In April 2013, David Lambert drove his truck off of U.S. 258 in Wight County, Va. The accident killed 55 pigs in his trailer. On Nov. 29, an 18-wheeler driven by Antonio Marquez overturned on Virginia State Road 10 in Suffolk headed north towards Smithfield. The accident caused the premature death of approximately 80 of the 180 pigs on board.
In both cases, the drivers were charged for the accidents. According to People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), the blame extends higher up. On Dec. 18, PETA sent a letter to Bob Ivey, the general manager of Goldsboro Milling Co., based in Goldsboro, N.C. The company owned the pigs involved in the accidents.
PETA shared the letter it sent to Ivey with news publications along with a scathing press release about Goldsboro Milling Co. The president of PETA goes so far as to say that “Goldsboro Milling’s safety record regarding fatal crashes is one of the worst in the business.”
There is a major problem with this assertion, however. Goldsboro is one of the largest hog farms in the United States. The company raises and sells hogs but does not transport them. Where then did PETA get the company’s safety record from? Not from the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration.
“We were not involved in the accident,” Ivey said during a phone call on Jan. 2 with CCJ. He verified that he received the magnets, but then forwarded them to the trucking companies that do business with Goldsboro Milling Co. to do whatever they want with them.
This is a common fallacy of PETA and other activist organizations. They often ignore the facts and blame the people and organizations they know will evoke the strongest public reaction. Ask yourself, do you naturally feel more upset with the reckless driving of David Lambert and Antonio Marquez or with Bob Ivey, the general manager of a large corporation that makes millions selling and harvesting pigs?
