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RIVERDALE — The People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals is planning to place a billboard near the location where several cows died in an I-84 on-ramp crash last week.
The billboard, when posted, will feature a photo of a cow with the message, “I’m ME, Not MEAT. See the Individual. Go Vegan.” The organization is still finalizing the details of when and where the billboard will be placed but are hoping to put it near the crash site, PETA spokeswoman Amber Canavan said.
“As horrific as this crash was, this type of tragedy is happening to these animals every day inside the slaughterhouses that are totally preventable,” she said. “Eating meat is completely unnecessary — we can just get these animals right off the road and not have these needless deaths happening every day.”
The billboard is in response to a Nov. 22 crash, when a truck carrying 96 cows en route to Colorado tipped over while taking an on-ramp from I-15 to I-84. Utah Highway Patrol Lt. Mike Loveland said the truck was likely driving too fast when it took the turn. The crash created a giant gash in the trailer hauling the cows and many spilled out from the overpass and fell onto the freeway below.
Utah Highway Patrol never released an exact total of cow fatalities but several were killed. Some cows survived the wreck and were wrangled close to the crash site.
The incident was the second time a cattle truck crashed on the ramp since 2016.
"Cows plummeted from an overpass and lay dying on the pavement, and those who survived the terrifying crash presumably ended up facing the slaughterhouse knife. PETA's billboard urges motorists to prevent needless deaths like these by keeping cows and all other animals off their plates,” PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman said in a statement.
PETA has attempted to create a memorial for animals killed on Utah’s roadways before. In 2014, the Utah Department of Transportation denied a Salt Lake resident’s request on PETA’s behalf to erect a memorial to honor about 700 turkeys killed after a truck crashed on U.S. 189 into Deer Creek Reservoir.
UDOT ruled against the memorial at the time because it didn’t meet UDOT’s policy regarding highway memorials. However, a billboard follows different guidelines than a memorial.
“We’re always looking for opportunities to remind people that animals — cows, pigs, chickens — feel pain just like our dogs and cats at home,” Canavan said. “Yet they’re castrated, have their teeth pulled out and are transported in all weather extremes, and it’s only when something like this happens that people stop and take notice.”
