This is a story out of Great Britain, but it could just as easily happen here in the United States. PETA–People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals–is demanding that Britain’s oldest pub change its name because it’s offensive to…chickens.
Yes, chickens.
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals sent a letter to the oldest bar in Britain on Monday demanding that it change its historic name because “Ye Olde Fighting Cocks” is offensive to chickens.PETA director Mimi Bekhechi said the name should be changed to “Ye Olde Clever Cocks” because that would “celebrate chickens as the intelligent, sensitive and social animals they are,” according to an article in the Mirror.The pub is Britain’s oldest, according to Guinness World Records, and has had the name since 1872.According to PETA, however, history just doesn’t matter when it comes to something this serious.“We understand that the pub has long been called Ye Olde Fighting Cocks and that there may be some resistance to making a name change, but just as many pubs with names tied to slavery changed their names to match modern sensibilities, so it’s high time for The Cocks to change,” the group’s special-projects manager Dawn Carr said in a letter, according to the Herts Advertiser.(Yes — “slavery.”)Carr added that the name change would “encourage people to rethink the way that we treat chickens and grant these birds the respect and kindness that they deserve.” …“We have a responsibility to preserve the history of this building,” landlord Christo Tofalli said. “We celebrate the fact that cock fighting was banned in the 1800s, but we won’t consider changing our name.”
PETA has been a worldwide laughing stock since its beginning, but this story is particularly illuminating because for the first time the group is claiming that animals, like humans, can be offended.
No chickens, of course, are physically harmed by the pub’s name. The issue here is emotional damage, which apparently chickens can now feel.
