Chickens Left to Die on Transport Trucks Prompt PETA Memorial Urging Empathy in Charles City

For Immediate Release:
October 23, 2024

Contact:
Sara Groves 202-483-7382

To memorialize the thousands of chickens who were left on transport trailers without food or water for five days as temperatures outside rose into the 80s and cooling fans failed—killing a “[s]ignificant” number of them, as confirmed by federal officials—outside Pure Prairie Poultry’s now-shuttered slaughterhouse in Charles City last month, PETA plans to place a billboard in their honor near the site, reminding everyone that the victims were thinking, feeling individuals.

PETA notes that the Charles City Police Department is investigating the incident after the group alerted Floyd County Attorney Todd Prichard to multiple whistleblower reports regarding incidents involving birds left on parked trucks at the foundering facility. PETA had previously notified officials with the U.S. Department of Agriculture Food Safety and Inspection Service. The agency neglected to respond for weeks—before finally saying that it was out of its jurisdiction because the trailers were parked across the street rather than at the slaughterhouse itself.

“Chickens died in agony after being abandoned for days without food or water, and the traumatized survivors faced the slaughterhouse knife,” says PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman. “PETA urges everyone to please go vegan and save animals from being sent to slaughterhouses in the first place.”

Chickens are inquisitive, social animals who like to spend their days together scratching for food, taking dust baths, roosting in trees, and lying in the sun. Yet each year, billions of chickens are trucked to slaughterhouses, where workers cut their throats—often while they’re still conscious—and scald many to death in defeathering tanks.

Each person who goes vegan spares nearly 200 animals every year, dramatically shrinks their carbon footprint, and reduces their risk of suffering from cancer, heart disease, strokes, diabetes, and obesity. 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.