26.07.2024
Melbourne – In the wake of an incident on Wednesday in which 22 cows were either killed by the impact or later euthanised due to injuries sustained when the truck transporting them crashed into a South Yarra bridge, PETA sent a letter to VicRoads requesting permission to erect a memorial at the scene on Alexandra Avenue. The tribute would feature an image of a cow and the words “In Memory of the 22 Cows Who Suffered Died in a Truck Accident at This Spot. Please, Try ,” reminding all drivers – including those with animals on board – to travel safely and pointing out that we can all prevent further animal suffering and death by going vegan.
The photo is available here.
“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 an abattoir, where their throats are cut – sometimes while they’re still conscious,” writes PETA Campaigns Advisor Mimi Bekhechi. “These animals wouldn’t be trucked to miserable deaths if we all just ate vegan foods instead. PETA hopes the memorial will remind Victorians that eating animals condemns them to long, arduous, and dangerous journeys to an abattoir.”
In Australia, some 26 million cows and bulls are used for beef and dairy. Every year, around 8 million of these animals raised for their flesh are slaughtered – most at just 18 months old – in abattoirs. In the dairy industry, hundreds of thousands of “bobby calves” are trucked to slaughter within their first week of life. Their mothers, who are used until their milk production drops, are slaughtered at around 4 years old, just a fifth of their natural life expectancy.
Deadly crashes involving “livestock” haulers are common worldwide, including in Australia, where hundreds of cattle, sheep, and chickens – along with humans – have been seriously injured or killed in numerous accidents.
PETA’s letter to VicRoads is available here.
PETA – whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to eat” – opposes speciesism, a human-supremacist worldview. For more information, visit PETA.org.au or follow the group on and Instagram.
Contact:
Sascha Camilli Media@peta.org.au
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