Why Did This ‘Chicken’ Protest Outside the Olympics HQ in Tokyo?

Today, a PETA “chicken” roosted outside the Japanese Olympic Committee headquarters in Tokyo, calling on the Olympics to remove eggs from the event’s menu and on passersby to help chickens by going vegan.

The protest follows PETA’s release of video footage revealing rampant abuse and horrifying neglect on a farm belonging to ISE Foods, Japan’s largest egg producer, which is certified to sell eggs at the Tokyo Olympics—prompting PETA to ask the Olympics to remove eggs from the menu altogether.

The footage shows dead chickens left to rot alongside survivors and other birds covered with red, inflamed sores. Multiple birds are crammed into the crowded, stacked cages, and the waste produced by the birds above can drop onto those below. Each bird is allotted less space than a letter-size sheet of paper, and many are denuded (i.e., missing feathers)—a result of stress-induced self-mutilation or of fighting one another for space.

ISE Foods’ Japan Good Agricultural Practices certification—which was created specifically for the Tokyo Olympics—allows it to supply eggs for the event. According to the company, auditors visited the farm and approved its certification, a process that PETA’s exposé calls into question.