Chicken or Chaffinch: Are You Eating Birds?
Update (8 January 2025:)
If you wouldn’t eat the wings of a swan or kingfisher, why eat a chicken’s wings? That’s the food for thought PETA supporters dished out this Veganuary in Shrewsbury, County Shropshire, which is home to one of the densest concentrations of intensive chicken farms in Europe – a major contributor to deadly river pollution and wildlife destruction.
The display featured a full “menu” of bird-based “dishes”, including kingfisher, heron, swan, and cormorant – locally sourced, of course.
Pollution from massive chicken farms is poisoning the River Wye and Severn, and in turn river birds, so PETA urges anyone horrified by the thought of killing kingfishers and crows to do all birds a favour by leaving animals off their plates.
Original blog (1 November 2024):
If you wouldn’t eat the wings of a sparrow, a swan, or an owl, why eat a chicken’s wings?
On World Vegan Day (1 November), we gave Peterborians some food for thought. Passers-by in Peterborough – which was recently named the best birdwatching destination in the UK – were stunned to see PETA’s display:
The full “menu” of bird-based “dishes” included crow, sparrow, owl, robin, blue tit, swan, and heron – locally sourced, of course.
Wings Are for Flying, Not Frying
Chickens recognise their friends, talk to their unhatched babies, and fiercely defend their chicks, and they don’t want to be cut up and eaten any more than Peterborough’s beloved robins and finches do.
Chickens can distinguish among the faces of more than 100 other chickens and communicate with at least 24 unique vocalisations, each with a distinct meaning. Like sparrows and many other wild birds, they roost together and have complex social hierarchies.
Yet chickens killed for their flesh are crammed by the tens of thousands into filthy sheds, where they’re forced to live in their own waste. At slaughterhouses, their throats are often cut while they’re still conscious and many are scalded to death in defeathering tanks.
Stop Eating Birds
Horrified by the thought of cooking up songbirds? Extend that compassion to all birds, including chickens, and stop eating them.
November is World Vegan Month – a perfect time to stop being an animal-eater and switch to delicious plant-based meals. Join in PETA’s World Vegan Month challenge and order our free vegan starter kit for tips and recipes:
