For more than five years, PETA US has pressured fast-food chain KFC to ensure its suppliers halt the worst abuses of chickens, including scalding birds to death, cutting their throats while they're still conscious, and drugging and breeding them to grow so large that they become crippled beneath their own weight. Now PETA US has scored a major victory and is ending its boycott of Kentucky Fried Chicken in Canada. However, the boycott will continue in other countries where KFC has restaurants, including the UK, until those companies follow Canada's lead.

Following months of closed-door negotiations between PETA US and the company which coordinates the purchase of chickens for all Canadian KFCs, the lives and deaths of all chickens killed for KFCs in Canada will be improved by a historic new animal welfare plan.

According to the new plan, the company which coordinates the purchase of chickens for all Canadian KFCs will take the following actions:

• Ensure the phase-in of 100 percent of chicken purchases from suppliers which use controlled-atmosphere killing (CAK) – the least cruel form of poultry slaughter ever developed.
• Improve the audits used to monitor Canadian KFCs' chicken suppliers in order to reduce the number of broken bones and other injuries suffered by birds.
• Urge Canadian KFCs' chicken suppliers to adopt better practices, including improved lighting, more space for birds, lower ammonia levels, and a phase-out of growth-promoting drugs and breeding practices which painfully cripple chickens.
• Form an animal welfare advisory panel to monitor the changes and recommend further advancements.

The majority of KFCs in Canada have also added a faux-chicken menu item to their restaurants.

This is an enormous victory for PETA US and its supporters. However, outside Canada, KFC has not acted to stop the worst abuses of chickens. Pledge to boycott KFC outside Canada until the chain takes action. Please contact KFC, and demand that the company adopt the same animal welfare plan which is now improving the lives and deaths of chickens killed for Canadian KFCs. Tell the company you will boycott the chain until it follows the lead of most KFCs in Canada. You can contact KFC by using this online form or calling +44 (0) 1483 717000. Please also sign our petition below.