‘Hell on Wheels’ Is Coming to Lawrence—Chicken Truck to Blast Dying Birds’ Cries Outside Jefferson’s
For Immediate Release:
June 25, 2024
Contact:
Sara Groves 202-483-7382
Diners on their way into Jefferson’s and Ladybird Diner on Massachusetts Street are in for an earful on Thursday, when “Hell on Wheels”—PETA’s life-size, hyperrealistic chicken transport truck covered with images of real chickens crammed into crates on their way to slaughter—will bombard them with actual recorded sounds of the birds’ cries along with a subliminal message every 10 seconds suggesting that people go vegan.
Where: Outside Ladybird Diner, 721 Massachusetts St., Lawrence
When: Thursday, June 27, 12 noon
Hell on Wheels will hit up meaty eateries in Overland Park on Friday and Kansas City, Missouri, on Saturday and Sunday.
The vexatious vehicle’s arrival comes as a bird flu outbreak continues to spread across the U.S., infecting more than 100 herds of cows in the dairy industry and resulting in the killing of over 16 million chickens nationwide since the beginning of the year.
“Behind every hot wing or bucket of fried chicken is a once-living, sensitive individual who was crammed onto a truck for a terrifying, miserable journey to their death,” says PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman. “PETA’s ‘Hell on Wheels’ truck is an appeal to anyone who eats chicken to remember that the meat industry is cruel to birds and hazardous to human health and the only kind meal is a vegan one.”
In the meat industry, chickens are confined by the tens of thousands to severely crowded, filthy sheds and bred to grow such unnaturally large upper bodies that their legs often become crippled under the weight. Hens used for egg production are crammed together inside wire-floored cages where they don’t even have enough room to spread their wings. At slaughterhouses, workers cut their throats—often while they’re still conscious—and scald many to death in defeathering tanks.
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. PETA’s free vegan starter kit is filled with tips to help anyone looking to make the switch. For more information, please visit PETA.org or follow the group on X, Facebook, or Instagram.
