Teens in Bangor rally against KFC

BANGOR – A group of local activists, mostly teenagers, stood in front of the Broadway KFC Friday protesting the fast-food company’s treatment of chickens.

Demonstrators said KFC is using inhumane practices to capture and house its chickens, such as removing birds’ beaks and filling the poultry with chemicals to make them bigger.

“It’s very unhealthy to consume things like that,” Orono High School student Josh Alexander said during the protest about genetically modified chicken. Alexander, 17, said the protesters were campaigning for both animal and consumer rights.

Store officials declined to comment on the demonstrators.

Lining the busy street holding brightly colored signs that held messages of “KFC Cruelty,” the protesters were brought together by 15-year-old Bangor High School student Colleen Walker. This was the second protest the group has staged in three weeks. After about two hours, Bangor police broke up the demonstration because the group did not have a permit.

Walker organized the protest using the Web site for the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals to send e-mails to like-minded people in the area. About 15 people showed up.

“I knew a lot of people in Bangor cared,” Walker said Friday.

Denise Brown of Dover-Foxcroft said KFC makes its chickens too top-heavy so they break their legs and are crippled. She pointed to a pair of crutches on the sidewalk, symbolizing this practice.

“The systematic torture of billions of chickens each year has to be stopped,” Brown said during the protest.

At 57, Brown was the self-proclaimed “senior of the group,” as most of the demonstrators were under 18. Brown said KFC and its parent company Yum!Brands are the worst offenders of chicken cruelty.

After the protest Brown said people from inside the store had thrown chicken at them and laughed.

“It was pretty gross,” Brown said over the phone after the protest was over.

Alexander said that at the first protest three weeks ago, a man wrote “Die Chicken Die” on his back in red marker in counterprotest.

“It’s pretty interesting what people do sometimes,” Alexander said.

Regardless of any opposition, the demonstrators plan to be back soon.

“This is only the beginning as far as I’m concerned,” Brown said.