Activist protesting fowl abuse

January 20, 2007

From The Courier News in Chicago: ELGIN -- The chicken on crutches seen every few months in front of the Dundee Avenue KFC isn't an injured employee drumming up sales. Inside that bird suit is Elgin High School senior Jason Levy, who is making his own statement about problems with large-scale chicken farming and slaughter. The 17-year-old Levy regularly protests at the local KFC over the farms from which the restaurant chain's owner, Yum! Brands Inc., buys its poultry. Allegations against the chicken processors include cutting off their beaks and dropping live birds in scalding water to remove feathers, as well as inhumane living conditions at the farms where they are raised. » Click to enlarge image Levy also has started up a chapter of Students for the Ethical Treatment of Animals and encourages Elgin School District U46 to provide vegetarian food choices to its students. And while Levy is a dedicated vegan, he doesn't expect everyone else to do likewise. With help from his mother and members of the Elgin High animal rights chapter, Levy just wants to make people aware. He and other members have picketed locally for about the past two years. "Each time, it gets bigger and bigger,"

Levy said, while admitting that Thursday's cold, snowy weather kept a few people from coming out. "In the summer there is a bunch more people." People driving by seem to be receptive to the message, Levy added. People wave, honk, or ask for informational fliers. When he first started doing the protests, he would hear students at school talk about seeing the protest. That then gets them talking about animal rights, Levy said. The group also has set up informational tables about vegetarianism in Elgin High, and at other venues where area teens hang out. Each time it comes up, Levy said, people take the informational materials and ask questions about being a vegetarian. Before becoming a vegetarian in his sophomore year, Levy said he didn't know how much food was available commercially, and how many different nonmeat products were available. He includes many of those products, along with informative Web site addresses, in the materials he

distributes. His mother, Karen Levy, said she's proud of her son's initiative and has converted to a vegan diet, as well. A vegan diet, in its simplest terms, is one that does not include any form of animal or animal byproducts, including milk and eggs. She's a bit of an activist herself, Karen Levy said. "I was at the tail-end of the 1960s," she said, although she was too young to protest then. "I am pretty proud of him," she said. "He wants to make a difference." The nights in front of the restaurant are less of a protest and more of an informational thing, she added. "We don't want people to eat at KFC until they change their policies," Karen said. But the protesters don't stop people from going into the store, or block the driveway. "We just want KFC to up their standards" for animal treatment, Jason said. The fast-food chain has information about its guidelines for animal treatment online. "Birds

arriving at the plant should be clean and in good health. If an audit reveals dirty or sick birds, corrective action at the grow-out house must be taken by the supplier," the site states. On the Net • Kentucky Fried Chicken: www.kfc.com • PETA's youth site: www.peta2.com/ Peter H

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