Fwd: McDonald's Needs to Step Up to the Plate!

[Guest guest]

 

Mary Max <mrsmax

Mary Max <mrsmax

Wed, Jun 24, 2009 9:29 am

McDonald's Needs to Step Up to the Plate!

 

 

 

Hi Everybody,

 

It’s

time for us to convince McDonald’s to stop using eggs from hens kept in

cruel “battery cages†(barren enclosures so tiny that the birds can

hardly move an inch their entire lives)! Besides this being down-right

inhumane, it is in sharp contrast to what their competitors are doing;

Quizno's, Denny's, Burger King, Hardee's, Carl's Jr., and Wendy’s have

all started using some cage-free eggs.* Additionally, McDonald’s has a

cage-free policy in the United Kingdom and will implement another one in the

European Union in 2010!

 

WHAT WE CAN

DO:

 

Please call and email

McDonald’s to politely, yet firmly urge them to start transitioning to

cage-free eggs. Let them know that since other fast-food chains such as

Quizno's, Denny's, Burger King, Hardee's, Carl's Jr., and Wendy’s are

already using cage-free eggs, and their European policies favor cage-free eggs

too, then there shouldn’t be any excuse for McDonald’s in the

United States to not do the same.

 

Call

McD’s between 8am and 8pm EST at 1-800-244-6227; the quickest route to a customer service representative is to

press 1 (“you are a McD’s customerâ€), then 2 (“all

other issuesâ€) and then 5 (“all other mattersâ€).

 

Email

McD’s at http://apps.mcdonalds.com/contactus/navigate.do?link=socialresp

 

Note: if you

are told that McDonald’s is conducting an in-depth study of hen welfare,

remind

them that no such study is needed because the LayWel study—the most

exhaustive analysis of laying hen welfare ever conducted—concluded that

battery cages cannot provide satisfactory welfare for the birds. As well, a

2.5-year prestigious commission on the topic funded by the Pew Charitable

Trusts and Johns Hopkins School

of Public Health unanimously concluded that battery cages should be phased out

in favor of cage-free systems. Moreover, Diane Halverson, a member of

McDonald’s own U.S. Animal Welfare Council, wrote, “The standard

industry practice of confining laying hens in battery cages is an

institutionalized cruelty that must be abolished.â€

 

SO, THERE

SHOULDN’T BE ANY REASON FOR MCDONALD’S TO DELAY!

 

As always,

thank you for speaking up for those who can’t,

Mary

 

*Currently, U.S.

factory farms confine about 280 million hens in battery cages. Cage-free hens

generally have two to three times more space per bird than caged hens. Although

cage-free hens may not be able to go outside and may have parts of their beaks

cut off, they can walk, spread their wings, and lay their eggs in

nests—all behaviors denied to battery-caged hens.