Chicken Run should convince you to put down the nuggets for good-Jennifer White-Entertainment – Metro

Every time we choose to eat chicken flesh, we are the villains (Picture: LMK)

It is one of the most eagerly anticipated sequels hitting cinemas this year.

Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget, a movie 23 years in the making, will be lapped up by those of us who have a nostalgic bond with the first film.

I know I’m not the only one keen to find out what life is like for Ginger (Thandiwe Newton, replacing Julia Sawalha), Mac (Lynn Ferguson), Bunty (Imelda Staunton) and the rest of the flock following their brazen escape from Tweedy’s Farm.

It turns out that quite a lot has changed since Chicken Run first delighted audiences with impressive stop-motion animation and enthralling characters, with new high-tech threats, a changed cast, and the hens breaking *in* to a chicken farm.

One thing that hasn’t changed, however, is that chickens – inquisitive, intelligent birds – are among the most abused animals on the planet, and that’s why I hope the main lesson people draw from the upcoming film is that it’s time to go vegan.

As an eight-year-old, I remember being beguiled by the story of a fearless hen and her handsome suitor rallying a rag-tag group of chickens to take on the horrible Mr and Mrs Tweedy, (Tony Haygarth and Miranda Richardson) who – no longer content with stealing the hens’ eggs – intended to turn them into pies.

Each chicken in the story has their own unique personality (Picture: Netflix)

Like everyone else, I cheered whenever the chickens scored a win and willed them to triumph over the evil farm owners, whose downfall thrilled me. I’m sure I wasn’t alone in shedding a tear when, unable to produce an egg one day, poor Edwina was slaughtered.

Young and naive at the time, I overlooked just how powerful an animal rights message the film carried and how much it had to teach us.

Now, in my role at People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), where I seize every opportunity to stand up for animals, I recognise that the film is a chance for audiences to empathise with chickens and reflect on how simple, positive lifestyle changes can help end these birds’ suffering.

Each chicken in the story has their own unique personality, and from first-hand experience, I know real chickens do, too.

I remember being beguiled by the story of a fearless hen (Picture: DreamWorks)

Ginger and her friends were confined to a farm where their worth was judged by their usefulness to humans, just like real chickens are. And their intended fate was to be butchered and eaten – just like real chickens – even though they dreamed only of freedom.

In the movie, viewers understood that the evil couple were the villains – but the reality is that every time we choose to eat chicken flesh, *we* are the villains.

You might be reading thinking, ‘well, I don’t own a chicken farm or dream of a machine to automate slaughter,’ but if you eat chickens, it is your money that funds it.

It certainly took me a while to connect those dots, but championing fictional hens who fight for their freedom before chowing down on a very real 12-pack of nuggets isn’t only illogical – it’s hypocritical.

Each year, an estimated 69billion intelligent chickens are killed for their flesh globally, and like all businesses, this industry runs on consumer demand.

If no one were asking for buckets of drumsticks and wings, chickens wouldn’t be bred into unnaturally short lives filled with suffering.

With its outdoor areas and room to accommodate a plane’s wings, not to mention plenty of space for chickens to spread theirs, the conditions on Tweedy’s Farm are actually, bizarrely, better than those most real chickens experience.

Now every supermarket boasts a plethora of vegan ‘chicken’ options (Picture: Moviestore/REX/Shutterstock)

Most birds are kept in severely crowded sheds with up to 50,000 others, standing – and sometimes dying – in their own waste, deprived of sunshine and fresh air.

Animal welfare guidelines allow producers to allot just one square metre of space for up to 17 birds and to even trim their beaks.

At the end of their miserably short lives, chickens destined to be eaten are hauled to the abattoir, where workers gas or electrocute them and slit their throats.

In this day and age, ignorance and a lack of choice are simply no excuse for supporting this terrible cruelty.

When Chicken Run premiered 23 years ago, kind, planet-friendly substitutes for animal flesh weren’t as abundant as they are today.

Now every supermarket boasts a plethora of vegan ‘chicken’ options, from cutlets to roasts – while just about every fast-food chain has upped their game.

However ghastly an automatic pie-making machine – or whatever chilling contraption Mrs Tweedy has in store for the sequel – may be, it can be defeated with a simple table fork.

And it doesn’t take Ginger and her motley crew to save the day. We – you and me – have the power.

So if you celebrated the flock’s freedom, it’s time to put your money where your mouth is. 

Enjoy Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget, revel in its inevitable happy ending, and then help make it a reality by embracing the dawn of the vegan nugget.

Doing so will only make tomorrow brighter, not only for chickens like Ginger – who just want to live in peace – but for all of us.

Jennifer White is senior media and communications manager at People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA).

Do you have a story you’d like to share? Get in touch by emailing jess.austin@metro.co.uk. 

Share your views in the comments below.

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