Group Keeps Animal Welfare Shareholder Resolution Campaign on Track by Adjusting Investment Strategy in Face of Market Meltdown

For Immediate Release:
December 3, 2008

Contact:
Matt Prescott 757-622-7382

Norfolk, Va. -- As part of its shareholder resolution campaign, PETA has been buying shares in the country's largest poultry and pork producers as well as fast-food and family restaurant chains. The group wants to own shares in these companies so that it can submit shareholder proposals asking them to curtail the worst abuses of chickens, turkeys, and pigs on factory farms and in slaughterhouses. To remain eligible to submit the resolutions in a depressed market, PETA has had to revamp its stock-purchasing strategy by buying additional shares.

Is PETA throwing good money after bad? Hardly. In order to submit a resolution, PETA must have owned at least $2,000 worth of stock in the company for one year prior to the submission date. If the value dips below that figure at any point during the year, PETA is prohibited from submitting a resolution per federal regulations. So, as stock values drop, PETA has had to keep accumulating shares. Among the companies in which PETA has recently increased its stake are Pilgrim's Pride, the country's top chicken processor (which filed for bankruptcy earlier this week); Tyson Foods, the second-largest chicken processor; Sonic Corporation; O'Charley's Inc.; Domino's Pizza, Inc.; California Pizza Kitchen; and Ingles Markets.

So far, PETA's shareholder resolution campaign is getting results. Several grocery chains--including Safeway and Harris Teeter--have enacted policies that increase the number of birds they purchase from suppliers that use a less cruel form of slaughter called controlled-atmosphere killing. They're also increasing the amount of eggs and pig meat they purchase from suppliers that don't cruelly confine animals to cages and crates. Fast-food chains Burger King, Carl's Jr., and Hardee's have also taken steps to address the worst abuses of farmed animals.

"Our campaign has already paid dividends for animals, so we're forging ahead with it at any 'price,'" says PETA Vice President Bruce Friedrich. "During hard economic times, the most vulnerable members of society--including animals--still need protection from exploitation and abuse."

For more information about PETA, please visit PETA.org.