A Taiwanese nonprofit group advocating for environmental and animal rights demonstrated in Taipei yesterday to urge fast-food giant McDonald’s to stop using eggs from battery-farmed chickens.
Representatives from the Environment and Animal Society of Taiwan (EAST) dressed in chicken costumes and unfurled banners, holding placards in front of a McDonald’s outlet and calling on the fast-food chain to cease buying battery-farmed eggs and help stop the abuse of egg-laying hens.
The signs read: “McDonald’s, stop abusing hens,” with an EAST representative holding a cage with several mock chickens inside.
Photo: CNA
EAST’s campaign coincided with similar protests in South Korea, Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia and Hong Kong during a regional “go cage-free” day.
Battery-farmed chickens are raised with two to five hens per cage, with living space about the size of a sheet of A4 paper, EAST researcher Tsun Fang-chu (寸舫筑) told reporters.
The system is arranged in rows and columns of cages connected as a unit, and has long been criticized as inhumane.
Other chain restaurants such as KFC and Burger King have cage-free egg policies in place, Tsun said, adding that McDonald’s continues to use eggs from battery-farmed chickens throughout Asia, despite having promised to use free-range eggs in other markets such as the US, Canada, Latin America and South Africa.
Animal rights groups in Asia have been lobbying McDonald’s to stop using such eggs for 10 years, but the US-based chain has not provided a satisfactory response, Tsun said.
Despite McDonald’s telling its shareholders this year that it would take advantage of its global influence to improve animal welfare, there was no immediate sign that the chain is stopping the practice in Asia, Tsun said.
“It is almost discriminatory, and certainly a regrettable move from McDonald’s,” she said.
McDonald’s Taiwan said in a statement that the company follows food sanitation regulations in Taiwan and has paid close attention to animal rights, having improved the environment chickens are raised in through the use of water-curtain systems and ensuring the animals are supplied with ample nutrition.
UNDER WATCH: Taiwan will have to establish a standardized nucleic acid testing method to identify the virus and monitor its spread, the CDC said The Langya henipavirus, which can be transmitted from animals to humans, has been discovered in China, with 35 human infections reported so far, Taiwan’s Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said, adding that the nation would establish a nucleic acid testing method to identify the virus. A study titled “A Zoonotic Henipavirus in Febrile Patients in China” that was published in the New England Journal of Medicine on Thursday said that a new henipavirus associated with a fever-causing human illness was identified in China. The study said an investigation identified 35 patients with acute infection of the Langya henipavirus in China’s Shandong
MISSILE PATHS: Certain information on the Chinese missile fire was not disclosed to maintain secrecy over military intelligence-gathering capabilities, the MND said Military experts yesterday speculated on the implication of the government’s tight-lipped response and the lack of air-raid sirens during the first day of China’s military drills the previous day. On Thursday, the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) launched 11 Dongfeng-series ballistic missiles into waters north, east and south of Taiwan, a day after US House of Representative Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s departure from the country, the Ministry of National Defense (MND) said. The Japanese Ministry of Defense said that China fired nine missiles toward Taiwan, including four that flew over Taiwan proper. However, China’s exhibition of force failed to terrorize the local populace, because
If any war were to break out between the US and China, one trigger might be the increasingly frequent fighter jet encounters near Taiwan. Almost every day, Taiwanese fighter pilots hop in their US-made F-16s to intercept Chinese warplanes screaming past their territory. The encounters probe the nation’s defenses and force the pilots on both sides to avoid mistakes that could lead to a crisis that spins out of control. “I didn’t know whether they would fire at me,” said retired colonel Mountain Wang, recounting a tense five-minute confrontation he had with Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) jets more than a decade
INCREASINGLY EMBOLDENED: China can no longer be dismissed as inexperienced, demonstrating an ability to coordinate land and sea missile systems, an expert said Beijing’s largest-ever exercises around Taiwan have offered essential clues into its plans for a grueling blockade in the event of an attack on Taiwan, and revealed an increasingly emboldened Chinese military, experts said. The visit to Taiwan by US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi — second in line to the presidency — sparked outrage from Beijing, which launched vast military maneuvers around the nation, even at the risk of partially exposing its plans to the US and its Asian allies. Mobilizing fighter planes, helicopters and warships, the drills aim to simulate a blockade of Taiwan and include practicing an “attack on
RSS