Louisville Mojo: PETA Statue Mocks KFC

The animal rights group PETA, infamous for distributing leaflets to little children that say "Your Mommy Kills Animals", have a new attention-getting stunt.

Previously this year, they set up a mock horse cemetery at Churchill Downs during the derby, and last year they issued a public call for Derby winner Big Brown's castration. And a few years back, I had difficulty entering the KFC in the Highlands because of PETA protestors blocking my path, screaming rude things at me, and waving crudely scrawled signs. Public relations geniuses, take note: a chanting angry mob harassing citizens is hardly an effective way to garner public sympathy.

At least PETA's latest line of attack against KFC has more of a sense of humor than some of their previous actions: the animal-rights group has applied for a city permit to erect a fiberglass statue of a cartoon chicken on crutches, bearing the slogan "KFC Cripples Chickens."

KFC spokeswoman Laurie Schalow called it "yet another despicable publicity stunt."

PETA claims that KFC suppliers routinely torture and abuse the chickens that will eventually be purchased for food use, cramming birds into huge waste-filled factories, breeding and drugging them to grow so large that they can't even walk. They also complain that the birds' throats are slit when slaughtered, and then dropped into scalding water. (But to be fair, beheading and/or throat-slitting chickens has been the farmer's method of slaughtering them since time immemorial, and people are dropping lobsters and crayfish into boiling water every hour of every day somewhere on the planet.)

Also, the phrase "KFC Cripples Chickens" might be a legally shaky proposition, because technically it isn't KFC who is doing the alleged crippling - it's the factory-farms who KFC chooses to purchase their meat from. As KFC's Animal Welfare Guidelines state:

"KFC does not own or operate any poultry farms or processing facilities. Instead, it purchases chickens from, at any given time, approximately 16 different suppliers who collectively operate up to 52 facilities around the country."

Lately PETA has been gaining enemies faster than allies - Oprah Winfrey snubbed them and endorsed Kentucky Grilled Chicken over PETA's objections, and websites like PETA Kills Animals have cast serious aspersions on the organization's ethics and on their true agenda.

KFC insists that the problems with its suppliers that PETA originally reported on (and exaggerated) were dealt with long ago. According to the official KFC FAQ:

"Yum! Brands is the owner of restaurant companies and, as such, does not own, raise or transport animals. However, as a major purchaser of food products, we have the opportunity, and responsibility, to influence the way animals supplied to us are treated. We take that responsibility very seriously, and we are monitoring our suppliers on an ongoing basis to determine whether our suppliers are using humane procedures for caring for and handling animals they supply to us. As a consequence, it is our goal to only deal with suppliers who promise to maintain our high standards and share our commitment to animal welfare."

The Courier-Journal has reported that Chris Poynter, a spokesman for Mayor Jerry Abramson, was thrilled with KFC's good-will campaign to pay for pothole repairs in Louisville earlier this year. "KFC is a great corporate citizen of ours," said Poynter. "They employ lots of people in our town. They do great things for our hometown and we're glad to work with them on this pothole program. But PETA, ummm... not so much."

Meanwhile, the controversial "crippled chicken" statue, which PETA wants erected at the corner of Fourth and Market, remains a hot topic of discussion, and is currently in dispute.

ADD A COMMENT

photog sat dec 05 2009 at 1:10 am ·


	The least they could do is put some benches around the thing so I'd have a place to eat my wings at lunchtime...

Far Away sat dec 05 2009 at 9:11 am ·


	haha hope they can put it up, i'd like to see how many times it gets vandalized

awordqueen sat dec 05 2009 at 9:20 am ·


	Well, I haven't seen any chickens in wheelchairs, on crutches, or sporting prosthetic limbs lately....so I doubt that ANYONE is busy crippling chickens. And I think if they get to erect this statue, next to it should be a staute of a Chick-Fil-A Cow holding the sign, "Eat more Chik'n."

Stalking Butler sat dec 05 2009 at 9:24 am ·


	"Public relations geniuses, take note: a chanting angry mob harassing citizens is hardly an effective way to garner public sympathy." A message that the frothing at the mouth, pro-life, Xtian fundies who picket the downtown clinics every Saturday might benefit from....

Mysanthropyc sat dec 05 2009 at 9:58 am ·


	"The least they could do is put some benches around the thing so I'd have a place to eat my wings at lunchtime..." It's cold out, so make sure you have on a warm, snuggly, fur coat and a racoon-skin cap while enjoying your delicious wings.

J-Pain sat dec 05 2009 at 10:06 am ·


	Chickens have feelings too. too bad they taste so damn good. It's their own fault.

Count Grozny sat dec 05 2009 at 11:34 am ·


	Well, KFC kind of does do inhumane things to their chickens... I don't eat KFC... But I still eat chicken.

J.S. Holland sat dec 05 2009 at 12:18 pm ·


	KFC doesn't do anything to their chickens but cook them. As the article already stated, any alleged chicken abuse is already done earlier up the line, by megafarmers like Tyson Chicken who in turn sell the chicken to tens of thousands of places, of which KFC is but one. But this is all old news anyway, since Tyson was forced to clean up its act after the Animal Welfare Advisory Council was formed. It's been a non-issue for years, but PETA can't seem to let go and move on. http://www.yum.com/responsibility/animalwelfare.asp

ad absurdum... sat dec 05 2009 at 1:42 pm ·


	PETA is not a good representative of the animal rights community. MFA (Mercy for Animals) is much better. I could go on my little rant about the rights of animals, but the more effective argument against these restaurants is the fact that they use factory farming practices and get products shipped from all over the world that could be obtained for similar prices nearer locations.

Rya sat dec 05 2009 at 2:18 pm ·


	PETA also wanted to air a commercial during the football games on Thanksgiving that depicted a little girl saying grace and then describing how the turkey they were about to eat was slaughtered...in detail. And because Youtube has everything, the banned video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HjKRxa7ZyMs

Mysanthropyc sat dec 05 2009 at 2:30 pm ·


	I think we can all agree that abusing and neglecting animals is a terrible thing, from puppy mills to dog fighting to lighting kitten's tails on fire. But the way PETA tries to get their point across is completely irresponsible and out of touch.

Dj Mclovin sat dec 05 2009 at 4:33 pm ·


	What do you do to a chicken that you raise to slaughter to eat? Take him out the night before and get him drunk or laid? Peta is so worthless

My name is Jay sat dec 05 2009 at 4:34 pm ·


	So let me get this straight, ooops sorry not P/C, non-queer. It's not o-k to eat chicken but it is o-k to treat children like animals because Ingrid Newkirk sez "a boy is just like a dog...". Somebody needs to have the everling sh*t just monkey-stomped right out of them. Yep, I'll be posting my next comment from Metro Corrections.

rob sun dec 06 2009 at 3:25 am ·


	I resemble that cockerel at the moment.

Dj Mclovin mon dec 07 2009 at 7:43 pm ·


	that is funny, I used to go there just to sit outside and eat in front of them

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