On May 4, animal advocates celebrate International Respect for Chickens Day. Launched by United Poultry Concerns in 2005, International Respect for Chickens Day celebrates chickens throughout the world and protests their suffering and abuse in cockfighting, agribusiness, experimental research, and other cruelties.
"We urge everyone to do a compassionate ACTION for chickens, on or around May 4th," says Karen Davis, president of United Poultry Concerns which promotes the compassionate and respectful treatment of chickens and other domestic fowl.
"A library display, a vegan open house, an informative blog post, or simply talking to family and friends about the plight – and delight – of chickens are great ways to stick up for chickens," Davis says.
In honor of International Respect for Chickens Day, activists will be organizing creative actions all across the U.S. including a leafleting at the White House in Washington DC on Saturday, May 7th and a Peaceful Protest in Petaluma, California on Sunday, May 1. To further the message, UPC will have 150 kiosks in New York City advertising International Respect for Chickens Day with a powerful image of a mother hen protecting her chicks under her wing. It will read "What Wings Are For."
"Happy chickens are cheerful birds," says Davis, who maintains a chicken sanctuary in Virginia. "Chickens love the earth and sun, yet millions are sitting in filthy dark buildings on crippled legs breathing polluted air, as described in my book Prisoned Chickens, Poisoned Eggs. After they are dead, salmonella-infected chickens are soaked in toxic chemicals."
United Poultry Concerns urges people to celebrate chickens on the planet instead of the plate. For information, visit United Poultry Concerns at http://www.upc-online.org.