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McDonald's. Cruelty to Chickens. End A Cruel Killing Method. Humane Alternative Available.

PETA has decided to " relaunch " their campaign against fast food giant and cholesterol central, McDonald's, for their unwillingness or inability to curb the cruel ways of their supplier of chicken meat. Evidently, the effort to make McDonald's more humane has been going on for a while to no avail. Why continue to embrace and employ a cruel method of killing chickens when there is a humane alternative? McDonald's needs to take a vacation. They don't have to be cave people everyday of their lives.

According to PETA, " All of McDonald's U.S. chicken suppliers use a system called "electrical immobilization" to kill birds, which involves dumping birds out of transport crates and hanging them upside-down in metal shackles—often resulting in broken bones, extreme bruising, and hemorrhaging. The birds then have their throats cut while they are still conscious and are often immersed in tanks of scalding-hot water while they are still alive and able to feel pain. "
PETA argues that McDonald's should, " demand that its suppliers switch to a less cruel method of chicken slaughter called controlled-atmosphere killing, or CAK. Every published report on controlled-atmosphere killing systems to date—including a 2005 study by McDonald's—concludes that it is the least cruel form of poultry slaughter available. And some of McDonald's suppliers in Europe already use the system! "

Lord Almighty. There is no way cruelty can be excused when there is already a humane alternative in the works---I mean, up and running. More often as we would like to admit, the Europeans are way ahead of us in many fields particularly in animal welfare. They have already rejected the importation and sale of products stemming from the Canadian fur trade. In December 2008, PETA Europe scored a great victory when new skin irritation tests that do not use animals have been successfully validated, no need to use rabbits anymore. The MatTek Corporation declared that the European Centre for the Validation of Alternative Methods' Scientific Advisory Committee (ESAC) has formally endorsed the scientific validity of the company's Modified EpiDerm Skin Irritation Test as well as L'Oreal's SkinEthic test. In a nutshell, cosmetic companies need not perform skin irritation test on rabbits anymore. Isn't that progress? Anyway, my point is that Europe has again and again led the way to a more humane world. Wake up, America. Let's get moving here!

We can help make McDonald's become a more humane business by boycotting their products until they make the switch to CAK. You can also write to McDonald's today and give them a piece of your mind. If you ask me, I would rather see people give up meat altogether and just forget meat as a dietary option. It's not good for you. As I have asked so many times before, why eat a dead animal?

Comments

Catherine said…
Thanks for sharing this. It is so true what you say about the Europeans being way ahead of the U.S. on animal welfare issues. (Also true of environmental issues). Corporate (and government) policies here seem short-sighted and focused only on profit. But what about the animals sacrificing their lives for this profit?

Using less humane methods to save money is inexcusable. As Jamie Oliver said, "A chicken is a living thing, an animal with a life cycle, and we shouldn't expect it will cost less than a pint of beer in a pub."
Flo Finklestein said…
I found out about the protest against McDonald's indirectly, through a chance remark. I googled it just to find out, and found your blog. I didn't realize - and I quite agree that there's no excuse for cruelty in the face of a more humane alternative, and I'll be recycling those McDonald's coupons I just got in the mail.

Thanks so much for writing this.

-Flo

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