For Immediate Release:
25 June 2003
Contact:
Anuradha Sawhney 0 98201 22602, Email: AnuradhaS@peta.org
Bangalore — Holding a sign reading ‘Did your Food
Have a Face?’, PETA’s giant ‘chicken’ will make
the case for all his fellow fowl in a protest against Kentucky Fried
Chicken’s (KFC) treatment of animals. PETA India is encouraging
people to adopt a compassionate vegetarian diet or, at the very least,
never set foot in a place like KFC. PETA India is also encouraging consumers
to demand the closure of the only remaining KFC outlet in the country.
The protest is part of an international campaign launched by PETA affiliates
all over the world after nearly two years of failed negotiations with
KFC’s parent company, Yum! Brands.
Date: Friday, 27 June 2003
Time: 12 noon sharp
Place: KFC, 4 Brigade Rd., Bangalore
The more than 700 million chickens at KFC suppliers’ factory farms
lead miserable lives and suffer terrifying deaths. They are crammed by
the tens of thousands into sheds that stink of ammonia fumes from the
accumulated waste in which they are forced to live, lie and stand for
their whole lives; they are given barely enough room to move (each bird
lives in the amount of space equivalent to a standard sheet of paper)
and they can never see the light of day or enjoy anything a chicken would
enjoy in nature.
The birds routinely suffer broken bones from being bred to be top-heavy,
from callous handling (workers roughly grab birds by their legs and stuff
them into crates) and from being shackled upside down at abattoirs.
Chickens are often still fully conscious as their throats are cut or when
they are dumped into tanks of scalding hot water to remove their feathers.
When they’re killed, chickens are still babies less than 2 months
old - though chickens have a natural lifespan of 10 to 15 years. Nonetheless,
they are just as sensitive as adult birds to the fear and pain they experience
when they are violently handled and cruelly treated and transported.
Furthermore, a diet heavy in meat, dairy products and other animal products
can be deadly to humans. Vegetarians have a markedly lower incidence of
heart disease, strokes, diabetes, and several types of cancer than do
meat-eaters. The SARS virus, salmonella, E. coli, lysteria and other pathogens
are also associated with meat consumption.
‘KFC stands for cruelty’, says Anuradha Sawhney, PETA India’s
chief functionary. ‘Every bird KFC puts in a box or bucket had
a miserable life and a frightening death. The answer is to go vegetarian
and put this joint out of business.’ For more information about
PETA’s campaign, please visit KFCCruelty.com.
