to death in defeathering tanks.

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to eat”—made note of over 90 crashes involving trucks transporting animals in 2018 and has documented over a dozen in just the first weeks of 2019.

For more information, please visit PETA.org.