PETA vs. KFC in Cairo
Issandr El AmraniEgypt-animal-protest
Giant chicken loses head outside Cairo KFC
CAIRO, Feb 17, 2007 (AFP) - A man dressed in a bright yellow chicken suit protesting cruelty to animals outside a fried chicken outlet in downtown Cairo Saturday was knocked down and had his chicken head yanked off by restaurant employees before being hustled away by police, witnesses said.
Jason Baker, a United States citizen, was part of a protest being staged by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) against Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) for the way its suppliers allegedly treat the animals.
PETA claims KFC suppliers engage in unnecessary cruelty, including drugging and breeding the chickens so that they grow overlarge and become crippled.
As photographers and bystanders crowded around Baker and another PETA activist, Nadia Montasser, a scuffle broke out and Baker was knocked over by KFC employees yelling, "he is not Egyptian," which they subsequently proved by removing his chicken head.
Montasser and Baker were taken away by police but released soon afterwards.
"They have just proved our point," Montasser said on being freed. "If this is how they treat humans imagine how they treat chickens?"
She acknowledged, however, that PETA could not say for sure if chickens were being mishandled by KFC Egypt but that was not the point of the protest.
"We are not targeting KFC Egypt, it is a worldwide campaign aginst KFC," she said, adding that the movement wanted the company to implement specific policies to ensure there was no cruelty.
"We have no relations with the company outside," said the manager of the branch on Tahrir Square, in the heart of Cairo. "We are an Egyptian company with all Egyptian employees, supplied by Egyptian farmers."
According to Tariq Tawfiq, vice president of the chamber of food industries, fast food chains in Egypt use state of the art slaughterhouses that try to ensure the birds are as calm as possible when they are killed.
"The way you treat chicken has a great impact on the quality of the taste, if you treat the chicken right, and keep them calm then their meat is much more tender," he said.
Last May, Baker dressed up as a giant sheep and presented flowers to the Australian embassy in Cairo after it recommended suspending sheep exports to Egypt because of the conditions of the abattoirs.
Click here more shots on Flickr or on the pics for a larger size.
Photos by Amro Maraghi for AFP.
[Thanks, Paul]
Reader Comments (10)
But KFC in Cairo tastes so much better than the cardboard chicken at U.S. outlets that I'm sure the birds are treated somewhat more humanely -- fed barsoom, allowed to play with Nancy Agram as she does the washing, etc.
I don't know who's funnier, the PETA activists or the nationalist Egyptians, but I can't believe I missed this!!
You cannot be serious about Egyptian KFC tasting better. For a start, they don't sell corn on the cob anymore. And the chicken is truly vile and dripping in fat. I have a craving for it twice a year, last time was last week and I felt much self-loathing after gorging on a bucket.
i was asked about this by a confused police officer (outside my house) who had just been down to tahrir to try and sort it out. first of all he thought "jason" was italian and that the egyptian girl with him was a paid translator ("why not? she's making good money"). he also said that the two of them were handing out dvds with footage of kfc employees stubbing out cigarettes on defenseless chickens. perhaps he was confusing chickens with microbus drivers, but anyway, he said he'd never eat from KFC "ever again". i offered him my wholehearted support for taking this brave stance and we parted friends.
LOL.Comedy gold.
PeTA is one of the silliest and most melodramatic organizations in the world. This is the organisation that emphasizes that it would rather see humans die than see animals suffer. They're trying to protest chickens being crippled in a 3rd world country where humans are being stepped on everyday and they think anybody's going to give a crap? LOL again.
lol, Don't mess with Egypt!
[...] for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) staged a rally against Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC), in Cairo, wrote Issandr El Amrani in The Arabist. Amira Al [...]
How did he get the chicken costume through customs?
slm lau entu muslim jeba ana karim wi il internet mafain begad ok beteuku karim
[...] And now for the weirdo barnyard animal portion of our program. KFC is not a fan favorite in Egypt. [...]