Hardee’s and Carl’s Jr. Adopt Industry-Leading Animal Welfare Policies

Following discussions with PETA about the mistreatment of animals in factory farms and slaughterhouses, Hardee's and Carl's Jr. (owned by CKE Restaurants) have announced groundbreaking plans to significantly reduce the suffering that animals raised and killed for their restaurants endure.

Hens raised for their eggs in a battery cage

According to the new plan, the company will take the following steps:

• Immediately begin purchasing 15 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 increase that number to 25 percent by 2009.
• Begin purchasing some of its eggs from suppliers that do not confine hens to tiny wire "battery cages."
• Issue a statement to its poultry suppliers stating that it will "give consideration to approved suppliers who actively explore and test" controlled-atmosphere killing (CAK), the least cruel method of poultry slaughter available.

Help Factory-Farmed Animals!
Although Hardee's, Carl's Jr., and Burger King have 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.