PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, also known as PETA, greeted lunchtime visitors at Reading Terminal Market Saturday with its new Hell on Wheels pig truck.
The truck, wrapped with the horrified faces of pigs in confinement awaiting slaughter, is PETA’s latest traveling vehicle decrying the horrors of the U.S. meat industry. Blaring from its speakers were pig squeals.
“Hell on Wheels is popping up at food festivals and restaurant districts like this one all across the country over the summer to confront consumers with the fact that 130 million pigs every single year are subjected to extremely horrific conditions,” said Marnie Chambless, who was driving the truck to a number of stops in Philly Saturday.
She says pigs often have teeth pulled and tails clipped without anesthesia and are denied veterinary care.
“There’s choices we make every single day that can either contribute to that suffering or avoid causing that suffering,” she said.
A choice Chambless suggests is going vegan, which she says PETA has a starter kit for online.
“But the easiest thing everyone can do is just read labels when they go to the grocery store and choose the vegan compassionate option at the restaurant.”
Jay Tekchandani, who was at Reading Terminal to see the truck, is new to veganism. He says he made the switch after seeing a couple of “very ruthless” videos of the dairy industry and how they raise and kill animals.
“We don’t need a lot of perfect vegans, we just need a lot of imperfect vegans… even that would help because it would cut down on some of the suffering they are having,” he said.
“People, when they’re eating, they don’t realize where the food is coming from…, right? And it’s not their fault. Like I said, I used to eat, so it’s not that they’re doing something wrong, they just need awareness.”
Chambless says the truck will be heading to Nathan’s Famous Hot Dog Eating Competition on the 4th of July.
Reading Terminal said it respected the right of PETA to protest, but also pointed out that it announced a major expansion of its vegan deli this past week.