Giant ‘Chicken’ Squawks, ‘Kfc Makes Me Sick’, In Wake Of Restaurant’S Raw Meat Scandal

Angry ‘Bird’ Sets Sights on Local KFC to Protest Farming and Slaughter Abuses

For Immediate Release:
29 September 2005

Contact:
Sean Gifford 020 7357 9229, ext 226

Belfast – On the heels of a local KFC’s £12,000 fine for serving dangerously undercooked meat, members of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) – one in a giant chicken costume and holding a sign that reads, “KFC Makes Me Sick” – will descend on the KFC restaurant located on Upper Newtownards Road on Friday to protest the torment endured by millions of chickens raised and killed for the fast-food chain:

Date: Friday, 30 September
Time: 12 noon-1 p.m.
Place: KFC, 269 Upper Newtownards Rd.

The action is part of PETA’s international campaign to draw attention to the suffering of the 850 million birds who are killed for KFC each year and the need for KFC to eliminate the worst abuses of its suppliers, including having their wings and legs broken, having their throats slit and being scalded to death in defeathering tanks.

The Sunday Mirror led a report on an investigation into a UK KFC supplier with the headline, “Distressed and Dying in a Cramped Shed … Nobody Does Chicken Like KFC”, which documented crippled chickens being kept in crowded, filthy conditions. Other undercover investigations throughout the world – including one at an abattoir in West Virginia in the US, where workers were caught kicking, throwing and stomping on live birds in a widely distributed video – have turned up similar horrors.

PETA’s growing list of international celebrities who have supported its campaign against KFC includes rock legends Sir Paul McCartney and Chrissie Hynde, The Darkness’ lead singer Justin Hawkins, rock group Ash, and actors Pam Anderson and Martin Freeman.

“KFC may be making their customers sick by serving them undercooked meat, but they’re also making kind people everywhere lose their lunch by abusing birds in ways that would be illegal if dogs or cats were the victims”, says PETA Director of European Campaigns Sean Gifford.

For more information on PETA’s campaign against KFC, please visit PETA.org.uk.

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