PETA Offers To Turn JBS Meat Plant In Souderton Into 'Empathy Museum'

SOUDERTON, PA — A potential employer has offered to fill the hole left by sudden shut down of the JBS meat plant in Souderton, one of the largest employers in Montgomery County which laid off 1,700 workers.

PETA, the animal activist organization, has offered to lease the two soon to be abandoned facilities and turn them into "empathy museums."

“Since these facilities opened, society has changed and we have learned who animals are and what they experience, including fear and pain, so the time to convert these awful places into educational exhibits is ripe,” PETA Founder Ingrid Newkirk said. “Any day is a good day to learn to be kind and put bloodshed, violence, and cruelty to animals out to pasture.”

Related: JBS Meat Plant To Shut Down In Montco, Around 1,700 Jobs Lost

PETA says that some of the laid off workers could find new jobs at the museum, alleviating some of the economic fallout on Montgomery County.

They added that the proposal to lease the buildings had been sent directly to JBS CEO Wesley Batista Filho. JBS has not yet publicly responded to the idea.

"These new structures would not only boost tourism and create jobs for workers you have displaced but also remind visitors that cows should not be seen as burgers or steaks but as individuals deserving of respect," the letter to Filho states.

PETA cited numerous investigations into JBS that they said revealed extreme animal abuse and poor working conditions for employees. Workers were "low-paid and overburdened," subject to dangerous conditions and a variety of labor violations, including child labor violations.

PETA has also vocally condemned JBS facilities in the past for raising millions of cows, pigs, and chickens crammed closely together on filthy factory farms.

"Our empathy museum would include displays highlighting fascinating, often conveniently overlooked facts about animals, such as that cows have best friends and like to play, pigs can master video games and are intelligent problem solvers, and chickens can do basic math and have a complex language system," PETA added. "Of course, all of them think, feel, and fear."

While JBS pointed to "targeted changes to strengthen operations for the future," the closure is the latest victim of the global cattle shortage. Experts have pointed to a range of reasons for the shortage, as diverse as the impacts of drought, inflation, and the screwworm outbreaks along the border impacting the flow of trade with Mexico.

PETA said they also want to acquire the items located inside the Souderton facilities, including bone saws, meat grinders, captive-bolt guns, slicers, and shackles, for inclusion in the museum.