The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) has bought at least one
share in Tim Horton’s and is using that to bring pressure on the company to
stop buying bacon from packers who buy hogs from farmers who use gestation
stalls for their sows.
The HSUS has started by calling for a feasibility study related to pigs
raised in the United States.
This is a copy of what the HSUS did to McDonald’s which has given its
suppliers until May to come up with proposals.
The HSUS tactic mirrors what it did to McDonald’s which answered in February, saying to its suppliers “there are
alternatives that we think are better for the welfare of sows.”
The HSUS proposal for Tim Hortons will be voted on at the company’s
annual meeting in May.
“People simply don’t support the lifelong confinement of farm animals in
tiny crates,” says Matthew Prescott, food policy director for HSUS's farm
animal protection division.
“When it comes to addressing cruelty to animals . . . Tim Hortons is
severely lagging,” he said.
Smithfield Foods and Hormel Foods promised to phase out gestation stalls
by 2017.
Maple Leaf Foods also has a policy on the books to move its
company-owned operations away from using gestation-sow stalls.
The HSUS is challenging other pork producer/packers such as Seaboard
Foods and Tyson Foods to follow suit in their own sow-housing policies.
Tim Hortons has more than 3,000 restaurants in Canada and more than 600
in the U.S
