Home | The Truth About McDonald’s & Animal Welfare

All footage and images on this page represent typical farms that raise chickens for meat.

As one of the most recognizable brands in the world, McDonald’s has tremendous power over the lives of animals — especially chickens. Hundreds of millions of birds are bred each year for McDonald’s menu items such as McNuggets and McChicken sandwiches. Sadly, the chickens raised and killed for McDonald’s endure horrific treatment.

Chickens are emotional and intelligent animals capable of suffering. That’s why over 150 companies, including many of McDonald’s competitors, have already established specific and meaningful policies to improve conditions in their chicken supply chains. It’s time for McDonald’s to step up to the plate and do the same.

ShaRhonda Dawson, mother of two McDonald’s-loving children, agrees. She even penned a petition calling on McDonald’s to change.

Sign her petition

What we’re asking of McDonald’s

Healthier breeds

Chickens are bred to grow so unnaturally large so unnaturally fast, their legs and organs often can’t support their own bodies. If a human baby grew as quickly, they’d be 660 pounds at just two months old.
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More room to move

Tens of thousands of chickens are crammed together into filthy, dark sheds for their entire lives. Packed together tightly, the oversized birds have little more than the space of their own bodies to move.
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Better housing conditions

Without perches to get up off the ground, birds are forced to sit, eat, and sleep in their own waste. The litter is rarely changed, so managing litter quality is critical as to prevent wet litter and ammonia from severely burning the birds’ bodies and eyes.
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Opportunity for natural behaviors

Trapped in barren sheds with little to no environmental enrichment, chickens are unable to engage in most natural behaviors. Birds need clean litter in which to dust-bathe, pecking objects like straw bales, and perches on which to rest.
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The science supports change

The science-based standards we are asking McDonald’s to adopt for its suppliers have been determined by leading veterinarians and animal welfare experts. Read this white paper outlining the science here.

McDonald’s doesn’t measure up

In 2017, McDonald’s issued a public relations statement outlining an eight-point plan for its chicken supply chain. The statement does not address the majority of the most pressing animal cruelty problems in the chicken industry — problems that over 150 companies have already begun to address, including McDonald’s competitors:

A close read of McDonald’s PR statement reveals that it fails to make specific, firm commitments of the kind found in other companies’ policies. Read a truthful translation of McDonald’s policy here.