EDITOR,

McDonald’s claims about its chicken are about as truthful as its old commercials implying that hamburgers grow in a hamburger patch (“Chicken protest at Tracy’s McDonald’s,” July 19).

The company allows its U.S. chicken suppliers to use a slaughtering method that often forces birds to endure broken bones and other abuses. The terrified birds are shackled and hung upside-down, they have their throats cut while they’re still conscious, and they are often scalded alive in tanks of boiling water used for feather removal.

McDonald’s can lessen animal suffering by requiring its suppliers to use a less cruel slaughter method called “controlled-atmosphere killing,” which painlessly puts chickens to sleep by removing the oxygen from their environment and replacing it with an inert gas.

In 2005, McDonald’s produced a report stating that CAK offers significant animal welfare benefits over the conventional slaughter method, but the company has not required any of its U.S. suppliers to switch to the method. Until it does, the Golden Arches are nothing but a glaring symbol of cruelty. For more details, see www.mccruelty.com.

• Heather Moore is a research specialist for the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals in Norfolk, Va.