For Immediate Release:
May 30, 2023
Contact:
Nicole Meyer 202-483-7382
Jackson, Miss. – In honor of the birds who died in agony on Wednesday morning after a truck carrying them ran off Interstate 20 and crashed into the woods near Highway 18, PETA plans to place a sky-high appeal near the crash site proclaiming, “See the Individual. Go Vegan.”
“Imprisoned in tiny crates thrown onto the side of the road, many of these chickens must have been crushed or suffocated to death,” says PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman. “PETA urges everyone to go vegan to help prevent birds from being crammed into trucks in the first place.”
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 before they’re sent to be slaughtered 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.
