Pamela Anderson lends image to help chickens

8.15am

LOS ANGELES - Actress Pamela Anderson, always game to ruffle a few feathers in the name of mistreated fowl, has lent her famous face to a billboard campaign calling for a boycott of the KFC chain of chicken restaurants.

The billboards, which were created by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, feature a photo of the television star next to the words: "Boycott KFC -- Pamela Anderson."

Underneath are the words: "Live Scalding, Painful Debeaking, Crippled Chickens" and the address of a website attacking the fast food chain.

The billboards were going up in Los Angeles, Dallas, Boston, San Francisco and other cities, a spokesman for PETA said on Wednesday.

"KFC stands for cruelty," Anderson said in a statement. "If KFC executives treated cats or dogs the way they treat chickens, they could go to prison on felony cruelty-to-animals charges."

A spokeswoman for KFC, which is owned by Louisville, Kentucky-based Yum! Brands Inc., said the chain had had enough of attacks by PETA.

"PETA has disparaged our brand and misrepresented the truth about our responsible industry-leading animal welfare standards," Bonnie Warschauer said in a statement.

The PETA spokesman said the billboards were Anderson's idea and accurately described the fate of chickens at processing plants that supply KFC.

- REUTERS