PETA Calls for Roadside Memorials for Animals Killed in Highway Accidents

Ann Fisher

Earlier this week, PETA opened another front in its "Meat is Murder" war and called on the Illinois Department of Transportation to erect official roadside memorials sign to honor the animals that are killed in highway accidents. So now, not only is meat murder, so are the trucks that carry the meat.

PETA's lobbying stems from a May accident on I-80 near Hazel Crest where a truck carrying cattle turned over on an overpass, sending 16 of the cows to their deaths. A second accident in October killed another six cows near Cambridge Illinois. Tracy Patton, who's spearheading the campaign in Illinois, told the Tribune's John Hilkevitch the memorials would remind truck drivers of their responsibility "to the thousands of animals they haul to their deaths everyday."

"It's a big enough tragedy that these animals end up in slaughterhouses, where they are kicked, shocked with electric prods and finally dragged off the trucks to their deaths. Sparing them from being tossed from a speeding truck and deprived of care afterward, sometimes for several hours, seems the least that we can do."

A state law passed in 2007 allowed the erection of official highway memorials for victims of drunk drivers on Illinois highways. Known as "Tina's Law" in honor of Tina Ball, a road worker who was killed by a drunk driver in 2003 on I-57, the law was later amended to include victims of any highway fatality. Five memorials have been erected since the law went into effect.

In addition to being another stunt by PETA, Patton is being sincere in her objective. Patton filed applications for the two accidents involving the cows, asking that IDOT waive its "qualified relative" requirement on the grounds that there are no "surviving family members for animals in the meat trade." She applied as a "concerned Illinois resident in lieu of living relatives."

IDOT spokesman Guy Tridgell told Hilkevitch Patton's applications would most certainly be denied, saying the law is "strictly for deceased people."

Which would allow PETA to getting back to the business of treating humans like meat in their anti-fur campaigns.

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By Chuck Sudo in News on December 29, 2011 2:00 PM 0 Comments

Comments [rss]

fergmelk

I wonder what PETA will do for the "surviving relatives" of all of the pit bulls they endorse the euthanization of because PETA supports breed specific legislation....

High_n_Dry

@magooisim:disqus "...Fuck peta...", @Tafter:disqus "Dumb and offensive...", @twocee:disqus "I don't notice memorials but somehow am able to comment on such..." @twitter-173914583:disqus "Black list them all!!!"

I'm confused. Are you all secretly pro-PETA but believe expressing such to friends and family will decrease the size of your testes or ovaries? Caauuse surely you are not so easily lured into their blatant marketing trap.

I say more nudity and less signage from PETA or a combination of both.

Don

They must all suffer from Mad Cow disease!

Don

???? Are they serious?! I thought P.E.T.A. Stood for "People" for the "Eating" of "Tasty" "Animals".!

Cindy Gallaher

Can you publish a list of PETA members? That way when all of the dead animals are picked up off of the roads, they can be dumped on their lawns. Let PETA build the memorials there!

BlueFairlane

One night five or six years ago I was driving down I-25 in Wyoming north of Casper, and the world was nothing but rabbits. It was like they were materializing from nothing, spontaneously generating from thin air and responding to their newfound existence by diving in front of cars. A car in front of me hit two of them a few minutes apart. We hit one. The carnage was everywhere. If PETA had its way in Wyoming, the road would have been walled in signs after that night.

Personally, I think the best memorial for the cows is the Golden Arches on the interstate food sign.

twocee

I tend to think ALL highway memorials are stupid. They don't make me pause and think how horrible someone died. I either ignore them completely or wonder at the Gracelandification of crosses. I think they do the same thing as billboards -- clutter up the landscape.

As for this petition, PETA is supposed to be concentrating on the ETHICAL treatment of animals. There is nothing unethical about accidentally hitting an animal in your car. It sucks and personally makes me ill (I've done it a couple of times), but it's not like people usually deliberately go out and hit a deer. I'd much rather see this apparently passionate person go after entities that are truly unethical towards animals.

Nicholas

The cows are not likely to even notice the memorials. And if they did, they probably wouldn't appreciate the significance. Cow are quite stupid.

Tafter

Dumb and offensive, just like most stunts PETA pulls. I'm sure the relatives of crash victims would *love* it that PETA thinks their lives are as valuable as that of a cow.

And this: "In addition to being another stunt by PETA, Patton is being sincere in
her objective. Patton filed applications for the two accidents involving
the cows, asking that IDOT waive its "qualified relative" requirement
on the grounds that there are no "surviving family members for animals
in the meat trade." She applied as a "concerned Illinois resident in
lieu of living relatives.""

WTF? Why is Patton being "sincere in her objective?" Because she followed through on this little stunt and submitted an application?

I will never understand the minds of animal rights extremists. They don't make sense.