(MY) Peta demo

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Demo against 'Kentucky Fried Cruelty'-Malaysiakini.com

Joyce Tagal & Su Hui Hsing

Jul 17, 07 3:28pm Adjust font size:

 

An international animal rights organisation staged a demonstration

outside the Kentucky Fried Chicken outlet in Bukit Bintang Kuala

Lumpur, calling for the franchise to implement higher standards in

chicken farming.

 

Volunteers from People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (Peta)

Asia-Pacific carried posters and distributed flyers that read 'KFC

Animal Abuse is a Crime' at a street corner outside the outlet

 

Their striped prison jumpsuits and masks bearing the image of KFC

executive David Novak attracted curious onlookers, who eventually

formed a small crowd. Several tourists even had their pictures taken

with the demonstratos.

 

The demonstration was part of an international campaign, started in

2003, against KFC's chicken farming standards.

 

 

Dubbed 'Kentucky Fried Cruelty', it is supported by celebrities and

world leaders like the Dalai Lama, Pink, Sir Paul McCartney and Pamela

Anderson, who is also an ambassador for the campaign.

 

However, even with such celebrity backing, Yum Brands Inc, the parent

company of KFC, has not responded to campaign allegations, suggestions

or proposals to date.

 

According to Peta, chickens raised for KFC restaurants undergo hideous

suffering. It claims, for example, that the birds are crammed into

tight spaces thousands at a time; they are grown so large that their

legs break under them; and their throats are slit while they are still

conscious.

 

'Simple changes'

 

PETA has recommended that KFC implements " simple " changes for its

chicken farms, via an animal welfare programme. These changes include

replacing KFC's current killing and breeding methods.

 

" The changes Peta is proposing have already been proposed by KFC's own

animal advisory board. They just haven't implemented them, " said

campaign co-ordinator Ashley Fruno.

 

She said Peta has targeted KFC because it is the leader in the chicken

industry - 850 million birds pass through its farms every year.

 

" We know that if KFC changed its international industry standards,

everyone in the chicken market would have to follow suit, " she

explained.

 

The campaign in Malaysia is intended to educate more people about

KFC's farming methods.

 

Peta is further urging Malaysians to boycott the franchise until it

implements changes.

 

" We're not asking people to go vegetarian, " said Ashley, who is a vegan.

 

" We just want them to choose other restaurants. KFC's treatment would

be considered crimes if practised on cats and dogs. We want people to

recognise that cruelty to chickens is just as bad. "

 

KFC Holdings had previously refused to give comments on the issue, but

a source in the company had told malaysiakini that such claims are not

reflective of its operations in Malaysia and that the it complies with

rules set out by the health ministry among other authorities.