The People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals campaign showed the slaughterhouse cruelty to animals. The co-founder of the Business Ethics group stated that this seemed unfair to McDonald's. Apparently animal cruelty is industry wide. However, others feel that McDonald's is the perfect company to stand up and lead the industry in changing this horrific truth. This is not directly McDonald's fault because they are not directly harming the animals. The suppliers are unintentionally being cruel to the animals. Now that McDonald's knows this they ethically have to make their suppliers provide humane living conditions for the animals. This is a prime example of agency theory, McDonald's is most of America's agent for lunch, dinner or the afternoon snack

Above a certain level of complexity, animals do have at least rudimentary cognitive awareness. No owner of a cat or dog doubts that his pet has beliefs or desires. Accordingly, a number of philosophers have recently defended the claim that animals can have rights. Because they have genuine interests, animals can have genuine moral rights- despite the fact that they cannot claim their rights, that they cannot speak, that we cannot reason with them, and that they themselves lack a moral sense. Animals, it is more and more widely contended, do not have to be equal to human beings to have certain moral rights that we must respect.

Laying chickens were once kept in indoor-outdoor coops where they had room to move about and socialize with other birds. Today, after debeaking, they are crowded together in "egg houses." New antibiotics and vaccines suppress epidemics and enable one or two attendants to maintain 100,000 hens in a single shed, five birds per cage. The floor of each cage is smaller than two sheets of typing paper.

As a result of such overcrowding, the chickens compete aggressively for food and water. Sick, wounded, or aging birds have no value and are rarely seen by a veterinarian. After a year, when a hen's laying output begins to decline, it is either slaughtered or subjected to a forced molting procedure.

The recent concern over animal for both ethical rights and public health are said to be a spreading trend from Europe. This will benefit both the animal and the consumer by keeping both of us healthier. The United Egg Producers, which represents many of the nation's egg suppliers, was handed recommendations on chicken living conditions by its scientific advisory committee very similar to McDonald's. Eventually everyone in the food industry will have to abide by these recommendations. Hopefully one day only organic eggs will be available to us at the supermarket.

On August 23, 2000 McDonald's restaurant chain launched a major effort to improve the way egg farmers care for their hens. This is a break through in the food industry. This is the first of its kind by any major U.S. food supplier- reflecting the rising scientific and public concern ove

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Approximate Word count = 1480
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)