HEBRON, Md. - After a truck full of chickens caught on fire on Route 50 on Tuesday, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals is planning to place a billboard near the crash site to memorialize the birds.
PETA said that the billboard is to point out who it says it responsible for the death of the birds: everyone who isn't vegan.
"Each of these chickens was an individual who died in terror and pain, engulfed by smoke and flames," said Tracy Reiman, PETA executive vice president. "PETA urges everyone to prevent birds from being crammed into trucks in the first place by taking the easy step of going vegan."
Four fire companies responded to the call for a commercial chicken truck on fire on Tuesday. Courtesy Mardela Springs Volunteer Fire Company.
According to PETA, chickens are often crowded by the tens of thousands into sheds and bred to have such large upper bodies, for human consumption, that their legs are often hurt under the extra weight. It went on in a statement released Thursday to call out animal treatment at slaughterhouses, where chickens have "their throats cut, often while they're still conscious, and many are scalded to death in defeathering tanks."
PETA says that each person who goes vegan helps to prevent the deaths of nearly 200 animals each year; reduces the risk of heart disease, obesity, and other illnesses; and shrinks their carbon footprint.