PETA's letter to Safeway reiterating the points in the previous letter

October 17, 2001

Mr. Steven Burd, CEO
Safeway, Inc.
5918 Stoneridge Mall Rd.
Pleasanton, CA 94588-3229

7 pages via fax: 925-467-3230

Dear Mr. Burd:

One year has passed since PETA first contacted Safeway about improving the lives of animals raised and killed for its stores. In that year, millions of animals have suffered miserably and died badly because of Safeway's inaction, and that must stop now. At every turn, PETA has offered assistance to your company—as you know by my many letters and reports. Safeway buys cows, pigs, and chickens from suppliers that treat animals in the most despicable ways. Our offers to link Safeway with international experts in animal welfare and slaughter have been ignored, and our dozens of phone calls and many letters have gone unanswered. It seems clear, therefore, that Safeway has no intention of addressing the horrific conditions that animals endure by meeting or exceeding the animal welfare guidelines adopted by McDonald's, Burger King, and now, Wendy's. I am writing to give you one final opportunity to prove us wrong and do the right thing.

As you sit in your air-conditioned office in Pleasanton, take a moment to really consider the lives of the animals supplied to Safeway. Egg-laying hens, otherwise serene animals, are kept in windowless sheds. They are crammed into wire-mesh cages so tightly that they cannot spread even one wing. Their eyes burn from the toxic ammonia wafting up from the manure piles underneath their cages, live birds often stand on top of others who have died, and before they are sent to slaughter where they are hung upside down and killed, often while fully conscious, they are starved nearly to death to shock their weak bodies into one more egg-laying cycle.

People are horrified when they learn of this cruel treatment, and major corporations have changed their policies as a result. McDonald's, Burger King, and Wendy's took a good first step by adopting animal care standards that reduced some of the worst abuses on factory farms and in slaughterhouses. Despite all this, Safeway has categorically refused even to discuss any of the important issues that PETA has raised. On June 5, 2001, Brian Dowling, vice president of public affairs, stated that Safeway must "raise the bar for animal welfare," but please name one single policy that Safeway has implemented that has helped any of the millions of animals sold at its stores.

The time for empty promises and public relations rhetoric is over. PETA is preparing for a sustained and focused campaign against Safeway, which will include posters, leaflets, advertisements, a hard-hitting Web site, and hundreds of demonstrations in both the U.S. and Canada. If PETA does not receive a written pledge by December 1, 2001, stating that Safeway will meet or exceed the animal welfare guidelines adopted by McDonald's, Burger King, and Wendy's and do so in a verifiable and timely manner, Safeway will become a target of activists nationwide. I've enclosed an addendum to this letter, outlining the steps that we asked you to take nearly a year ago.

McDonald's, Burger King, and Wendy's learned how humiliating it is to be branded a corporate animal abuser, but it doesn't have to be that way for Safeway. Our offer of assistance and support still stands, but time is running short.

We look forward to communicating your reply to our members.

Sincerely,

Sean Gifford
Campaign Coordinator

Enclosures: Addendum 1
PETA report: "The Serious Welfare Problems of Electrical Stunning for Poultry and the Case for Gas-Killing as a Means of More Humane Slaughter"

PETA report: "The Negative Impacts of Current Production Practices on Broiler Breeder Welfare and the Immediate Need for Reform to Alleviate Chronic Suffering"

HPAC Report: "Environmental Enrichment for Broiler Chickens"
HPAC Report: "Environmental Enrichment for Laying Hens"