Victory! Burger King Adopts New Industry-Leading Animal Welfare Policies

Hens used for their eggs in a battery cage

Since 2000, PETA has been using high-profile campaigns and negotiating behind the scenes to reduce the suffering of animals who are raised and killed for the fast-food and grocery industries. In 2001, when PETA halted its “Murder King” campaign (after Burger King adopted some animal welfare standards), Burger King agreed to continue discussions with PETA about ways to further reduce the horrific abuse of animals in factory farms and slaughterhouses.

Although Burger King’s new standards will send shock waves throughout the factory-farming and fast-food industries and will help reduce some of the worst forms of abuse to farmed animals, the best way for compassionate consumers to help chickens, pigs, and other animals is to go vegetarian.

“We hope that people will order the BK Veggie Burger when they go into Burger King,” says PETA Vice President Bruce Friedrich, “but the company’s new plan helps reduce some of the worst factory-farming and slaughterhouse abuses and will send shock waves through the meat and egg industries.”

Burger King’s announcement marks the latest chapter in PETA’s efforts to change the ways farmed animals are raised and slaughtered. The Humane Society of the United States has also been talking with Burger King. According to its new plan, Burger King will do the following:

• Immediately begin purchasing 10 percent of its pig flesh from suppliers that do not use cruel gestation crates—metal enclosures that confine mother pigs and are so restrictive that the animals cannot even stretch a limb or take a step—and double that amount by the end of 2007.
• Immediately begin purchasing 2 percent of its eggs from hens who are not confined to tiny wire “battery cages” and more than double that amount by the end of 2007.
• Issue a statement to its egg suppliers saying that it will give purchasing preference to those that do not use battery cages.
• Issue a statement to its chicken-flesh suppliers stating that it will give purchasing preference to those that use or switch to “controlled-atmosphere killing” (CAK)—which is by far the least cruel method of chicken slaughter available.

Learn more about PETA’s history with Burger King.

Help Factory-Farmed Animals!
Although Burger King has stepped up to the plate with regard to animal welfare, other fast-food chains have not. For more than four years, PETA’s “Kentucky Fried Cruelty” campaign has urged KFC to adopt standards to eliminate the worst abuses of the more than 850 million chickens killed for its buckets each year. Dozens of celebrities, scholars, and other notables—including Pamela Anderson, Sir Paul McCartney, Pink, The Rev. Al Sharpton, and Fall Out Boy—have spoken out against KFC’s cruelty. You can join them by visiting KentuckyFriedCruelty.com to sign the petition, download videos, and more.