PETA calls for roadside memorial for chickens killed in truck crash
Animal rights group PETA have called for a roadside memorial to be erected at the site up to 1000 chickens were killed in a Victorian truck rollover.
On Monday at 10am, emergency services were called to Melbourne Road at North Geelong, after a truck carrying crates of chickens lost control and rolled on its side.
The road was closed for several hours to clear the scene and dozens of animal activists turned up to try and help the surviving birds.
On Tuesday, PETA said it wanted a tombstone erected at the site to remember the dead chickens and suggested a design, encouraging people to become vegan.
"In memory of the chickens who suffered and died at this spot. Try vegan, PETA," the draft artwork read alongside a stock image of a chicken.
PETA press officer Laura Weyman-Jones told Yahoo7 they had made an enquiry with VicRoads about the memorial.
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"We hope our memorial will prompt people not to eat animals or - at the very least - remind truck drivers to make animals' transport to slaughter as safe and comfortable as possible," PETA spokesperson Emily Rice said in a media release.
Ms Weyman-Jones responded to criticism that the tombstone would "trivialise road carnage" by saying chickens have "curiosity and are smart and sensitive".
"Chickens are incredibly sensitive. Anyone that's had a chicken knows these animals are incredibly smart," she told 3AW's Tony Jones.
She said PETA would pay for the tombstone erection and maintenance.
VicRoads have not yet responded to PETA's enquiry.
This is not the first time the animal rights group have suggested a memorial at the site of a crash.
In November, PETA proposed the same tombstone design after a truck carrying 6000 chickens crashed in Lismore, NSW.
