10-FOOT TALL ROADSIDE TOMBSTONE IN MEMORY OF TERRIFIED CHICKENS KILLED IN TRUCK CRASH

PETA has asked the Texas Department of Transportation for permission to erect a 10’foot tall roadside tombstone in Bryan "to commemorate the lives lost in this deadly crash"

Recently I had some kind things to say for much maligned PETA, but now the nut-jobs have shown why that animal rights organization is so maligned.

PETA ASKS FOR ROADSIDE TOMBSTONE TO HONOR DEAD CHICKENS

By Michael Barajas

Houston Press Hair Balls
October 9, 2014

Passing a roadside memorial down a barren stretch of road can be a brief, somber reminder of how fragile life is. How in an instant, a distracted or drunk driver can take away someone's mother, father, or daughter forever.

Naturally, the folks at PETA want you remember the dead chickens.

Among other sounds-like-an-Onion-story news from yesterday (like a Houston-based fracking company making pink drill bits to remind people about cancer), we learned that PETA has asked the Texas Department of Transportation for approval to erect a roadside tombstone honoring chickens that died when an 18-wheeler overturned in Bryan last month.

In an email to TxDOT Tuesday, Karla Waples, described by the organization as a "Texas resident and PETA staffer," asked for clearance to build a 10-foot tombstone in the right-of-way on U.S. 21 at FM 2818 in Bryan "to commemorate the lives lost in this deadly crash." PETA wants to leave the tombstone up for a month.

Here's the rest of Waples' email to TxDOT:

"This tribute will let commuters in Texas, where menus are overrun by fried and barbecued meats, know that the best way to prevent tragedies such as this one is to go vegan, because chickens, cows, turkeys, and pigs shouldn't have to make terrifying trips to slaughterhouses at all. After spending their entire short lives mired in waste on factory farms, chickens are crammed into trucks and hauled in all weather extremes without food, water, or veterinary care, just so that they can be eaten. Erecting PETA's memorial would also be a surefire way to make the roads safer for everyone by reminding tractor-trailer drivers of their responsibility to the thousands of animals they haul every year as well as to the motorists whose lives are endangered when a tractor-trailer crashes.

I hope to hear from you soon about how we can work together to erect the memorial in accordance with state guidelines. Thank you for your consideration."

We're not sure PETA's not-so-subtle jab at Texans' diet will go over so well with the folks at TxDOT. The Chron reports that this isn't the first time PETA has asked for roadside memorials for dead animals, either. So far, it's succeeded in installing only one such memorial -- in Madison, Wisconsin, where permission wasn't needed.