PETA wants to rent Virginia prison building for use as 'Chicken Empathy Museum'

Ever vigilant and ever media-savvy, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals has written to Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine with an offer to rent his state's Botetourt Correctional Center building.  Kaine recently named the prison, which is in the Virginia town of Troutville and houses nearly 350 inmates, among a number of state facilities to be closed because of budget concerns.

PETA's stated plans for the building?  The group wants to turn it into a "Chicken Empathy Museum," designed to both raise awareness about the treatment of chickens raised for slaughter and to paint the humble fowl as thinking, feeling beings who don't deserve such a fate.  The museum, it says, would also feature a "Chicken Empathy Restaurant" that would serve items like faux-chicken drumsticks and chickenless pot pie.  In the letter to Kaine, PETA also promised that it would give each visitor aged 12 or younger a free plush chicken toy with a tag reading "I Am Not A Nugget!"  (The line refers to the mascot of PETA's youth-outreach wing, PETA2.)

"In addition to creating jobs, the museum would convert a building that was built for the purpose of incarceration into a tribute to liberation," PETA's executive vice president, Tracy Reiman, said of the proposed museum.  (Kaine's plan to close the prison would mean the loss of about 120 jobs.)

But a spokesperson for Kaine, Lynda Tran, told the Associated Press that the state doesn't lease to private entities, with the exception of cases in which such leases are already in place when the state buys a building.

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-- Tony Pierce and Lindsay Barnett

Photo: A PETA supporter plays the part of a crippled chicken as part of a protest against alleged abuse of chickens by suppliers to fast-food restaurant KFC.  Credit: Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times

Comments

[John Gound]

Although i have not bothered to read this article, I do enjoy the taste of chicken, and if locking them up in a prison is the ideal way to get the best taste from chickens, i am all for this suggestion.

Perhaps you would be open to giving some of the 'prison chickens' to KFC. I went to KFC today and i did not receive the usual high quality food. I ordered the Boneless Banquet, and the fillet burger just wasn't as enjoyable as usual. I fear KFC may have begun to buy their chicken meat from low-brow chicken dealers instead. I reported my dissappointment to the management, but hopefully you lovely PETA bread guys could help them out.

Sincerly,
John Gound

[Anna Boggs]

I live in Botetourt Va, and i would LOVE for this to happen. I would work there in a heartbeat. However, i believe botetourt va would be a hard place for a business like so. It's heavily concentrated with conservative meat eaters. In fact, my mom used to work at the VA beef council which is located in botetourt. ha but i totally support it and think it would be awesome. :)