"Sep 9, 2006
Activists held, ordered to leave
By Tania Tan
ANIMAL rights activists were detained and ordered to leave Singapore yesterday before they could stage their planned protest outside a KFC fast-food outlet in Victoria Street.
Police acted on Thursday after they were alerted to the plans of a duo from the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (Peta) to parade naked outside the outlet wearing banners saying 'Naked Truth: KFC Tortures Chicks'.
Police tracked the cellphone signals of American Jason Baker, 34, and Canadian Ashley Fruno, 20, and found the pair at a coffee shop in Bencoolen Street at 3.30pm.
They were taken to a police station at about 7pm and allowed to leave three hours later, after being told to board the next available flight out of Singapore.
A third member, Filipina Sonia Astudillo, 26, who arrived here later on Thursday, was immediately detained and also told to leave.
Police confirmed that all three were told to leave, before they could repeat a stunt they had carried out in Bangkok and Kuala Lumpur days earlier.
Peta activitists are protesting against KFC because, unlike McDonald's and Burger King, the fried chicken franchise has yet to sign on to 'welfare policies', and had ignored recommendations for animal welfare improvements, the US-based Peta claims.
A KFC spokesman: 'KFC is committed to good animal welfare practices and all KFC poultry suppliers meet or exceed animal welfare legislation and industry standards.'
Mr Baker said just before his flight to Hong Kong at 3pm yesterday: 'We are shocked at being deported.'
This is not the first time the group has protested here. Its most recent attempt was made in February, when a Peta member paraded along Orchard Road in a chicken suit and gas mask, protesting the poultry culling sparked by the avian flu threat.
'The police didn't bat an eyelid then,' said Mr Baker, who is also director of the Asia-Pacific arm of Peta.
'Perhaps they were using us to send a message to IMF protesters,' he added, referring to the annual International Monetary Fund and World Bank meetings to be held here next week."
What it should have been"In Saturday's report 'Activists held, ordered to leave', we said that the police had tracked the cellphone signals of the activists from the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.
This is wrong. The police had responded to calls from the public who witnessed the duo behaving suspiciously.
We are sorry for the error."
