Correspondent photos / Russell Brickey Boardman police officers inform Marnie Chambers, center, a driver for the Hell on Wheels protest truck sponsored by the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), that she is not allowed on the property of Jay’s Famous Hot Dogs on Boardman-Canfield Road.

Alice Chismar, manager of Jay’s Famous Hot Dogs in Boardman, confronts Marnie Chambers, who drove a People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) protest truck into the parking lot Monday afternoon. Chismar ended up calling Boardman police to have the truck removed from the restaurant’s property.

BOARDMAN — Township police were called to Jay’s Famous Hot Dogs on Boardman-Canfield Road Monday afternoon because of a protest vehicle driven by employees of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA).

Hell on Wheels is the name given by PETA to a box truck wrapped with images of pigs crammed into an animal transport and outfitted with speakers that blasted the screams of pigs being slaughtered.

“Most people might see a transport truck on the highway as animals are taken to slaughter, or something, and might say, ‘Oh, that’s sad,’ and go about their day,” Amber Canavan, vegan campaign project manager, said. “So, we created these trucks to drive them to places where people are going to see and have to think about it and talk about it. Because that is the reality behind every hot dog, sausage and BLT sandwich. These animals endured tremendous suffering.”

The truck is meant to look like a real animal transport trailer, Canavan said, and the truck transmits real recordings of animals being killed in slaughterhouses. The PETA website claims 9 million members worldwide and said it is opposed to “human-supremacist worldview” or the belief that humans are free to exploit animals at will.

The vehicle circled once through the parking lot, parked briefly on a side street, and then pulled into the first spot by Boardman-Canfield Road where customers and drivers could see it. Many of the pictures covering the van’s body were gruesome. They showed pigs with sores or obvious injuries, and one image showed a pig trying to gnaw its way out of the metal bars on the transport. The recordings of pigs being slaughtered were clearly audible above the traffic noise.

“These animals do not go quietly to their deaths,” Canavan said. “They smell the blood and they’re in fear. They’ve already been through this grueling trip on a slaughterhouse truck where they are denied food and water, oftentimes for days without rest.”

Marnie Chambers, a PETA tour administrator, drove Hell on Wheels.

“I’ve always cared about speaking about what matters,” Chambers said, “and when it comes to animals, they’re vulnerable, and I think we have an obligation to speak up for them when we see suffering, especially when they can’t speak for themselves.”

Originally from Atlanta, Georgia, Chambers started driving Hell on Wheels in Washington, D.C., and has now protested at “dozens of restaurants on our months long tour.” The truck will go to Akron and Mansfield in Ohio before heading to Indiana, Chambers said.

Hell on Wheels most recently was at Coney Island on July 4 for the 2024 Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest, sponsored every year by Nathan’s Famous, a hot dog vendor, according to Canavan.

The contest pits hot-dog-eaters against each other to see who can eat the most hot dogs in a single sitting. Champions often eat 50 or more hot dogs at a time.

“We choose restaurants that we know locals frequent because we want to make sure that the locals see the real suffering that goes into a hot dog or sausages before they end up on the restaurant menu or the grocery store shelves,” Chambers said.

Hell on Wheels is also meant to draw attention to the conditions of farm animal transport, which often leads to injuries, serious dehydration or death by freezing, Canavan said.

PETA also tracks when animals die in transport accidents.

“With about 10 billion land animals raised and slaughtered in the United States for food,” Canavan said, “these kinds of accidents on the road with these transport trucks, which are just crammed shoulder-to-shoulder with hundreds, maybe thousands, of animals, results in tremendous suffering.”

One such accident occurred in Clayton, Ohio, on June 11, according to the Associated Press. A truck carrying more than 150 pigs overturned on a Highway 70 ramp and approximately half the animals were killed or had to be euthanized, according to the AP.

“I think they are ignorant. There is no suffering,” Alice Chismar, Jay’s manager, said in response to Hell on Wheels being parked in the restaurant’s parking lot. “The animals do not suffer when they are taken to the butcher’s shop where what has to be done is done. These animals were bred for this.”

Frank Ribarich of Boardman, a customer, came to Jay’s to get lunch for himself and his grandchildren.

“It’s just slightly annoying,” he said, “when I call home to see who wants what and I’ve got, you know, ‘Yak-yak’ in the background, and they park right at the front, and I had to kind of snake around to get into the parking lot.”

Ribarich admitted that he did not know much about how animals are transported and slaughtered, but he said, “People have to eat. It’s just part of the cycle, I guess. What are you going to do?”

“We’ve been coming here 30 years,” Tony Hudock, another patron, said. Hudock’s son works at Jay’s. He and his family waited in their car parked next to Hell on Wheels while their order was filled.

“This is inappropriate,” Hudock said. “These animals were raised for this purpose (to be eaten).”

Eventually, Chismar emerged from Jay’s A-frame building and ordered Chambers from the parking lot.

Chambers responded that she was waiting for news media to arrive and interview her, at which point Chismar called Boardman police.

“(Chambers) wants us to respect her rights,” Hudock said, “but she won’t even respect the manager’s position here and move. I mean, there has to be dual respect here.”

As officers were driving down Boardman-Canfield Road, Chambers pulled Hell on Wheels out of the parking lot, pig screams blaring, and parked the vehicle on Claybourne Avenue next to the restaurant.

Chambers had left a green plastic newspaper dispenser with PETA’s “Vegan Starter Kit” pamphlets next to Jay’s patio. Chismar overturned the receptacle, scattering pamphlets across the sidewalk.

“That’s right. Way to go, Alice,” Hudock yelled from inside his vehicle.

“She littered,” Chismar said, meaning Chambers, and laughed.

Police eventually helped Chambers retrieve the dispenser and place it back in her truck. Officers then explained that visitors had to respect property rights and that Hell on Wheels would not be allowed back on Jay’s property.