The unnerving sights and sounds of barely clothed women having their throats cut outside KFC in Brixton today (21 January) stopped passers-by and fast food customers in their tracks.
It also attracted the attention of six police officers who kept a distant but watchful eye on a bladed article that would have seen an instant arrest if it was not being used to dramatise the miserable life and cruel death of the chickens eaten by local carnivores.
The vegan protest group PETA was staging a lunchtime protest in Brixton.
“Chickens: Shackled and Bled Out. Please Try Vegan” said its message on the scaffold used to shackle supporters Gloria and Polly as they acted out the grim last moments of a battery chicken.
“The gruesome display highlighted that billions of chickens raised for their flesh endure terrifying deaths, and that humans and chickens are the same in all the ways that matter,” said PETA, encouraging passers-by to show kindness to birds by eating vegan.
“Chickens are curious, social, and full of personality, and they don’t want to be killed for a fleeting taste of their flesh any more than any human would,” said Elisa Allen PETA vice president of programmes.
“PETA is encouraging diners to leave chickens in peace, not pieces, by choosing delicious plant-powered foods instead.”
The campaign said chickens form complex social structures, dream when they sleep, and worry about the future – “but in the meat industry, they’re crammed into sheds by the tens of thousands and bred to grow such unnaturally large upper bodies that their legs often become crippled under the weight.
“At the slaughterhouse, they’re shackled upside down, their throats are slit, and they’re scalded in defeathering tanks – sometimes while still conscious.
PETA said its free vegan starter kit – and guide to The UK’s Best Vegan Fried Chicken – can help anyone looking to make the switch.
Last year, PETA erected a pro-vegan ad above a chicken shop in Stockwell, targeted KFC stores nationwide with its “Would it kill you to get a vegan burger” billboard, and plastered ads on double-decker buses running through South London’s “Chicken Valley”.
For more information, please visit PETA.org.uk or follow PETA on Facebook, X, TikTok, or Instagram.
Polly Foreman – who was one of the victims in the drama outside KFC – explains why she did it:
https://www.peta.org.uk/blog/upside-down-kfc/
