Pizza Hut 2008 Annual Report Download - page 51

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ITEM 8: SHAREHOLDER PROPOSAL RELATING TO ANIMAL WELFARE
(Item 8 on the Proxy Card)
What am I voting on?
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals has advised us that they intend to present the following
shareholder proposal at the Annual Meeting. We will furnish the address and share ownership of the
proponent upon request.
2009 Yum! Brands Shareholder Proposal on Animal Welfare
RESOLVED that shareholders encourage the Board to implement the March 2005 recommendations
made by former members of KFC’s animal welfare council.
Supporting Statement
As the following examples illustrate, there is a clear gap between KFC’s animal welfare claims and the
way that birds killed for its restaurants are abused:
• Years after KFC made assurances that its suppliers treat animals humanely, it was documented that
workers at a KFC ‘‘Supplier of the Year’’ slaughterhouse were tearing live birds’ heads off, spitting
tobacco in their eyes, slamming them against walls, and spray-painting their faces. In 2007, birds at
another ‘‘Supplier of the Year’’ slaughterhouse were found being impaled by broken equipment and
scalded and crushed to death.
• Every KFC supplier in the U.S. kills birds by dumping and shackling them while they are still alive,
paralyzing them with an electrically charged water bath, slitting their throats while they’re still
conscious, and removing their feathers in tanks of scalding-hot water.
• Birds suffer throughout this process; their wings and legs are broken, workers regularly abuse them,
and many are scalded to death (the U.S. Department of Agriculture reported that 3.7 million birds
were scalded to death in one year alone).
• Five members of KFC’s touted animal welfare council have resigned in frustration. One former
Proxy Statement
member, Adele Douglass, told the Chicago Tribune that KFC ‘‘never had any meetings’’ and that
she felt that she ‘‘was being used.’’ Another, Dr. Ian Duncan, told the Guelph Mercury that he
suspected that ‘‘upper management didn’t really think that animal welfare was important.’’
PETA would end its campaign, which shareholders can learn more about at www.KentuckyFriedCruelty.com,
if KFC adopted the March 11, 2005 recommendations made by its own former animal welfare advisors
regarding the breeding, gathering, and slaughtering of birds:
• Adopting these recommendations would harmonize KFC’s claims with its actions and result in
numerous economic benefits, including improved product quality and shelf life and reduced carcass
contamination.
• The longer that KFC refuses to eliminate the very worst abuses that its birds suffer, the more that
its brand image will become associated with cruelty to animals. More than 13,000 protests have
occurred at KFC restaurants worldwide since January 2003, and notable figures like Sir Paul
McCartney, The Rev. Al Sharpton, Pamela Anderson, and His Holiness the Dalai Lama have
publicly encouraged people to boycott KFC.
Accordingly, shareholders are encouraged to vote in favor of this proposal.
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