PORTLAND, Maine - Animal rights activists with the group Mercy for Animals demonstrated with a 7-foot chicken in front of a Portland McDonald's this Monday afternoon to urge the fast food giant to adopt better animal welfare policies.
Cars slowed to look at graphic images of abused animals, and some honked their horns in support.
Earlier this year, Mercy for Animals released graphic hidden camera footage of cruelty to chickens at a Tyson Foods plant in Tennessee.
Tyson was one of McDonalds' suppliers of chicken meat, but the company - America's second-largest purchaser of poultry - has since cut ties with that plant. But Mercy for Animals national campaign coordinator Jenni Haines, says those practices weren't limited to that one plant.
"The practices carried out by this farm are pretty standard within the industry," Haines says. "Right now McDonalds has no animal welfare policy that actually addresses broiler chickens, so we're asking them to adopt a comprehensive policy so these things can't continue happening."
Today's action in Portland is part of a nationwide tour for Mercy for Animals.