Following an incident this week in which thousands of chickens were burned alive in a truck fire on a freeway between Mount Barker and Hahndorf, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) sent a letter to the Department for Infrastructure and Transport asking for approval to erect a roadside tombstone memorial on the South Eastern Freeway.
The tribute would feature an image of a chicken next to the words “In Memory of the Chickens Who Suffered and Died at This Spot. Try Vegan” and would let people know that the best way to prevent incidents such as this one is to go vegan, which would help eliminate the terrifying trips to abattoirs chickens are forced to make.
“Animals raised and killed for food suffer from the day they’re born until the day they’re loaded onto trucks for the terrifying journey to the abattoir, where their throats are cut – sometimes while they’re still conscious,” says PETA spokesperson Emily Rice. “We hope our memorial will prompt people not to eat animals or – at the absolute least – remind truck drivers to make their transport to slaughter as safe and comfortable as possible.”
Deadly road incidents involving livestock haulers are common worldwide, including in Australia, where hundreds of cows and sheep – as well as humans – have been seriously injured and killed in numerous accidents.
In today’s meat and dairy industries, chickens and other animals are kept in filthy sheds, where extreme crowding frequently leads to outbreaks of disease. They’re bred to grow so large so quickly that many develop leg deformities and suffer from heart attacks and organ failure. At the abattoir, their legs are forced into shackles, their throats are slit, and they’re plunged into boiling water – often while they’re still able to feel pain.
PETA – whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to eat” – opposes speciesism, which is a human-supremacist worldview.
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I hope this helps convince more people to go vegan. There’s nothing anyone can do to help those birds, but we can all help save sentient animals just like them by going vegan
Animal agriculture causes climate change. Keeping it going because “it’s good for the economy” isn’t good for the economy when you’re having to spend billions a year on disaster recovery.
Is it really too much to ask people to spare a thought for the animals who suffer and die for a fleeting meal?
Chickens feel pain and fear just like our beloved cats and dogs do. There is no reason why chickens or any animals need to suffer and die for food… we are far healthier, and it’s better for the earth, if we choose delicious vegan foods instead of meat, eggs, and dairy.
We can honor chickens every day by not eating their flesh or eggs.