A Roadside Memorial to Sheep Killed in a Crash

Last week, a crash claimed the lives of 120 sheep at a roundabout in Brentwood, Essex. We’ve written to the mayor urging him to head off future disasters with a new roadside memorial that commemorates the crushed and asphyxiated sheep.

The memorial would offer food for thought to Essex motorists and encourage everyone to slow down and consider the impact that their buying and eating habits have on animals, who are involuntary travellers in commerce. It would also remind lorry drivers of their responsibility to the thousands of animals they haul every year.

Sheep suffer at every stage in the meat industry. When lambs are just a few weeks old, their ears are hole-punched, their tails are cut off and males are castrated. Hundreds of thousands of lambs die from exposure or starvation before they’re 8 weeks old – in the UK, as many as 15 per cent of lambs do not survive infancy. For those who do, life is harsh and difficult – from the shearing shed, where they’re often bullied, beaten and cut by shearers, to the hot summer months, when many collapse from heat exhaustion because of their unnaturally heavy wool. Sheep are eventually crowded onto lorries and transported to the abattoir. Those who survive this nightmarish journey have their throats slit, often while they’re still conscious.

The best way to prevent crashes such as this one is to go vegan, because sheep shouldn’t have to make terrifying trips to shearing sheds and abattoirs at all.