BILLINGS — Downtown Billings was inundated with noise on Thursday as a PETA campaign truck blared the sounds of squealing pigs in an effort to raise awareness about factory farming practices.
The demonstration, dubbed "Hell on Wheels," garnered attention during the bustling lunch hour.
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The truck, designed to resemble a pig slaughterhouse transport vehicle, played recordings of pigs squealing for one hour, aiming to encourage patrons to consider veganism.
"We learned last night. We kind of thought it was a joke," said Alex Andren, operations manager at Jake's Downtown, one of the restaurants targeted during the event. "Obviously everyone's entitled to their own opinion, but I think the opinion of Jake's Downtown is that we support agriculture and we support the farmers and ranchers that make Montana go around."
Many Billings residents chose to support the restaurant during the demonstration.
"It's not a chain. This is a homegrown place. Everybody loves coming here," said Charlie Loveridge, a supporter of Jake's. "And for them to come attack one of our amazing restaurants in our town, we just said, 'No, we're just going to go support them and come down and have a BLT.'"
Assistant Manager of International Grassroots Campaigns at PETA DeLana Barret spoke about the intent behind the demonstration.
"PETA's Hell on Wheels traveling pig truck is making people stop and think about the suffering that nearly 130 million pigs endure every single year before they wind up on grocery store shelves and restaurant menus," she said. "Nobody needs to eat meat, dairy or eggs to be healthy, and everyone can help stop this needless suffering by going vegan today."
Local rancher Colton Zentner was among the hundreds who saw the demonstration today, but it didn't change his opinion.
"I think it's embarrassing for those people to be doing that because our number one industry here in Montana is ag," he said. "I grew up on a ranch. I still live on a ranch. We run about a 3,000-head feedlot. We have about 400, 500 mama cows. We work our heart and soul every day into making those cows' lives better."
At 1 p.m., after an hour of playing squealing pig sounds, the truck drove away. Barret said the truck would also stop at Hog Wild Cafe downtown and CJ's Bar & Grill in midtown Billings.
“Maybe Montana isn't the place for PETA to come and start stomping around and raising a ruckus,” Loveridge said. "Jake's is this incredible institution that's been here forever in our community. And here they (PETA) come and they're going to try to make them look bad. Well, that's not what we do here in Billings."
