Passersby have been able to spot an unusual truck in the streets of Nice for the past few days. Called “The Mobile Hell,” this vehicle from the animal rights organization PETA broadcasts pig screams to raise public awareness about the transportation and slaughter conditions of animals destined for consumption.
Since last week, Nice residents have encountered an unusual truck in several areas of the city, notably on the Promenade des Anglais. Called “The Mobile Hell,” this vehicle belongs to animal rights organization PETA and mimics the appearance of a truck transporting pigs to a slaughterhouse.
Loudspeakers installed on the vehicle broadcast actual recordings of pig screams at the moment of their death. A staging designed to draw attention to the transportation and slaughter conditions of animals raised for consumption.
“In Nice, where local cuisine includes pork-based products, we are here to remind people that behind each piece of pork is a sentient being that feels fear, stress and pain,” says Mimi Bekhechi, executive director of PETA. “ With ‘The Mobile Hell,’ we lift the veil on what the industry prefers to keep out of sight: pigs crammed into transport trucks, deprived of water, subjected to bad weather and extreme temperatures, and forced to endure long journeys before being slaughtered.”
PETA denounces farming, transportation and slaughter conditions
Through this operation, PETA wishes to denounce the practices of the pork industry. According to the organization, piglets undergo tail docking, tooth grinding, and castration of males without pain relief.
The organization also highlights transportation conditions before slaughter. Sometimes long journeys, carried out in trucks where animals are exposed to stress, bad weather and high temperatures. PETA also reminds that road accidents involving vehicles transporting animals occur regularly in France.
According to the organization, between 22 and 23 million pigs are raised, transported and slaughtered each year in France for meat consumption.
By circulating “The Mobile Hell” through several French cities known for their pork-based specialties, PETA intends to invite consumers to reconsider their diet. The organization freely offers its “Beginner Vegan Guide” to people wishing to discover a diet without animal products and reminds, in its motto, that “animals do not belong to us and [that] we have no right to use them for our food.”
A precedent in the Alpes-Maritimes in early summer
PETA’s operation comes a few weeks after an incident that sparked many reactions in the Alpes-Maritimes. In early July, 45 cows destined for a slaughterhouse in Italy remained immobilized for nearly two days after their cattle truck broke down on highway A8, near Nice. The herd was then transferred to land belonging to the Chamber of Agriculture in La Gaude before resuming its journey on July 5 aboard another truck.
During this immobilization, several animal protection organizations mobilized to denounce the transportation conditions for cattle during a heat wave period. The animals were eventually fed and given water before their departure to Italy. Following the incident, Henry-Jean Servat, deputy mayor of Nice responsible for animal welfare, notably called for the creation of suitable rest areas for animals transported over long distances to slaughterhouses.
This incident, widely reported in the Alpes-Maritimes, had reignited the debate on the transportation conditions of farm animals, an issue also highlighted by PETA with the passage of “The Mobile Hell” through the streets of Nice.
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