To combat such meat industry images as dancing pigs and chickens wearing aprons as they gaily make their way to the dinner plate, PETA plans to "educate to liberate" diners on their way into Little Toad Creek Brewery & Distillery and other Silver City eateries that serve pork on Sunday with its "Hell on Wheels" hyper-realistic pig transport truck. The vehicle—which looks as if it contains real pigs on their way to slaughter—will deliver an education (and an earful) with actual recorded sounds of the animals' panicked screams along with a subliminal message every 10 seconds suggesting that people go vegan.
PETA is setting out to empower diners to reconsider their food choices but drawing attention to what—or who—is on their plates, and has reached out to restaurants along the truck's route, including Little Toad Creek Brewery & Distillery, to offer to help them add vegan options to their menus thereby increasing their customer base and being kind to animals too. Meat-free options may become a key part of business as alpha-gal syndrome, a meat and dairy allergy triggered by a tick bite, is on the rise across the country.
"Most people object to cruelty to animals but may not think that behind every BLT and ham sandwich is a once-living, sensitive individual who was crammed onto a truck for a terrifying journey to their death," says PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman. "PETA's 'Hell on Wheels' truck is an appeal to people to remember that the meat industry is a killer and that the only kind meal is a vegan one."
Outside Little Toad Creek Brewery & Distillery, 200 N Bullard Street, Silver City
Sunday, July 20, 4 pm
Contact Alex Payne at 732-567-7922 or
Interviews will be available remotely.
Pigs dream when they sleep, recognize their own names, and show empathy for other pigs who are happy or distressed. In the meat industry, workers chop off piglets' tails, clip their teeth with pliers, and castrate the males—all without pain relief. Every year, more than 1 million pigs die, and at least 40,000 others sustain injuries during transport to slaughterhouses. It's common for pigs on the way to slaughter to suffer from heat exhaustion or even become frozen to the sides of trucks.
