08/09/2007

Associated Press

Animal protection advocates have filed a shareholder resolution urging Costco Wholesale Corp. to adopt a poultry slaughter method considered less cruel than the practice they say the company currently uses.

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals wants Costco to adopt a method called "controlled-atmosphere killing," or CAK, which PETA said slowly replaces the oxygen that turkeys and chickens breathe with inert, nonpoisonous gases, killing the birds quickly and painlessly.

In its resolution, filed Wednesday, PETA claims that birds killed for Costco are hung by their legs upside-down in metal shackles that can break bones and that the birds' heads are run through an electrified bath that gives them painful shocks.

PETA said the birds are still conscious when their throats are slit and that many are scalded to death in defeathering tanks.

A message seeking comment from Costco was not immediately returned Wednesday afternoon.

Earlier this year, Burger King Corp. announced it would give purchasing preference to suppliers that use the CAK slaughter method. As part of its campaign to urge others to follow suit, PETA has become a shareholder in nearly 40 companies, including Wal-Mart Stores Inc., Safeway Inc. and Supervalu Inc.

PETA owns 65 shares of stock in Costco, a wholesale club retailer based in suburban Issaquah, Wash., that has 512 stores worldwide.