International campaign group PETA has shocked Londoners by offering them ‘owl wings’ – not chicken – to try. People’s reactions are telling, plus they highlight an important point over animal rights.
‘You can’t eat OWLS’
“You can’t eat owls”.
“That’s disgusting”.
“I don’t want to eat Hedwigs”.
A new PETA video shows the horrified reactions from Londoners when they learn that the free samples of wings they’re eating aren’t from chickens but from “owls”.
Musician and satirist Oli Frost hands out the free wings – which are actually vegan – to passers-by, several of whom spit out the “meat” when Frost tells them it’s from owls.
“What is wrong with you?” one disgusted man responds.
The video concludes with a stark point: “Owl wings, chicken wings… What’s the difference?”
Watch:
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“Chickens are smart, social, curious birds who don’t want to be carved up and eaten any more than a human would,” says PETA vice president of programmes Elisa Allen:
PETA urges anyone horrified at the thought of eating owls’ wings to extend that compassion to all animals and go vegan.
Pity the chickens – but take action, too
Chickens raised for their flesh are routinely fed antibiotics and bred to grow so large over such a short period of time that their legs often collapse under their own bodyweight.
Moreover, as the Canary previously reported, analysing 1,964 chicken products from 40 Lidl stores in 21 UK cities from September to November 2023, the charity Open Cages has detected ‘hock burn’ on 74% of the whole birds examined. These painful chemical burns can be seen with the naked eye as a brown ulcer on the back of the leg.
Overall, the report by the group found:
- Birds are kept in filthy conditions and are bred to grow unnaturally fast.
- As a result 3 in 4 of the whole chickens sold in Lidl are plagued by ‘revolting’ ulcers from the birds laying in their own waste – almost 4x higher than levels reported by rival Aldi.
- 94% of the discounter’s breast meat is afflicted by a muscle disease that makes the typically lean food 224% higher in fat content.
- Diseased meat poses health risks and questions over food quality.
At abattoirs, they’re shackled upside down, their throats are slit, and they’re scalded in defeathering tanks – sometimes while still conscious.
Every person who goes vegan spares nearly 200 animals a year daily suffering and a terrifying death. PETA’s free vegan starter kit can help anyone ready to make the switch.
PETA – whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to eat” – opposes speciesism, a human-supremacist worldview. For more information, please visit PETA.org.uk.
Featured image via PETA – screengrab
