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Save a Cow by Eating a Chicken?

The fast-food chain, Chick-fil-A, has announced their second annual promotional stunt which offers free meals to customers who dress up in cow costumes on Friday, July 14, 2006. Calling it "Cow Appreciation Day," customers are encouraged to "Eat Mor Chikin." The company touts their successfully sarcastic advertising gimmick: "For more than a decade, the renegade Cows have entertained consumers with their desperate, self-preserving antics in an effort to convert beef eaters to chicken fans."

What the fast-food restaurant does not advertise is the grim reality of modern poultry production. Chickens raised for meat, called "broiler chickens", are abnormally bred to grow beyond their biological limits and are typically raised inside huge factory-like warehouses with minimal space to move. Millions die before reaching slaughter every year. Those who survive are then tossed into cages on transport trucks where they are exposed to severe weather conditions. Poultry processing plants demand speed over humane slaughter for higher profits, causing untold suffering as fully conscious birds are hung upside down on assembly line rails destined for the killing floor. Since poultry are specifically excluded from the federal Humane Methods of Slaughter Act, stunning prior to slaughter is not required. Many birds have their throats slashed while still conscious.

What You Can Do!

Let this fast food chain know that their attempt at humorous advertising, especially geared toward children, makes light of the suffering of animals produced for human consumption.

*Contact their corporate headquarters:
Chick-fil-A CARES
P.O. Box 500367
Atlanta, GA 31150
Phone: 1-866-CFA-2040
Online comment form: http://www.chick-fil-a.com/Feedback.asp

*Distribute literature outside Chick-fil-A franchises about the realities of modern factory farming. Click Here to order.

*Write letters to the editor of your local newspapers

*Dress as a chicken and visit a Chick-fil-A location this Friday, letting people know that both cows and chickens want to live. Or, dress in any animal costume with a sign expressing that all animals, including chickens, are feeling creatures who deserve to be treated with compassion.

Please contact campaign@farmsanctuary.org if you need materials and to update us if you take action on this effort.