PETA unleashes chicken virtual reality

Ever wanted to know what it's like to live life as a chicken? Now you can, and it's not as glamorous as you may have envisioned.

'I, Chicken,' a new virtual reality experience by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), shows users what it feels like to be a chicken plucked from your home and transported to a slaughterhouse.

PETA brought 'I, Chicken' to downtown Shreveport Tuesday afternoon from noon to 6 p.m. on the corner of Marshall Street and Texas Street hoping to educate passersby on the treatment of chickens in factory conditions.

"PETA's 'I, Chicken' shows people firsthand that each chicken is an individual who feels pain and fear and doesn't want to die," says PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman. "Once people really understand who chickens are, they'll be more likely to choose healthy, humane vegan meals instead."

'I, Chicken' utilizes Google Cardboard technology, a smartphone and headphones to make the experience wireless. The smartphone is loaded with the virtual reality app and placed inside a cardboard viewer user hold up to their eyes while sound effects pour through the headphones. As the user moves around, so does the world on the screen.

The experience consists of three scenes that are about one-minute each.

First, the user is immersed in a field with a small lake and a few of his closest chicken friends watching as men in overalls come and grab each of his friends by the legs and put them in cages.

In the next, the user is crammed in the cage listening to men talk while waiting to be transported. In the final scene, the user is moving up a conveyor belt in the same cage, but when he looks back, a few of the others in the cage are lying dead on the ground. Then, when he looks to the side, he sees a belt moving next to his with packaged meat.

"I didn't like that," said Sharon Johnson, who participated in the 'I, Chicken' experience. "The world should do something else besides killing animals."

PETA has also done a similar virtual reality project called 'I, Orca' where users are able to empathize with an orca mother whose child was taken away from her to be a Sea World exhibit.