May 5, 2014 2 min read

Try to imagine how terrified and helpless the 37,000 chickens who were recently killed in a fire at a Lancaster County factory farm must have felt. They were trapped in a barn, unable to escape. All they could do was watch the flames approach.

While it’s too late to help these poor birds, there is a way to help save other smart, sentient birds just like them: Go vegan.

Chickens are made of flesh, bone and blood, just as we are. They, too, form strong family ties and mourn when they lose a loved one. They’re horrified by the sight and smell of the slaughterhouse and are afraid to die.

And yet, countless chickens are killed for their flesh every year. Before they’re killed, they’re confined to overcrowded, waste-filled sheds. Fumes from the accumulated waste burn their throats and eyes. Many birds lose their feathers and develop blistering, ulcerated feet and other painful ailments. When the birds are but babies, they’re packed onto trucks and transported to the slaughterhouse, where they’re shackled upside-down, their throats are slit and many are scalded alive.

If you don’t want to support such cruelty, please try vegan foods. See www.PETA.org for free vegan recipes and product suggestions.

Heather Moore

PETA Foundation