As the organizer of the recent McDonald’s demonstration in Tracy, I feel it is my responsibility to clarify some of the claims made in the Tracy Press article (“Teen leads animal cruelty protest,” Saturday).
I want to make it clear that we were out there to try to raise awareness about the way in which chickens are slaughtered by McDonald’s suppliers.
The chickens are hung upside down and shackled. They have their throats slit while they are fully conscious, and many are scalded alive and suffer massive amounts of abuse from slaughterhouse workers.
We are calling on McDonald’s to demand that its chicken suppliers switch to a less cruel method of slaughter. Although the article states that I advocated for the gassing of chickens, in no way would I ever suggest using that kind of method.
I do, however, advocate for CAK (controlled-atmosphere killing), which is very different from asphyxiation. That is a painless alternative to the electric immobilization slaughter method. It removes oxygen slowly from the atmosphere while chickens are still in their transport crates. Chickens then lose consciousness in a painless manner.
A 2005 study conducted by McDonald’s concluded that CAK systems are much better for animals than the current method they use. However, McDonald’s has still refused to make it a requirement for its suppliers to switch methods.
With readily available alternatives in existence, there really is no excuse for this cruelty to continue. Even if you eat meat, I think we can all agree that the unnecessary torturing of animals is wrong.
It’s time to take a stand and have some compassion. Thank you to all the wonderful animal rights supporters out there; you make the world a better place.
Guess who the cost would be passed on to?
Though I am a proud meatatarian, I don't advocate methods of slaughter that are unnecessarily painful to the animal.
When it's ethics vs. money, sadly I think we all know the answer.
In this economy, who would buy a $10 Big Mac?
Here’s why.
Printed from th first article on th topic,
http://tracypress.com/pages/full_story/push?article-Chicken protest at Tracy-s McDonald-s &id=2982319-Chicken protest at Tracy-s McDonald-s&instance=home_news_bullets
“A McDonald’s spokesman said Savage’s claims are inaccurate and that the company buys chicken from suppliers that kill the birds as humanely as possible.”
“Savage said she doesn’t know where the Tracy McDonald’s gets its chicken. The point of her protest, she said, is to pressure McDonald’s to buy chicken from a supplier that gases to death its animals before scalding and beheading them.”
Question, if ya don’t know whair they get thair chicken, an th folks at McDonald’s say yer inaccurate an they get their birds frum processors that dispatch em as humainely as possible, why should we take yer word over thairs?
Havin actually seen many places where this type of slaughterin takes place, I agree they should be dispatched as humanely as the economic situation allows. But ya sort of come off soundin like a flake when ya are cryin foul, no pun intended, when ya don’t really know fer sure what’s happenin; somethin ya said, unless ya can prove the press misquoted ya.
Ya seem ta be a bright enough young lady but as a college student I’d have ta give ya failin grades fer not doin yer research fer all th facts before ya made yer claim.
An if yer really all that upset about th way they are killin these chickens, by hangin em upside down an slittin thair throats, actually the places I’ve seen do this cut thair heads completely off, ya definitely don’t want to see how they kill pigs an other critters that we consume fer food.
If ya got a problem with dunken birds that are wigglin around because they just had thair throats cut, then please don’t ever eat crab or lobster as they are dunked into scalding hot water without anyone botherin to kill them first at all. Or how about th Chinese way of cookin fish? Ya put on a heat proof glove and deep fry everythin but th head of th fish and serve it with th mouth an gills still movin.
Also, just because the bird is still floppin an twitchin around as it gets dunked inta the scaldin water so as to remove it’s feathers, doesn’t mean the bird is still alive an knows what’s goin on.
Th point is, I really don’t understand how ya can kill anything as humainly as ya seem ta wish. Dead is dead. I suppose thairs no “trama” when ya put all of em in a small box an gas em either? If that’s true then I guess many of th holocaust victims didn’t die all that horrendously back in the Nazi Germany days.