ANIMAL rights campaigners have urged a popular wildlife centre to stop serving chicken in its cafe after launching a new exhibition on seabirds.
The Scottish Seabird Centre, based in North Berwick, has launched an "immersive" exhibit on puffins, gannets and other seabirds, which includes a 360-degree live stream camera on Bass Rock and Craigleith Island, where the animals thrive.
However, Peta has warned that the venue cannot celebrate seabirds while "selling the flesh of other birds for lunch".
The National can reveal that the charity has now written to Harry Huyton, CEO of the Scottish Seabird Centre, calling on the popular tourist attraction to withdraw chicken from its cafe.
Peta argued that selling chicken contradicts the centre's mission of teaching visitors to "admire the intelligence and individuality of puffins, gannets and Arctic terns".
The charity has encouraged the centre to adopt a bird-free cafe policy and use vegan chicken products instead, which they argued would send a clear message that "birds are individuals to be protected and not products to be consumed".
Dawn Carr, Peta vice president of vegan projects, said: “Children visiting the Centre are taught to marvel at a puffin’s parenting skills and an Artic tern’s epic migration. What message does it send when those children can then eat the body of another remarkable bird for lunch?
“A commitment to protecting birds rings hollow if it excludes the billions confined and killed on UK farms every year. Swapping chicken for delicious vegan upgrades would send a consistent message that birds are individuals, not menu items.
“If the Scottish Seabird Centre wouldn’t serve puffin bites, it shouldn’t serve chicken bites either.”
The charity added that chickens are "intelligent and social birds" that can distinguish between more than 100 faces of their own species.
They also have full-colour vision and experience rapid eye movement (REM) sleep, which Peta said demonstrates that they dream like humans do.
A spokesperson for the Scottish Seabird Centre said: “We’ve been connecting people to Scotland’s amazing marine wildlife for over 25 years and are incredibly proud of our impact in that time, including projects like SOS Puffin that has helped puffin populations on the local islands almost quadruple in size.
"Our visitor centre provides vital income for our charity and our work to save seabirds and has been awarded the Green Tourism Gold award.
"We’re committed to sustainability, using local suppliers and tackling the climate crisis across all areas of our work, and are looking forward to continuing to make progress on these important issues over the coming years.”
