By JOSH LOFTIN
Fairfax Journal
04/17/2000

Four vegetarians who eat no animal products yesterday picketed a Vienna restaurant to protest the "inhumane slaughter" of chickens by poultry farmers supplying national fast food chains.

Standing next to Kentucky Fried Chicken on Vienna's Maple Avenue, members of United Poultry Concerns, based in Washington, D.C., held signs with pictures of headless chickens and slogans, such as "Chickens Have Feelings."

"Chickens are wonderful creatures if they're allowed to be themselves," protester Franklin Wade said. "They can't be themselves packed into coops and living in their own feces."

The protest drew the attention of Vienna police, who made the group move from a sidewalk, which is considered public property. They also entered into a brief exchange with KFC managers.

The group avoided joining other animal rights activists during the large D.C. protests against the World Bank for fear of getting lost in the crowd.

"This is our specific thing, and our message would probably get lost down there," protester Jamey West said, although she admitted that most of their supporters had probably gone to the other rally.