Perdue: Honor Birds Who Died With Vegan Food Donation
PETA Urges Meat Company to Give Vegan Food to Charity to Make Amends for Deaths of Chickens After Nugget Recalls
For Immediate Release:
February 1, 2019
Contact:
Audrey Shircliff 202-483-7382
Reacting to two separate recalls of tens of thousands of pounds of chicken nuggets—equivalent to about 16,000 dead birds—from Perdue, PETA sent a letter to the company requesting that it honor the birds’ utterly wasted lives by donating vegan food, such as Beyond Meat’s “chicken” strips, to charities benefitting the homeless and malnourished.
“Gentle chickens’ throats are slit, and many are scalded to death in defeathering tanks in the cruel meat industry,” says PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman. “PETA is calling on Perdue to take a small step toward making amends for these birds’ deaths by sending meat-free meals to people in need.”
PETA’s motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to eat.” For more information, please visit PETA.org.
PETA’s letter to Perdue CEO Randy Day follows.
January 31, 2019
Randy Day
Chief Executive Officer
Perdue
Dear Mr. Day,
I’m writing on behalf of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) and our more than 6.5 million members and supporters worldwide to discuss how Perdue can attempt to make amends in some meaningful way for the loss of life of some 16,000 chickens in the recall of more than 16,000 pounds of chicken nuggets because of mislabeling and 68,244 pounds as a result of possible contamination by wood chips. Please consider donating life-promoting vegan foods to a local charity in recognition of these animals.
Intelligent and empathetic, chickens who aren’t confined to factory prisons live in complex social structures, recognize one another, form friendships, and experience rapid eye movement when they sleep—i.e., like you and me, they dream. Just like human mothers who talk to their babies in utero, hens begin to teach calls to their chicks before they hatch. They’re also fiercely protective of their young.
As you know, chickens suffer horrifically before they’re shipped to slaughter. Those raised for their flesh are crammed by the tens of thousands into putrid, windowless sheds, and through genetic selection and the use of growth-promoting drugs, they’re bred to grow big very fast. As a result, skeletal problems are common and some birds die from ascites, a disease believed to be caused by the inability of their hearts and lungs to keep up with their unnaturally rapid bone growth.
These days, there’s never a good reason to slaughter any animal, but these animals suffered and died for absolutely no reason at all. In light of this tragic and complete waste of life, I hope you’ll agree to donate vegan food items, such as the many delicious vegan chicken nuggets on the market to a local charity in their memory.
Sincerely,
Danielle Katz
Director
PETA
