PETA Seeks Injunction Against Big Brother
For Immediate Release:
25th August, 2000
Contact:
Andrew Butler 0181 870 3966
London — As interest in Big Brother increases, so do concerns over the fate
of the shows non-consenting participants, Marjorie and the other 6 chickens.
Yesterday talk turned to whether to kill the birds, with one participant,
Thomas, stating that even if they weren’t killed for food, he was willing to
kill the birds “for fun”. The housemate’s proposed method of slaughter would
be to wring the birds’ necks, a difficult process to carry out with a large,
struggling bird and one which would cause considerable pain even if done
“correctly”. Death from a broken neck would be due to slow suffocation while
the birds were, presumably, fully conscious.
PETA are in consultation with solicitors over the possibility of taking
legal action against Channel 4 and the programme’s producers, Bazal, and
have already sent them a letter of intent (see following). PETA have also
put up an action alert on their web site: www.petauk.org urging
supporters to vote Thomas out of the house and to write letters of protest
to the programme.
“This programme takes us back to the perverted times of the Roman circus,
when animals were killed cruelly for sheer entertainment,” says PETA’s
Andrew Butler. “Channel 4 should let the chickens win by allowing PETA to
put them in a sanctuary so they can live out the rest of their lives in
peace. They didn’t volunteer for this fiasco and they don’t deserve to die,
cruelly or otherwise.”
A PETA member, dressed as a chicken, will be outside the Big Brother
compound later today, holding a sign reading “Vote Out Chicken
Abusers”.