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Naked PETA women to protest at KFC that Kaluza managed
Photo
Joseph Kaluza
By Jon Moffett
YOUNGSTOWN — Customers might encounter thighs and other body parts inside and outside the South Avenue KFC restaurant today.
The restaurant has experienced a lot in the past year. Last March, then-manager Joe Kaluza was shot and paralyzed while taking the restaurant’s deposit of $300 to the bank.
Now, the restaurant has been chosen by the animal rights group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals for a protest today of the chain restaurant’s treatment of chickens. Naked women covered only by a strategically placed banner will protest “The Naked Truth: KFC Tortures Chicks,” according to a PETA news release.
Despite five other KFCs located within a five-mile radius of that restaurant, the South Avenue eatery was not chosen for its recent notoriety, said Kristina Addington, a campaign coordinator with PETA.
“It was a coincidence,” she said of the South Avenue location choice and the timing of the first anniversary of the Kaluza shooting. She added that PETA was made aware of the Kaluza incident only after the group had selected protest locations.
The South Avenue KFC was chosen because it is on a corner and has good visibility from the street, Addington said.
Though Addington said PETA provides store managers a copy of the leaflet they distribute and other information, Jim Valerio, manager of KFC restaurants in the region, said he was unaware of the protest and wouldn’t comment further.
According to a news release, PETA will stage a demonstration at noon, protesting the restaurant suppliers’ methods for housing and killing chickens. The demonstration is designed to protest “KFC suppliers’ abusive treatment of chickens on factory farms and in slaughterhouses.”
The release said a few PETA volunteers will wear nothing but a banner during the protest. The banner will read, “The Naked Truth: KFC Tortures Chicks” on the front and, “Turn Your Back On KFC Cruelty” on the back.
Addington said the display was designed to urge KFC’s suppliers to use alternative processes for slaughtering chickens.
“We want them to implement a few changes that would be safer for the birds and better for their consumers,” she said.
An officer with the Youngstown Police Department said the demonstration was within the law as long as the women were completely covered and did not disrupt traffic flow. Addington said the women will be covered at all times.
Addington said the campaign, called the Naked Truth Protest, travels to various locations in the country. Youngstown was selected because it is a central location in the Mahoning Valley.
She added that the idea behind the naked women in the demonstration was “chicks that are sticking up for other chicks.”
jmoffett@vindy.com