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Three days after its theft from Southeast 82nd Avenue, police located a stolen box truck, driven to Portland by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals to protest caged chickens. The truck was wrapped with an image of chickens jammed together in tight conditions—or it was, until it became the city’s latest high-profile auto theft.
PETA brought the truck to Portland on July 4 as part of a planned nationwide tour of major cities aimed at dissuading people from eating chicken. During its tour, it has parked outside of restaurants, playing audio recordings of crying chickens, PETA says.
“The truck recently made stops in New Mexico, Arizona and California, giving diners outside Buffalo Wild Wings, Chick-fil-A, and other restaurants food for thought about the once-living, sensitive individual behind every barbecued wing or bucket of fried chicken,” says Moira Colley, a PETA representative.
The truck, dubbed by PETA the “Hell on Wheels” chicken truck, was parked in a residential area near the intersection of Southeast Flavel Street and 82nd Avenue when it was stolen. It was found July 7 near Eastmoreland Golf Course by Portland police officers responding to a different call.
The Portland Police Bureau reported that the exterior wrap had been stripped off and all of the sound equipment inside had been taken. The thieves left behind a set of “jangle keys,” which they used to hijack the truck.
The theft is the latest in a series of high-profile auto thefts in Portland in recent years. Auto theft in the city reached a 25-year peak in 2022 with more than 11,000 vehicles stolen. Cargo or moving trucks with valuable payloads—from prize-winning show dogs to books to firearms—have been among the vehicles stolen.
After the truck went missing, PETA offered a reward of $5,000 and a year’s supply of vegan chicken to anyone that helped locate the truck.
Despite recovering the truck, the Portland Police Bureau has said it would not accept any reward.
“It is our policy that gifts/gratuities could portray the look of impropriety or favorable treatment towards those who might otherwise be able to offer them,” says Nathan Sheppard, a PPB spokesman.
However, Colley says PETA dropped off a catered lunch of vegan chicken sandwiches and other vegan goodies to the police precinct that located the truck. Neither PETA nor PPB has responded to inquiries about what happened to the vegan chicken sandwiches.
PETA is now asking for donations to help restore the truck and resume the “Hell on Wheels” chicken campaign.
“As soon as the truck is repaired, ‘Hell on Wheels’ will resume touring food festivals, food courts and urban centers,” Colley says, “to confront consumers with the fact that billions of chickens suffer on factory farms and are crammed onto trucks.”