I eat beef and chicken. I also love animals, and care about their welfare. They are not worthless inanimate objects. They are living, breathing creatures, and they experience pain and suffering. I don’t like the idea of animals being mistreated. Of course, it can be a confusing subject, caring about something that will ultimately be killed to provide food on your plate. It’s easy to just ignore it. Not think about it. Assume that somebody else will handle it. Or just hope that it goes away or somehow resolves itself. But if EVERYBODY did nothing, then NOTHING would ever change.

PETA is a group that does something. And while folks may not always agree with their tactics, in my opinion there is no doubting their motives. Their hearts and minds are in the right place. And this is an UGLY subject. I can only imagine how difficult it must be to maintain composure and self-control when dealing with such an issue. So before you cast stones at them, and call them crazy over-the-top activists, think about it.

[ End of FFC Editor’s Statement ]

Now, for the news directly from PETA headquarters.

For more than five years, PETA has been pressuring fast-food chain KFC to stop the worst abuses of chickens, like scalding birds to death, slitting their throats while they’re still conscious, and drugging and breeding them to grow so large that they cripple beneath their own weight. Now PETA has scored a major victory and is ending its Kentucky Fried Cruelty boycott in Canada. The boycott will continue in other countries where KFC has restaurants, including the United States, until they follow KFC Canada’s lead.

Following months of closed-door negotiations between PETA and KFC Canada (which is owned by a different company than KFC restaurants in other countries), we are thrilled to announce that KFC Canada has agreed to a historic new animal welfare plan that will dramatically improve the lives and deaths of millions of chickens killed for KFC Canada. The company will take the following action.

– Phase in purchases of 100 percent of its chickens from suppliers that use controlled-atmosphere killing (CAK)- the least cruel form of poultry slaughter ever developed. KFC Canada is the first major restaurant chain to commit to phasing in the exclusive purchasing of chicken meat from CAK slaughterhouses.

– Add a vegan faux-chicken item to the menu of all 461 Priszm-owned KFC restaurants (more than half of all the KFCs in Canada).

– Improve its animal welfare audit criteria to reduce the number of broken bones and other injuries suffered by birds.

– Urge its suppliers to adopt better practices, including improved lighting, lower stocking density and ammonia levels, and a phaseout of growth-promoting drugs and breeding practices that painfully cripple chickens.

– Form an animal welfare advisory panel to monitor the changes and recommend further advancements.

This is an enormous victory for PETA and our supporters. However, outside Canada, KFC has not acted to stop the worst abuses of chickens. Please contact KFC and demand that the company adopt the same animal welfare plan as KFC Canada - tell the company that until it does, you will boycott the chain. You can contact KFC by using this online form or calling 1-800-225-5532. Please also sign our petition.

Source: PETA