Here is their internal PETA announcement of the planned event:
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Beleaguered ‘Bird’ Sets Sights on Local KFC to Protest Farming and Slaughter Abuses
For Immediate Release:
August 8, 2005
Contact:
Benjamin Goldsmith 757-622-XXXX
Cheyenne, Wyo. — Holding signs that read, "The Colonel’s Secret Recipe: Live Scalding, Painful Debeaking, Crippled Chickens," members of PETA—including an activist wearing a body screen TV showing shocking undercover video footage of chickens in factory farms and slaughterhouses—will protest KFC suppliers’ abusive treatment of chickens at a local KFC restaurant. A giant, crippled "chicken" will cross the road in front of the restaurant, while activists hand out leaflets:
Date: Tuesday, August 9
Time: 11:30 a.m.
Place: KFC, 801 E. Lincolnway
What is done to chickens would be illegal if it were done to dogs, cats, cows, or pigs. However, chickens are excluded from the only federal law that protects farmed animals, the Humane Methods of Slaughter Act. An undercover investigation at a Moorefield, W.Va., slaughterhouse that supplies chickens to KFC revealed workers kicking, throwing, and stomping on live birds. Recently, PETA released the findings of an undercover investigation of a slaughterhouse operated by KFC’s number one supplier, Tyson Foods, and found workers ripping conscious chickens’ heads off, slaughter machinery systematically mutilating chickens, and thousands of birds being scalded to death after entering the scalding tank while completely conscious.
PETA attempted to work with Yum! Brands executives prior to launching its "Kentucky Fried Cruelty" Campaign, but despite assurances made long ago by Senior Vice President Jonathan Blum that KFC would "raise the bar" on animal welfare, the company refuses to eliminate the worst abuses. Seinfeld star and ex-KFC pitchman Jason Alexander had his contract with KFC canceled after PETA enlisted him to speak to company execs about the suffering of chickens. PETA has had additional high-profile support from Nobel Peace Prize winner His Holiness the Dalai Lama, comedian Richard Pryor, rock icons Sir Paul McCartney and Chrissie Hynde, actors Pamela Anderson and Bea Arthur, and civil-rights leaders the Rev. Al Sharpton, Alice Walker, Kweisi Mfume, Dick Gregory, and Dr. Cornel West.
"KFC has the ability to stop this cruelty today, simply by implementing the changes recommended by its own advisors," says PETA Director of Vegan Campaigns Bruce Friedrich. "While KFC drags its feet, chickens continue to suffer unnecessarily."
For more information, please visit PETA’s Web site KentuckyFriedCruelty.com.
7382
More PETA hilarity:
Aug 2, 2005 4:10 pm US/Mountain
PETA Protest Draws Extra Customers To KFC In Logan
A protest against the manner in which chickens are slaughtered for fast-food chain KFC drew additional customers rather than drive them away from the local outlet in this northern Utah city.
The People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals protest against KFC drew 10 sympathetic people, including someone dressed in a chicken costume, on Monday. But at one point, around lunchtime, more than 30 people stood in line to order chicken to eat.
``I think there's a place in this world for all of God's creations ... right next to the mashed potatoes,'' said Rusty Smith, a KFC customer who sat on a patch of grass outside the restaurant with a group of co-workers, watching the protest.
Benjamin Goldsmith of Norfolk, Va., a PETA campaign coordinator, said the animal welfare organization is trying to pressure KFC into using more humane methods to kill chickens.
Mark Olsen, a KFC customer who ate a three-piece chicken meal, said he could understand the point Goldsmith and the PETA supporters were making but questioned the effectiveness of protesting at the franchise level.
``I don't know if there's any humane way to kill anything,'' Olsen said. ``I don't think animals should suffer, but on the other hand, I eat my share of them.''
Olsen's son, Bryce, who manages another restaurant in Logan, jokingly said he was thinking about having the PETA protesters come to his business to bring in more customers.
Jacqueline Newbold, a supervisor at KFC, said an uncommon rush of customers required the store to call extra employees into work.
``We had a line going out the door and through the lobby,'' Newbold said.
During the first four hours of business, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., on Monday, the store had 211 customers compared with 130 the Monday before, supervisor John Simmons said Tuesday.
Newbold said the store first heard about the PETA protest late last week. Managers talked with employees about how to handle the protest. Two Logan city police officers sat inside the restaurant Monday and watched the peaceful demonstration.
``This is far from a vegetarian issue,'' Goldsmith said. ``No one wants to see this kind of cruelty.''
The organization has enlisted celebrities such as Pamela Anderson, singer Emmylou Harris and the Rev. Al Sharpton for the campaign against KFC.
Marcos Carillo, one of the protesters who came to Logan from Tremonton, said he thought the community's response to the protest was a result of ignorance.
``People don't understand,'' he said.
Yum! Brands, the parent company of KFC, disputes the claims of mistreatment, saying it meets industry standards.
They really should add ACLU to such a wonderful group. Oh yeah, that group really makes me want to stop eating KFC. /sarcasm off
Guess where my family is eating tomorrow.