This isn’t the type of thing I normally would write about, but it struck me as singularly disgusting.
An investigator for an animal rights group captured video of chickens being kicked, stomped and thrown against a wall by workers at a supplier for Kentucky Fried Chicken.
The footage, released online Tuesday, was secretly taken at the Pilgrim’s Pride plant in Moorefield, W.Va., by an investigator for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals who worked there from October to May.
PETA said its investigator also obtained eyewitness testimony about employees “ripping birds’ beaks off, spray-painting their faces, twisting their heads off, spitting tobacco into their mouths and eyes, and breaking them in half — all while the birds are still alive.”
After reading just one chapter of Fast Food Nation I’ve never been able to go into a McDonalds again. I go to KFC maybe once a year if I’m desperate, but I’ll probably never do so again if they don’t show a major response to this.
1 By jeremy
It’s all about In-n-Out Burger. Even the author of Fast Food Nation eats there.
That alone is good enough reason for me to there. That, plus those are the best damn burgers and fries.
Mmmmmm, In-n-Out.
July 20, 2004 @ 5:37 pm | Comment
2 By jeremy
Oh, and I’ll continue to eat at KFC and buy Pilgram’s Pride chicken … just to spite Peta.
Any organization that compares the slaughter of animals for consumption to the Holocaust is a baseless, amoral organization.
Plus, in the UK, they are actively working to get the government to outlaw Kosher and Halal meats.
July 20, 2004 @ 5:40 pm | Comment
3 By richard
Jerremy, their rhetoric may be stupid, but if the description of the video is correct, that speaks for itself. I think you get carried away on anything to do with Israel and the Jews. (And as a fellow Jew, I can say that.)
July 20, 2004 @ 5:46 pm | Comment
4 By Tom - Daai Tou Laam
Having just seen the video, I can safely say it’s a good thing that KFC doesn’t serve Peking Duck.
July 20, 2004 @ 6:07 pm | Comment
5 By richard
Tom, you are wrong!. Go here.
July 20, 2004 @ 6:21 pm | Comment
6 By Harry Hutton
I read Fast Food Nation. It was disgusting.
It’s enough to put you off your food.
July 21, 2004 @ 7:43 am | Comment
7 By jeremy
No Richard, you don’t seem to get it. Comparing my relatives that died in the Holocaust to dinner – Peta’s “A Holocaust on Your Plate” – is not excusable.
I grew up in a Kosher household, went to private religious school, was taught by Holocaust survivors. Plus, Peta actively trying to get the laws of Kashrut outlawed in the UK is okay? Where’s the logic in that?
While you may be Jewish by birth, are you practicing? If we don’t look out for ourselves, no one else is going to. We learned that lesson in WWII and the Holocaust. I will not give Peta a pass because they exposed what is happening at Pilgrim’s Pride (not KFC, as they would like you to believe, but a supplier).
July 21, 2004 @ 8:10 am | Comment
8 By vaara
Not that PETA is the only organization to abuse the memory of the Holocaust… anti-choice groups routinely refer to abortion as “an American Holocaust” or words to that effect.
July 21, 2004 @ 8:19 am | Comment
9 By jacky
Read today’s paper that heads have rolled. Pride has sacked a dozen or so of those idiots. Serve them right!
It’s one thing to slaughter animals for food, but it’s another to inflict such brutalities on those dumb chickens.
Maybe I read too many of Thomas Harris’ and Michael Connelly’s novels, but what was the line on abusers of animals?
July 23, 2004 @ 11:48 pm | Comment
10 By Nick
Oh come on. That Peta and other organisations constantly use the word ‘Holocaust’ to describe the things they oppose only goes to show that the Holocaust is still the worst thing that people can think of. By no means is it downplaying the tragedy of what happened to your relatives–maybe it seems that way to you because you see the humane treatment of animals as a frivolous or at least relatively minor thing, but then again you haven’t devoted your life to campaigning for it.
July 24, 2004 @ 6:29 pm | Comment
11 By richard
Nicholas, I agree with you. Jeremy has a cow anytime anything is said about Israel or the Holocaust — you just have to get used to it.
July 24, 2004 @ 6:33 pm | Comment