North Carolina law-enforcement officials raided a Butterball turkey factory farm after viewing disturbing video footage of workers who abused turkeys. The video, shot during an undercover investigation by Mercy For Animals, shows workers who kick and stomp on birds, smash them into the ground, and bash in their heads with metal rods.

Mercy For Animals' findings mirror those uncovered during PETA's 2006 undercover investigation of a Butterball slaughterhouse in Arkansas. We documented that one employee stomped on a bird's head until it exploded, that another smashed a turkey into a metal handrail so hard that her spine burst through her skin, and that another worker sexually assaulted a female turkey. One worker told the investigator, "If you jump on their stomachs right, they'll pop ... or their insides will come out of their [rectums]." The findings are also strikingly similar to the horrific abuses documented by PETA's 2008 investigation of Aviagen Turkeys, Inc., which led to the first-ever indictments for felony cruelty to animals for the abuse of birds and the first-ever cruelty convictions of turkey factory-farm workers.

The abuse documented is apparently business as usual for Butterball and the turkey industry. Click here to urge the company to adopt "controlled-atmosphere killing" (CAK), in which birds are killed by inert gas while still in their transport crates, eliminating much of the opportunity for abuse at the slaughterhouse. And to help end the abuse that these intelligent, sensitive animals suffer before they make it to slaughter, refuse to eat turkeys and choose fowl-friendly faux turkey instead.

Most kids get butterflies in their stomachs when they have to read a book report aloud in class. This week, bright elementary student Rose McCoy spoke before hundreds of McDonald's investors and executives at the company's annual meeting. Armed with 20,000 of the nearly 125,000 signatures that PETA collected from young consumers, our superstar volunteer brilliantly made our shareholder resolution stand out in the room full of suits. She asked the fast-food behemoth to require its suppliers to switch to a less cruel method of slaughtering chickens.

"Controlled atmosphere killing," already in use by McDonald's European suppliers, prevents birds from having their throats cut while they are conscious and from being scalded to death in defeathering tanks. Rose, a lifelong vegan, told the shareholders, "Kids like me love animals, and we don't want to see them suffer anymore for McNuggets. If McDonalds can spend a billion dollars to make its restaurants look pretty, then can't it make this simple change?"

Please join Rose in asking McDonald's to stop the worst abuses of chickens in its suppliers' slaughterhouses.

 
Written by Michelle Sherrow

PETA's newest campaign strategy against McCruelty appears to be working. We have been making unscheduled appearances at the speaking engagements of McDonald's executives in order to hold them accountable for their archaic and cruel chicken slaughter methods. When we recently interrupted McDonald's director of U.S. communications at the Online Marketing Summit in San Diego, she said on camera that she'd be willing to discuss our concerns in a sit-down meeting.

We are asking McDonald's to institute a less-cruel slaughter method for chickens raised for the restaurant called "controlled-atmosphere killing" (CAK), which is already in use by their European suppliers. Currently, chickens raised for McDonald's in the U.S. and Canada are dumped out of their transport crates and hung upside down in metal shackles. They watch other chickens have their throats cut while they wait for their turn before being scalded to death in defeathering tanks.

We hope that McDonald's will follow through and agree to talk with PETA about instituting CAK. In the meantime, please take a moment to tell McDonald's that you support less cruel methods of chicken slaughter, and sport your McCruelty gear with pride.

Written by Michelle Sherrow

When I read that Joan Jett jumped on a car hood to join PETA's protest outside the Waldorf Astoria, where McDonald's Jim Skinner was to receive a "Distinguished CEO" award (?!) last night, I started applauding.

Sure, Jim Skinner is "distinguished"—from anyone with an ounce of compassion and a kernel of common sense, that is. Why else would McDonald's continue to refuse to mandate that its American and Canadian suppliers implement controlled-atmosphere killing (CAK) in order to dramatically reduce the cruelty that they inflict on billions of animals? Chicken slaughterhouses in the U.S. have started to implement CAK, and some restaurant chains (including Quiznos, Subway, Starbucks, and Ruby Tuesday) and grocery chains (including Safeway, Harris Teeter, and Winn-Dixie) already purchase turkeys killed by CAK.

Know this: As long as Skinner and other execs at McDonald's thumb their noses at compassion, we'll continue to finger their shameful ways. Care to give us a hand?

Written by Karin Bennett

OK, we don't have the powers of The Shadow to let us know what evil lurks in the heart of Ronald McDonald, but some recent stories shed some light on who McDonald's might be hatin'.

1.      Its Employees

The manager of a McDonald's in Brazil had to take the company to court to win compensation after gaining 65 pounds from having to sample the restaurant's food for a dozen years.

2.      African-Americans

Another lawsuit, filed in Manhattan, alleges that three black men were told that they couldn't use the restrooms in a Kips Bay McDonald's unless they made a purchase, while a white woman was allowed to use the facilities without having to buy anything.

3.      Animals (Especially Chickens)

Now that two U.S. chicken suppliers have begun implementing a less cruel method of slaughter called controlled-atmosphere killing (CAK), McDonald's has run out of excuses for continuing to subject birds to violence and injuries. Please add your voice today to those calling on McDonald's to require its suppliers to use CAK to spare chickens from unnecessary suffering.

Written by Jeff Mackey

Singapore artist Nafe Nanfeng created these moving images and forwarded them to PETA after reading that two slaughterhouses in the U.S. are implementing a slaughter method called "controlled-atmosphere killing" (CAK), which will greatly reduce the suffering of countless birds who are killed to become drumsticks.

Dunstan Lee; Copywriter

Dunstan Lee; Copywriter

Dunstan Lee; Copywriter

The sky's the limit when it comes to ways to get the word out. You can use art, fashion, correspondence, leaflets, or just about anything else you can think of—that list could stretch from Dallas to Denver. No matter what methods you use, please always—and often—create opportunities to inspire people to choose compassion over killing.

Written by Karin Bennett

claytonguiltner / CC

I travel a lot for work, and between going to meetings, catching flights, and trying to get to hotels at a reasonable hour, I'm always on the lookout for a quick bite to eat. Quiznos has saved me many a time with its delicious toasted veggie sandwiches—but I've been troubled by its animal welfare record.

Well, Quiznos has just taken its first major step. We've been working quietly with the company for about a year, talking about the importance of animal welfare reforms to improve the lives and deaths of the animals killed for its products. Now, Quiznos has officially moved forward. It will do the following:

• Begin phasing in the purchase of eggs from suppliers that don't cage their hens, starting with 5 percent by next year
• Begin phasing in the purchase of pig meat from suppliers that don't confine pregnant sows to barren, metal "gestation crates" (causing extreme physical and psychological trauma), starting with 15 percent by 2012
• Begin phasing in the purchase of turkeys killed using a less cruel slaughter method called "controlled atmosphere killing" (CAK), starting with 5 percent by the end of 2009
• Give purchasing preference to suppliers using these less cruel production methods, including chicken suppliers that switch to CAK

Quiznos has also removed the eggs entirely from three of its four cookies. (Unfortunately, they still aren't vegan, but this will still prevent thousands of hours of suffering for laying hens).

These reforms mark the first steps forward for Quiznos, and we wish those companies resisting change would at least make similar moves (come on Subway, what are you waiting for?). That said, not eating animals (or their eggs or milk) is still the best way to help them. So while it is terrific that pigs, chickens, and turkeys will now suffer less for some of Quiznos' products, I'll stick with those veggie subs.

Written by Matt Prescott