Bellatrix the Chicken Is a Finalist in PETA’s ‘Best Chicken Competition’
Bellatrix the Chicken Is a Finalist in PETA’s ‘Best Chicken Competition’
Atherstone, Warwickshire– The “top flock” of feathery finalists have been chosen in PETA’s first-ever “Best Chicken” competition – and Bellatrix, a chicken rescued from an overcrowded egg factory farm, is among them. Voting is now open to the public to help determine the winner, who will be revealed by March 31.
According to her vegan guardian, Dawn Whiteman, Bellatrix came to her guardians with several broken toes. The trauma has left Bellatrix wary of humans, but she’s taught her loving family how to be patient. Not only have her toes recovered but so has her confidence! She runs circles around her flock and knows exactly what food she likes. “I rehomed Bellatrix and all my ex-commercial hens, as they all deserve something so much better than what they’ve endured for the first seventeen months of their lives,” says Whiteman. I’ve had ex-commercial hens for 13 years now.”
Images are also available here. (Credit: Dawn Whiteman)
“Even though her early life was filled with suffering, Bellatrix’s adventurous, curious spirit endured,” says PETA Vice President of Programmes Elisa Allen. “All the courageous, resilient chickens in PETA’s competition are intelligent beings who value companionship and their own lives – and have formed unbreakable bonds with their loving guardians.”
The winning chicken will receive toys and treats – and the winner’s guardian will receive a prize pack that includes a T-shirt, a vegan cookbook, and more (plus bragging rights, of course). PETA will choose the winner based on several factors, including vote count.
Chickens can recognize the faces of more than 100 other chickens; communicate with at least 24 unique vocalisations; establish complex social hierarchies; and roost together companionably. Yet chickens killed for their flesh are crammed into filthy sheds, where they’re forced to live in their own waste – and the runoff from these operations pollutes the environment and poisons local wildlife. At abattoirs, chickens’ throats are often cut while they’re still conscious, and many are scalded to death in de-feathering tanks.
PETA – whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to eat” – opposes speciesism, which is a human-supremacist worldview. For more information, please visit PETA.org.uk or follow PETA UK on Facebook, X, TikTok, or Instagram.
Contact:
Jennifer White +44 (0) 20 7837 6327; [email protected]
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