41 cows that escaped from a slaughterhouse honored in Southern California

A new billboard erected by animal rights groups honors 41 cows that escaped from a Southern California slaughterhouse in June.

“Remember the Pico Rivera 41,” urges the billboard, which also encourages viewers to “Save animals.”

On June 22, 41 cows fled the Manning Beef slaughterhouse in Pico Rivera after an employee left a gate open, KCBS reported. The escape sparked a stampede down city streets into a residential neighborhood, where a sheriff’s deputy killed one cow that charged a family.

Two of the escaped cows were donated to an animal sanctuary, but the others were rounded up and returned to the slaughterhouse, where they were killed, KNBC reported.

“I am in the meat business,”’ Anthony Di Maria, chairman of Manning Beef LLC, told the station.

Animal rights groups said in a statement they wanted the escaped cows to be remembered.

“These cows and animals like them want to live like we do,” said Ellen Dent, co-founder of Animal Alliance Network. “The connection needs to be made that it is not ‘what’ people are eating, it is ‘who’ they are eating.”

Dent said she hopes the mass escape will be a “pivotal moment” to inspire change.

“This billboard serves as a reminder that animals are sentient beings that should be treated with compassion and respect,” said Katie Cleary, founder and president of Peace 4 Animals and World Animal News. “With so many delicious plant-based food options now available, there is simply no justification for cows, or any animals, to be senselessly slaughtered for their meat.”

Animal Save Movement and Farm Sanctuary, which took in the two surviving cows, also helped fund the billboard.