from Daijiworld Special Correspondent - Panaji (GA)
 
Panaji, May 4: In observance of International Chicken Respect Day, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) has written a letter to the Municipal Corporation of Panaji asking it to install a statue of a chicken in a busy part of the city to pay respect to the billions of chickens which are killed for food.

 “Chickens are fascinating animals who in some ways are as intelligent as mammals such as cats, dogs and even some primates. They are very social animals which like to spend their days together scratching for food, cleaning themselves in dust baths, roosting in trees and lying in the sun,” PETA chief functionary Anuradha Sawhney has said in her letter.

“Mother hens cluck to their unborn chicks, who chirp back to their mothers from within their shells. But the billions of chickens raised on factory farms each year never have the chance to do anything that is natural or important to them. They will never even meet their parents, let alone be raised by them,” it adds.

 The letter says that the chickens killed for meat are raised in huge, waste-filled factories. They are bred to grow so large that many cannot even walk, and they often have their wings and legs broken. When they are only 6 or 7 weeks old, they are crammed into cages and trucked to slaughter, where their throats are cut and they are dropped into tanks of scalding-hot water – often while they are still conscious.

 "Erecting a chicken statue in a busy part of the city will elevate these bright, inquisitive birds in the minds of residents, perhaps convincing many to help by leaving chicken off their plates," Sawhney adds.