Animal rights group takes KFC protest to Thailand

BANGKOK, Oct 23 (AFP) - Animal rights group PETA on Thursday took its global protest against fast-food giant KFC to the streets of Bangkok, where three of its members sat in a cage to highlight alleged chicken cruelty by the company.

Wielding signs saying "KFC tortures chickens", the protesters crouched outside a KFC outlet on a hectic downtown street during lunch hour to bring the plight of chickens to the Thai public's attention, protester Jason Baker said.

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"We're trying to let KFC know that to do business in this day and age you've got to have corporate responsibility," said Baker, who is also Asia representative of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA).

"We're hoping passers-by will be able to pressure KFC into implementing minimum standards in looking after chickens and in addition make people think about what it's like to be a KFC chicken," he said.

"This is something most people don't have any idea about and probably don't think about. It's our job to make people think about it."

PETA is calling on the company to replace throat-slitting with gas killing, phase out the forced rapid growth of chickens, increase the space allotted per bird and implement automated rather than human chicken-catching.

"We're talking about really minimal things," Baker said. "We're not asking for them to become a vegetarian restaurant."

PETA kicked off a global campaign in January against the company, which has included protests in Hong Kong, Manila, Macau and Tokyo, after two years of failed negotiations with KFC's parent company Yum! Brands.

"In May we met with some of their presidents who had promised they were going to make improvements but when it came to putting it on paper it didn't happen," Baker said.

KFC operates more than 300 outlets in Thailand.

In September PETA dropped a lawsuit against KFC after the company agreed to change its statement on how its chickens are treated before reaching the restaurant.

Hollywood bombshell Pamela Anderson, pop superstar and former Beatle Sir Paul McCartney and US hip-hop mogul Russell Simmons have all joined PETA's protest against KFC, formerly known as Kentucky Fried Chicken.

The group accuses the fast-food giant of allowing chickens to be bred and drugged so that they become so heavy that they cripple under their own weight and of using cruel slaughter methods.

PETA plans its next protest in Singapore on Monday.

sb/rmj

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