PETA Launches Worldwide Kfc Campaign

For Immediate Release:
6th January 2003

Contact:
Dawn Carr 020 7357 9229
Carole Backler 020 7357 9229

London — After 21 months of failed negotiations and following victories over McDonald’s, Burger King and Wendy’s – all of which bowed to PETA pressure to reduce cruel treatment of animals raised and slaughtered for food – PETA has declared its latest campaign target: KFC, owned by Yum! Brands, Inc. PETA will formally launch the campaign by unveiling new ‘Kentucky Fried Cruelty’ posters, leaflets, stickers and more and will show broadcast-quality footage of abusive animal treatment by KFC suppliers at a news conference on 7th January.

Date: Tuesday, 7th January
Time: 12 Noon
Place: King’s College main entrance, The Strand. Ask at reception for directions to the Committee Room (the Committee Room is on the first floor).

PETA attempted to negotiate with Yum! Brands executives in the United States for 21 months prior to the campaign launch, but despite assurances made long ago by Senior Vice President Jonathon Blum that KFC would ‘raise the bar’ on animal welfare, the company refuses to eliminate the worst abuses. In the United Kingdom, KFC Great Britain Limited has refused to respond to PETA’s letters and phone calls.

Among the improvements that PETA wants KFC to implement are the following: replacing crude and ineffective electric stunning and throat-slitting with gas killing; phasing out the forced rapid growth of chickens, which causes metabolic disorders and lameness; increasing the space allotted per bird; adding minimal enhancements, such as sheltered areas and perches in order to provide chickens with some semblance of their natural environment; and implementing automated chicken-catching, a process that reduces the high incidence of bruising, broken bones, and stress associated with catching the chickens by hand.

‘KFC has short-changed the chickens, leaving us no choice but to turn up the heat’, says Director of PETA Europe Dawn Carr. ‘McDonald’s and Burger King responded to consumer pressure; KFC would do well to follow their lead.’

News conferences are also planned in Louisville, Kentucky, and Toronto, Canada. For more information, please visit KFCCruelty.co.uk