Celebrate Kindness! PETA Treats Notting Hill Carnival Revellers To Vegan Chicken
Each August, west London comes alive for the Notting Hill Carnival, a celebration of Caribbean culture, music and costume. But, while revellers consume an estimated five tonnes of chicken flesh, there’s one thing missing from the party: a basic regard for the lives of birds.
That’s why PETA supporters in colourful feather-free costumes handed out vegan chicken and encouraged carnival goers to choose food that leaves birds in peace, not pieces.
Eating Birds Is Weird
In their ability to feel pain, fear, and joy, chickens are no different to the birds many of us admire in nature.
Chickens are clever and curious; they enjoy playing, form complex social relationships, dream when they sleep, and worry about the future. Yet in the meat industry, they’re bred to grow so unnaturally large that many suffer from painful leg deformities, heart problems, and other debilitating conditions.
Behind every nugget, drumstick, and wing you eat was a chicken who lived a short miserable life and died a violent death; A chicken who was someone, not something.
The Planet Can’t Sustain Chicken Farms
The UK is starting to feel the full effects of climate catastrophe, and scientists warn this is only the beginning. Yet, councils continue to green-light gigantic poultry farms that confine birds and pollute the air and waterways.
Phosphate-laden chicken excrement run-off from farms in Herefordshire and surrounding counties has caused massive algal blooms in the River Wye, robbing the water of oxygen, and killing aquatic life.
Meanwhile, ammonia from these farms subjects nearby residents to a dreadful stench with health consequences. One 2019 study found that the UK could prevent 3,000 premature deaths per year if ammonia emissions from UK farms were halved. If you don’t care about the birds maybe you’d at least care about the humans literally dying from this chicken sh*t?
And really, it’s so easy not to eat another animal. If choosing a vegan meal can save a life, and it can, what sort of person shrugs it off and eats the tortured bird anyway?
When it comes to chicken prisons, it’s not enough to say, ‘not in my backyard’; we must say, ‘not on my plate!’
You Can Help Chickens and Other Birds
Nearly 100 million birds are slaughtered for their flesh in the UK each month. They need you to take action.
- Choose vegan chicken – check out our guide to the best vegan chicken!
- Find out what Big Chicken is hiding from you
- Share the reasons you should never eat chicken with others
- Uncover welfare myths and why you should never eat eggs
- Join our feather-free pledge
- And finally, go vegan with your FREE Vegan Starter Kit!
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