My first KFC demonstration!

[Gail45ca]

Hey everybody, I went to my first KFC demonstration yesterday. We had quite a turn out (about 25-30 people). I was surprised at how vocal people can get. lol. We had motorists driving by and shouting out either (Right on) or ( I love to eat chicken!). And then there were the few middle finger salutes. But it didn't bother me because I was there to try and help those innocent birds. It was a very rewarding experience and if I ever get a chance to help out again, I'll take it. Also, someone had brought a chicken, it was so cute. I scratched it gently on the side of the head and he closed his eyes he was so relaxed. I was surprised how gentle they are!
I'm curious, how many people here are animal activists? And how many are vegetarians? If you have any interesting stories about demonstrations you've gone to, please share them! Thanks.:)

[jonesy zoo]

well done....I personally havnt been to any demonstrations but I do go and rescue animals privately...I carefully observe the care of the animal, I then make a few innocent suggestions and if they get ignored then things get put into place....I give John 100% support with the way he will rescue any animal...without concern for his life....I think anybody who is out there saving or trying to stop animal abuse deserves our full appreciation not personal bashings, at least they are of their butts and getting out there...so please lets keep this a nice thread and keep the personal attacks to ourselves...once again great job Gail45ca....Donna

[John Olexa]

Good for you!!!!!!! Been to many demonstrations, been arrested at demonstrations LOL. I'm both animal rights activist & Vegan. Done a lot of protest against IAMS by myself. Have had people just walk by and not take my leaflets, but never had anyone give me a hard time.

way to go Gail!!!!!

[John Olexa]

Gail here are some demo tips:

• Right before the demo, have a quick meeting to pump each other up, ask questions that you may not know a good answer to (someone will), and get yourselves organized.

• Set yourselves up well. Center the most important aspect of the demo (the crippled chicken costume, the hanging chicken prop, the banner, etc.), and then place people around it. Keep people standing together. Sometimes people want to do their own thing, but remember that this is a group event and you need to look like a group.

• Hold your sign at chest level in front of you or high in the air, angled toward traffic. Make sure people can read the sign and see your face.

• If you are holding a banner, keep it taut and straight. We know that this can be tiring for your arms, but if you start getting tired, ask someone else to take over for you.

• Have people do what they are good at. For example, some people excel at leafleting. If possible, let them do that.

• If you’re going to be chanting, make sure the chants sound good and that everyone participates. This can be a very powerful tool at a demo but only if done well. Our favorite chants are “KFC tortures chickens/Boycott KFC” and “KFC, what do you say?/How many chickens tortured today?” Have one person with a really loud voice or a bullhorn say the first line of the chant, and the rest of the group respond with the second.

• Smile and wave.

• Make sure that you are polite to everyone who walks or drives by, even if they aren’t polite to you. If someone says something mean to you and you are nice back, everyone watching will think that you’re the better person and will be more likely to listen to you. ( I know a hard one for me) LOL
. If the police arrive ( Most of the time they won't), walk right over and introduce yourself politely. Usually they’re just interested in what the fuss is about. If they tell you that you need to move or need a permit to be there, politely but firmly remind them that you have a First Amendment right to be on public property. Theres a person to call if your hassled. But deleated it here.

• If a KFC manager or employee comes out and demands that you leave or move across the street, explain that you have a right to be on public property. You can also explain that you aren’t protesting anything that the manager or store did, but rather you want KFC as a company to change. Explain what KFC does to chickens; most store managers have no idea, and some will even agree with you!

• Set up a meeting or social gathering for after the demo (maybe a popular restaurant or coffee shop), and let everyone know about it beforehand. This will help to keep chatting to a minimum so people can concentrate on the demo.

• Have fun! We are standing up for those who can’t stand up for themselves. Revel in the fact that you are doing something good and important!

[Fuzzy Kitten]

I don't really know what a demonstration is, I've never heard of one.

Sorry to say that I love chicken but hey, you're doin a good thing for the animals:D

['too crazy]

I've never been in a demonstration but then I live in the country where they raise animals for...well...you know. Anyway, I have signed just about all the petitions John posts. Would love to do a demonstration though sometime.

Donna, you gave wonderful advice about keeping this thread nice. Please everyone, keep it peaceful.

[jonesy zoo]

not being sarcastic or nasty, but for those you don't know what a demonstration is....A demonstration is the public display of the common opinion of an activist group, often economically, political, or socially, by gathering in a crowd, usually at a symbolic place or date, associated with that opinion. The purpose of a demonstration is to show that a significant amount of people are for or against a certain issue, person, law, etc.

A demonstration is usually considered more successful the more people participate. A growing trend in the United States has been the implementation of "free speech zones," a fenced-in area which is often far-removed from the event which is being protested; critics of free-speech zones argue that they are unconstitutional by their very nature and that they lessen the impact the demonstration might have otherwise had.

Some demonstrations and protests can turn, at least partially, into riots or violence against things (like cars and shops), bystanders and the police. These acts of destruction against private property -- which are not thought to be acts of "violence" by some, since they do not hurt people -- are targeted toward major corporations and chain stores, and rarely affect independently-owned businesses. Police often use "less than lethal" weapons, such as Tasers, rubber bullets and pepper spray against the crowd; it is believed by some that they use agents provocateurs to rile the crowd, thereby justifying the use of violence against demonstrators.

[Gail45ca]

jonesy, thanks for clearing up the definition of a demonstration. And I commend you for rescuing animals, so many of them need our help!

John, thanks for the demo tips, this is some great info!

Thanks everyone for keeping this discussion nice. :)

[cryjay]

As per the OP;

I do not eat meat or chicken or fish, will eat cheese, eggs (if baked in something):D . My kids and hubby eat meat as well as the rest of my family. I am not opposed to eating meat, just don't like the taste. And I don't like the waste of animals, and believe they deserve as humanely a death as possible before being cooked on the grill.

Animal Rights activist? No. I believe in the welfare of animals, but disagree that they have rights. Just my opinion though.....

[Gail45ca]

cryjay, I feel stupid asking this but what does OP stand for? You stated that you don't believe animals have rights but believe in the welfare of animals. And you feel they should have a humane death before being eaten and I agree. I wanted to participate in the demonstration because the chickens KFC uses are NOT humanely treated prior to death and even at the time of death. They are tortured from birth to death. I feel that each animal has a right to be treated humanely, even those used for food. I am not a vegetarian although after the demonstration, I'm considering it. I'm still on the fence. If I continue to eat chicken, fish and meat, I will only buy from sources that don't abuse the animals. However, I'm going to be experimenting with vegetarian choices and if I can find a good substitute, I'll probably stick with it. Anyway, thank you for voicing your opinion! :)

[JustJo]

OP means Original Poster...the person who started the thread.

[John Olexa]

They don't deserve rights???

Chickens raised on factory farms never have the chance to do anything that is natural to them. They will never take dust baths, feel the sun on their backs, breathe fresh air, roost in trees, or build nests.

Chickens raised for their flesh, called “broilers” by the chicken industry, spend their entire lives in filthy sheds with tens of thousands of other birds, where intense crowding and confinement lead to outbreaks of disease. They are bred and drugged to grow so large so quickly that their legs and organs can’t keep up, making heart attacks, organ failure, and crippling leg deformities common. Many become crippled under their own weight and eventually die because they can’t reach the water nozzles. When they are only 6 or 7 weeks old, they are crammed into cages and trucked to slaughter.

Birds exploited for their eggs, called “laying hens” by the industry, are crammed together in wire cages where they don’t even have enough room to spread a single wing. The cages are stacked on top of each other, and the excrement from chickens in the higher cages constantly falls on those below. Their sensitive beaks are cut off so that they don’t peck each other out of the frustration created by the unnatural confinement, and farmers often deprive birds of food for as long as 14 days in order to shock their bodies into producing more eggs (the practice is called forced-molting). After their bodies are exhausted and their production drops, they are shipped to slaughter, generally to be turned into chicken soup or cat or dog food because their flesh is too bruised and battered to be used for much else.

Because the male chicks of egg-laying breeder hens are unable to lay eggs and are not bred to produce excessive flesh for the meat industry, they are killed. Every year, more than 100 million of these young birds are ground up alive or tossed into bags to suffocate.

Chickens are slammed into small crates and trucked to the slaughterhouse through all weather extremes. Hundreds of millions suffer from broken wings and legs from rough handling, and millions die from the stress of the journey.

At the slaughterhouse, their legs are snapped into shackles, their throats are cut, and they are immersed in scalding hot water to remove their feathers. Because they have no federal legal protection (birds are exempt from the Humane Methods of Slaughter Act), most are still conscious when their throats are cut open, and many are literally scalded to death in the feather-removal tanks after missing the throat cutter.

They don't deserve rights?????

[cryjay]

cryjay, I feel stupid asking this but what does OP stand for? You stated that you don't believe animals have rights but believe in the welfare of animals. And you feel they should have a humane death before being eaten and I agree. I wanted to participate in the demonstration because the chickens KFC uses are NOT humanely treated prior to death and even at the time of death. They are tortured from birth to death. I feel that each animal has a right to be treated humanely, even those used for food. I am not a vegetarian although after the demonstration, I'm considering it. I'm still on the fence. If I continue to eat chicken, fish and meat, I will only buy from sources that don't abuse the animals. However, I'm going to be experimenting with vegetarian choices and if I can find a good substitute, I'll probably stick with it. Anyway, thank you for voicing your opinion! :)
OP= original post

I am not saying like yourself, that I agree with the way the animals are treated, raised and then slaughtered. I disagree, also with the mass production of the meat industry because so much goes to waste. The meat I buy for my family, comes from local farms, where if anything, they don't ever have enough meat supply. They don't waste the animals and I feel more comfortable buying from them for that regard. The animals also have the chance to roam freely amongst the farm and aren't all caged upon each other or stabled side by side, every day of their life until slaughtering time. People will always eat meat. Nobody is ever going to change that. What we CAN change though is how we we treat the animals from birth to the time of death and even after so as little waste as possible is made.;)

[cryjay]

To John,

I do not believe that animals should be treated so cruelly. I am not ignorant to those type of things around me. All the meat consumed at my house is organic. They are fed free range and not pumped with steroids, and antibiotics and w/e else mass producing farms decide to throw in the mix at the time.

I believe in the welfare of animals, not rights. The welfare of animals covers the fact that they *NEED to be treated humanely from the time of conception to after the kill.

I do NOT believe in any way that animals take precedent over humans- well most humans-

My children do not eat much meat. Yes they eat meat abour 6 days a week but it is a very small portion. I do not eat any meat. My husband eats what I would consider regular portioned sizes. He would love to eat more, but hey, I'm the cook:p

[John Olexa]

[/QUOTE] The animals also have the chance to roam freely amongst the farm and aren't all caged upon each other or stabled side by side, every day of their life until slaughtering time. People will always eat meat. Nobody is ever going to change that. What we CAN change though is how we we treat the animals from birth to the time of death and even after so as little waste as possible is made.;)[/QUOTE]

I don't have half the problem with that at all. but sadly how many buy from farmer John. The big stores sure don't. Il'l never go back to meat, Gross's me out to even see it raw BLA!! LOL

But Could deal with it a lot more if more local farmers & such were involved. There is just to much demand for them so ( factory farms)

But as long as the factory farms are here the animals will suffer

your last sentence " What we CAN change though is how we we treat the animals from birth to the time of death and even after so as little waste as possible is made.

Thats my goal!!

[cryjay]

your last sentence " What we CAN change though is how we we treat the animals from birth to the time of death and even after so as little waste as possible is made.

Thats my goal!![/QUOTE]
If that's your goal, then my support you have and Gladly!
For peta extremists, I don't have the time of day for them.

But I do agree, sadly not enough people stand up against the mass producing farms, and if people don't, the chicken post made by yourself will continue to happen.

I think the way some activist groups go about it though are in the wrong direction. I don't mean that as in they are doing a bad thing, they aren't catching the public's interest the way they should because most of the public views peta and organization as the such as all extremists, who wish to decrease the population of the humans so animals can reign forth upon the earth.

[John Olexa]

I am a PETA extremists!. Where in the world did you get that last sentence from! That is just insane !!!! ( to say the least)

Turns out just another misinformed person

[cryjay]

I am a PETA extremists!. Where in the world did you get that last sentence from! That is just insane !!!! ( to say the least)

Turns out just another misinformed person
I don't know a whole lot about peta, so yeah I'm probably pretty ignorant to some of the peta policies. I am not afraid to admit anything I don't know, am unsure of or in some rare cases when I'm wrong:p

I read it somewhere-pretty vague sorry- a while back. If I could remember where I would let you know. It ws it some magazine I had picked up. I will look through my stash and see if I can find it again or not. If it's over two months old-it's already been freecycled.

I have also read it on various internet sites.

['too crazy]

Please keep our tempers in check here. Is there any way you two can pm each other about this?

[John Olexa]

It's cool I'm ok LOL Please don't believe what you read on other websites

PETA believes that animals have rights and deserve to have their best interests taken into consideration, regardless of whether they are useful to humans. Like you, they are capable of suffering and have an interest in leading their own lives;


PETA focuses its attention on the four areas in which the largest numbers of animals suffer the most intensely for the longest periods of time: on factory farms, in laboratories, in the clothing trade, and in the entertainment industry. We also work on a variety of other issues, including the cruel killing of beavers, birds and other "pests," and the abuse of backyard dogs.

[cryjay]

Please keep our tempers in check here. Is there any way you two can pm each other about this?
My tempers good lol. It's sometimes hard to 'read' the way people are talking, I know.

and to John,

I agree that animals are capable of suffering etc. But, although I don't eat meat, I am not opposed to it. but as stated earlier am opposed to the way the mass meat producing farms go about their business.

[SDBelle]

Back to the subject at hand, it is sickening how chickens are treated.

Regarding John's earlier post about broilers, those birds have been so inbred that many of them can't live normal lives even if they have the chance. I don't currently own chickens, but at our previous home I had a HUGE garden that I didn't want to spray with pesticide, so I always had some chickens roaming around my yard to keep the grasshoppers and other insects in check. One spring I bought some chicks, not realizing at the time that they were 'broilers'. The poor things grew so fast and so big that their legs and feathers couldn't keep up with the size of their bodies. They could barely walk, and had bald patches on their chests and bellies where the feather growth was sparse from dragging on the ground. I did some research on them and read that they are bred to grow fast enough that they can be 'harvested' within a few weeks and ready to eat. I wanted to keep them around just to kill bugs, but they didn't have a chance. They were too slow for the predators around there (hawks and coyotes) and I suppose they were never meant to live as free-range chickens like that. It's sad to me that they have to live that way because that's how they've been bred, not to mention how they are treated in slaughterhouses. :(

[jonesy zoo]

if I can recall this thread was about wether or not you had been in any demo and what was your experience like? not wether you agree with John or the organization he supports....I read this very early this am and thought haw did this turn around and get so far of topic...Love or hate John or the organization he is a memeber of---and remember he is only a member he doest own the organization, he supports it- we all have to acknowlege at least John has made us all take a dam good look at the way animals are treated...so lets stop with the personal attacks and rather then venting our anger lack of a better word and put a heads together and come up with a solution and stop being lounge chair wanna- bes....Donna

[Gina]

Well done Gail, good on ya :)

I myself have been on more demos than I can remember. Oddly enough I've never been on any that have had to do with animal rights. I shall have to do something about that! I see you're in Texas, if I ever see of any in Austin where I live I will have to join in.

My experience of demos have largely been great, so much Camaraderie from like minded people is good for the soul. I've only been on a few that turned ugly. The scariest one was when we counter-demo'd a NF (UK equivalent of the KKK) demo, there were about 600 of them and about 100 of us. I've never been so scared in my life.

[JHTROCK]

So Peta does respond to abuse of backyard dogs, I thought they would, but have heard they only deal with largescale abuse. I am glad to know there are extremist who will put their whole heart and soul into causes that drive me nuts, but I can't seem to fix by myself.

[Tulio]

I applaud you for doing that, i imagine it is something very rewarding to do. I had a period where I tried becoming Vegan and it was extremely hard for me. I'm hispanic and in my household we eat meat everyday, and I know it is not good for our bodies and that the animals don't deserve it at all. Hopefully one day I will gain the power to leave meat for good and for ever.

But for now .... Congrats we need more people like you.

[Pepsidoodle]

I just quite eating meat. I am so angry and sick to hear what they do to the chickens. I know it is probably as bad or worse for cows, pigs, etc. After reading that I am over the fence. I had meat yesterday but none today. I guess I have a head start. Man how horrible. I just picture my little parrot in that situation. She is so smart. How cruel. Kudos to you Gail and John. More power to ya.

[John Olexa]

I applaud you for doing that, i imagine it is something very rewarding to do. I had a period where I tried becoming Vegan and it was extremely hard for me. I'm hispanic and in my household we eat meat everyday, and I know it is not good for our bodies and that the animals don't deserve it at all. Hopefully one day I will gain the power to leave meat for good and for ever.

But for now .... Congrats we need more people like you.


Tulio, thanks for trying, it shows you care. Maybe I can help you a little.
I know it's hard, I am very ,very lucky I had no trouble. What I did was give meat up in stages, First pork, then beef, then chicken and last seafood. All with in 2 month's. Never looked back.

[John Olexa]

I just quite eating meat. I am so angry and sick to hear what they do to the chickens. I know it is probably as bad or worse for cows, pigs, etc. After reading that I am over the fence. I had meat yesterday but none today. I guess I have a head start. Man how horrible. I just picture my little parrot in that situation. She is so smart. How cruel. Kudos to you Gail and John. More power to ya.

Woohoo!! Good for you Pep.

See above post. If it helps take it slowly, give it up in stages. I know some say do it at all at once. But I have seen more people succed in the long run doing it my way.
Best of luck!

Pep & Tulio
I also found out it helps if you make up a menu, so you know what your going to have ahead of time.

[Pepsidoodle]

Thanks John. I don't eat meat a lot now. I will have to watch the ingredients in things. Our buddy Al is a vegan and I prepare special things for him when he is over. I will just make more for me. We never eat out. I have kind of a restaurant phobia from working in them. That will be a plus.

I wish I could do more. I guess it is a start to give up eating dead animals.

Way to go Tulio! I am right there with you.