PETA to Larry Bird: Stop Promoting 'McCruelty'

For Immediate Release:
February 10, 2010

Contact:
Michael Lyubinsky 757-622-7382

This morning, PETA fired off a letter to Boston Celtics legend Larry Bird urging him to stick up for other birds--chickens, that is--by refusing to appear in any more commercials for McDonald's. The group sent the letter after the fast-food joint debuted a new ad starring Bird during the Super Bowl. The TV spot is a remake of a commercial that Bird did for McDonald's in 1993.

"With the nagging back problems that plagued him throughout his career, Bird is the first person who should sympathize with the millions of chickens who are killed for McDonald's--chickens whose wings, legs, and backs are routinely broken," says PETA Director Dan Shannon, a lifetime Celtics fan. "Larry had one of the best shooting strokes in NBA history, but when it comes to choosing which companies he partners with, he's miles off the mark."

What's PETA's beef with McDonald's? In slaughterhouses, chickens have their throats cut while they are conscious, and every year, many of them are scalded to death in defeathering tanks, even though McDonald's could require its suppliers to implement the less cruel slaughter method already being used in Europe that would eliminate these abuses.

PETA's letter to Larry Bird follows. For more information, please visit PETA's Web site McCruelty.com.

February 10, 2010

Larry Bird
President
Indiana Pacers

1 page via fax

Dear Mr. Bird,

I'm writing on behalf of PETA to ask that the next time McDonald's asks you to star in a commercial, you refuse--for the birds. In the 17 years since you filmed your first McDonald's commercial, nothing has changed for chickens in U.S. slaughterhouses. Chickens still have their throats cut while they are conscious, and many are scalded to death in defeathering tanks every year, even though McDonald's could make one basic change that would eliminate these abuses.

As you can see at McCruelty.com, PETA is asking McDonald's to adopt controlled-atmosphere killing (CAK), a slaughter method that would render chickens unconscious before they could be shackled, mutilated, and scalded. Several of McDonald's European suppliers have begun using CAK, but McDonald's refuses to require its use in its U.S. suppliers' slaughterhouses. Members of McDonald's own animal welfare council say that CAK is better for chickens, but the company still allows chickens to suffer through the old method.

Nearly 300 million chickens are killed for McDonald's every year; from those birds to another, please refuse to partner with McDonald's until it stops its suppliers from breaking chickens' bones and scalding them to death.

Sincerely,

Michelle Cho
Special Projects Manager