Vegan activist pours fake blood over KFC floor in protest at ‘animal abuse’

Tash Peterson has been campaigning against the meat and dairy industry since adopting a vegan diet in 2017

Tash Peterson protesting animal abuse in a KFC in Melbourne (Tash Peterson/Instagram)

A vegan activist stormed an Australian KFC wearing clothes covered in fake blood, while playing animal screams through a megaphone over the weekend.

Tash Peterson, the founder of Tell Them the Truth, a campaign that rallies against the meat and dairy industry, led a group of protestors to the Melbourne fast food eatery on Sunday 4 July.

In a video posted to Instagram, Ms Peterson was dressed in a white outfit smeared in fake blood. As she walked into the restaurant, loud animal screams could be heard from a megaphone she was carrying.

Once inside, she stopped in front of the ordering point, where she poured fake blood across the floor and on the restaurant’s countertop. Customers inside looked shocked as they watched the demonstration unfold.

“If you’re not vegan you are an animal abuser,” she told onlookers. The protest lasted for 13 minutes before a police officer arrived and asked the group to leave.

Ms Peterson, who goes by “vganbooty” online has been campaigning since she became vegan in 2017. She has carried out similar demonstrations at McDonald’s, as well as various supermarkets and butchers.

In a caption accompanying the video the protest, Ms Peterson claimed that animals are subjected to “rape, torture” and “abuse”.

“Nonhuman animals are enslaved in concentration prisons where they are subjected to rape, torture, abuse and mutilation before they’re sent to murder factories where they are brutally murdered as babies (gas chambers, electrocution, bolt gunning and throat slitting),” she said.

Ms Peterson has previously compared the treatment of animals in the meat industry to the “Holocaust”. The Holocaust, which took place between 1941 and 1945 saw the deaths of six million Jewish people across Europe at the hands of Nazi Germany and its collaborators.

In 2020, KFC vowed to improve the conditions of its factories after its first annual report on chicken welfare revealed that some of its birds were suffering from footpad dermatitis and hock burns.

Footpad dermatitis is a painful condition, where ulcers develop on the feet of chickens due to poor litter management and inadequate ventilation. As of 2019, the condition was reported in 34.9 per cent of chickens.

Additionally, hock burns caused by ammonia from the waste of other birds were seen in 12.17 per cent of chickens.

The report was welcomed by World Animal Protection, a charity campaigning to end animal cruelty, which said transparency is key to improving the lives of chickens.

“We welcome the transparency of the first annual report, and we look forward to tracking [KFC’s] progress in the coming years. Customer and stakeholder trust is reinforced by regular reporting,” Lindsay Duncan, UK campaign manager at the organisation said at the time.

The Independent has contacted KFC for comment.