Animal rights organisation PETA has launched a bid to turn a former KFC site in Fleetwood, Lancashire into the 'Chicken Empathy Museum'.
PETA has written to Landwood Property Auctions asking whether the owner would donate or lend the property so it can be turned into the Chicken Empathy Museum for educational purposes.
In the letter, PETA said the attraction would transform a site once used to profit from dead chickens into one that encourages appreciation for living ones.
PETA has written to Landwood Property Auctions to ask the owner to donate or lend the property to their Chicken Empathy Museum
Visitors would learn about chickens' intelligence, emotions and social bonds, meet PETA's chicken mascot, see slaughterhouse equipment used in the poultry industry, and enjoy vegan food.
"Turning a former KFC into a Chicken Empathy Museum would give this site a new purpose, one that encourages visitors to see chickens as the clever, curious individuals they are," said PETA vice president of vegan projects Dawn Carr.
"PETA would be delighted to help transform a place once linked to suffering into one that inspires compassion."
Visitors to the planned Chicken Empathy Museum would learn about chickens' intelligence, emotions and social bonds
In the letter, Carr described the planned museum as a place "dedicated to understanding – and respecting – the birds who have long paid the ultimate price for fast food".
Explaining the idea behind the museum, Carr added: "Most people know chickens only as 'nuggets', 'wings', or 'fillets', yet these remarkable birds are intelligent, inquisitive individuals with their own unique personalities.
"They can recognise dozens of other chickens, communicate through a sophisticated range of vocalisations and even perform basic arithmetic.
Planned museum dedicated to "remarkable birds"
"Mother hens talk to their chicks before they hatch and the chicks begin communicating back from inside the egg."
Speaking to the BBC, local councillor Mary Belshaw described the proposal as "a novel idea".
She said she would "rather have a chicken empathy museum than another large empty property on our high street", adding: "Who knows? It could become a huge attraction for the town."
Images courtesy of Landwood Property Auctions
