The animal worshippers at PETA have now gone so far as to erect billboards memorializing cows who died in a recent car crash.
According to Bend Bulletin, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) have honored “livestock killed in a truck crash outside Madras” by “paying for billboard space along U.S. Highway 26 to memorialize 14 calves that died when the truck they were riding in rolled onto its side March 12 near milepost 6.”
The organization has reportedly memorialized cows who died in similar accidents in Tennessee and Louisiana, according to PETA spokeswoman Amber Canavan, who hopes the ads will encourage people on the fence about becoming vegan to take the leap into soy-land.
“Even if it just gets people talking about it,” she said. “Because a lot of people don’t know about what’s going on.”
PETA says that cattle suffer every moment of their lives. Amber Caravan claims that the meat industry has been keeping a deadly secret from the public.
“Most of the time, people don’t see these things because they’re going on behind locked doors. You might look over at the truck going by on the road and not know,” says Caravan. “This actually gives us a glimpse of some of the things that the meat industry tries to keep secret.”
The billboard will reportedly show a picture of a cow standing beside the caption: “I’m ME, Not MEAT. See the individual. Go Vegan.” Bend Bulletin detailed the accident that led to this bovine catastrophe:
At around 2:45 p.m. March 12, a truck driven by Dennis Cayer, of Washington, had tipped onto its side on Highway 26. The truck was hauling 84 head of cattle. First responders had to access the truck by sawing holes in the top to get to the surviving livestock inside.
A typical cattle truck can only carry at most around 45 adult cattle, according to Jerome Rosa, executive director of the Oregon Cattlemen’s Association. This is why Rosa thinks the cows in the truck were almost certainly calves.
It’s also the middle of calving season, he said.
Rosa rejects PETA’s billboard campaign, saying the cattle are treated well. “It’s so not true,” he said. “The care of the animals is a rancher’s top priority.”
PETA is notorious for doing over-the-top billboard campaigns and PSAs, which typically compare animal eaters to human cannibals. A most recent campaign against fur featured celebrities like Pink and Gillian Anderson photographed nude beside the captions, “I’d rather go naked than wear fur.”