McCartney blasts KFC

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http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/07/24/1058853166167.html

 

McCartney blasts KFC for cruelty to 'remarkable' chickens

July 24 2003

 

 

Pop icon Paul McCartney today fired a salvo for chicken rights, accusing

fast food giant KFC of condoning cruelty to the " remarkable " birds that end

up as take-away meals.

 

The vegetarian former Beatle published an open letter to the president of

the company that the jovial Colonel Sanders made famous, calling on KFC to

heed animal rights activists' appeals for it to reduce cruelty to the birds.

 

" If KFC paid for dogs or cats to be treated the way these unfortunate

chickens are treated, they could be charged with cruelty to animals, " he

said in the letter to KFC chief executive David Novak in the Louisville

Courier-Journal, the local paper in KFC's home town in the state of

Kentucky.

 

" These remarkable animals are deserving of at least a little kindness, " he

said in the letter written on behalf of People for the Ethical Treatment of

Animals, which this month sued KFC for allegedly disguising " grotesque

abuses inflicted upon chickens by suppliers " in its online advertising.

 

McCartney called on KFC and its parent company Yum! Brands to implement an

eight-point PETA plan aimed at improving the treatment of the poultry that

he said would " end the most egregious forms of abuse " endured by the birds.

 

 

" For example, I would like to see KFC stop allowing chickens to be bred and

drugged so that they become so heavy that they cripple under their own

weight, " the singer wrote.

 

In addition, he asked Novak to see that suppliers improve their methods of

slaughter to eradicate process of scalding birds to death in feather removal

tanks and to phase out electric stunning and burning the beaks of birds.

 

McCartney's public appeal comes after PETA sued KFC and Yum! Brands in Los

Angeles over their allegedly deceptive advertising claims over the way their

suppliers treat chickens.

 

" KFC has said from the outset that they will not allow the animals to feel

any pain, (but) in fact every moment of these animals' lives is

characterised by unmitigated misery, " PETA's Bruce Friedrich said earlier.

 

The animal rights group has also claimed victory in its campaigns against

other US fast food outlets aimed at stopping cruelty to animals, including

McDonalds, Burger King, and Wendys.

 

AFP

 

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