People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) rolled its “Hell on Wheels” truck into Jersey City this afternoon, targeting Hamilton Pork by playing audio recordings of pigs on their way to slaughter.
By Dan Israel/Hudson County View
“Every piece of pepperoni or ham sandwich was once a thinking, feeling being who suffered a terrifying trip to a violent death,” PETA President Tracy Reiman said in a statement before the event.
“PETA’s ‘Hell on Wheels’ truck is a reminder to everyone that the meat industry is a killer, and cruelty to animals isn’t just hitting a dog—it’s failing to choose vegan meals.”
Hamilton Pork, located at 247 10th St., is known in the Historic Downtown neighborhood for its tasty barbecue and drinks like spare ribs and margaritas, but today was the stage for an anti-climatic spectacle right out of reality television.
The pig truck was double-parked in front of the restaurant around noon, before being made to move. For the next half hour or so, the truck circled the block and kept driving past Hamilton Pork while blasting pig audio from its speakers.
According to PETA, the point of the traveling exhibit is to call out the meat industry’s “deceitful portrayals” of smiling pigs “happily dancing” on their way to the slaughterhouse before making their way to the dinner plate.
In addition to actual recordings of the pigs’ “panicked screams,” PETA stated it looped in a subliminal audio message played by the pig truck urging people to go vegan.
This is part of a larger effort by PETA across the country, rolling through localities with the pig trucks hoping to have meat-eaters consider “who, not what,” is on their plates.
PETA further stated that they have contacted restaurants along the truck’s route apparently including Hamilton Pork to offer to help them add vegan options with tips, recipes, and more.
The restaurant owners told HCV they didn’t receive any communications from PETA and declined to comment further, opting to focus on the customers already seated for lunch.
Additionally, PETA stated that pigs dream when they sleep, recognize their own names, and show empathy for other pigs who are happy or distressed.
The organization decried the lack of pain relief provided to the animals when meat industry workers chop off piglets’ tails, clip their teeth with pliers, and castrate the males.
PETA also said that more than 1 million pigs die and more than 40,000 others sustain injuries during transportation to slaughterhouses yearly. Pigs commonly suffer from heat exhaustion or even freeze to the sides of the truck in the conditions, the nonprofit stated.
While PETA launched their righteous crusade in downtown with a diesel-powered truck idling in the dense, urban core of Jersey City, diners remain unperturbed.
Some patrons stood up to film the trick – with one man even taunting it by rubbing his stomach and remarking how good the pork was – before sitting down and returning to their meals while others were unfazed.
If the goal was minor local disruption, PETA appears to have achieved it with a handful of passerbys stopping by to observe, photograph or video, and react to the pig truck.
However, HCV observed how life continued mostly unperturbed on 10th Street by the circling vehicle seeking to convert local residents to veganism.
