Praise the chicken!

Rights group wants statue of chicken to be installed

Animal rights group PeTA has asked the city corporation to install a statue of a chicken as a homage to billions of birds slaughtered and eaten.

PeTA wanted the statue erected in the city so that "it will elevate these bright, inquisitive birds in the minds of the residents, perhaps convicing many to leave chicken off their plates."

"Chickens are fascinating animals, in some ways as intelligent as mammals such as cats, dogs and even some primates. They are very social animals who like to spend their days together scratching for food, cleaning themselves in dust baths, roosting in trees and lying in the Sun", said PeTA's chief functionary Anuradha Sawhney.

Making a forceful plea for mercy towards the bird, PeTA said "mother hens cluck their unborn chicks, who chirp back. But, billions of chicken were raised on factory farms each year and never have the chance to do anything natural and important."

Chickens killed for meat were raised in huge, waste-filled factory farms and were bred to grow so large that many could not even walk and, often, had their wings and legs broken. When they were only six or seven weeks old, they would be crammed into cages and trucked to slaughter, it said.