Animal-rights group PETA plans to step up its long-running campaign against Louisville-based KFC Corp. after the chain’s biggest franchisee in Canada agreed to adopt new chicken-slaughtering techniques for nearly 500 restaurants.
As part of the deal with PETA, the Canadian restaurants will try to buy all of their poultry from plants that kill chickens using gas chambers, a method PETA considers more humane than subjecting the birds to an electric shock before cutting their throats. The stores also will add a vegan menu item that looks like chicken but does not contain meat.
Activists from PETA, or People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, have been hounding KFC and its owner, Yum! Brands, about animal-rights issues for more than five years.
Matt Prescott, a PETA spokesman, said the agreement with the Ontario-based franchisee proves that Yum could make the same changes in the United States if it wanted to.
PETA said it has agreed to end its boycott in Canada with the franchisee agreement.
New volunteers are flooding PETA’s offices with requests to participate in the KFC campaign, said Prescott, who predicted that protest activity will increase in the months to come.
Logo from PETA.
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