Multi-billionaire businessman Carl Icahn says he is ready to go into battle with McDonald's to get the fast-food giant to stop buying from breeders keeping full sows in cages that it sees as too small.
Carl Icahn already discussed the subject 10 years ago with the company, which then committed to taking action, he explained in an interview with the Bloomberg channel on Wednesday.
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The group announced in 2012 that it would ask its suppliers to gradually stop using gestation stalls that are too small for a full sow to turn around.
But the restaurant chain has not kept its promises, says Carl Icahn.
“
We stop joking now
,” he said, estimating that he was “
90%
” ready to propose candidates for the group's board of directors.
The businessman, known for his propensity to enter the capital of companies to ask for radical measures and then reap juicy profits, ensures that it is not in this case a financial affair.
"
I really feel emotional about these animals and the unnecessary suffering they are being subjected to
," he said.
Gestation cages weren't as small 20 or 30 years ago, he says.
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"
I don't want to lecture on this subject but I think I can help to some extent to improve the situation
," he said.
McDonald's did not immediately respond to a request from AFP.
The group says on its website that more than 60% of its hog supply chain in the United States no longer uses gestation crates for pregnant sows.