Animal rights campaigners want to place a memorial at the site of a lorry crash which claimed the lives of about 1,500 chickens.

The birds were flung into the carriageway and killed when an HGV hit the central reservation of the M62 eastbound at about 4.15am on Wednesday.

It’s believed that around 1,500 died and another 5,000 survived.

Some of the survivors were coralled and returned to their crates by emergency workers, while hundreds escaped into nearby fields.

The M62 eastbound was closed for around six hours, causing major delays at morning rush hour.

The crash sparked an angry response from the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), who now want to place a memorial for the dead birds at the site.

A spokesman for PETA told the M.E.N: “We will be asking to place a memorial sign for the chickens who died in the lorry crash this morning.

"We hope our memorial will remind people that chickens are not just body parts to pick out of buckets but individuals with feelings who, like us, don’t want to die in an upturned lorry or at an abattoir.

"Readers can save these animals from a life a pain and suffering by leaving them off their plates.”

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News of the crash spread quickly and volunteers from as far away as Wigan and Wythenshawe have travelled to fields near the M62 to rescue the surviving birds.

A PETA spokesman added: “The extraordinary trauma and cruelty of transport for chickens and other animals is another reason why so many people are going vegetarian or vegan. Chickens are routinely crammed by the thousands onto the back of lorries and taken on terrifying journeys to slaughter in all weather conditions.

“If they make it to their final destination, they are roughly grabbed, are shackled upside down and go struggling along a conveyor belt to the blade. The vast majority of these bright, sensitive birds spend their lives in windowless sheds, where they are crammed together, unable to establish a pecking order or do anything natural and enjoyable, such as root in soil, feel the sun or a breeze, breathe fresh air, socialise, bathe in dust or raise their young.”

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