Karen Davis, an animal-rights activist who led campaigns to recognize the dignity of chickens, turkeys and other farmyard fowl — and whose fervor was such that she compared the industrial slaughter of poultry to the Holocaust — died on Nov. 4 at her sanctuary for rescued chickens in Machipongo, Va. She was 79. United Poultry Concerns, the advocacy group Ms. Davis founded and led, announced that she died “surrounded by her beloved birds,” but did not cite a cause. The animal rights movement was well established when Ms. Davis became an activist in the 1980s. “In our culture, fowl is ignored by the animal protectionist community,” Ms. Davis said at a candlelight vigil in 1992 at a farm in Virginia where customers could reserve a Thanksgiving turkey. “We’re talking about a universe of pain and suffering that far exceeds virtually all other animals combined.”

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Persons: Karen Davis, —, Davis, “, Ms, ” Organizations: Ms Locations: Machipongo, Va, Virginia