WINNIPEG — An animal rights group wants to set up a roadside memorial sign in western Manitoba for cows killed in a highway crash.

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, or PETA, is asking the Manitoba government for permission to place a sign along Highway 5 near Carberry, about 170 kilometres west of Winnipeg, where 71 cows died after a semi collided with a train on Jan. 31.

"A memorial sign will serve as a tribute to those dozens of cows who had been severely injured and killed on their way to slaughter," PETA spokesperson Emily Lavender said from Ottawa.

The sign would also be a way to draw attention to the group's concerns over how animals are treated before they reach the slaughterhouse.

"Painful mutilations, transport for often hundreds of kilometres in Canada's freezing winters and scorching hot summers and even prolonged suffering at the slaughterhouse are just the tip of the iceberg," Lavender said.

The group will likely face an uphill battle.

PETA applied for a similar memorial in Illinois last year, but was denied. The state's Roadside Memorial Act specifies that only relatives who lost loved ones in highway crashes can request memorials.

In 2006, Virginia rejected PETA's request for highway markers to memorialize hogs killed in crashes on their way to slaughter.

Officials with the Manitoba government were not immediately available for comment. But the province has laid out a formal process for approval of such signs that usually involves relatives of the victims.

The group is asking that the proposed sign read "Careless Driving Costs Lives: In Memory of 71 Cows."