Dear taofoundation,

By making a tax-deductible gift during PETA's Factory Farming Challenge today, your donation will go twice as far toward helping the millions of individual chickens killed for McDonald's. Won't you please accept the challenge today?

Before they are slaughtered to become nuggets and patties, chickens killed by McDonald's suppliers in North America are abused in cruel and horrible ways.

They are dumped out of their transport crates and slammed upside down into metal shackles on a giant conveyor belt. Their limbs are bruised and broken and sometimes even torn from their bodies. The terrified chickens try to right themselves, but they are helpless to stop the belt from moving closer to the killing blade that cuts their throats. Many will still be conscious as they are dunked into tanks of scalding-hot water.

Chickens are among the most abused animals on Earth, and McDonald's is the leading purchaser of chicken flesh in the U.S. That's why I hope you will join PETA in fighting to compel McDonald's to require its suppliers to use a far less cruel form of poultry slaughter that would greatly reduce the suffering of these poor birds.

A group of generous PETA donors is challenging wonderful supporters like you to help us do all we can, as fast as we can, to fight factory farming and to support all our vital work for animals. Together, they have put up $200,000 of their own money so that any contribution that you make to PETA today can be doubled. But we have only a few short weeks to meet their factory farming challenge, so I hope you will take advantage of this special opportunity by donating now to have your gift doubled.

Many of the other large fast-food chains that PETA has worked with—including Burger King, Wendy's, and Popeyes—have already agreed to push their suppliers to adopt a new, less cruel method of slaughter called "controlled-atmosphere killing," in which an inert gas puts the birds to sleep quickly and painlessly and eliminates virtually all the suffering that chickens normally endure during the slaughter process. But not McDonald's.

McDonald's is kicking and bucking and simply refusing to require its suppliers to use controlled-atmosphere killing even though it would cost the company only pennies per bird and—as one of its own studies concluded—would reduce the suffering of millions of individual chickens.

To call attention to McDonald's mass-scale abuse of animals, PETA is holding colorful protests across North America that have drawn worldwide media attention to McDonald's cruel treatment of chickens. Through our popular campaign Web site McCruelty.com, we're also educating throngs of consumers about the massive animal suffering that McDonald's is responsible for. At the site, people can read about the plight of chickens, watch our undercover exposé, and take action to help.

We will not shirk our duty to do all that we possibly can to improve the lives of all the thousands upon thousands of individual chickens whom McDonald's suppliers kill every day. But this is as formidable an opponent as we've ever faced. If we're going to win this campaign—and we must—we need your help.

Please make a gift online today to have it doubled and to help us fight to save millions of chickens and other animals from the abuse that they suffer in slaughterhouses and on factory farms.

Thank you for your help during this special factory farming challenge!

Very truly yours,


Ingrid E. Newkirk
President

P.S. I know that we can beat McDonald's—we've done it before. PETA's first McCruelty campaign drove the company to make significant changes in its treatment of animals. Now we need your help to do it again to spare millions of individual chickens the suffering that they endure as they are slaughtered for McDonald's. Your caring support will have twice the impact if you donate online now.

Dear taofoundation,

After blowing the whistle on the abuse that she saw, a wonderful woman working at a Pennsylvania dairy factory farm went undercover for PETA for months. This allowed us to investigate and record the suffering of cows and calves at this Land O'Lakes, Inc., supplier.

Hundreds of cows on this factory farm were subjected to routine cruelty. Our investigator witnessed lame cows struggling to stand and walk as they were herded to the milking machines; cows who could not stand on their own being kicked, jabbed in the spine with a blade, and electro-shocked; and dying cows who were denied even a mercy killing to relieve their pain.

For these cows and all the other poor animals who are being abused in farm sheds and crates, PETA—and you—are the only hope. Please help us confront the hidden cruelty inflicted on animals by donating online to our Factory Farming Challenge, and have your gift doubled dollar for dollar.

As you may know, a group of PETA's most dedicated friends has put up $200,000 of their own money and challenged us to raise a full $400,000 to combat the suffering of animals abused and exploited on factory farms. We're already 46% of the way there, but this special challenge will end in only a few short weeks. We will only reach our goal if enough caring members like you act today.

The meat, egg, and dairy industries don't want anyone to know the kind of hellholes factory farms are and how deeply and routinely animals suffer on them. But they can't stop PETA—with your help—from exposing their cruelty. Our investigation of this Pennsylvania dairy farm has enabled millions of people to see with their own eyes the suffering that goes into every glass of milk. And it has already helped us save at least two lives.

When our investigator first saw a sweet little calf named Jerry, the animal was in pitiful condition. His legs were deformed, and he was extremely thin, infested with lice, and nearly blind—most likely as a result of pinkeye, a bacterial infection that's often spread in the filthy conditions on factory farms.

Peter, another calf on the same farm, was found nearly unconscious and close to death. He was just skin and bones and was covered in ringworm fungus. Peter's plaintive moo was a gurgled moan because of a bacterial pneumonia that's common on dairy factory farms, and his skin was raw and scalded from being soaked in urine and feces in the filthy pen that he could not escape from.

Today, Peter and Jerry are thriving at a peaceful sanctuary where, thanks to your support, PETA pays for upkeep and the calves' monthly care. Their coats are growing thick and shiny, their bodies are filling out, and they can eat fresh grass and breathe clean air for the first time in their lives. Both Jerry's and Peter's health is steadily improving, and they are now the very best of friends.

I wish we could rescue all the hundreds of suffering cows from this dairy factory farm, and there's no knowing how many animals will be saved because of this case. Of course, it's important to point out that we can stop the worst abuses of cows and other animals used for food by making their plight known to people around the world. But we can't do it without you.

I hope you will take this opportunity to support our Factory Farming Challenge with the most generous contribution that you are able to give. Your gift will have double the impact when it comes to PETA's efforts to help people see exactly what happens to animals like Jerry and Peter in these hellish places.

Thank you. Your commitment means the world to us and the animals we serve.

Kind regards,


Ingrid E. Newkirk
President

P.S. Animal abuse can't be stopped if it remains hidden. Your support helps PETA tear down the factory farm walls and lets the light in so that public pressure will result in meaningful changes in the lives of billions of individual animals. Please donate today to have your gift doubled and to help us expose the hideous abuse inflicted on animals.