KFC Cruelty Campaign - Melbourne Australia

[melbourne 2003 / 2004 / 2005] [sydney] [brisbane] [canberra] [ballarat] [adelaide] [geelong] [kuala lumpur] [bangkok] [ho chi minh city]

Animal Liberation Victoria have been conducting weekly demonstrations outside Melbourne City KFC as part of the international KFC Cruelty campaign. Globally the campaign has achieved enormous media attention and gained the support of celebrities as diverse as Paul McCartney, Chrissie Hynde, Jason Alexander, Pamela Anderson and James Cromwell. ALV protestors have shown video of an ALV open rescue of broiler hens at a KFC supplier (which documents KFC broiler babies being raised in horrific conditions), and handed out over 75,000 leaflets, posters and postcards to KFC customers and passers by, many of whom have been horrified to learn about the suffering involved in the ‘colonel’s secret recipe’ and have sworn off ever again eating the remains of tortured and crippled baby birds.

Following is a regularly updated photo essay about ALV’s ongoing KFC Cruelty demonstrations. If you would like to get involved in a KFC Cruelty protest or conduct your own, contact ALV in Australia or PETA elsewhere in the world.

Click on any photo for larger version

2004 KFC demos (2003 and 2005 KFC cruelty demo photos)

Demo 70 - October 23, 2004

a line of protesters, a near empty kfc store, and an angry manager needing anger management.

Demo 63 - September 4, 2004

Protesters stood in front of the KFC doors with large posters depicting images of how KFC chickens are raised. Many customers were turned off their food seeing the images of cruelty and decomposing corpses being held up to the windows.

Demo 62 - August 28, 2004

the person in the third photo approached the kfc cruelty protest and in an attempt to harrass the protestors lifted up his shirt and started rubbing his half eaten piece of chicken into his chest. the fact that this individual eats kfc is perhaps one of the best arguments for not eating at kfc. we have placed his photo next to a photo of another good reason for not eating at kfc, one of the scores of dead and decomposing birds that rescue teams repeatedly find on the ground in kfc supplier sheds.

Demo 53 - June 26, 2004

At this protest two council compliance officers approached and said that since ALV leaflets did not contain the words 'do not litter' we could be fined $200 for each leaflet they picked up off the ground. they gave us the option of calling the demo off or being fined. We have been doing these protests for over a year and have had no trouble so far. T
he council compliance officers said they had received complaints from local traders about the number of KFC leaflets on the ground, which was surprising because after the protests we walk up the street and usually only see about 2-3 discarded leaflets which we always pick up. One of the compliance officers, Gerry Francis, told us that council do not usually concern themselves with political or religious leaflets but they are taking legal advice on what they can do to get us stopped. After we told him we would have 'do not litter' stamps on all the leaflets for the demo next week he told us that if council didn't get us on that they would get us on other compliance issues (the example he gave was two people standing next to each other while handing out leaflets).

After the protest we were informed by our contacted inside the store who informed us that after the demonstration the previous week, KFC management had filmed their friends dropping leaflets on the street and then submitted this tape in a complaint to council. ALV have been conducting KFC cruelty demonstrations at this location for over a year, now after what appears to be a dishonest, manufactured complaint from KFC (which would show how desperate they are and how much our protests are hurting them) council are attempting to remove our freedom to protest. If council think they can remove our freedom to speak up for the rights of animals they have another thing coming. We will not give up our democratic right to protest, nor will we give up on the millions upon millions of birds tortured and killed by KFC.

Demo 50 - June 5, 2004

ALV held their 50th KFC protest against KFC this Saturday, handing out over 3,000 leaflets to passers by. The day was a great success with many people telling the protesters they would never eat at KFC ever again. T
he protest happened the day before the 60th anniversary of D-Day and ALV member Mervyn Langford, a World War II veteran who was part of the Normandy invasion, took part in the protest. Merv said 'I have always been taught to speak out against wrongdoing whenever I witness it and that's why I'm here today to speak up for these defenceless animals. I don't like to think about my time in Normandy sixty years ago, and I cannot think of a better way to spend the 60th Anniversary of D-Day than to speak out against the horrible suffering these animals endure every day.'

Demo 48 - May 22, 2004

For some reason KFC thought it would be a good idea to hand out free chicken on the street during ALV's protest. KFC management quickly learned otherwise. T
he second photo shows the owner of the KFC store (who clearly looks as though he eats there way too often) asking police to stop us taking photos of him.

Demo 45 - may 1, 2004

As the May Day march passed by ALV's KFC cruelty protest the leader of the May Day march started chanting 'KFC leave the chickens alone!' into four giant bullhorns mounted on a ute. For several minutes all the May Day marchers passing by kept up the chant.

Demo 42 - April 10, 2004

Regular KFC cruelty photographer Noah Hannibal was travelling during this week's demonstration but sent in these photos of the central Beijing KFC.

Demo 41 - April 3, 2004

KFC need to invest in some anger management training for their employees. This KFC manager (third photo) came out swearing and ranting.

Demo 40 - March 27, 2004

Demo 38 - March 13, 2004

A portable television showing images of cruelty at KFC suppliers turned many KFC customers off their meal and convinced many passers by not to eat at KFC.

Demo 37 - March 5, 2004

Demo 36 - February 28, 2004

Demo 35 - February 21, 2004

Demo 34 - February 14, 2004

The second photograph shows a sign that appeared on the KFC window one morning a few days before the protest.

Demo 33 - February 7, 2004

Demo 31 - January 24, 2004

Demo 30 - January 17, 2004

KFC protest number 30 saw a huge number of activists show up to protest KFC cruelty. Visiting Irish photographer Sean Dwyer came along to document the event (first three photos).

Demo 29 - January 10, 2004

The first Melbourne KFC Cruelty demo of the new year saw a KFC manager briefly join the protest (photos 1 and 2). The final photo shows some of the literature that was plastered across the KFC store.

Demo 28 - January 03, 2004

ALV members travelled to Geelong to join other animal rights activist in the first KFC Cruelty protest of the year. The protest received excellent local media coverage and educated hundreds of Geelong residents about the cruelties of KFC.

To receive future rescue notifications enter your e-mail address below.