Machipongo, Va. May 1 /PRNewswire/ - May is International Respect for Chickens Month and May 4 is International Respect for Chickens Day. United Poultry Concerns launched International Respect for Chickens Day in 2005 to celebrate chickens and protest the bleakness of their lives in farming operations. On Saturday May 5 United Poultry Concerns will leaflet at the White House from Noon to 3pm. We will display our banner of a beautiful mother hen and her baby chick proclaiming “What Wings are For!”

People everywhere are urged to do a compassionate ACTION for chickens on or around May 4. Ideas include leafleting on a busy street corner, holding an office party or outdoor tabling event, arranging an attractive library display, writing a letter to the editor, hosting a vegetarian open house, or simply talking to family and friends about chickens, and how people can help them.

Chickens are vibrant birds who evolved in the tropical forests of Southeast Asia and the rugged foothills of the Himalayan Mountains. Today, billions of chickens are locked in dark, airless, industrial sheds choking with ammonia fumes and contaminating bacteria. They are painfully crippled and sick with respiratory infections and intestinal diseases. According to Poultry World, “Disease-causing organisms are ubiquitous in poultry-producing facilities all around the world.”

“Our message is simple,” says United Poultry Concerns President Karen Davis. “Be kind to chickens. Don’t eat them. Discover the variety of all-vegetarian, vegan foods and cooking ideas. Tell your family and friends how much chickens suffer in industrial farming and how cheerful and loving chickens are when they are treated with compassion and respect.”

For more information, please visit www.upc-online.org and www.upc-online.org/respect.

SOURCE: United Poultry Concerns