The controversial animal rights group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) has placed a billboard near Riverside to mark the place where several cows died in a traffic accident last month.
PETA released a statement Monday, Nov. 4 to announce the billboard — which features a photo of a cow and reads, “I’m me, not meat. See the individual, go vegan.”
On Thursday, Oct. 10, a tractor-trailer hauling about 40 cattle overturned in the early morning hours on northbound Interstate 29 near Interstate 635. While no humans were injured, several cows running into the southbound lanes were hit by vehicles and were euthanized at the scene by police.
Other cattle scattered and the interstate was closed in both directions for several hours while police herded the wayward livestock into another carrier.
In the release, PETA urges people to choose vegan options to save animal lives and the environment.
“Every cow who died in this terrifying wreck was an individual who felt pain and fear — and so is every cow whose throat is slit in a slaughterhouse,” said PETA vice president Tracy Reiman in the release.
