Fiery Truck Crash Prompts PETA Memorial for Chickens

For Immediate Release:
March 20, 2023

Contact:
David Perle 202-483-7382

In honor of the birds who died in agony last Thursday morning after a truck carrying them caught fire on the Staten Island Expressway near Western Avenue, PETA and Humane Long Island plan to place a billboard near the crash site pointing out who’s responsible for their deaths: everyone who isn’t vegan.

“Each of these chickens was an individual who died in terror and agony as smoke and flames engulfed her,” says PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman. “PETA urges everyone to prevent birds from being crammed into trucks in the first place by taking the easy step of going vegan.”

Chickens killed for their flesh are crowded 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. Those used for egg production are confined to cramped barns, where each bird has no more than a square foot of space. At the slaughterhouse, their throats are cut, often while they’re still conscious, and many are scalded to death in defeathering tanks.

Each person who goes vegan saves nearly 200 animals every year; reduces their own risk of suffering from cancer, heart disease, strokes, diabetes, and obesity; dramatically shrinks their carbon footprint; and helps prevent future pandemics. SARS, swine flu, bird flu, and COVID-19 all stemmed from confining and killing animals for food.

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to eat”—opposes speciesism, a human-supremacist worldview. For more information, please visit PETA.org, listen to The PETA Podcast, or follow the group on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram.