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DEER CREEK RESERVOIR — Animal rights activists are asking for permission to erect a memorial at the site where hundreds of turkeys died when a truck crashed into Deer Creek Reservoir.

Salt Lake City resident Amy Meyer sent a request Wednesday to create the memorial to the Utah Department of Transportation on behalf of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.

The request comes in response to an accident on April 24 when a truck carrying live turkeys on U.S. 189 crashed into Deer Creek Reservoir. The truck was traveling to Norbest Inc. in Gunnison, Sanpete County. Only around two dozen of the 720 turkeys being carried by the truck survived.

The proposed memorial sign would read "Drive Safely; Buckle Up: In Memory of the Hundreds of Terrified Turkeys Who Died Here in a Truck Crash." A draft version of the sign includes a picture of a turkey and the phrase "try vegan."

The purpose of roadside memorials is to "provide an opportunity to recognize the needs of grieving families and friends" while reminding motorists to drive safely, according to UDOT. Current policy states that signs will only be installed after the department has a written agreement with the family of the person who died.

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Crews cleaning reservoir after truck carrying live turkeys crashed Water supply managers shut down a key culinary water supply aqueduct from Deer Creek Reservoir Thursday after a truck full of live turkeys crashed into the water, resulting in a leak of about 100 gallons of diesel fuel.

In its request to UDOT, PETA said this condition should be overlooked in this case because turkeys from a factory-farming industry have no living relatives. It said the memorial would still contribute to the goal of improving road safety.

"The memorial will cut down on future accidents and make the roads safer for everyone by reminding tractor-trailer drivers of their responsibility to the thousands of animals they haul every year as well as to the motorists whose lives are endangered when a (truck) crashes," Meyers wrote in the request.

"It will also let commuters know that the best way to prevent these tragedies is to go vegan, sparing turkeys from spending their entire short lives mired in waste on factory farms and then being crammed into trucks for a terrifying trip to the slaughterhouse."

Campaigners for PETA have recently made similar requests in other states. They are currently working to have roadside memorials installed at a site in New York where an 18-wheeler carrying about 100 cows crashed April 15, and at the location where more than 500 turkeys were killed in Iowa when a truck crashed April 12.

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