Pizza Chain Taken to Task for Misleading Response to Investors About Dehorning of Dairy Cows
For Immediate Release:
February 27, 2013
Contact:
David Perle 202-483-7382
Louisville, Ky. -- Papa John's 2013 annual meeting will include a shareholder resolution from PETA, which owns stock in the company, that calls for the pizza chain to require that its dairy suppliers begin phasing out dehorning, a painful process in which calves have their horns gouged out or horn tissue burned out of their heads. Because the company's currently planned statement in opposition to the resolution is designed to mislead investors away from the facts—that dehorning has been scientifically proved to cause calves immense pain and that breeding for naturally hornless cattle is a currently used practice that is growing in popularity—PETA is now calling on Papa John's to amend its statement to remove falsehoods and inaccuracies.
"Everything from common sense to scientific studies tells us that calves suffer excruciating pain when their sensitive horn tissue is burned off with a hot iron," says PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman. "PETA is urging Papa John's to stop pretending and admit that dehorning is so cruel that the company should take action to stop it."
As shown in PETA's dehorning video exposé, narrated by Academy Award nominee Casey Affleck, workers on dairy farms burn searing-hot irons into calves' heads to destroy horn tissue or use sharp instruments or other tools to saw, gouge, or cut out the horn and sometimes the surrounding tissue. Cows struggle desperately during these procedures, which are routinely performed without giving them any painkillers. By breeding for polled cattle—which causes at least half the calves to be born hornless since the polled gene is dominant—dairy farmers can eliminate this cruel, costly, and labor-intensive procedure.
PETA's shareholder resolution and correspondence with Papa John's is available upon request. For more information, please visit PETA.org.
