Earlier this month, a truck carrying 5,400 chickens crashed into a Salem, Oregon car dealership lot near the intersection of Commercial and Division Streets.
The truck driver admitted to taking the turn too fast, which caused her crash. Thousands of chickens spilled onto the lot, and many of the chickens were killed.
This week, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) submitted a letter to Salem City Traffic Engineer Kevin Hottman, requesting the city’s permission to erect a 250-pound, 5 1/2 foot statue of a bloody chicken at the site of the crash to, “serve as a reminder not only to livestock haulers to take extra precautions with their live cargo but also to city residents that chickens are among the most abused animals on the planet and the best way to try to prevent crashes like this is to go vegan so that chickens don’t have to make the trip to the slaughterhouse in the first place.”
This isn’t the first time PETA has made such a request. In October 2012, PETA wrote a letter to the Irvine Public Works Department to request a sign be put up as a memorial for 1,600 fish that were killed during a truck crash. The memorial would be much like roadside crosses.
At the time, a spokesman with the city of Irvine Craig Reem said, “I do think it’s fair to say we have no plans to erect a memorial.”
There is no word on whether or not the city of Salem will grant PETA’s request.