PETA Installs Billboard Honoring Cows Killed In I-75 Crash

KENNESAW, GA — PETA, the organization known for using controversial tactics to encourage people adopt a vegan lifestyle, has made good on its promise to pay tribute to the 10 cows that died last week in an accident on Interstate 75 in Kennesaw.

The organization has placed a billboard near site of the crash, which tied up the May 17 morning rush hour traffic for hours.

The billboard shows a cow's face next to the words, "I'm ME, Not MEAT. See the Individual. Go Vegan." The sign is on the northbound side of I-75 about .2 miles south of Allgood Road NE. It will be in place through July 15, the company added.

"If this message of compassion inspires just one driver to go vegan, the 10 gentle cows who were killed won't have died in vain," said PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman. "PETA's billboard pays tribute to their too-short lives and encourages motorists to help prevent future suffering by keeping cows and all other animals off their plates."

According to Cobb police, Nathaniel Ledford of Knoxville, Tennessee, was behind the wheel of a 2001 Peterbilt when he "failed to maintain lane" and veered off to the right side of the roadway around 4:44 a.m. May 17 on the southbound side of the interstate north of the Wade Green Road interchange.

Ledford tried to get back into the lanes when the tractor trailer hit an attenuation barrier, which caused the vehicle and its load of cattle to overturn across all lanes of the interstate, said Cobb police spokesperson Sgt. Wayne Delk.

Seven cows were initially killed in the crash and the others were rounded up by Cobb County Animal Control officers. However, the Georgia Department of Agriculture, which also helped in the cleanup and removal of the dead and living cattle, later confirmed to Patch that three more cows succumbed to their injuries. The remaining cows were transported to a location in North Georgia. Sgt. Delk said Ledford was cited for failure to maintain lane.

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According to PETA, before cows are loaded onto trucks bound for auctions and slaughterhouses, they're often confined to "cramped, filthy feedlots without protection from the elements or temperature extremes."

"Calves are torn away from their mothers within hours of birth and are castrated and branded without painkillers," the organization added. "At the slaughterhouse, workers shoot cows in the head with a captive-bolt gun, hang them up by one leg, and cut their throats—often while they're still conscious and able to feel pain."

Less than a month later, another crash reported on I-285 in DeKalb County killed three cows. That crash happened shortly after 5 a.m. when a tractor-trailer, carrying 36 cows to Augusta, overturned on I-285 ramp onto Interstate 20 eastbound, according to DeKalb County Police. Authorities spent hours rescuing the remaining cows, righting the tractor-trailer and getting the ramp cleared.

PETA spokesperson Brooke Rossi said the organization reviewed available billboards for a memorial, but have not been able to find a suitable location for the Decatur crash site.

"PETA’s billboard placed in Marietta seeks to honor all animals who die unnecessarily by reminding everyone that they can save the lives of 100 animals every year simply by not eating them," she added.

Image via PETA