030717 Animal Rights Group Sues KFC Over Chicken Abuse

Los Angeles, ca - A US animal rights group sued the KFC fast-food chain for allegedly lying about the "cruel" way its chickens are treated in order to sell its famous fried poultry meals, lawyers said.

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals filed suit in Los Angeles, claiming the company allegedly disguised the "grotesque abuses inflicted upon chickens by suppliers" in its online advertising.

"KFC has said from the outset that they will not allow the animals to feel any pain, (but) in fact every moment of these animals' lives is characterised by unmitigated misery," said PETA's Bruce Friedrich.

"The suppliers breed and drug animals so that they grow six times as quickly as they did 50 years ago. Their legs and hearts and lungs can't keep up and they get so big that they collapse under their own weight."

PETA claims that the chain, formerly known as Kentucky Fried Chicken, used deceptively false statements on its website to "mislead animal-friendly consumers" into buying their food.

The group is seeking an injunction to halt what it calls "misleading rhetoric and, at times, outright lies to deceive the public."

The action, filed in Los Angeles Superior Court, is part of a six-month PETA boycott of KFC products aimed at improving the way more than 700 million chickens are raised and slaughtered for the firm every year.

The group said while it wanted the international chain to halt the allegedly cruel treatment of chickens, all it could do legally was to scupper KFC's allegedly false claims that its chickens died happy.

"Unfortunately it's not illegal to treat chickens in such an inhumane way, but at the very least we want KFC to tell the truth and live up to their promises of eliminating these horrible practices," Friedrich said.

PETA said it had launched the campaign and legal action against KFC and its parent company Yum! Brands after extensive discussions had failed to result in a real change in the way the animals were treated.

"False claims regarding the defendants' chicken operations simply won't fly," said PETA's lawyer, Matthew Penzer.

"It is unlawful to mislead consumers from the truth that if they're buying from the defendants, they're supporting horrible cruelty to animals," he added after filing the suit.

The Louisville, Kentucky-based Yum! Brand dismissed PETA's claims as one of a series of "publicity stunts designed to mislead the public."

"We stand by our information as truthful and accurate," the group said in a statement.

"KFC is proud to have been the first to adopt industry-leading poultry welfare guidelines. KFC is committed to the well-being and humane treatment of poultry."

In May the company agreed to new guidelines on the humane treatment of chickens, but denied that it was forced into doing so by PETA.

PETA said its drive against one of the world's top fast-food companies was having an effect, as the company's US advertising frontman Jason Alexander, the actor who played George Costanza of television's "Seinfeld," had lost the lucrative contract because of his opposition to the treatment of KFC chickens.

The activists' group insists Alexander was either sacked or quit as KFC's top US sales face when he allegedly clashed with the corporation over the treatment of chickens after PETA drew his attention to the issue.

Alexander's representatives were not immediately available for comment, but the actor was recently quoted by media as saying in a statement that his two-year contract with KFC had been enormously successful.

"KFC has been a wonderful company with which to work," he said, wishing the company well for the future but declining to tackle the PETA allegations directly.

While confirming that Alexander's contract had ended, KFC strenuously denied it had anything to do with pressure from PETA, saying it was simply due to the scheduled closure of that ad campaign.

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