Truck Crash Prompts PETA Memorial to Chickens in Aiken County

For Immediate Release:
July 24, 2023

Contact:
Nicole Perreira 202-483-7382

To memorialize the chickens who were killed Friday when a truck carrying them overturned on I-20 westbound near the Columbia Highway interchange, PETA plans to place a sky-high message near the site, reminding everyone that the crash victims were individuals. Already this year, there have been at least 27 animal-transport truck crashes.

“Each of the chickens on this truck experienced terror and agony as they were crushed to death or suffocated,” says PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman. “PETA urges everyone to see chickens as the sensitive beings they are and go 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; and dramatically shrinks their carbon footprint.

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